Fautasi<\/em> races.<\/p>\nThe Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt told the media that the celebrations will underscore the deep meaning and spirit of independence and to celebrate and honour the forefathers\u2019 sacrifice that today\u2019s generations are enjoying as a free country.<\/p>\n
He said the three-day celebration is not new as the celebrations were gradually cut from three to one and at times half a day and the events that used to be the highlight of previous celebrations will be revived.<\/p>\n
The Organising Committee is now working on a program with the intention for schools and organisations to start marching from the Government building in Apia towards Mulinu\u2019u for the official flag raising ceremony.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister said a Samoan Cricket Championships League will invite teams from Australia, New Zealand and United States with the final to be held during the celebrations.<\/p>\n
The popular longboats races will also be revived, and he has invited the American Samoa modern longboats who may race in a heat on their own with the traditional Samoan longboats on a separate heat.<\/p>\n
Celebrating local independence heroes<\/strong>
\nThe Prime Minister said that Samoa tends to honour the lives lost in other wars such as the ANZAC Day commemoration but forget the local heroes who fought and paved the way for Samoa\u2019s independence from colonial rulers.<\/p>\n“They need to be recognized, honoured and remembered,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Government also intends to bring back the original music artists, traditional sports and entertainments such as the traditional dances – the mau\u2019ulu\u2019ulu<\/em> in a Siva Samoa competition.<\/p>\nPlans are also to revive the dying art of the brass bands and marching girl\u2019s competitions with a very few village brass bands still existing as they no longer have a stage to perform over the years.<\/p>\n
The celebrations will also coincide with the official opening of the Legislative Offices and the new upgraded parliament building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Lagi Keresoma\/ Apia, SAMOA – 26 January 2026 – Samoa\u2019s 64th Independence celebrations in June will be held over three days to feature traditional sporting events that will attract the diaspora and the inter Samoa longboats \u2013 Fautasi races. The Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt told the media that the celebrations will underscore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[186,185],"tags":[6187,59,6189,6188,6190],"class_list":["post-55393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-local","tag-64th-independence-celebrations","tag-featured","tag-hour-and-remember-our-heroes","tag-lomngboats-races-to-be-revived","tag-pave-independence-from-colonial-rulers"],"yoast_head":"\n
Cabinet endorses three days Independence celebrations in June\u00a0 - Talamua Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/talamua.com\/?p=55393\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cabinet endorses three days Independence celebrations in June\u00a0 - Talamua Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lagi Keresoma\/ Apia, SAMOA – 26 January 2026 – Samoa\u2019s 64th Independence celebrations in June will be held over three days to feature traditional sporting events that will attract the diaspora and the inter Samoa longboats \u2013 Fautasi races. 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