NO NEW YEAR'S EVE

 

Prior to the establishment of a Catholic mission and Spanish government in the Marianas, there was no western calendar in the Marianas as we have today. We're not even sure if our ancestors marked the passing of an old year and how many past years had gone by.

But when the Marianas did enter western time-keeping, the Marianas were on the eastern side of the Date Line, as can be seen in the German map of the Date Line above.

Notice that the Philippines was also on the eastern side of the Date Line in the map, and that explains it all.

When both the Marianas and the Philippines first came under Spanish rule, power flowed from Spain then to Mexico and then to the Marianas/Philippines. Since Mexico is east of the Date Line, so were the Philippines and the Marianas.

But then Mexico became independent of Spain in 1821 and contact between Mexico and the Philippines/Marianas dwindled to barely anything.

NARCISO CLAVERIA

Governor-General of the Philippines in 1844

The Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, Narciso Claveria, decided to place the Philippines and the Marianas (which were under his authority) on the Asian, or western, side of the Date Line since our islands had more contact with Asia now.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FROM 1899 EXPLAINS THE STORY

In order to achieve this, Claveria decided that December 31, 1844 would not exist on the calendar. December 30, 1844 would be immediately followed by January 1, 1845 and the Philippines and Marianas would now be one day ahead of Mexico, the United States and Hawaii.

So, December 31, 1844, or New Year's Eve that year, never happened in the Marianas.

FIRST DAY OF AGINÅTDO

The Spanish missionaries in the Marianas brought with them the custom of the Misan Aginåtdo, which are Masses celebrated before dawn nine days before Christmas. Thus they begin on December 16.

In Saipan, they have the custom of singing this particular song on the first day of Aginåtdo, or December 16.

Since the birth of Jesus all began with the Annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel to Mary that she was chosen by God to be the Mother of Jesus, Aginåtdo begins with this event in mind. The words of this song spell it out.

The melody, by the way, is used in more than one Chamorro hymn. This is the same melody, for example, as the hymn to Santa Ana, the grandmother of Jesus and the mother of Mary entitled "Sainan i Bithen Maria."

Pot tinago' i Saina-ta i Atkånghet San Gabriel

(By order of our Lord the Archangel Saint Gabriel)

måtto guato gi una bithen ni eståba Nasaret. (1)

(came to a virgin who was in Nazareth.)

Annai måtto gi me'nå-ña, "Åbe," ilek-ña i ma tågo',

(When he came before her, "Ave," the messenger said,)

"Maria, bula hao ni gråsia, si Yu'us gaige giya hågo."

("Mary, you are full of grace, God is with you.")

"Un fañågo, mungnga manman, i Nana' libren i taotao;

("You will give birth, don't be amazed, to the Savior of humanity;)

i remedio para todos yan i anite todo espånto."

(the remedy for all and the demons will be alarmed.")

I bithen i anghet umoppe, "Ti hu hulat kumomprende;

(The virgin answered the angel, "I am unable to understand;)

boton-måme 'an i asaguå-ho i ginasgas para siempre." (2)

(it is our vow, my husband and I, to be chaste always.")

Ya manoppe i ma tågo', "Siempre bithen ha' un såga;

(And the emissary answered, "You will surely remain a virgin;)

i Mesias un fañågo, ni esta åpmam na ma nangga.

(you will give birth to the Messiah, whom they have awaited for a long time already.)

Oppe yo' guse', Señora, sa' ma nanangga 'u gi langet. (3)

(Answer me quickly, Lady, for they await me in heaven.)

På'go na puenge nai gloria para todos i man ånghet."

(For tonight is glory for all the angels.")

Si Maria pues manoppe, "Sangåne i tinakhilo'-ña

(So Mary then answered, "Tell His highness)

na gi uttimon esklabå-ña u fa'tinas i pinto'-ña."

(that in the last of His servants His will shall be done.")

Ma hungok todo gi langet, "Maria, bula hao ni gråsia."

(All in heaven heard, "Mary, you are full of grace.")

Ma repite ni man ånghet, "Åbe, Nånan i Saina-ta."

(The angels repeated, "Hail, Mother of our Lord.")

NOTES

(1) In Chamorro, the L in Gabriel is pronounced as a T, Ga - bri - et, so it rhymes with Nasaret, in English Nazareth.

(2) Yan, meaning "and," is shortened to 'an.

(3) Another shortcut. Yo' (me) is shortened to 'u.

HINENGGEN MAN ÅMKO'

 

Mungnga umo'mak yanggen masahahalom ha' hao trabia.

Don't shower if you're still sweaty.

When we were kids playing in the streets, hitting empty tin cans down the street with sticks, or playing catch and racing each other, when we'd come home some of us would want to take a shower right away because we were so sweaty from our games.

But some saina, often the nånan biha or grandmother, would forbid us to. "Cha'-mo umo'omak sa' masahahalom ha' hao trabia!" ("Don't you dare shower because you're still sweaty!")

