PÅTGON SANHIYONG

What was the traditional Chamorro attitude towards illegitimate children?

It's an interesting question because there was a high frequency of illegitimate births among Chamorros even when religion pervaded the atmosphere a hundred years ago.  Almost every family had an occurrence of illegitimate births somewhere along the way.

But it was normally considered something scandalous.  Let's hear what one of our mañaina in the clip has to say.

First, I ask her what is the Chamorro custom concerning illegitimate children.  She says,

"I sinanganen-ña si nanå-ho annai kokkokolo' yo' ilek-ña, este i patgon sanhiyong ma nåna'na'.  Anggen på'go ma fa'tinas, ma nåna'na' i nana, sa' ma å'ålok eyo na kalan desgustao gi familia, man a'abak, pues ilek-ña ma nåna'na' sa' na' mamahlao gi familia, dångkulo na eye i kalan isao na cho'cho' gi familia ni ma sedi ayo na påtgon para u mafañågo.  An mafañågo ayo na påtgon, matakpånge ha', lao kalan ma nåna'na'."  (My mother's saying when I was growing up was that the illegitimate child was hidden.  When the child is born, the mother hides it, because they said it was like a dishonor in the family, they went astray, so she said they hid the child because it was shameful for the family, it was like a sinful thing for the family to let that child be born illegitimate.  When the child was born, it was baptized, but it was like they hid the child.)

I then told her that I had heard that some fathers who had illegitimate children did take care of them, even making them heirs of his property.  She said,

"I para u ma erensia i patgon baståtdo?  Ennague ma såsångan na anggen gai tano' ya sopbla lao man mofo'na i famagu'on propio ni i famagu'on sakramento."  (To make heirs of the illegitimate child?  That's what they say when the person has land and has extra land, but his proper children from the sacrament of matrimony come first.")

So, to sum up the traditional Chamorro attitudes :

1. Though it happened quite a lot, illegitimate births were not something to be proud of, much less think normal.  It was considered a moral failure, and to be hid as much as possible.

2. One way they did this was not to throw christening parties for the child.  The child was baptized, but quietly.

3. Rarely were illegitimate children told who their biological fathers were.  It was not a topic for open discussion.  Sometimes the child was lucky to hear from someone outside the immediate family who the father was.

4. Sometimes the illegitimate child was acknowledged by the biological father and taken cared of by him, usually from a distance because he normally had his own wife and children from her, whom he had to care for up close.

The common Chamorro term for a child born out of wedlock was påtgon sanhiyong. It means, "Child from the outside," meaning "outside marriage" or "outside the union of husband and wife."

A harsher word, usually avoided and not told to the illegitimate child directly, was baståtdo, meaning "bastard," borrowed from the Spanish language.

DON'T MESS WITH ZABLAN

Joaquin Pangelinan Zablan, a Chamorro from Guam, left his island home for another, Hawaii.

Usually young Chamorro men left Guam in those days aboard the whaling ships, with hardly a peso to their name.

It seems life was eventually good to Joaquin because by 1880 he was able to buy a cattle ranch on the Big Island.  Cattle rustling may have been a problem, as he thought it necessary to take out an ad in a Hawaii newspaper to warn people and their animals to stay off his property.

MORE CONFUSING CHAMORRO HYMNS

Some Chamorro hymns can be confusing because some of the words in those hymns are no longer understood by modern-day speakers.

For example, I've already written about the word echongñå-mo, which has nothing to do with echong (crooked) or ñåmo (mosquito).

www.paleric.blogspot.com/2014/06/tunanas-gi-echongna-mo.html

Here are two more examples.

TAGÅHLO

In the hymn, Sångan Ånte, the line goes, "Sångan ånte i tagåhlo na misterion i attat."

Some people think the word tagåhlo means Tagalog.

"Kada måtai i Tagålo, estague' para kantån-ña."

"Every time a Filipino dies, this will be his hymn."

