White Sunday

10/14/07

The biggest holiday in Samoa is White Sunday or Children’s Sunday. It is held on the second Sunday of October. The Monday following White Sunday is a national holiday. The best way to describe it is that it is Thanksgiving and Christmas all roll into one day with everyone dressed in new white clothes.

During White Sunday relatives come for from all over the islands to join together. The parents serve the children. The children perform numerous songs and plays in church in a reversal of roles. The children also receive gifts. The stores do a bonanza business. The traffic is heavy and the ferries run extra runs to accommodate the rush of passengers.

White Sunday was started by the early missionaries of the London Missionary Society in the mid 19th century. In a country where almost half the people are children it was a huge success. Soon the other churches conformed, not to pass up a good thing.

Unfortunately, Mary and I spent our White Sunday in an Apia Hospital. This was a big disappointment to the over eighty people who had come to our host family’s compound to feast and feast, then feast again. We just have to wait till next year to get our white outfits.