We'd have to dry off before they'd let us shower. So, we'd take off our sweaty shirts and just keep our shorts on and it didn't take too long to dry off. They'd never allow us to dry off standing in front of a fan, either. 

The fear was we'd get sick if we took a shower while we were still sweating.

Is there a scientific basis?

Although science does not say showering when still being sweaty will kill you or make you sick, medical people and health experts generally advise people to cool down before showering after they've sweated from playing sports or exercising. Water, either hot or cold, will have an effect on the body, one's heart rate and body temperature, so it's best to subject the body to cold or hot water when the body is in its natural rest state.

Others say if you take a hot shower while still sweaty, your body still needs to sweat in order to cool down the internal organs, so you'll end up sweating after the shower anyway. Wait, then, till your body stops sweating and then take a shower.

Still...

I think or man åmko' had other concerns when it came to showering while still sweaty.

They really believed you could get sick if you did. 

My Filipino friends tell me they had the very same belief. Tropical people think alike. Parents believed that showering right away would shock the child's body. Remember that Filipinos generally shower with cold water, just as almost every Chamorro did before the war and even after. The body needs to cool down, both Filipinos and Chamorros believe(d), before the body can properly deal with the water from showering.

FAMILIA : TAIJITO

 

The Taijito family history is pretty straightforward. The majority of Taijitos are from Asan, and I suspect that even the few Taijitos found in Hagåtña in Spanish times were originally from Asan.

Since the family is too large in number, I will just identify the males who were able to establish lines that kept the family name going.

Sometimes a female Taijito who had children out of wedlock produced children who carried forward the name Taijito, and these I will also include.

LUÍS MAAÑAO TAIJITO

Luís, from Asan, was married to Fermina Aflleje Taitano. They had two sons, Francisco and José.

Francisco married Rosalía Pérez Cruz, the daughter of Felipe and Margarita. They had a son Vicente who had moved to the US before World War II. He registered for the draft in New York City in 1940. He does not seem to have produced children and his whereabouts disappear.

José married Vicenta Santos Salas, the daughter of José and María and had several children but only one was a male who carried forward the Taijito name. He was Francisco, and he married Asunción Santos Muña, the daughter of Gregorio and Josefa. Eventually they moved to Hågat and raised their children there.

So from Luís Maañao Taijito of Asan came the Muña Taijitos based in Hågat, and their line still continues to this day.

RITA TORRES TAIJITO

Another Asan Taijito was Rita, whose parentage is unknown at this time.

Before Rita married Felipe Santos Aflleje, she had a daughter named María Taijito. María in turn had a number of children out of wedlock. At least three daughters (Vicenta, Consolación and Manuela) married and had numerous children, but carrying their fathers' surname. No sons of María seem to have fathered children to carry forward the Taijito name.

And so the Taijito name gradually vanished as a last name from its birthplace of Asan, though many Asan families obviously have Taijito blood in them.

APOLINARIA MEGOFÑA TAIJITO

Apolinaria is a Hagåtña woman in the 1897 Census, but having two very Asan names - Taijito and Megofña - I wouldn't be surprised if she originally came from Asan and then moved to the capital city.

Although married to José Aguon, Apolinaria had two children out of wedlock.

A daughter Ana Taijito married Severino Ricardo Apuron, so the entire Apuron clan are descendants of Ana, the daughter of Apolinaria.

A son Mamerto married Ana Mendiola Benavente, familian Lile'. And so now we have the Benavente Taijitos. Mamerto moved up to Machånao in the Dededo municipality before the war. They had one son Jesús.

FRANCISCO SALAS TAIJITO

I came across the interesting life of Francisco Salas Taijito, the son of José Taitano Taijito and Vicenta Salas Santos. Francisco comes from the Luís Maañao Taijito clan of Asan, though he moved to Hågat. He also went by the nickname Frank.

Frank was well-known back in the day for being chef for Guam's postwar Governors. He served them all in the 1950 and 60s, many of them American Governors appointed by the US President.

Frank wasn't just a good cook of Chamorro food. He could cook pretty much anything he could find a recipe for. Once found, the recipe stayed in his head. When he made chow mein for Governor Elvidge, who had very sophisticated tastes, Frank made his own noodles. When Governor Daniels blew in from Texas with wife and children in hand, Frank made hominy grits for breakfast. Frank made soups, salads, main courses, desserts and pastries. Each Governor had their own eating habits, and Frank easily adjusted to each one; from those partial to gourmet food to those who were satisfied with just toast and coffee in the morning.

He not only cooked for the Governor and family but also for their dinner guests, the frequency and amount of them depending on the Governor.

Frank got his start cooking for a living when PanAm hired him in 1937 to cook meals for the China Clipper seaplanes that landed in Apra Harbor before the war. He spent just two days in the Navy, the shortest stint he believed on record, and was released by the Navy to start working for PanAm. Besides cooking ground meals, Frank flew on the planes to cook in-flight meals. His plane was at Midway when the war broke out, so he wasn't on Guam for the war. Frank passed away in 1993 at the age of 85.