But the word comes from the union of the prefix tak, which means "very," and hulo', which means "high."

Tak is softened to tag, and hulo' is modified to åhlo.

So, tagåhlo means "exalted, very high, superior, lofty" and so on.

Our ancestors also used the tak + hulo' combination to form the word takhilo', which also means "very high."

We see tak used in other words, like

takpapa' = very low

taklalo' = easily angered

takkalom = deep in the inside, interior (tak + hålom)

So the hymn is saying, "Say, my soul, of the exalted mystery of the altar."

LALAKSE'

This word is used in the hymn Ma'lak na Puti'on Tåse (Bright Star of the Sea), a hymn to Mary.

The line goes, "chachalåne i batko-ko su'on mo'na gi tano'-ho ya u fåtto lalakse'."

Some people think it refers to a seamstress or tailor.

The word låkse means "to sew."  Someone who sews is a lalakse.

So someone said, "Yanggen man måtto hit gi langet, para ta fan man lålåkse ha'."

"When we get to heaven, we will just be sewing."

But the word used in this hymn is not lalakse but lalakse'.

Notice the use of the glota ( ' ) at the end.

It comes from the word guse', which means "fast, quick."

The prefix la in Chamorro means "more."

So la + tåftåf becomes lataftaf  which means "earlier."

La + chågo' bcomes lachago' which means "farther."

La + guse' becomes laguse', but this can also be shortened to lakse', both of which mean "faster."

The duplication of la (from la to lala) indicates an intensifier.  Lalakse' means "very fast."

So the line in the hymn means, "guide my boat pushing it forward to my land and it will arrive swiftly."

It's poetic language meaning, "guide my soul to heaven and I will get to heaven swiftly."

CHAMORRO PETROGLYPHS ON TINIAN

Father Marcian at Fr Marcian Cave

A recent article in the Marianas Variety reminds us of the existence of ancient Chamorro petroglyphs in Tinian, and the American Capuchin missionary who helped bring them to light.

Archaeologists are working at the moment to photograph and catalog a wide range of cultural treasures unearthed in Tinian for many years.  Tinian had, at one time, a thriving and prominent Chamorro population. The latte stones at the House of Taga, though all but one are toppled, are the tallest in the Marianas, at least that we know about.

In the 1950s, Father Marcian Pellett, a Capuchin priest who came to Guam in 1940 before WW2, was the one and only missionary on Tinian. Among the many things he did, he looked all over Tinian for historic sites and artifacts. He discovered ancient pictures marked on the walls of a cave.  They are very similar to other Chamorro petroglyphs found on Guam and Saipan.

That cave is still called "Father Marcian Cave." He also found, there and in other sites, pottery remains, shell pendants, beads, sinkers and stones possibly used as adzes or knives. Together with archaeologist Alexander Spoehr of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, he wrote an article about these findings that was published in a scholarly journal in 1961.

A page from Fr Marcian's article detailing some of his findings

FR. MARCIAN PELLETT, OFM Cap

(1909-1996)

Pastor of Tinian (1949-1958; 1968-1970)

Amateur archaeologist and artist

TODAY'S CHAMORRO WORD : EKKIS

EKKIS : the letter X; also, to cross out something or mark something with an X

Ekkis måno malago'-mo para ineppe-mo.  Put an X on what you want for your answer.

Pot i ti siña ha fitma, ha ekkis ha' i pappet.  Because she couldn't sign it, she just marked the paper with an X.

Yanggen un na' bubu yo' bai ekkis na'ån-mo gi lista!  If you make me angry, I'll cross your name off the list!

Esta yo' ma ekkis.  I've already been marked with an X.

OLD SAIPAN POLITICS : POPULAR & TERRITORIAL

Territorial Party Candidates in Saipan

1974

"Popular" and "Territorial" were political labels, not only on Guam, but also in Saipan, once upon a time.

