NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Independent Guåhan will discuss the need for stronger historic preservation laws at May General Assembly Independent Guåhan (IG) invites the public to attend their May General Assembly (GA) on Thursday, May 31, from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at the Main Pavilion of the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña. The educational discussion for the evening will focus on how an independent Guåhan can create stronger policies around the preservation of historic sites and cultural properties. Guåhan has a unique and rich cultural heritage that manifests in the island’s food, historic locations, artifacts, buildings, landscape, and oral history. On an island that is becoming increasingly modernized and militarized, having strong laws for historic preservation is essential in protecting the unique identity of this island, that which makes Guåhan Guåhan. While many think that improvement must come at the cost of preservation, in reality, strong policies that promote and protect the island’s cultural resourc

It's almost Mes Chamoru once again! For my free weekly Chamorro classes today I brought a record player and a wide range of Chamorro LPs from my collection. We listened to a few songs, discussing the lyrics. One of the requests from the students was this song below "Mannginge'" from Jesse Bais. It is one commonly heard at parties, in stores, and also used by teachers for performances with their Chamorro classes. The practice of mannginge', or the sniffing and sometimes kissing of the hand of an elder is the subject of different community debates. First there are the debates over whether or not it is dying or still persists. Although it may not be something practiced in all Chamorro families today, it is definitely not dead, and if anything I find more and more families practicing it because of the belief that it is dead. Second there are the debates over who you should or should not pay respect to in this way. This is something that I struggle with as well.

There is a long list of people whom I wish I had the chance to interview and ask some basic questions, the overwhelming majority of which are Chamorros or from Guam. This long, gof annakko' na lista is divided into two parts. First, those whom passed away long before I was born, and those whose lives overlapped with mine, but I never had the chance to sit down and interview. High on my list was Påle' ( Monsignor) Oscar Lujan Calvo, who was close cousins with my grandfather. Påle' Scot as most Chamorros referred to him was the third ever Chamorro Catholic priest. He went to seminary in the Philippines alongside Påle' Jesus Baza Duenas and Påle' Jose Ada Manibusan was ordained in Manila during the war, but died before he could return to Guam. He returned to Guam and war ordained just a few months before World War II hit the island. He, Påle' Duenas and Reverend Joaquin Sablan were the only religious leaders on the island during World War II, meeting the spiri

Estague un dikike’ na tinige’-hu put i sengsong Malesso’ giya Guahan. Hu tuigiyi i prayek I Ma’adahen i Fino’ Chamorro gi Koleho nu este. Dipotsi para u mausa gi un leksion put i sengsong gi sanhaya’ na songsong siha giya Guahan. Hu mentiona gi tinige’-hu unu na gof impottante lao esso malefa na sinisedi gi sengsong gi duranten i Tiempon Chapones, annai mangkahulo’ i Chamorro gi sengsong ya ma dulalak i sindalun Chapones, ya ma gogguen maisa siha. Estague i tinige’-hu: Gefpaʹgo Malessoʹ na songsong. Guaha pantalan ni siña maʹudai hao batko para un bisita Dånoʹ (Cocos Island). Esta hassan koʹkoʹ giya Guahan, lao siña mannoddaʹ hao koʹkoʹ giya Dånoʹ. Meggai na estoria put este na songsong lokkueʹ. Gi i Tiempon Chapones manmapunoʹ meggai na Chamorro ni i Chapones giya Tinta yan Fåha na lugat. Lao i Chamorro manachu ya ma kontra i Chapones ya manmadulalak huyong giya Atate. Este na aksion munaʹ fan såfu i Chamorro giya Guahan guihi na tiempon gera. Gefpåʹgo na songson

