Abstract
This paper discusses the religious transformation of the Samoan concept of feagaiga which has led to the indeterminate role and status of women in the Congregational Christian Church Samoa (CCCS). In pre-Christian Samoa the sacredness and honour of Samoan women was safeguarded by their status as the feagaiga, a Samoan concept which literally means ‘covenant’ and initially referred to the covenantal bond in a sister-brother relationship. It was a feagaiga that not only ensured Samoan women were protected from birth by their brothers, but it also guaranteed their place as decision-makers in the family. The arrival of missionaries from the London
Missionary Society (LMS) in the nineteenth century, led to the appropriation and religious transformation of the concept of feagaiga. Today, according to the contemporary concept of feagaiga in the established structures of
the church in Samoa, only ordained men or pastors are attributed the metaphorically sacred qualities of feagaiga and are honorifically referred to as Fa’afeagaiga. Women on the other hand are no longer considered or treated as sacred unless they are married to a Fa’afeagaiga.
Keywords: CCCS, Gender, Feagaiga, Faletua