FRANCISCO TAIJITO WITH SAW IN HAND ON RIGHT

putting up booths for the Hågat parish fiesta in 1967

Father Donan Hickey on left

THE MEANING OF TAIJITO

We can't be too sure what Taijito means because the second part of the name, HUTO, can mean two different things. It can mean either lice or the seed of the dukduk (a kind of breadfruit) tree.

So Taijito can mean either "without lice" or "without dukduk seeds." Although the thought of lice isn't pleasant, remember that the name means WITHOUT lice, and that's a good thing.

For all we know, there could have been another meaning of huto which we don't know today.

There is another Chamorro word huto', which means "to spread," like spreading a cloth on a table. But huto' has a glota, which is not present in Taijito.

Our ancestors came up with unusual (for us) names. Just think of Taimanglo (without wind) or Taitano (without land).

I DEFFE' NA SAKKE

 

Ocho åños ha' edåt-ña si Miget ya ma gacha' gi halom i kuåtton Tun Venancio, ha kekesakke masea håfa i siña.

(Miget was just eight years old and he was caught inside Tun Venancio's bedroom, trying to steal whatever he could.)

"Hei!" umessalao si Tun Venancio, ya malågo si Miget ya ha eskapåye.

("Hay!" Tun Venancio cred out, and Miget ran away and escaped.)

Lao åntes de malågo, ha baba i pachot-ña si Miget sa' ma espånta ya annok na doffe'.

(But before he ran, he opened his mouth being caught off guard and it showed he was toothless.)

Humånao si Tun Venancio guato gi polisia ya annai ma faisen si Tun Venancio kao siña ha identifika håye i patgon ilek-ña, "Hokkok ha' hu tungo' na doffe'."

(Tun Venancio went to the police and when they asked him if he could identify the kid, he said, "All I know is that he was toothless.")

Pues ilek-ña i polisia, "Pues ta rekohe todo i famagu'on ya ta li'e' håye doffe'."

(So the policeman said, "Then let's gather all the kids and see who is toothless.")

Eståba si Miget gi papa' i bentånan i polisia ya ha ekkungok håfa ilek-ña i polisia.

(Miget was under the policeman's window and listened to what he said.)

Malågo si Miget guato gi amigu-ña as Juan ni acha lokka' yan guiya. 

(He ran to his friend Juan who was as tall as him.)

"Juan! Juan! Pot fabot, ta na' åttilong i un nifen-mo ya un kado' doffe' hao."

("Juan! Juan! Please let's blacken your one tooth and pretend to be toothless.")

Pues ma chåchak i trongkon papåya ya ma chule' i chigo'-ña pues ma nå'ye åpo. Ma palai este gi un nifen-ña si Juan ya ma na' åttilong pues annai man ma ågang todo i famagu'on ya ma baba i pachot-ñiha para u ma li'e', ma sodda' na dos na påtgon doffe', era si Miget yan si Juan.

(So they cut the papaya tree and collected its sap and added ashes to it. They smeared this on one of Juan's teeth and made it black so when they called all the kids and opened their mouths to see, they found two toothless kids, which were Miget and Juan.)

Ilek-ña i polisia gi as Tun Venancio, "Dos na doffe' guaha ya ilek-mo na uno ha' na påtgon humåtme i gimå'-mo. Pot i ti siña un identifika håye fuera de doffe' gue', debe de hu sotta este dos."

(The policeman told Tun Venancio, "There are two toothless kids and you said only one entered your house. Since you can't identify the kid except that he was toothless, I have to let these two go.")

Ya taiguennao humuyong na ti ma kastiga si Miget.

(And that's how Miget ended up not being punished.)

HINENGGEN MAN ÅMKO' : YANGGEN MAN ATTOK I MANNOK

 

Yanggen man attok i mannok siha annai u'uchan, siempre u dinira i ichan para un råto ha'.

Lao yanggen ti man attok, siempre u uchan tolot dia.

If it's raining and the chickens hide, the rain will last just a short time.

If they don't hide, it will rain the whole day.

It's almost as if the chickens are telling us, "If it's going to keep raining and raining all day, there's no use hiding. Just stay in the rain."

But it could be that the rain softens up the ground, allowing the chickens to get at worms and bugs hiding in the soil more easily. Sometimes, with the soil loosened by the rain, the worms just come out of hiding. A rainy day, therefore, can mean good hunting for the chickens.

The feathers of the chicken do help a lot to keep the chicken warm in the rain, but, unlike a duck, the feathers are not water-proof. The chickens will want to get out of the rain at some point. But the good hunting might keep them in the rain for part of the day.

LAST WILL IN CHAMORRO

 

In 1927, a prominent and wealthy man decided to write his last will and testament as he was not in good health and wanted to be prepared for death. He wrote his will in Chamorro, which lets us see the kind of Chamorro being spoken in Guam in the 1920s, 28 years into Guam's slow but sure Americanization.

