Following Moondance: Teuila Festival

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Teuila Festival

What a great time we had at the 2013 Teuila (Ginger) Festival. So glad we stayed!

Taunting the Matai/Chief

It was a full week of singing, dancing, competitions, games, sharing their culture, and so much more. The Samoans really know how to have a good time so we fit right in.

Doug even made it on stage one night and was dubbed a Matai/Chief "Chief La Oso - Chief of the Rising Sun", along with 4 other gentlemen from the audience - all different Matai's of course.

Chief La Oso - Rising Sun

After that, locals would come up and ask Doug which Matai he was. We didn't realize he was going to be on Samoan TV and famous. Too funny!

Ali'i/High Chief Tauasa Sieula Avea had so much fun making them do crazy things - he had everyone in the audience laughing. Including the Deputy Prime Minister, which I just had to introduce myself to. Why not?

Maybe you will get to see the video of Chief La Oso one of these days...

Tug-of-War - what a battle

The Samoan competitions were not as intense as the Tahitians we saw at Heiva in 2011, but there was still lots of spirited games and so much heckling and laughter.

Our favorites were the Sack Races, Wheelbarrow Races, and the finale - the Tug of War.

Dancing a jig

One of the local ladies had a great time entertaining the audience and getting Doug up to dance a jig with her - hah!

The evenings were full of dancing and singing competitions, plus the Siva Afi/Fire Dance competitions. We loved watching all of it - so colorful and entertaining.

Love the Siva Afi/Fire Dancing

The yearly Teuila Festival is to promote tourism in Samoa, so spread the word.

We would definitely come back again. Enjoy the pictures!

Last year's Miss Samoa's

PS: We actually got to see Ali'i/High Chief Tauasa Sieula Avea when we were in Hawaii.

He would perform every Tuesday at the Marriott in Ko Olina, plus performances at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Small world!