The Welcome Ceremony: A Role

The Welcome Ceremony is performed when visitors entering a village where they are expected usually find the ali'i and faipule waiting for them either outside or within a house. If the occasion is a very formal one, the whole village may have assembled in its various groups, matai, Pastors of different denominations, Women's Committee in distinctive uniforms, schools and young men and women. In this case, a arch of welcome will probably also have been constructed. The meeting house (fale fono) and other houses set aside for the adjustment of the party, are almost certain to have been carefully and beautifully decorated with leaves and flowers.

In search of our topic, “The Welcome Ceremony,” also known in Samoan,”Usuga,” we put together the three categories that were given to us. We, as a group wanted our topic to relate to the theme, so we elaborated on our topic,” The Welcome Ceremony: A Role In Communication Between Different Villages, Environments and Agriculture.” Our topic if shortened,” The Welcome Ceremony,” is a ceremony performed to welcome visitors, its performed with hospitality, honor and respect. Most visitors find this ceremony pleasing and delightful. They admire the customs used, for instance: the sitting positions, the cultural greetings with High Rank Samoan Chiefs and Pastors(Faifeau) of different denomination and then manners taken place during the ceremony.

We carried out our research by gathering sources from primary and secondary sources. We planned and gathered our sources with patience. Source of research were of interviews, internet access and brief readings.

The category chosen to carry out our topic is, a Group Performance. Why a group performance? We want people to know and see in their own visual aid how the ceremony is performed. We also want to state for a fact that our generation knows what the ceremony is and the process of the performance.

The topic being brought to life by the performers tells or sends the audience a message, telling them that we, the presenters, are interested in our topic. It also sends a message to the newcomers that our generation is bringing back the true meaning of our culture. We are reviving our Samoan culture. By doing so, we picked the performance category to show what we understand about our topic.

The welcome ceremony: a role of communication between different villages, environments and agricultures; to us, it has a great relationship to this years theme. The Welcome ceremony has a lot of communicating actions and reactions.