The man was born around 1872, and his father was a very prominent man on Guam in the mid 1800s, as his father before him had been a Spanish government official who fathered children with a Chamorro lady.

I have changed the spelling to my own spelling more familiar to people today, and I am leaving out last names because the family's current descendants may not appreciate this will becoming public knowledge. An English translation follows each paragraph and explanatory notes come at the end.

Guåho si José ____ ____, 55 åños edåt-ho yan taotao este iya Hagåtña, låhen _____ yan _____. I numeron sedulås-ho 3313. Malångo yo’ lao mamaolek ha’ todabia i hinaso-ko. Hu fa’tinas i uttimo na disposision-ho ni todo i guinaha-ho, taiguine mo’na :

I am José ____ ____, I am 55 years old and a resident here in Hagåtña, the son of _____ and _____. My cédula is number 3313. I am sickly but my mind is still well. I make my final disposal of all my assets as follows :

UNO : Guåho sottero yo’ ya tåya’ tinatte-ko pat patgon-ho ni mañaina-ho sino solamente mañe’lo yan sobrino siha.

ONE : I am single and I have no descendants or children nor parents except only siblings and nieces and nephews.

DOS : Desde ke hu tutuhon macho’cho’ asta på’go hu sodda’ este siha mo’na na propiedåt :

TWO : Ever since I began working till now I find the following properties :

(a) Un guma’ teha yan i solåt-ña ni gaige gi Calle Esperanza, barrion San Ramón, numero 1299, na hu adkiere påtte pot erensia ginen i mañaina-ho yan påtte pot finahån-ho gi mañe’lu-ho. One house with tiled roof and its plot which is on Esperanza Street, in the barrio (district) of San Ramón, number 1299, which I acquired partly through inheritance from my parents and partly from my purchase from my siblings.

(b) Un fangualu’an giya Pa’åsan hurisdiksion Hagåtña na hu adkiere lokkue’ pot erensia ginen i mañaina-ho. A farm in Pa’åsan, jurisdiction of Hagåtña, which I acquired also through inheritance from my parents. 

(c) Un paståhe giya Makåhna hurisdiksion Hagåtña yan trenta na guaka ni man ma påpåsto guihe. Este na tåno’ finahån-ho gi as Juan ____, as Joaquin ____ yan otros mås. A pasture in Makåhna, jurisdiction of Hagåtña, with thirty heads of cattle which are pastured there. This land is my purchase from Juan ____, Joaquin ____ and others.

(d) Guaha lokkue’ ga’-ho singko na båkan karabao yan dos na toriyon karabao na man ma sosotta gi paståhen Luís ____ giya Bubulao. Guaha lokkue’ un båkan guaka na ha popoksai si Joaquin ____; un bakiyan guaka na ha popoksai si José ____ yan tres båkan karabao, i uno ha popoksai si Juan ____, i otro ha popoksai i pastot-ho as Juan ____ ya i otro ha popoksai si Vicente ____ yan un lecheran guaka na gai patgon. I have also five female carabao and two young male carabao which are loose on the pasture on Luís ____ in Bubulao. There is also a cow being raised by Joaquin ____; a heifer being raised by José ____ and three female carabao, one being raised by Juan, the other by my herdsman Juan ____ and the other by Vicente ____ and a dairy cow with its calf (or is pregnant?).

(e) Guaha lokkue’ dos karetå-ho, i uno troso i otro råyo. I also have two carts, one with solid wheels and the other with spoked wheels.

(f) Guaha lokkue’ iyo-ko na piano. I also have a piano.

TRES : Hu deklåra na tåya’ ni uno hu didibe ya ni uno dumidibe yo’.

THIRD : I declare that I am in debt to no one at all and no one is in debt to me.

KUÅTTRO : I disposision-ho ni este siha i propiedåt-ho ni esta hu sångan taiguine mo’na :

FOURTH : The disposal of my properties already described is as follows :

(1) I gima' teha yanggen måtai yo’ para si Marikitan che’lu-ho. The tiled-roof house should I die is for my sister Marikita.

(2) I tano’ giya Pa’åsan, i paståhe giya Makåhna yan i guakas siha guihe yan i singko båka yan dos toriyon karabao ni man gaige gi paståhen Bubulao para i sobrinu-ho as Enrique ____ kon la obligasion de i kubre todo i gåsto pot guåho durånte todo i malangu-ho yan i gåston i entieru-ho yanggen måtai yo’. Pot si akåso homlo’ yo’ nu este na malangu-ho ya esta yo’ siña macho’cho’ komo åntes, obligao yo’ na hu na’na’lo gue’ ni todo i gaston-ña pot guåho. The land in Pa’åsan, the pasture in Makåhna and the cattle there and the five female and two young male carabao which are in the Bubulao pasture are for my nephew Enrique ____ with the obligation to cover all the expenses during my illness and the expenses of my funeral should I die. If I should recover from this illness and I can work as I did before, I am obliged to pay him back all his expenses for me.

