American Samoa

White Sunday is a day when youngsters are especially celebrated by their parents and their communities in Samoan congregations around the world. In nearby Samoa, the day after White Sunday is a public holiday called Lotu a Tamaiti Holiday.

As American Samoa and Samoa are on different sides of the International Dateline, they share similar names but are a day apart. This means White Sunday in American Samoa happens at the same time as White Monday (Lotu a Tamaiti) in Samoa!

In American Samoa, the second Monday in October is already a public holiday for Columbus Day.

The tradition of White Sunday was brought to the islands by Christian missionaries in the 19th century and has become a special holiday, when children are treated from getting new outfits to being allowed their favorite food during family toana’i (Sunday meal).

The majority of children are baptised in designated congregations throughout Samoa on White Sunday.

On White Sunday, Samoan women and children dress completely in white clothing. Some of them trim the clothes with the other two colours of the Samoan flag, red and blue. Men will wear white shirts with either white slacks or the traditional faitaga form of the lavalava. If lavalava is worn then it need not be white on this day.

The Samoan Islands are an archipelago that covers just over 3,000 km2 (1,170 sq mi) in the central South Pacific. In the late 19th century, Germany and the United States agreed on the partition of the islands, with the western half coming under German control, with the eastern islands becoming American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States on April 17th 1900. At that time the High Chiefs of Manu’a did not wish to cede their group of islands and opted out of the agreement.

Four years later in 1904, Tui Manu’a Elisara, the King of Manu’a, signed a Deed of Succession swearing allegiance to the United States and ceding the Manu’a Islands as a protectorate of the United States.

Since then, July 16th has been observed as Manu’a Cession Day, although it was not made a public holiday until 1983 when the first official celebration was held in the Manu’a Islands with a church service, parade, and cultural activities.