American Samoa Travel Guide

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Public Holidays and Festivals

All standard U.S. public holidays are observed in American Samoa:

• New Year's Day (January 1)
• Martin Luther King Day (third Monday in January)
• Presidents' Day (third Monday in February)
• Flag Day (April 17)
• Good Friday and Easter Monday (March/April)
• Memorial Day (last Monday in May)
• Independence Day (July 4)
• Labor Day (first Monday in September)
• Columbus Day (second Monday in October)
• Veteran's Day (November 11)
• Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November)
• Christmas Day (December 25)
• Family Day (December 26)

American Samoa's Flag Day, April 17, commemorates the first flying of the Stars and Stripes in 1900. This enthusiastic two-day celebration features fautasi (longboat) racing plus song and dance competitions in Fagatogo.

National Tourism Week in early May sees barbecues, canoe races, cultural demonstrations, fireworks, music, a parade, and the crowning of Miss American Samoa at Utulei Beach.

Manu'a Cession Day is July 16.

Although European explorers didn't find Samoa until 230 years after Christopher got to America, Columbus or "Discoverer's" Day (second Monday in October) is also a public holiday. In fact, it's one of the biggest holidays of the year because it happens to coincide with the Moso'oi Tourism Festival in mid-October. This is the occasion for sporting events, fautasi races, cultural performances, food and flower shows, a beauty pageant, and musical competitions.

Another important event is the rising of the palolo (coral worms) in late October or early November. When the moon and tide are just right and the palolo emerge to propagate, Samoans are waiting with nets and lanterns to scoop up this cherished delicacy, the caviar of the Pacific.