I normally only consider the Catholic Church on Guam in historical terms, as Guam for the past few centuries has been a very Catholic space. I think about the Catholic Church as being a colonizer and eventually being a structure that Chamorros became intimately tied to and saw as being a guarantor of their identities. I see the Catholic Church today as being something which is deeply tied to Chamorro culture and most of its manifestations, but as much of my research is historical the contemporary politics of Chamorro culture and Catholicism aren't as pertinent. But because of all the drama locally regarding the Concerned Catholics of Guam and their campaign against the Archbishop and his Neo-Cat flock, I am now paying more attention to Catholic politics. I came across this article about the crisis the Catholic Church is facing in the United States and I wonder how it might be connected to the drama in Guam. ****************** Pope Francis Will Visit US Catholic Church Facing

This year's regional seminar featured two keynote addresses by Father Miguel D'Escoto, a longtime priest, champion of human rights and a former President of the United Nations General Assembly. He has been a very controversial figure because of his outspoken criticism of the United States in particular. As a priest in Nicaragua he was very supportive of the Sandanista Revolution even to the point of joining the government of Daniel Ortega and serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. For this and his other explicitly political activities he was suspended by Pope John Paul II in 1985. He was reinstated last year after he reportedly petitioned the current Pope that the 81 year old be allowed to perform mass again before he dies. His speeches last week were fiery. He did not pull punches in condemning the United States for its lack of respect for international law. He criticized it for the wars it is carrying out around the world. He admonished it for its role in making Lati

My grandmother loved i paluman natibun Guahan pat i paluman Chamorro siha. Recently while going through her numerous papers and documents I came across some stories she had written, on her own, for herself or for my children perhaps in Chamorro about Guam's native birds. She always told me stories about the birds in her youth and how sad it was to no longer hear them. It is common nowadays to feel like there are no birds left on Guam, because most of the native bird population has died out, killed by brown tree snakes and by loss of habitat. Ti mismo magahet este na sinangan. Hunggan i meggaina na paluma siha manmatai guini giya Guahan. Yes it is true that most of the birds on Guam are gone, but certain birds are still active and audible. The only problem is that most of them are recently introduced. Some of the endemic or indigenous birds that you can still find around Guam are the chunge', the kakkak, the sali, the aga and if you head down to Dano' you can see Ko'ko

"I Ilun Pale'" Michael Lujan Bevacqua Marianas Variety 12/3114 This week, a very intriguing, almost ironic historical twist will be visiting Guam, with the arrival of the skull of Påle’ Manuel Solorzano, a Jesuit priest who was killed by Chamorros in 1684 during the period when some Chamorros were still resisting the Catholic intrusion into their lives. I say ironic for many reasons, but chiefly among them is the fact that the preserving of this skull represents the precise thing that the Spanish priests were so keen on eradicating. The Chamorro religion of this time was centered around ancestral worship, or the revering of the spirits of your relatives who had passed away. By revering them Chamorros believed that these spirits, these aniti or manganiti could help Chamorros by protecting them and help them in their day to day activities such as making it rain for crops, helping catch fish, or being brave in battle. For Chamorros, thei

Ti katoliko yu', gof ti katoliko yu'. Lao hu komprende na hagas gof tahdong i hinenggen katoliko gi kutturan Chamoru. Put este, ti hu despresia i Chamorro siha ni' manmanhohongge gi i gima'yu'us katoliko. Para meggai na Chamorro siha, yan-niha i gima'yu'us katoliko ti put i pinayon-niha ha', lao yan-niha sa' ti gof mappot luma'la katoliko giya Guahan. Guaha meggai na areklamento gi i gima'yu'us, lao ti manstriku. Guaha misa, gupot yan dinana' siha, ya este i Chamorro ma gof gogosa. Achokka' mumosmisa hao un biahi kada sakkan, katotoliko ha'. Ya gaigaige ha' i kustumbre siha achokka' tataigue ha' hao gi i gima'yu'us. I halacha' na yinaoyao gi gima'yu'us put i tinilaika siha desde un nuebu na gurupu umannok gi halom i gima'yu'us. Ti hu gof komprende i chi-na siha este na mimu. Lao hu tungo' na meggai manlinayo' put i bidada-na i Maga'obispo. Ti ha fa'taotaotao hun i taota