On Guam, the Popular Party morphed into the Democratic Party in 1960, while the Territorials struggled on a few more years, disappearing by 1968 when most (not all) of its members became Republicans.

In Saipan, the differences between the Populars and the Territorials also centered on whether to reunify with Guam or to seek its own political arrangement directly with the U.S.

Many of Saipan's business leaders opposed reunification and thus were Territorials. Saipan's Carolinian community felt they would be more of a minority among even more Chamorros if Saipan merged politically with Guam and they, too, supported the Territorials. Rota and Tinian, already overshadowed by Saipan, feared being minimized even further by uniting with Guam and thus the majority there also supported the Territorials.

Here's what Tan Esco had to say about it :

~ Gi un tiempo eståba dos na pattida giya Saipan, i Territorial yan i Popular. Håfa na diferensia?
~ At one time there were two parties on Saipan, the Territorial and the Popular. What was the difference?

~ Ilek-ñiha na i Popular mamopble ha' na inetnon yan i Territorial i inetnon i man riko.
~ They said that the Popular were only the poor group and the Territorial was the group of the rich.

~ Ennaogue' siha. Pues hame man Popular ham.
~ That was it. Well we were Popular.

~ Ya muna' diferensiao lokkue' todo i dos i uno ya-ña eyi i reunification.
~ And what also made both of them different was that one wanted reunification.

~ Hami ni Popular.
~ We the Populars.

~ Yan-miyo.
~ You wanted it.

~ Lao i Territorial åhe' sa' para u direct. Eyi ilek-ña na para u direct U.S.
~ But the Territorials didn't because they wanted it direct. What they called direct U.S.

~ Ennaogue' siha fina' cho'cho'-ñiha.
~ That's what they were doing.

So Tan Esco, though a business woman herself, supported reunification with Guam and was a Popular Party member. The Populars felt that merging with Guam offered the best political and economic advantages for the northern Marianas; in general, towards becoming part of the American family.

The Populars really had the advantage for many years, obtaining majorities in Saipan's political bodies. Twice the people of Saipan voted for reunification (in 1957 and 1963). But, on Guam, in 1969, reunification was voted down. But the voter turn-out was low (32%).

Imagine if reunification had been achieved in the early 1970s.

Learn more about the issue in :

http://www.guampedia.com/history-of-efforts-to-reunify-the-mariana-islands/

FINO' I MAN ÅMKO'

Nina' fan li'e hao nu i semnak lao siña lokkue' sinengge hao.

The sunlight enables you to see, but it can also burn you.

BRITISH SHIPWRECK AT TINIAN

October 4, 1848

The British ship Canton sailed peacefully out of Sydney, Australia in September, with China as her destination.

All was well till the early morning hours of October 4th when it was caught in a terrible storm.  Under these circumstances, the ship could not avoid hitting the reef off of Tinian. It is not known why the ship would have been in the Marianas in the first place, if they were indeed heading for China.

The ship lost 20 men, buried in the waters off Tinian.  Its 507 tons of cargo were also lost, including over a dozen horses.

Five members managed to get into a lifeboat and escape before the ship went down : William Foxal, Thomas Avent, William Thompson, and two unnamed others, a seaman and a boy.

These five survivors were well-received by the small group of Chamorro laborers living on Tinian at the time. These laborers, all from Guam, worked on Tinian's cattle ranches for two or three years at a time, providing beef for Guam. Sometimes Filipino convicts also lived on Tinian for brief periods, doing the same work. Carolinians would sail their boats up and down the Marianas sent on errands by the Spanish government.

After nine days on Tinian, the five survivors were sent to Guam. After some time there, they were sent to Manila where eventually they found passage to their homelands.

I KADIDOK NA MACHETTE

An old Chamorro tale.

Un taotao matåtå'chong gi pettan iya siha,
(A man was sitting at the door of their place,)

ya ha li'e mågi i asaguå-ña na ginen umo'mak.
(and he saw his wife coming who had bathed.)

