FEATURE STORY

Guam History and Culture: Navigating the Sea of Time

The scene is the present, but it about the beginning of time, the doesn’t feel that way. As the last beginning of life and a beginning for rays of a setting sun offer a bit of the Chamorros, the native people of dim light for guidance, a group of Guam. A hush falls over the now visitors slowly advance up a sandy enlarged group as the story of I trail into the darkness of the distant Nina’huyong begins in the form of past. This pathway leads from the chant by the Maga’lahi, or chief, beach into a thickly wooded area whose muscular frame and crescent alive with the sounds of animals and shaped neckwear, sinahi, glows in broad leaves rattling in the wind. Up the firelight. This story of creation ahead in the rapidly falling darkness, recounts a beginning when all things a fire burns in the center of what were as one and continues in time was once the ancient village of to recall how the first great naviga- Gogna, and at present is the site of tor began his journey and founded the Lina’la’ Chamorro Cultural Park. a people. As the visitors amongst As the visitors begin to congregate the group are seated, the story is “The Chamorros are around the fire, which in a short animated through fire, dance and while will help serve to illuminate chant. a proud people with a the past, they are joined by a second unique story; a culture group comprised of storytellers and A celestial navigator and the first experts on ancient customs, who on Chamorro, Puntan, comes upon an with a magical past and this night will share a special story island uninhabited, pristine and at an optimistic future.” this moment in time, nameless. From “The Chamorros today take great interest in keeping traditional customs alive and celebrating the past, forming a strong identity for today into tomorrow.”

this first Chamorro come many, and a past, mythology and legends can serve island chain where Guam is geograph- people of the sea become inhabitants as a guide in discovering the heritage ically both the largest and southern- of this new land. The chant continues of a people, what their values are and most island. and ends with a call and response led what traditions they hold dear. by the Maga’lahi proudly proclaiming As may be expected from a culture “The pride of the Chamorro people. This identity begins in the past. As the that was able to travel such long dis- We are the ancient people. The first legend told by the Maga’lahi illustrates, tances over sea so long ago, the early people.” Thus spoken, an oral tradition the island now known as Guam was Chamorros were certainly skilled is kept alive for a successive generation first inhabited by a seafaring people, navigators and are thought to have and shared amongst the visitors of this who most likely originated from South- been expert canoe crafters as well. ancient village. It is an affirmation of east Asia several thousands of years Although it is difficult to be sure from existence; a celebration of the roots ago. Through millennia this Chamorro the archaeological record what exactly that hold firm in the sometimes shifting culture honed unique skills, crafts and this early craft may have looked like, sands of time. structures, such as the latte stone, a support pillar carved of limestone or The ancient Chamorro culture is rich basalt, which is synonymous with both with such myths and legends and is a a period of the past and still serves as culture that traces roots through an important symbol for the present. history past several millennia. Much of Indeed, these monolithic support this ancient history has been obscured structures, comprised of a base called by time, but through oral histories such haligi, or pillar, and a capstone called as these recounting the past, the writ- tasa, or cup, were designed and con- ings of early explorers and missionary structed with brilliance and ingenuity, accounts of what life was like hundreds allowing for the pillar and capstone to of years ago, as well as archeological shift comfortably without toppling evidence of what has been built and over. This distinct architectural innova- crafted, a picture of the past may be tion is only found within the Sinahi formed. As with any look into the deep archipelago, the crescent shaped European accounts of a speedy canoe the first contact between Chamorros a heavy toll on the local population, called a proa describes a fast vessel and Europeans is known to have taken and many customs, traditions and that was used for travel and fishing by place. When Magellan’s ships finally knowledge of the old ways died with the native islanders. In fact, it was so depart, it is unclear if the robustious them. Many Chamorros converted to nimble and swift it was often nick- and curious islanders know of the Christianity, took up Spanish customs named “the flying proa.” waves of change that are coming in and intermarried. Spanish rule would the wake. continue until the waning days of the Life during the time of the pre-contact nineteenth century, when American Chamorro was sustained from both Over the course of the next four and ships and the Treaty of Paris would the bountiful sea and the lush sur- a half centuries, a new cycle would once again bring change. rounding landscape. It is known that begin and change would come. It was a caste system existed with an upper, an era of exploration and colonization, At the beginning of what would later middle and lower class, with distinct and less than fifty years after Magel- be characterized as the “American barriers between each. Makanas, or lan’s departure, the island would be Century,” Guam became a possession shamans, helped facilitate contact with formally claimed by Spain, and by the of the United States and would be ad- the taotaomo’na, the spirits of the second half of the seventeenth century ministered by the Department of the ancient, for the benefit of those living would begin to be settled by Spaniards Navy, and for a little over forty years in the visible world. For thousands of and the missionaries who accompa- this arrangement would remain in years the culture matured, yet like the nied them. A culture that had devel- place. Over four hundred years had cycles existing in nature, what was oped over thousands of years would passed since Guam and the Chamorros once discovered by the early Cham- undergo rapid transformation. The were a world within themselves, yet orro would again be found by later Spanish brought with them new flora now they could not escape the conflict explorers. The bright crescent hanging and fauna, new ways of cooking and in the world around them, and in 1941, in the sky from a waxing moon marking new ways of living. They also brought Japanese forces wrested control of a beginning would eventually be re- new ways of worshipping, with the the island from the American Armed placed by a waning moon’s crescent introduction of Roman Catholicism to Forces. However, the Americans would signifying an end. A new era was about the island. Guam became an important return and on July 21st, 1944 the Battle to begin. stop on trade routes between east and of Guam began, and for over two west. Although there was a degree of weeks a hard fought struggle would On March 6th, 1521, Ferdinand Magel- cooperation and friendship between be waged for the island’s future. In the lan and his crew of exhausted sailors the original inhabitants of Guam and end, it was the Americans who re- drop anchor in Umatac Bay off of the newcomers, conflict would arise mained, and after many centuries in- southern Guam. Confusion, misunder- which would claim the life of Chamor- volving both peace and conflict with standing and finally a form of compro- ros and Spanish alike. Unfortunately, the outside world, a new era of pros- mise ensues. It is on this occasion that such conflict along with disease took perity begins on Guam. It is an era of modernization and Americanization, ideals and traditional respect can yet is also a time of awakening and a coexist, while historical fact and desire to reconnect with the past. magical thought can dance together hand in hand around a fire. A respect Today, Guam is an island of people who for the past runs strong on Guam, and wave a welcoming hand at visitors from many local Chamorros go to great around the world, inviting them to our lengths and effort to unearth the shores to experience the natural secrets of the past and preserve it for beauty, warmth and friendliness of our future generations. With this knowl- island. We are a United States Terri- edge comes pride; the pride of the tory and the furthest reach of America Chamorro people, the ancient people, to the west. Our island is a crossroads the first people of Guam. and a gateway, and it is where the rays of the rising sun first fall on American “Guam is an soil every new day. This is an island For international press inquiries, please contact the that celebrates the past and welcomes GVB Marketing Department at island of people the future, a place where cosmopolitan [email protected]. who wave a welcoming hand at visitors from around the world”

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