Fautasi Race – Flag Day 2009

Flag Day. Most of us don’t even realize it’s a holiday. But in American Samoa, it’s one of the largest celebrations of the year. It’s a time for the people of the Territory to marvel at the fact that they share the same flag as the most powerful nation on earth. It’s an opportunity for the government to show off its accomplishments and offer festivities for its citizens. And it’s a chance for the churches to hold hands with the governments and show how closely connected the two really are.

Wait, what?

Governor Togiola gives his Flag Day speech behind a flag with a cross on it.

The church and state separation here on the island isn’t exactly “existent.” This is clearly a Christian island and everything revolves around that. This is why there’s a Christmas pageant, and why preachers give speeches at government events. This is shown best during Flag Day, when the Governor’s speech is followed by prayers to Jesus by the top church leaders. In fact, the churches sponsor many of the government events.

That being said, there’s also the time-honored test of strength and physical ability that brings back the people’s inherent need for outdated tribal and territorial competition. We call this sports.

The top sport here is still traditional: paddling. And the Flag Day Fautasi races are the Super Bowl of Samoan sports. Villages compete in a race in extremely long canoes. The men of the village train for months to have the glory of a fautasi win.

We camped out by the old Rainmaker Hotel, a monument to American Samoa’s former glory. The hotel has been close for decades. Walking through the ruins, with the plant life reclaiming the rooms, is like seeing the aftermath of the end of the world. But on Flag Day, it’s a place for high school kids to celebrate and cheer their favorite boat team by breaking windows and screaming profanities.

As the canoes heave by the island is filled with war cries (fa'aumu) and flag waiving. This turns into an explosion of fa'aumu when the first boat crosses the finish line. This year the winner was the village of Fagasa in their boat, Fealofani Samoa II. They always win. My team, the Nu’uuli Satani (devils) came in third, which is pretty good. The radio DJ, Tonka Man, even bought his own boat, called the Seahawk (he’s a big Seattle fan). It came in dead last. By a lot.



Interesting side note, the Manu'a islands (which include Ofu) decided to have their own flag day a few years ago, even though they are part of American Samoa. So they created their own flag. And celebrated their own flag day on a different day. Which creates a second holiday vacation day for us. I love Manu'a.