(3) I tres båkan karabao, i tres båkan guaka yan un tatneron guaka ni man ma popoksai segun i esta hu sångan guine gi sanhilo’ yan i dos kareta yan i piano para i mañe’lu-ho famalao’an as Marikita, Caridad yan Consuelo. The three female carabao, the three cows and one carabao calf which are being raised in the way I have already stated above and the two carts and piano are for my sisters Marikita, Caridad and Consuelo.

(4) Hu nombra i primu-ho yan amigu-ho as José ____ para atbaseå-ho para ke, yanggen måtai yo’, guiya u dispone todo i propiedåt-ho konfotme i malago’-ho guine na testamento. I name my cousin and friend José ____ as my executor so that, should I die, he will dispose all my properties in accordance with my wishes here in this testament.

Hu deklåra na este ha’ i uniko na testamento fina’tinås-ho asta på’go na ha’åne. I declare that this is the only testament that I have written till the present.

 

Ya este na testamento hu suplika i sobrinu-ho as José ____ para u tugi’e yo’ sa’ chatsaga yo’ hu tuge’ pot i malangu-ho ya todo este siha na disposision-ho humuyong ginen i pachot-ho yan i minalago’-ho, sin hu ma su’ok pat hu ma chachalåne, ya bai hu fitma este na testamento gi me’nan i testigo siha ni i hu na’ fan ma agånge para u ha hungok i disposision-ho guine na testamento, guine giya Hagåtña på’go gi dia ocho de enero gi mit nobesientos beinte i siette na såkkan.

And this testament I requested my nephew José ____ to write for me because I am unable due to my illness to write it and all of these instructions of mine have come from me verbally and from my will, without me being pressured or influenced, and I will sign this testament before the witnesses whom I have called to hear of the instructions in this testament, here in Hagåtña on today’s date of January 8, 1927.

NOTES

(1) The testator uses some Spanish loan words which are hardly used today. Atbasea (Spanish albacea) means executor, as of a will. The sedulas (Spanish cédula) was a personal identification paper. He also uses phrases straight out of Spanish such as "kon la obligasión de" (with the obligation to).

(2) He uses the original word todabía instead of trabia (in Saipan, tarabia), meaning "still, not yet." Monsignor Calvo (born 1915) always said todabía as well.

(3) The man has a piano, a rarity among Chamorros at the time. It indicates he is a man of above-average financial means (as also evidenced by his properties and cattle) and cultural affinity with the West.

(4) This man's last will differs from older last wills in one very noticeable way - the absence of any religious language. The man was Catholic, and I am not suggesting he wasn't a practicing one, but he does not include any religious language at all, not even about his funeral, whereas older last wills were very religious in tone. They almost always began right away with a profession of the person's Catholic faith; this was often the very first line of the last will. The person went on to express how they intended to die a loyal Catholic, obedient to the Catholic faith till death, and included clear instructions that he or she be given a Catholic funeral and sometimes even made provision to pay for the exact kind of funeral services they wanted, or how many Masses they wanted to be offered for them.

(5) Place names. The man's real estate assets were all centered in what we now call the Agaña Heights area. He mentions two places : Pa'åsan and Makåhna. I have never heard of a place called Makåhna, only the mountain by that name. A mountain is hardly a place for a pasture, but maybe he means the slopes of Mount Makåhna near Agaña Heights or maybe the backside of the mountain, which isn't a steep climb.

PA'ÅSAN AND MAKÅHNA

In addition, he mentions a place called Bubulao, where he didn't own land but where one of the landowners there allowed him to pasture some of his animals, maybe for a fee or a share in the meat if and when the animal was butchered. Bubulao was prime pasture land and some prominent Hagåtña people owned land in Bubulao and raised cattle there, sometimes hundreds of heads of cattle.

Bubulao is somewhat remote. One has to drive from Malojloj inland to the foot of the mountains.

BUBULAO

ÅNTES DE UMO'O' I GÅYO

 

This is a schedule of Catholic Masses on Sundays in all the Catholic churches and public chapels on Guam in the year 1955, excluding the military chapels.

You can see how early in the morning Sunday Mass was in the old days, many of them before the crack of dawn.

In fact, a common saying among people, especially mothers, back then was, "Åntes de umo'o' i gåyo, esta debe de un gaige gi gima'yu'us."

"Before the rooster crows, you should already be at church."

I'll explain the reasons for these early Mass times further down this article.

But notice : the earliest Sunday Mass was at 5AM (Agaña Heights and Sinajaña) and the latest Sunday Mass was at 10AM (Agaña Heights, Sinajaña and Yoña).

But in many villages, Sunday Mass no longer available after 8 or 830AM. If you were from Asan, Dededo, Maina, Malojloj, Mangilao, Ordot, Santa Rita, Toto or Humåtak and weren't in church by 8AM, you missed Mass or had to go to another village to find one.

WHY SO EARLY?

The FIRST reason is on the Church side.

