Fautasi Heritage: Bringing villagers and villages together to celebrate unity

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The first ever Fautasi Heritage Symposium, set to be held next week at the Tauese P. F. Sunia Ocean Center is made possible through financial support from the Historic Preservation Fund, under the National Park Service.

The three-day event is co-hosted by the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (NMSAS) and the American Samoa Historic Preservation Office (ASHPO) whose staff conducted the interviews and carried out the background research on the history of the fautasi.

"The Fautasi Heritage Symposium will highlight the transformation of what was used to transport our ancestors from one place to another — How the missionaries brought to Samoa the Word of God and eventually gave us a written language. Most importantly, how it brought villagers and villages together to celebrate unity," said Historic Preservation Officer and ASHPO executive director Tish Peau yesterday morning via email from the mainland.

The Symposium will include presentations by past and current fautasi skippers, as well as  those who have researched the topic — from Hawai’i and the US mainland.