Samoa’s Fine Mat Weavers Celebrate In The Rain

Written by Pio Sioa
Monday, 10 December 2007
Women weavers huddled under the tent, decked out in their finest until pouring rain spoiled the one day they had all looked forward to all year long. Falling rain and general went conditions, failed to dampened the enthusiasm of the women weavers, who gathered in front of the Government House on Friday, to celebrate the end of another year of weaving. The weavers represented the various women committees from the villages, who were decked out in their finest wear, to hoist their best work of the year as high as possible, for the country and Government to admire. The Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, heartily congratulated the women for the backbreaking effort they put into the work. Out of the hundred or more fine mats weaved this year, only 7 were ranked number one or the best of the best , compared to 5 last year. Each mat earned the weaver $1,000. The fine mat programme has restored the respect and dignity of this important national treasure, once tainted by the mass production of inferior quality products, when people became more interested in numbers rather than quality. Government has even passed legislation to restrict the newer and better quality fine mats from leaving the country. American Samoa and New Zealand are the two main countries blamed for draining Samoa of its treasured fine mats. The effort by the weavers is further encourage by the new trend in the villages, where the rough and poor quality mats ‘lalaga’ are either banned or frowned at. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 December 2007 )

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