Culture of Samoa - Traditional Art Forms

Traditional Art Forms

Women play an important part in contributing with their skills in items of important cultural value including 'ie toga, finely woven mats used in ceremony and gift exchanges.

Other items include bark-cloth, siapo (equivalent to the Fijian tapa cloth), which is made from beaten mulberry bark. Patterns or pictures are painted on with a natural brown dye. These pictures typically depict fish, turtles, and hibiscus flowers. The siapo may be used for clothing, for wrapping objects and even simply for decorative reasons. Ornaments, jewellery and hair accessories are made from naturally occurring materials such as sea shells, coconut and coir. Traditional Samoan medicine is often practiced as a first-line before hospital medicine. This is a type of alternative medicine using plant leaves to massage the affected area.

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