White Sunday

White Sunday is one of the biggest holidays in Samoa. I'd almost say it's a bigger deal than Christmas, which is pretty anticlimactic as far as holidays go... White Sunday, otherwise known as Lotu Tamaiti, or Children's Sunday, is supposedly all about the kids. As far as I can tell, it's another excuse to have lots of singing, dancing and plays in church. Like our Easter Sunday, all the kids get new clothes- really, really, gaudy, shiny, satiny, sparkly, bow-bedecked white dresses for the girls- think First Communion Barbie meets Disney Princess meets Virginal Tooth Fairy. The boys just get a new clean white button-up shirt and a fresh white ie faitoga, which is the men's/boy's wrap around skirt like bottom. Anyways, it's a bewildering herd of very clean and over-excited kids. Who've been fed sugary lollies all day. And who know that they are going to get at least 4 hours, solid, of adult attention.
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This last Sunday, all the village kids convened at my village's Catholic Church for the afternoon service. They'd been practicing all sorts of songs, plays, and dances for the past few weeks, and, like a proud PTA parent, I got to see the performances, lasting about 4 hours of fun...
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This year's performances included a remake of Madonna's "Like a Virgin", but in Fa'asamoa, with christian lyrics. They translate back to English something like "Oh my Jesus, yeah he touched my heart". This was accompanied by about 20 school-kids dancing dramatically along, with emphatic Jesus-like movements. Also, there was an enthusiastic march down the church aisle, (twice), chanting, confusingly enough, "Jesus, Yes, Jesus, is on the lam, on the lam!". This, of course, brought a funny mental image to mind. Finally, I was nearly brought to tears of laughter by an interpretation of a "ABBA" melody, which had been rewritten, again, with Fa'asamoa/Jesus lyrics. A little hard to nod and smile proudly when you can sing the actual lyrics in your head. ("Dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17, oh yeah"..."You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life"..."Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing, Thanks for all the joy they're bringing")
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Anyhow... it was one of those moments where you wish you had several American friends sitting in church to laugh along with you!
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Have a good weekend!