NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Mina'sais na Lisayu 12/20/13 You could say that religion was a central part of grandma’s life and a key part of her family’s legacy to this island. Her families, both from her mother and her father, helped build the foundation for two different churches during the 20 th century. The seeds of Protestantism had already been planted in the island during the Spanish period. Whalers from the United States brought it in small doses towards the end of the Spanish period. In fact the first concerted effort to build a non-Catholic community came from two Chamorros who had left as whalers and returned as evangelists, the Custino Brothers. On both her mother’s and her father’s side, grandma’s relatives were among the first Chamorros to convert to Protestantism. Both grandma’s mother’s and father’s family were of the first generation of Chamorros to convert. In fact grandma’s grandfather, my great great grandfather Jose Aguon Flores (Tatan Engko) was th

Mina'singko na Lisayu 12/19/13 It is strange but some of the happiest memories I have of my grandmother were going with her to funerals. These funerals were like my cultural, linguistic and genealogical boot-camp. I didn’t grow up knowing much about Chamorro language, culture or my family relations. When I became interested while attending UOG, it gave an entire new dimension to our relationship. Whenever there was a funeral of a family friend, relative and so on, grandma would tell me, you’re gonna take me to this. “you’ll find lots of Chamorros to talk to there.” I enjoyed riding in the car talking to my grandmother. This would be the briefing, where a genealogical minefield   would be laid out in front of me. My grandmother would trace a convoluted route that would connect so and so with so and so and with us and us. Along the way she would take us into a seemingly infinite number of cul de sacs, providing tangential stories of this family tha

Mina'kuatro na Lisayu 12/18/13 My grandfather has a memory that would put elephants to shame. I imagine that he must have spent his youth eating elephant brains in order to develop his uncanny ability to remember what seems like every negative thing that has happened in his life. Good things fade and fizzle in his mind, they drip down his frame and never sink in, but a mistake, a slight, an insult, a lie, when someone has wronged him, those things become etched in his mind. My grandfather can recall people who didn’t pay their fares when he drove a cab for a short period after World War II. He can remember people who cheated playing volleyball before the war. His memory is filled with family scandals over land, gifts that were never reciprocated and loans that were never paid back. Part of the reason grandpa has this personality is because he was the oldest of his siblings and has felt like he has given so much to his family over the years and not

 Mina'tres na Lisayu for Elizabeth Flores Lujan 12/17/13 My grandmother would cut out anything in the newspapers related to Chamorro language. She gave me several reasons over the years for why she did this (other than her being a hoarder/collector), but once she said to me, that she was worried that the language would disappear from this island just as the songs of our birds had. This statement struck me because I had grown up in an island where the only birds I’d seem to hear were planes and helicopters flying overhead. For most my age the lack of birds is a piece of Guam trivia, a metaphor to use to talk about how fragile the state of the Chamorro people, or how we should be vigilante about what comes into our community, or a footnote to discussing the brown tree snake issue. For my grandmother and her generation the native birds of Guam were half of the soundtrack of life. If you imagine the singing that Chamorros did being the social opera, th

Mina'dos na Lisayu  My grandmother’s aunties were notorious in their day as “The De Leon Sisters” They were famous as teachers, nurses, opera singers and one of them even dated the boxer Jack Dempsey while he was on island. Grandma and her two sisters Ruth and Tonette became the next generation “De Leon Sisters.” Their mother would dress them in matching outfits and have them stroll around Hagatna. People would see them and remark that they were like ducks walking to the pond.  The De Leon girls were known for being beautiful, but my grandmother, at least to me, always insisted that she was unattractive and ugly. She was a shy girl and was only asked to dance once at her school social events, although she was so nervous she was worried she would soak the hands of the boy she was dancing with. She said that people always talked about her sisters Ruth and Tonette as being beautiful, but didn’t feel like anyone saw her as beautiful. I’ve spent years interviewing

This week I will be writing daily lisayus in honor of my grandmother. She was not Catholic and neither am I, so these are meant to be expressions of my love for her and gratitude that I got to know her and learn from her.  *************** Fine'nina na Lisayu for Elizabeth De Leon Flores Lujan December 15, 2013 You cannot understand who my grandmother was without knowing her mother. So many of the stories that I was told by my grandmother came from this woman, my great-grandmother Rita Pangelinan De Leon who married Guillermo Sablan Flores. My grandmother’s eyes would sparkle when she would share the stories of her mother’s life. For years she would narrate the story of her mother like it was a daily soap opera. The stories usually began with my great-great-great grandfather who was in charge of the kitchen in the Spanish Governor’s palace.  After those in the palace had been fed leftovers would be scraped from huge metal pots onto plates, wrapped and placed into