Barry and I went to a Roman Catholic Church service today. Barry is wearing the traditional Samoan lava lava. In Tonga the men (as well as women) wear this as well but they wear a mat over top of it. I asked why they wear the mat and we were told it was as a sign of respect to their elders, a traditional form of dress no doubt. These mats are woven out of fronds. Some of the weaving was so small it would have taken hours and hours to weave, it was really quite amazing. Notice the young boys have them on as well as the woman by the car.
The church service was a real experience because of the singing. They sang acapella (sp??), there was a choir conductor, he would play the beginning notes on a instrument that he blew into but had piano keys on it and then he would just keep time with his baton. They sang without music or words, in 5 or 6 part harmony, fantastic; it gave me goose bumps. The priest spoke a few words in English at the beginning of the service and at the end. He was going on about something he thought was important, and laughing at his own jokes. Women participated in the service which I thought was very liberal, but was told later that they do that world wide now.
After we had 3 buddies over for lunch and we had a lovely afternoon, Hope you have a good Sunday tomorrow.