In the good old days, no one, not even the priest, could receive Holy Communion unless they had not eaten anything or drunk anything at all, not even water, from 12 midnight till the time of Holy Communion. Obviously, the later the Mass was in the day, the hungrier the person - and the priest! So they scheduled Masses as early as possible in the morning, or even before dawn.

Notice that no Masses began after 10AM. By then it was too late in the day for priests and people to keep fasting.

The SECOND reason is on the people's side.

Before the war, the vast majority of people farmed for a living. That meant that they woke up very early, and prided themselves in that. This way they could hear Mass at 4AM or 5AM and get to their farms (often on foot) before the sun made the day too hot. After the war, farming almost completely disappeared, and people began waking up a bit later, though old habits didn't die right away. 

The people didn't go to their farms on Sunday, of course. All manual labor was forbidden by the Church on the Lord's Day. But the people still woke up at 4 or 5AM, even on Sundays. It was just a routine the people didn't break.

LOST SURNAMES : CHIBOG

 

There used to be a family in Asan called CHIBOG.

The family goes all the way back to the 1700s. The name was also spelled Chiboc, Chibuc or Chibug. Spelling was not consistent in those days.

In 1791, in Spanish documents, there is a man named ANTONINO CHIBOG who was Teniente of the village of Asan. The Teniente was something like the assistant, or second-in-command, of the higher official who was in charge of something bigger than one village, so he had a Teniente to care for one section of his responsibility.

The document states that Antonino was the successor of an earlier Teniente named VOLFANGO CHIBOG. Volfango is the Spanish form of the German name Wolfgang (like Mozart), so this suggests to me that Volfango Chibog was born prior to 1769 which is when the Jesuit missionaries were expelled from the Marianas. Some, if not many, of the Jesuit missionaries in the mid 1700s were actually Germans, so the name Volfango was spread by them.

We know that Chibog women dominated the family in the late 1800s.

A María Chibog had married Gelacio Muña from Aniguak.

Mariano Materne also from Aniguak was a Chibog on his mother's side.

Marcela Tenorio was also a Chibog on her other's side.

BY 1897

By the 1897 Guam Census, there were only three people named Chibog on Guam.

All three were siblings, the children of Lorenzo Chibog and his wife Gabina Fegurgur. Sometimes her name is spelled Gavina.

They had two daughters and one son : Ana, María and Antonio.

Ana married Bernardo Cruz Pascual and had two daughters. The family moved to Saipan. The two daughters themselves married so the Chibog name was lost as the children took on their fathers' last names.

Neither María nor Antonio ever married and had children; so, the Chibog name was eventually lost when the two of them died, which was before the 1920 Census.

Lydia, the woman above, from San Roque in Saipan, was a Chibog. Her mother was Rosa Chibog Pascual, the daughter of Ana Fegurgur Chibog and Bernardo Cruz Pascual. They moved from Asan to Saipan in the early 1900s.

COMMENDED BY SPAIN

 

CIVIL ORDER OF CHARITY OF SPAIN

Orden Civil de Beneficiencia

From 1872 to 1876, Spanish society was rocked by a civil war. The Carlistas were a political faction in Spain that supported a different line of kings than the one then in power. The Carlist uprisings were eventually squashed by the ruling Spanish government.

Those captured in the war faced deportation to several places around the world under Spanish jurisdiction, including the Marianas. When the Spanish deportados, or deportees, landed in the Marianas, there was no prison big enough to house them all. Feeding them, too, was an issue.

OLD HAGÅTÑA

In order to handle this situation, many deportados were allowed to live with Guam families, both Spanish and Chamorro. Some families accommodated these deportados in such a way that the Spanish Government wanted to commend them in some way when the war was done.

In 1878, the Overseas Ministry of the Spanish Government was given permission to award half a dozen Chamorros and some Spaniards with membership in the Órden Civil de Beneficiencia, or the Civil Order of Charity. This distinction recognized acts of extraordinary service by individuals to the community in times of calamity, natural or otherwise.

The Chamorros so awarded were :

FATHER JOSÉ TORRES PALOMO. He was the first Chamorro priest, ordained in Cebu in 1859. Since he was not a member of a religious Order, who have the vow of poverty, Palomo was free to own his own houses and properties, so he was able to house deportados in his own private residence. Father Palomo lived to see the Americans take over Guam and he did nothing to stand in the way; in fact, he was considered by the Americans a great help in showing cooperation with the new regime. He died in 1919.

FATHER JOSÉ TORRES PALOMO

ANDRÉS CRUZ CASTRO. He was an officer in the Chamorro militia, known as the Compañía de Dotación. Castro was married to Ramona Alejandro.

FRANCISCO DÍAZ TORRES. Descendant of the famous official Luís de Torres. He was married to Joaquina Crisóstomo Martínez. 

FÉLIX DÍAZ TORRES. Brother of Francisco and also a descendant of the celebrated Luís de Torres. He was married to Martínez then Rosa Salar Pérez.

ANTONIO PANGELINAN MARTÍNEZ. His daughter Josefa married a Spaniard named Julián Sáiz. Antonio was married to Eduviges Díaz Wilson, the daughter of the Irishman James Wilson and the Chamorro Rufina Díaz.

