Those of you who know me won't be surprised to hear that I spent hours searching the web for info about Samoa before arriving here. One of the most interesting observations was the hand gesture I have decided to call “Samoan gang fingers”. This gesture is like the peace sign on it’s side, and can be seen in any photo or image of people – at schools, churches, in papers, in brochures. Age doesn't seem to matter with it's use. The young and the old....they all flick it out whenever a camera comes into view. For a church oriented culture it seems odd to have this gang like finger symbol everywhere. I have secretly been hoping it has some deep, secret cultural meaning that unites Samoans everywhere. The photo of the girls above is just one example.
Well, I have finally got to the bottom of it. A five year playing with our boys at the beach on the weekend jumped into every photo I took and popped out the gesture each time. Despite poor English, I sat him down to ask him what it is about and had something of an anti-climactic moment. No, it’s not some secret symbol about Samoan people taking over the world, one rugby match at a time. It just means “cool”! Well according to my five year old source it does anyway.
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