When Samoa is happening all around you it feels as though the sky can crack open, and that can happen anywhere Samoans are together.

It will happen this weekend before Sunday's Pacific Championship final against New Zealand, when the people will convene as far away as one Samoan can travel and find a compatriot and a joyful column of colour and noise will sound out, before and during and after the game.

Wherever it goes down, these parades have become a tradition in real time and it's a thing to see.

Odds are you’ve caught a glimpse already, maybe via a flag strapped to the top of a car, a jersey or a hat out in the wild or — where it happened loudest of all two weeks ago — at a packed Lang Park to see the Toa face their eternal rivals from Tonga.

The sky really did crack open that day

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