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An Empty House
When I used to enter a Samoan palagi style house I would be confused. Sometimes in the multi room house there was a table, a few pictures and maybe a chair. I didn’t understand the purpose of having this big house without having possessions in it. It made it feel so empty and dull. Where were the decorations? Where was the proof of life.
Lounging around after to’ogani at another teacher’s fale today I suddenly realized my thoughts on this topic have changed. No more do I just see an empty house, but I see a house full of life. A house that is easy to accommodate to anyone. A family that is more than willing to do anything for their guests, whether it be give them a mat to malolo on, or let them sit in the only chair to eat. They offered conversations about life, asked for help with things, even offered you clothes to change into. The people inside the house make the house come alive.
A house is really what you make of it. In America my houses have always been full of so much stuff that I felt defined me as a person. Even today my room is full by Samoan standards. I have a bed, a bike, a box used as a table for my belongings, and a suitcase for my clothes. My walls are cluttered with the many letters and pictures people have sent as a taste of home. But can it be that none of this stuff really defines me, and the best houses are the ones that are bare? Maybe I always needed to have these different things to not feel alone when I lived by myself. Samoan houses don’t have this problem as they seem to have people crawling from every which way to help you see that you are not alone.
Is a full house or a bare house better? I am not sure. I do know that the people inside the house make it more than just a space.
Lili! You have made 3 amazing points in this post.
ReplyDeleteA. Samoans view open space and think of how to fill it with people, not stuff. We go for the stuff. Perhaps that is because that is our sole avenue to exert control over our surroundings? We can't necessarily fill them with people, so we default to things. A crappy alternative, no doubt.
B. "In America my houses have always been full of so much stuff that I felt defined me as a person." It is true. We fill our homes with more of Us. The stuff becomes a peculiar extension of ourselves. This enhances our sense of self. Samoans tend to think of themselves as part of a collective. For them to fill a room with Themselves would, I imagine, be a daunting task.
C. Life. You said it best. "No more do I just see an empty house, but I see a house full of life." Little kids always around, people constantly coming and going, people sleeping wherever they see a mat. Just like we are our stuff, Samoans view themselves in relation to others, so maybe that is why their living quarters reflect as such.
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