Ya ma sosotta i gapunilu-ña* ya ma såsådda' i lipes-ña.
(And her hair was hanging down and her skirt lifted up.)

Nina' bubu i taotao ya ilek-ña :
(The man got angry and said :)

"Tai mamahlao!  Håfa na un bebende hao!"
("Shameless! Why are you selling yourself!")

Ya ha hakot i gapunilu-ña ya ha utot todo ni macheti-ña,
(and he grabbed her hair and cut it all off with his machete,)

ya ayo na machette tåt nai ha nesesita ma guåssa' desde ayo.
(and that machete never had to be sharpened since then.)

* Variations for hair are gapunulo, gaputulo, gaputilo.  The last word is ulo or head.

STRANDED ON GUAM : THANKS TO OLE DIXIE

James Waddell

Confederate Navy Lt. James Waddell, from North Carolina, had only one mission : make life hell for Union merchant ships wherever he found them.  Mind you; these merchant ships were not warships and were unarmed.  But war is war and the Confederacy wanted to hamper Union commercial activity and weaken the enemy in every way.

His ship, the CSS Shenandoah, was bought in Britain so it sailed first in the Atlantic. Then Waddell sailed to Australia and Singapore, which were under the British. Afterwards, towards the end of 1864, he sailed up to the Marianas, then under Spain.

From the Marianas, he went east towards Ponape. Ponape was in frequent contact with Hawaii in those days. Protestant missionaries, usually from New England, worked in Hawaii and also in the Marshalls, Kosrae and Ponape.  Hawaii was an independent monarchy in 1864, but many Americans, usually from Union states, worked for the Hawaiian government.

In Ponape, Waddell found a ship flying the Hawaiian flag. But, as predicted, the ship's officers were Americans from Union states. The crew was made up mostly of Hawaiian natives.

Waddell insisted that the commander of that Hawaiian ship surrender to him. Under protest, but unable to fight militarily, the commander agreed and vacated the ship. Waddell proceeded to board that ship, take what he wanted and then burned it down. Leaving Ponape, Waddell went on to destroy a dozen or so Union merchant ships in the North Pacific.

Waddell's ship

CSS Shenandoah

The American officers and the Hawaiian crew lived on Ponape, supported by those islanders. During this time, they repaired an abandoned whale boat and, when ready, set sail for Guam. From there they hoped to meet more seafaring traffic.

They arrived on Guam in July of 1865 and had to wait for six months before they could get a ride elsewhere. For those six months, they were well-received by the Spanish authorities on Guam. When a British ship touched at Guam, the Spanish Governor agreed to pay half the price of the transportation for these stranded Americans/Hawaiians, the other half to be paid by the American and Hawaiian consulates where they should land. Eventually, the Spanish Governor was reimbursed.

For six months, a few American seamen and a larger crew of Hawaiians, lived on Guam. Chamorros saw them on a daily basis. In Spanish times, a Chamorro knew who a kanaka was. It was a common term, not intended to be derogatory at the time, for Hawaiian natives.

Waddell, by the way, later surrendered the Shenandoah to a British officer at the end of the Civil War; the last Confederate vessel to take down its "bars and stars" flag. Waddell returned to the U.S. some time later, but stayed far away from Hawaii, where he was liable to be arrested for piracy.

SINANGAN I MAN ÅMKO'

Yanggen meggai na kapitan, ma fondo i batko.

(When there are many captains, the boat sinks.)

Ti u fanmangånna i un bånda yanggen puro ha' kapitan lao diddide' sendålo.
(The one side won't win, if they are all captains but have few soldiers.)

Guse'-ña i taotao manågo', ke ni ma tågo'.
(People are faster to order, rather than be ordered.)

Man inkibukao i taotao siha yanggen meggai na må'gas ni ti man a'aya.
(The people will be confused if there are many leaders who do not agree with each other.)

