NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Through my Facebook page and this blog,  I often share what I refer to as “Adventures in Chamorro.” Gof takhilo’ i lenguahi-ta gi lina’la’-hu. Much of my work is dedicated to the revitalization of the Chamorro language and for my two children, Sumåhi and Akli’e’, from the days they were born I have only spoken to them in Chamorro. As such, in both work and the home, my life is filed with lots of interesting and hysterical Chamorro language moments. These are what I refer to as our “Adventures in Chamorro,” named for the adventure we take every day trying to talk about the world around us in the Chamorro language. Every couple of months, I would also share some of them in my Guam Daily Post columns. Here are some that I shared in my column published on August 17, 2016.


Adventures in Chamorro #266: The other day Isa (i nobia-hu), the kids and I were walking along the beach and looking up at the moon. It was a crescent moon, which many people translate to "sinahi" t…

Protecting Paradise on Pagan Island
by Jerome Kaipat Aldan
Earthjustice
June 14, 2016
http://earthjustice.org/blog/2016-june/protecting-paradise-on-pagan-island

I was eight years old when Mt. Pagan, one of two volcanoes that created Pagan Island, erupted. I have many precious childhood memories of that beautiful island. I remember going for swims in the ocean. Small houses made of wood and tin blended in with the natural beauty.

To this day, Pagan remains a paradise, a place to go and be close to nature. The water is clean and uncorrupted. It is a pristine place, a natural wonder.

The U.S. military wants to destroy that paradise, turning it into a live-fire training ground for sailors, pilots and Marines. In 2013, the Navy and Marines proposed expanding training activities in the Mariana Islands. In addition to expanding existing facilities on the island of Tinian, the Marines have set their sights on taking over the entirety of Pagan, displacing those who still call it ho…

While in Kobe I watched the film Akahama Rock and Roll, a documentary about the Akahama area of Otsuchi, which was dramatically affected by the 3/11 tsunami in Japan. It gave me a interesting introduction to the area that I've been visiting this past week. Akahama was home to a strong fishing community, which was devastated by the tsunami. The village itself suffered incredible human damage with 1 in 10 residents perishing in the waters and fires. The tsunami in the area reached more than 60 feet in height and easily devoured the seawall and almost everything else. The documentary showed how people are rebuilding and also disagreement over certain proposals meant to help keep the community safe from future tsunamis, namely the rising of the land on which new buildings will be erected and the creation of new, higher sea walls.

I haven't posted anything this week on my blog because I've been so overwhelmed with the stories I've been hearing as my research study group ha…

For those looking to practice their Chamorro I have a Chamorro sentence email list. Every few days or so I send an email to a list of people that contains a sometimes simple and sometimes complicated Chamorro sentence. The sentence will sometimes deal with mundane issues of what is your favorite cereal, what type of car do you drive, what village to you live in? When you receive the email you can respond to the entire list or just me if you'd like any feedback. If you'd like to be placed on this email list you can send me a request at mlbasquiat@hotmail.com. It is free and open to anyone.

For the 50th sentence that I sent out I decided to make it special. Instead of a single sentence it became a sprawling story about a guali'ek with a question tacked on at the end. If you want to take a crack at the sentence you can see it pasted below:

***********************

Kao guaha manli'e' hao gualiek gi tasi yan kumekematmos gui'. Ha a'agang hao gi i batko-mu lao t…

Este i dos famagu'on-hu.

Ti apmam para bai hu hanao para Okinawa.

Gof magof hu put i hinanao-hu, lao esta gof mahalang yu' nu i dos famagu'on-hu.

Sen kinute este na dos.

For the past week I've been pasting pictures of my many hikes to the Pagat area of northern Guam.

In a one year period I hiked down there 14 times, and in the process exploring so many different areas there and finding lots of cool things.

I don't have thousands of pictures of my trip, since more than once I lost a camera down there. But I do have enough to show different aspects of the Pagat area, most of which people don't really know.

Pagat proper is the trail that takes you to the freshwater cave and then through a trail of lusong, past a single latte house, to get to the natural arch and the cliffs.

Pagat is so much more than this, and I've been blessed to be able to explore and see so much more. On the Pagat loop trail you can see the limestone wall there which no one seems to be able to explain how it was made (but there are many fun theories). At Pagat point you can see two massive limestone rocks known as Chelef's Hands, named after a 17th century Chamorro…

Another big project came my way and it is one of those rush jobs that consume much of my life for the next few days. It is an interesting job to say the least, translating materials dealing with fishing and local fishes. For someone who does not come from a familian peskadot by any means, I am learning quite a bit as I translate. As the Reel Big Fish song says "meggai guihan gi tasi," but unfortunately, ti hu gof tungo' i na'an-niha! At the end of this project I will know alot more about fishing regulations and the names of fish then I learned in the first 30 years of my life. So while much of my time for the next few days will be consumed with this project, the labor will be happy and useful in the end.

Don't know if I'll be posting much until I hit my deadline this Friday. After posting pretty consistently in December and in January I've hit a lull this month, as so many deadlines loom around me. Once I finish this project however I'll work on bein…

Not sure when I'll be able to blog something, this week is crazy.

I taught two winter intersession courses at UOG that finished last week, and now this week I start teaching six classes at UOG for the Spring 2012 semester. Six classes is quite a load, and they are four different classes, meaning that I have to prepare for four different lectures, discussions each week, and then without any TAs or any other support, have to grade the work of 150 students.

I have so many thoughts swirling around my head, but just not enough time to type it into this blog.

I hope that once things calm down this semester, maybe next week I'll be back.

“I Pilan Yanggen Sumåhi…”

by Michael Lujan Bevacqua
Marianas Variety
11/2/11
Many people have asked me why I would name my column “When the Moon Waxes.”
The simple answer is, I pilan yanggen sumåhi…which in English translates to “when the moon waxes.” These are my favorite words from a famous old Chamorro love song called “Dalai Nene.” The word “sumåhi” always stuck with me. It shares the same root word “såhi” with another well known word on Guam now, “sinahi.” This word is most famous as the Chamorro men’s necklace made of hima shell, but is also the word for “new moon.” The tragic lyrics combined with the imagery of the moon stuck with me so, influencing me to name my first child Sumahi.

Like many cultures, the moon has been very important to Chamorros, especially in helping mark the passage of time throughout the year. The Ancient Chamorro calendar had 13 months, one for each moon. In the naming of their months, they noted that different moons symbolized different ideal moments f…