I GUAFAK

The guåfak is a mat woven from dried pandanus leaves.  Besides sleeping on it, our mañaina would spread the guåfak on the ground outside to dry crops, for example.

Today I heard a story about Hagåtña before the war, that a husband and wife were sleeping at home, curled up in their guåfak .  A thunderstorm came along while they were still asleep.  Lightning struck them, bouncing them right out the window and onto the top of a tree, still enveloped in their guåfak.  Can I get a "wow?"

This guåfak was woven by Chamorros in Luta for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Guam in 1981.  I'm not sure how it was used at that event.  But now it hangs at the Luta Man Åmko' Center.