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Isabela Chavez
Dawn Miller
American History
July 15, 2010
The Differences Between Samoa and the United States

There are many differences with food, tattoos and dances in Samoa and the United States.

You might think there’s not a big difference, but actually there is. Starting with what they eat and

how they keep themselves entertained, the differences go on and on.

Food is a very important part of Samoa life. Wherever or whenever Samoans travel, they

take food with them. Samoan food tends not to be highly spiced or seasoned. Samoans also get

lots of fresh food. Some examples of fresh food are coconuts, seafood and much more. In the

U.S. we eat really spicy food with lots of flavors. Also, in U.S. we don’t often get fresh food, we

have to deliver food from other places so it can be sold to stores and we can buy it from the

stores and it eat it.

In Samoa, tattoos have historical meaning. Originally, tattoos were meant for women of

rank in Samoa, but traditional Samoan tattoos somehow filtered down to men. Tattooing became

very popular among young Samoan men who considered tattoos to be marks of their manhood.

The wife of the tattooer is also greatly honored in her position of wiping the blood of the tattooed

person. In contrast, U.S. tattoos usually don’t have a historical meaning, unless it’s related to

gangs. Also, tattoos were meant for whoever. In the U.S, the wives of the tattooers don’t have to

help them, either because their husband doesn’t let them or to show their wives respect. In the

U.S. tattoos tend to have a personal meaning rather than a larger societal one.
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There are many different types of dances in Samoa. The traditional Samoan dance is the

taualuga. This is the Samoan word for jumping. The performer dresses in pants composed of

leaves and human hair and usually sits and portrays an everyday action. The dance represents the

relationship between a ruler and his tulafale, an orator or spokesman. In Samoa, older people

don’t practice their dances. The reason they don’t practice is because their parents used to send

them to practice their dances when they were little. In the U.S we also have many ways of

dancing, but our dancing is much different than Samoan dancing. Some types of our dancing are

called Hip-Hop, Reggeaton, Reggae, oldies and much more. Also, our clothing does not have to

do with anything tropical. People in the U.S. also don’t usually practice traditional styles of

dance. However, sometimes at a 15th birthday party it is traditional to perform the valtz.

In conclusion, there are many differences of Samoa and United States. Samoa is a

beautiful place to visit and the weather it’s also good. People appear to be friendly and are

pleasant. The U.S, of course, is the best place to live in because there are many places to visit.

Overall, Samoa and United States despite their diffrences are good places to visit and they have

lots of intresting people.