Teresa Villegas Teresa 1

Professor Miller
American History
June 20, 2010

The Differences in Samoan and U.S. Cultures

The cultures of the U.S. and Samoa are different in many ways. They are some important

aspects of the Samoa tradition versus the American tradition to discuss.

Tattoos are one of the many traditions in Samoa. Their tattoos mean various things. For

example, Samoans get tattoos to honor their ancestors and to protect them from evil in society.

In America, when people get tattoos, they’re personalized tattoos that are related to gangs or they

just like the art work. In America tradition is rarely passed on because in Samoa traditionally

tattoos are suppose to be passed on.

In Samoa their foods are very important to them and very nutritionus. Their food is very

natural and they usually don’t add any type of chemicals to the food. In America we eat a lot of

chemically based food especially because we eat the fast food restaurants. Samoans do use oil,

but not chemically processed oil. They use natural foods and spices such as taro, bananas,

coconut, breadfruit, shellfish, pork, or chicken. In America we cook already frozen foods that

have been delivered from store to store.

The most important part of the Samoan culture is their dressing. They don’t wear a shirt

and jeans, they wear dresses that are called lava lavas and puletasis. Lava Lava are worn by

womyn and men, and men only were puletasi which is a skirt. This clothing can be used for

many types of occasions. On the other hand, in America, we wear pants, caprices, skirts, shorts,

tank tops, and t-shirts. We dress differently for different types of reasons. When we go to a job
interview we wear dress pants with a button up shirt, and to go out to parties, we either use a

dress or a skirt with a tank top.

In conclusion, regardless of the differences that both cultures have, one thing they have in

common is that they both have beautiful beaches with some delicious food. Also above

everything the most beautiful thing of all, are the people.