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

KÅNTA : MÅTTO UN GÅ'GA'

 

Here's a song that, I believe, is not that old. At least I've never heard it before, and in my 62 years I have been around.

The song is sung on this recording by Kun Ka'ainoa and Nolas Kaliga.

LYRICS

Måtto un gå'ga' ni gumugupu tumohge gi hilo' apagå-ho;

(An animal came which flew, and stood on top of my shoulder;)

mañuñule' un kåtta gi piku-ña ginen as nåna i bendision.

(it was bringing a letter in its beak, a blessing from mother.)

Ai sumen chågo' tano'-ho, sumen chågo' yo' na gaige;

(Oh my place is far away, I am in a distant place;)

ya ni nåna yo' ni tåta sikiera un che'lo ni mamaisa.

(and I am neither a mother nor a father not even a sibling who is alone.)

Here is the video from MicroSongs

HINENGGEN MAN ÅMKO' : CLINGY BABY

 

YANGGEN MAPOTGE' TA'LO I NANA, MÅS CHETTON I PATGON-ÑA GIYA GUIYA.

If a mother gets pregnant again, her child becomes more attached to her.

I was walking to a woman who was holding her baby daughter who was maybe a year-and-a-half old. The daughter is old enough to walk and frequently does so; she even runs a few steps now and then.

But the baby girl would not get down from her mother while I was talking to her.

Our chat was getting longer and the baby was getting heavier, so the mom tried to put the girl down more than once. But, each time she tried, the girl would grab onto her mother even more and make a fuss.

And it wasn't that the girl was afraid of me either. For a while the girl has been talking to me and has even come up to me while I'm sitting down and slaps my knees with her hands in a playful way.

Some of our mañaina (elders) believed that even a baby can sense when the mother is carrying a new child inside her womb.

There is no way a toddler aged 15 months can understand what pregnancy is, or that an unborn baby is inside the mother's womb. But the elders say the baby can feel it somehow. And thus the baby becomes clingy towards the mom.

Is it fear that the baby is being threatened by a sibling? It's hard to tell, isn't it, since babies cannot talk and explain their feelings.

And yes. The mother I was talking to, with the clingy baby, is actually expecting another child on the way.

PEACE CORPS ACCULTURATION

 

The Peace Corps is an independent agency of the US Government which enlists volunteers who go out to developing countries to assist in their progress in many areas of life.

Since all of Micronesia, except Guam, was considered "foreign" in the sense that none of those islands were formally part of the United States at the time, Peace Corps volunteers could be found all over Micronesia. In the late 1960s and early 70s, that volunteerism often blended with the cultural revolution going on in the US. Many young people in those days wanted to break out of "old fashioned" cultural norms.

A number of Peace Corps volunteers, then, sought to adopt the various Micronesian cultures in which they worked. They wanted to live like the people they were working with, and even dress, or undress, like them.

Renowned Saipan singer Candy Taman told me the story of one such Peace Corps volunteer.

It was the early 1970s, when one could still watch passengers descend from the airplanes when they landed. Security was very lax in those days. There were no jetways. The airplane door opened and passengers went down the stairs onto the tarmac. Friends and family members coming to pick up arriving passengers got up very close to the plane, separated from the runway by a chain-link fence or sometimes just a concrete or wooden barrier.

Candy related to me,

"Påle', katna måtai yo' annai hu li'e' un palao'an Peace Corps annai humuyong gi batkonaire ya tåya' ni håfafa chininå-ña! Annok todo i sisu-ña. Ya blondie na Amerikåna! Sus te guåtde!"

"Father, I almost died when I saw a Peace Corps woman exit the plane and she had no blouse on at all! All her breasts were exposed. And she was a blonde American! Oh my gosh!"

It was one thing to see a Yapese, Ulithian or Outer Islander woman topless, but a blonde, blue-eyed American lady from Wisconsin or where-have-you? It was too much.

I don't think this thing happened much, but it did happen.

Usually the Peace Corps taught in schools or helped in community projects, among other things.

A Peace Corps volunteer assisting in a water supply project in Chuuk

ONE-PARTY VILLAGES?