TODAY'S CHAMORRO WORD : PEKAS

PEKAS : freckles, spots, specks, splotches, mildew stains

Borrowed from the Spanish peca, with pretty much the same meanings

Bula pekås-ña i magågo sa' ginen fotgon. The clothes have many mildew stains because they were wet.

Gai pekas matå-ña i Amerikåna. The American lady's face has freckles.

Na' fañuha i pekas gi lemmai.  Take away the spots from the breadfruit.

TEXTBOOKS IN THE 1890s

A catón printed in Manila in 1919

(School books for the Marianas were shipped from Manila so it wouldn't be surprising at all if some books used in our schools were printed in Manila)

Guam's schools under the Spanish administration in the late 1800s, though limited in number and student population, did use textbooks, of a sort!  Documents survive from the Marianas reporting the titles and quantities of these books used in the schools of Guam, Luta and Saipan.

Along with maps, large pictures and mathematical tables, school books were also used. The basic subjects taught were the Spanish language (reading, writing and grammar), the Catholic faith, arithmetic and geography.

For the teaching of religion, the catechism of Father Astete and a book of Bible stories (Historia Sagrada) were used.  These books were in Spanish. Father Ibáñez's few books in Chamorro (El Verdadero Cristiano Instruido/Y Magajet na Quilisyano Manaeyac, for example) were also used while supplies lasted.  Ibáñez was a long-time Spanish priest in Hagåtña and spoke Chamorro.

Another standard text used in classrooms in the schools of the Marianas was the catón.

A catón was an elementary guide to pronunciation and reading, including multiplication tables, basic catechism and short stories often having a moral lesson to them.

Although to our eyes the catón seems rather simplistic, it was a great aid to the very young in learning how to enunciate and how to pace their public reading. 

Religion was always incorporated even into secular subjects.  Here, the seven precepts of the Church are listed.  The dashes are there to help the reader clearly enunciate the different syllables.

Chances are your great-grandparents or grandparents used a catón very similar to this one.

Sometimes we don't realize just how educated our great-grandparents were, thinking, as we do, that our islands were remote and ignored.

A Spanish verse says :

"La niña buena, aprende Catón,

y escribe los palotes sin ningún borrón.”

("The good girl learns the catón,

and writes the strokes without any smudge.")

TAN ANAN DENDE'

Not once did I ever have a conversation with her in English.  Not even a few words.

And she spoke with the tonåda, or sing-song accent, which, I believe, was the way all Chamorros, our ancestors, spoke before contact with the West. Just my hunch.

Ana Aguon Santiago Quinata was my parishioner at San Dionisio Church in Humåtak, and when I say, MY parishioner, I mean it.  There were nights when it was only me, her and a stray dog at Mass. Other times, she'd bring one or more of her granddaughters. But many times, it was just Tan Ana and me at Mass.

Being pastor of Humåtak in those days (1990s) meant living in Malesso' and driving to Humåtak on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for Mass.  Besides Sunday, those were the only other days Mass was said at Humåtak, weddings and funerals excepted of course.

She would walk to church by herself, but I always drove her back to her home after Mass in the parish van.  The ride lasted less than a minute, but we would talk and I would catch a few phrases or words here and there to improve my Chamorro.

She used the word åmko' in two ways, besides the usual meaning "old person."  She referred to the priest as "i amko'" (the "old man") even if the priest was 28 (as I was) and she referred to God as "i amko'" as well.  For sure, God is eternal and doesn't age, but from the human standpoint the Creator was there long before us and this world's been around a long time.

Tan Ana was married to the late Jose Topasña Quinata (seen on the far right).  Jose was better-known-as JT but among the older villagers he was known as "Josen Dende'."  Tan Ana, thus, was also known as "Tan Anan Dende'," or as "Tan Anan JT."

