Bride learns traditional Samoan dance to honor her new family in viral TikTok: ‘One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen’
A proud sister-in-law captured the moment her brother’s bride performed a traditional Samoan dance — called the taualuga — for her new family, and now the footage is going viral.
Lyrah Siarrah (@lyrah_siarrah27) gained over 355,000 views, 34,000 likes, 1,110 saves and 600 comments when she uploaded the bride’s wedding dance to her account.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen a ceremonial dance on our FYP. Earlier this year, a teen performed a powerful haka to honor his mom on her graduation day and gained over 2.7 million views. Before that, students’ school haka gave over 6.9 million TikTokers goosebumps.
But Siarrah’s video is trending not only because of her sister-in-law’s performance, but for what it meant to her family. “This is so beautiful,” she wrote in the caption of her video. “Def married the right woman my dear little brother … She did go out of her way to learn this so graceful and she def did a wonderful job!”
In the video, the bride, Coll Tiatia (@colltiatia), is performing the taualuga, a sacred Samoan dance performed at special celebrations. It is considered the apex of Samoan performances and the centerpiece of Samoan tradition.
Women who perform it are referred to as taupou, and their taualuga is customarily the last entertainment at important ceremonial events.
In the video, Tiatia is accompanied by aiuli or fa’aluma performers — typically brothers or relatives of the taupou — who shout and dance alongside her to hype her up and support her during her taualuga.
Tiatia is accompanied not just by relatives but by her new husband, Anthony, who dances along with her from a distance. “He was so proud of her,” Siarrah wrote in a comment.
During her dance, Tiatia is also gifted with money — the Samoan tala — in a practice called lafo, in which guests place money on the dancer to acknowledge her skill and status.
According to comments from Siarrah, the family was thrilled to accept Tiatia into their family, and they were extremely touched and honored by her learning and performing the taualuga.
“We are all proud n super happy to her have in our family,” Siarrah wrote in response to a TikTok comment. “Our family adores and loves her so much … We welcome her to our family with love … she’s a beautiful girl very polite and very respectful person towards our family members.”
According to Siarrah, Tiatia loves her new family’s culture and wanted to honor them by getting married in Samoa, so the wedding was held in Lafaga, a village on the island of Upolu.
But Tiatia didn’t stop at learning the taualuga. She also learned the Samoan language in order to recite an appreciation speech for her new family.
TikTokers were touched by the way she embraced and honored her new family’s culture, and they took to the comments to express as much.
“This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen,” wrote @briana050191.
“This. This is what I mean when I say dance is a language. There is so much love, gratitude, and respect conveyed here without a single word,” commented @izalahhh.
“I know there wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” wrote @workingclasswanderlust.
To this, Siarrah replied, “Yep everyone was shocked on that day, but yes she did well 🥰”
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