Sama is a cultural group in the Philippines consisting of a majority of the coastal people within the Sulu sea area. Sama members may be described as a cohesive and peace-loving people. They express themselves through verbal discussion rather than through physical violence.
Sama society is composed of the Barbangsa, of royal blood or nobility, and Mahardika, commoners who are free to exercise their basic rights over their private properties and their own professed religion.
Being a datu carries both social and political status. Socially a datu is clothed with a sense of higher maratapat (prestige). A headman sometimes claims to be a descendant of Kasalipan. He is followed by the people because of his Sharif lineage, coupled with his extraordinary limuh (wisdom) and personal traits of honesty, justice, and fairness. He acts as an arbiter of conflicts, counsellor of marital problems, and even as a leader of religious celebrations.
From birth to death, the life cycle of the Sama is full of taboos emanating from folk religion and spiritism, interwoven with those of other doctrines. The Samas have the notion that the occurrence of luck and misfortune in the life of an individual is due to their belief in the concept of Kadar iban Janji or on what has been willed and destined by the Divine.
Sama society is composed of the Barbangsa, of royal blood or nobility, and Mahardika, commoners who are free to exercise their basic rights over their private properties and their own professed religion.
Being a datu carries both social and political status. Socially a datu is clothed with a sense of higher maratapat (prestige). A headman sometimes claims to be a descendant of Kasalipan. He is followed by the people because of his Sharif lineage, coupled with his extraordinary limuh (wisdom) and personal traits of honesty, justice, and fairness. He acts as an arbiter of conflicts, counsellor of marital problems, and even as a leader of religious celebrations.
From birth to death, the life cycle of the Sama is full of taboos emanating from folk religion and spiritism, interwoven with those of other doctrines. The Samas have the notion that the occurrence of luck and misfortune in the life of an individual is due to their belief in the concept of Kadar iban Janji or on what has been willed and destined by the Divine.
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