JT was always fun to be with.  He liked to tell stories and have a laugh.  He told me about being hired by the Americans right after the invasion to look for Japanese stragglers and how one of them got him in the arm.  He used to open and close his fist, moving the muscles of his arm to show where the bullet entered.  As he flexed, you could see a depression in his arm appear and disappear. That's all that Japanese fugitive was able to do to JT, but I think the man was proud of that wound.

His house was right next to the famous bridge with the four towers, and he told me the government had not properly paid him for the land where one of the towers sat.  So, he told me, in Chamorro, "One of those towers is mine!"   Again, we'd have a good laugh.

JT was not shy.  If I was preaching and got somewhat enthusiastic, he would say out loud, "Sångan, Påle'!"  ("Say it, Father!")  And, during the announcements after communion, when I was reminding the parishioners about the upcoming fiesta, he said out loud, "I'll bring one pig!"

Tan Ana, however, was old-school and would pinch his arm and nudge him to keep silent, looking at me to make sure I wasn't angry.  I never was!

Tan Ana was the daughter of Tan Eduviges Aguon Santiago, seen here in the middle of this photo.  I can only imagine how good and deep her Chamorro was, with a genuine tonåda accent.

Even when I had left Humåtak and was assigned to Saipan, Tan Ana heard that I was coming down to Guam one March for my birthday.  Unfortunately, I had eaten some old crab salad the night I left Saipan to fly to Guam.  The next morning I was down with a mild case of food poisoning, with a severe head ache and dry heaves.  I couldn't hold anything down.  I was supposed to go down to Malesso' and Humåtak to say Mass there, but had to tell Påle' Jose I just couldn't do it.

But Tan Ana had made me either a cake or a dish, I don't remember.  So she got someone in the family to drive her from Humåtak all the way to Sinajaña, to my mom and dad's house where I was sick in bed, to give me the dish and to talk to me a little.  I made a very poor conversation partner, as I was so sick.

But I will never forget her thoughtfulness driving all the way up to give me that food.  Nor our conversations, nor her accent, and most especially the way she went to Mass every single time we had Mass, even when no one else was there.  A truly devout Catholic with a sweet, maternal personality.

Tan Ana where she liked to be, in church.

Tan Ana's house was always, traditionally, one of the stations (or Lånchon Kotpus) for the Corpus Christi procession every year.

Man sen deboto na mangilisyåno i familian Jose yan Anan Dende'.

THAT FLAG WON'T DO

Saipan was the scene of a minor international incident in 1897.

By the 1890s, Japanese merchants and adventurers were making the Marianas, and other islands in Micronesia, their home.

For merchants, copra was one of the big draws to the islands. The Nonaka South Pacific Trading Company had set up shop in Saipan to deal in copra. Ten Japanese were living in Saipan when, on New Year's Day in 1897, they gathered to celebrate. They wanted to drink to the health of the Emperor of Japan and, knowing they were in Spanish territory, also to that of the Spanish king. For this reason they looked for flags of both nations.

Lacking a Spanish flag of their own, they made one up using paper, and hung it up crossed with a proper, much better-looking flag of Japan.

A passing Spaniard (some wonder if he was really a Spaniard or rather someone working for the Spanish government) witnessed this and saw the shabby condition of the Spanish paper flag compared to the Japanese flag, and considered it an insult. He told the Japanese just as much, and insisted that they take down both flags. The Japanese didn't see what the trouble was, and shrugged it off.

But the Spaniard returned with others and arrested them. Key among them was Mr Miyazaki, the company manager on Saipan. The Japanese were sent to jail on Guam, capital of all the Marianas at the time.

Japan protested this, and the news made it to many journals across the globe. Look at this headline, for example, in a Hawaii newspaper in 1897.

Those "Spanish dungeons" spoken of in the headline above were the jail cells in Hagåtña, Guam, described as being "foul smelling" and "ill ventilated."

Apparently, nothing became of the matter in the end.