Saturday, December 1, 2012

MÅTMOS NA UCHAN



From where I'm sitting, it may as well be the rainy days of Noah and the ark.

Among the several ways we can describe, in Chamorro, heavy rain, one is måtmos na uchan, literally "drowning rain."

We know that, sadly, people can and have drowned in heavy rain and the flooding it causes.  Sandy on the East Coast of the U.S.  A few months ago in the Philippines.

In the Marianas, we are blessed to be spared deaths from heavy rains and flooding.  But in our past history, some people did die when trying to cross rivers, for example, during heavy downpours.

Måtmos na uchan was one valid reason, priests told the people, for missing Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

Speaking of Noah, that would be Noe in Chamorro, borrowed from the Spanish.  It is pronounced No - Way.

And the flood would be i dilubio, again a Spanish loan word.  To describe a flooded landscape, one would say dilubio i tano'.

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