JOSÉ RIVERA PÉREZ. He was a Sergeant in the local military force.

VICENTE OLIVARES CALVO. Although technically not a Chamorro, he was a Spanish-Filipino mestizo whose whole family had firm Marianas roots, dividing their lives equally between Manila and Guam. Some in his family married Chamorros, so I consider Vicente to be "local," if not Chamorro by blood. Among the various things he did, he was for a time the captain of the port at Apra, in charge of the arrival and departure of various ships. His children mainly lived in the Philippines so he has no descendants on Guam, but he is an uncle to the other Calvos who did remain on Guam.

FIRST AMERICAN SHIP ON GUAM?

It is claimed that the American whaling ship the Resource was the first American ship to visit Guam. That was in the year 1799, when the United States flag had sixteen stars, as seen above, for the sixteen states that made up the country at the time.

If this claim is accurate, then perhaps the sixteen-starred flag is the first American flag seen by Chamorros, assuming any were down in Apra Harbor at the time the Resource sailed in.

The Resource was not the first American ship to visit the Marianas. That distinction goes to the Betsey which reached Tinian on July 14, 1798. But the only people living on Tinian at the time were a shipwrecked crew, who were rescued and taken away. This was followed the very same year in November by another commercial American ship, the Ann and Hope.. But that ship did not meet any Chamorros nor Spaniards on Tinian either. The island was deserted, except for one shipwreck survivor who was from India or thereabouts.

The Resource did not make much of a splash while it was here on Guam. All that is said is that the ship took on supplies and allowed the crew some shore time for relaxation. Much more valuable for history's sake was the visit of the next American ship, the Lydia, in 1802. A member of that crew wrote many pages of what he observed on Guam when he was here and we still have that account.

I have found, so far, only one American ship called the Resource during the same period it supposedly came to Guam. It was not described as a whaling ship but it was a commercial ship, transporting goods. It is also on record for having made foreign journeys on business. So, conceivably, this is the same Resource that visited Guam. It was owned by a J. Sanford Barker in Charleston, South Carolina. But, for all we know, this could have been another ship by the same name, though that is rare.

FAMILIA : CHARSAGUA

 

CHARSAGUA is an indigenous Chamorro name.

It appears in the censuses during Spanish times.

The name could mean several things, all of them more or less similar. CHAT is a prefix which means "badly, imperfectly, defectively." And SÅGUA means "port or canal." So perhaps chatsagua was used to described a way in and out of land and sea that wasn't recommended due to some geographical defect.

Although there were nine people named Charsagua in the 1897 Guam Census, it was a family destined to slowly fade away on Guam, and today it is in the US mainland that the Charsagua name continues.

JOSÉ CHARSAGUA was an old man, around 70 years old in 1897, so born around 1827, and a widower.

He was living in Hagåtña with two sons, his children from his deceased wife Apolonia García. You would think that having two sons would give his line a chance to survive. But here's what happened.

JOSÉ GARCÍA CHARSAGUA

José, the older of the two sons, married María Lizama Santos, the daughter of Ignacio and Josefa.

Court documents show that José had a nickname - Chetla.

Jose'n Chetla was involved in a road dispute in the early 1900s. He claimed that a certain trail, heavily used by the farmers traveling through the area, was on his private property. So he cut down some trees and blocked the road. The neighbors took Chetla to court, and Chetla was forced to reopen the road.

Jose'n Chetla and his wife María had half a dozen or so children, but half of them died young. Only two children lived long enough to have children, and they were both women who married. One of them was Rosa, pictured below. The other was her sister Magdalena. Having no sons, José wasn't able to pass on the Charsagua name to descendants.

MANUEL GARCÍA CHARSAGUA

But there was a second son of José and Apolonia and his name was Manuel.

His wife was Mariana Aguon. They had children, but only one lived long enough to have children. Her name was María.

María Aguon Charsagua never married but she had children. One was a boy, named José, who carried the name Charsagua from his mother. José joined the US Army and served in Korea and Vietnam. He married Dominga Rodríguez from Panama and had children; two daughters and two sons. José and his family remained in the US mainland and it is there that José sons and grandsons carry on the Charsagua name.

It is in the continental US, across several states, and no longer on Guam, where you will find people with the last name Charsagua.

JOSÉ AGUON CHARSAGUA'S GRAVE IN TEXAS

Son of María Aguon Charsagua, grandson of Manuel García Charsagua

JOSÉ CHARSAGUA'S GRANDSONS

the future of the Charsagua family name

KÅNTA : PÅTGON NENE

 

In 1980, a Saipan band called Tropicsette released their album Palasyon Rico. One of the biggest hits from that album was a song that even made Guam go crazy, even my own classmates aged 18 years old who could hardly speak, or even understand, Chamorro.

That song was Påtgon Neni. 

Everyone on Guam was singing it, even if they pronounced the words badly and didn't understand what they were singing. The song was important on Guam in the way it introduced many Guam people to the "Micronesian" sound in music. Chamorro music on Guam didn't have that sound, but the music scene in Saipan did, since the Carolinians of Saipan had their influence on that island. Since my classmates and I barely understood the words, we loved the song Påtgon Neni because of the sound.

That sound came from Pohnpei.

In a 2008 newspaper article written by one-time Tropicsette member Herbert Del Rosario, to honor Frank Bokonggo Pangelinan, another Tropicsette member who had just died, Del Rosario says the following, 

"I must admit the song Patgon Neni was our most popular song, which brought the whole island (Saipan) to Oleai Room (a bar) every weekend to listen to this song which originated from the island of Pohnpei."

With the help of Pohnpeian friends, I was able to find the original Pohnpeian song on which Patgon Neni is based. The song is titled Pwurodo Kameiehla. I believe it was composed by Daniel Isaac.

According to a Pohnpeian friend, the first line more or less says "Come and take my life, because I have none, anyway, without you..."

Somehow, someone in Tropicsette got to know this song. Candy Taman often borrowed songs from Chuuk and other islands and added Chamorro lyrics to them, but I'm not sure who penned the Chamorro version of this Pohnpeian song.

The Chamorro version is also about a broken relationship, seen from the man's perspective. He tells the woman that if she remarries, then bring their child to him, since it would be bad for the child to be raised by another man who is not his father.

CHAMORRO LYRICS

Pues adios ya bai hu hånao.

(So goodbye and I will go.)

Ya an siakåso na umassagua hao

(And if you should marry)

Pot fabot konne' mågi i patgon nene.

(Please bring the child here.)

Na'ma'ase' i patgon yanggen otro tåta para u atiende gue'.

(Pity the child if another father will care for him/her.)

Hånao mågi ya un nangga yo'

(Come here and wait for me)

ya un sångan ha' ya bai hu hånao.

(and just say so and I will go.)

The Tropicsette recording then goes on to sing a verse in Carolinian and finally a verse from the Pohnpeian original.

Here is a recording of the original Pohnpeian song :

"ATAN I BOLA" : CHAMORRO CODE

 

A former seminarian from the 1960s, who, for reasons you will understand at the end of this story, did not proceed to the priesthood, told me a story which reveals how older Chamorros spoke in code.

The parents of one seminarian owned some beach property and so they would invite the seminarians from Father Dueñas to picnic and barbeque there once in a while.

These parents had a daughter who was lively and friendly. She loved to play the guitar, and this seminarian loved to sing.

Well, dad was not dumb, so when he had the seminarians play softball at his beach, he would walk up to this seminarian and whisper in his ear, "Atan i bola, no? Atan i bola." "Look at the ball, ok? Watch the ball."

In other words, though unspoken words, "Båsta ma atan i hagå-ho." "Stop looking at my daughter."

So, rather than embarrass the seminarian and his daughter, he spoke in code. Which the seminarian understood.

He eventually graduated from Father Dueñas but did not pursue the priesthood and is now a happily married man. But not with the girl on the beach.

WATER BOY FOR JAPANESE BUNKER

 

THE BOKKONGO' AT ASAN POINT

shortly after the American return in 1944

By 1943, the Japanese were quite sure that the Americans were on their way to Guam. The US wouldn't arrive tomorrow, but the American advance westward and up the Pacific was unmistakable. 

As one can see from this map, the Americans were already in Melanesia by late 1942/early 1943 and were in Micronesia (Tarawa, Kiribati) by November of 1943. The Japanese could see where the Americans were heading, and the Marianas was going to be a star prize in a string of American victories, bringing them closer to the Japanese mainland.

So, the Japanese began fortifying Guam and put many Chamorro men, even in their teens, to work. Women, also, were forced to work clearing land for airfields and digging defensive holes.

In Asan, the Japanese anticipated an ideal break in the reef where the Americans might land. People from Asan were forced to work building Japanese defenses in the Asan area.

Danny Santos, then a 9-year-old boy, remembers.

His grandfather and uncle were forced by the Japanese to join other Asan people in building a bokkongo', or cave, in the Akalaye Fanihi area next to Asan Point.

DANNY SANTOS WITH THE BOKKONGO' BEHIND HIM

in the distance

Young as he was, Danny also had a role in it. Twice a day, he and his older relatives had to bring drinking water to his grandfather, uncle and the other Asan men digging the bokkongo' or cave.

"We got the water from the bo'bo', or natural springs, in the Asan area. There are many bo'bo' in Asan.

We'd fill up the tanks then cover it with a mesh of coconut fiber and cloth to keep the water clean. My job was to make sure the water didn't spill. We took the water to the men on a karetan karabao (karabao cart).

When we got to the bokkongo', we were instructed by the Japanese not to look at the bokkongo' or the surrounding areas too much. And there definitely was to be no conversation between us and the men working on the bokkongo'. It took a while, maybe half an hour, for all the men working on the job to get their share of the water to drink. Then we left."

KARETAN KARABAO