 

It used to be that Guam, in the 1950s and 60s, was almost a one-party island.

The Popular Party, and then the Democratic Party, held onto 100% of the Guam Legislature between 1956 and 1970, with just a two-year break (1964 to 1966) when the Territorial Party won the majority.

By 1970, Guam had become a two-party island, with the newly-established Republican Party winning some seats in the Legislature and even eventually the majority of the Legislature for a time. The Republicans also did well in the Gubernatorial elections, starting with the first one in 1970 which they won.

VILLAGE COMMISSIONERS / MAYORS

THREE CANDIDATES FOR COMMISSIONER IN 1968

NO PARTY AFFILIATION STATED

Up until 1970, village Commissioners (what we now call Mayors) were not elected under a party banner.

In 1970, a law was passed giving some villages (Dededo, Hågat) an Assistant Commissioner. So an election was held that year for that position, and this time it was by party affiliation. No Commissioner was being elected in 1970, since the last election for that office was in 1968 for a four-year term.

It was not until the 1972 election that candidates for Commissioner were now placed on the ballot under a party, Democrat or Republican.

Even when the Commissioner's office was non-partisan, nearly all the Commissioners were known for their allegiance to one of the two parties. It's just that they didn't run under a political party till 1972.

SINCE 1972 : NEVER ELECTED A DEMOCRAT

ALL MANGILAO MAYORS SINCE 1972 HAVE BEEN REPUBLICANS

But since the office of Commissioner (later Mayor) became partisan in 1972, three villages have never elected a Democrat as Commissioner or Mayor.

They are :

MANGILAO

Nick Francisco, Nito Blas and Allan Ungacta have all been Republicans.

TAMUNING

Greg Calvo, Sr., Al Dungca, Luís Herrero, Concepción Dueñas, Francisco Blas and Louise Rivera have all been Republicans.

HAGÅTÑA

For the record, in 1972, Hagåtña elected an Independent. Tomás Flores Mendiola ran as an Independent seeking the seat of the Republican incumbent at the time, Lucas San Nicolás.

Still, electing an Independent is not the same as electing a Democrat, and everyone knew that Mendiola was a Republican, and he identified as such in the 1976 election. But since he was after a sitting Republican's position in 1972, he ran as an Independent.

Those who came after Mendiola - Félix Ungacta and John Cruz - have both been Republicans.

NEVER ELECTED A REPUBLICAN

ALL DEMOCRATS

On the other end of the political spectrum is my village - SINAJAÑA - which has never elected a Republican Commissioner or Mayor since the office became partisan in 1972. Sometimes the Republicans just didn't enter a candidate at all for the mayoral race in Sinajaña.

Every other village on Guam has elected Commissioners or Mayors from either party, even if it was only one time for one of the two parties.

2024 ELECTION

Among all four villages which have never elected a Mayor from the opposing party, things will stay exactly the same for the next four years. This year, the voters will elect their Mayor for the next four years, but in three of these four villages, the current incumbent is running unopposed, securing their victory before a single ballot has been cast.

They are :

MANGILAO	ALLAN UNGACTA	REPUBLICAN
SINAJAÑA	ROBERT HOFMANN	DEMOCRAT
TAMUNING	LOUISE RIVERA	REPUBLICAN

Because these three incumbents have been automatically re-elected, their respective parties retain the Mayor's position.

But even in the fourth village, where there are more than one candidate for Mayor, both candidates are from the same party.

They are from Hagåtña and they are both Republicans.

HAGÅTÑA	JOVYNA SAN AGUSTIN	REPUBLICAN
HAGÅTÑA	MICHAEL GUMATAOTAO	REPUBLICAN

Thus, no matter who wins the Mayor's position for Hagåtña in 2024, it will be a Republican, maintaining that party's exclusive claim on that office for now.

THE FUTURE

Only God knows if, one day in the future, a Democratic Mayor will be elected in Hagåtña, Mangilao or Tamuning, and a Republican Mayor in Sinajaña.

Most people would agree that, in the near future, the hardest would be Sinajaña, where the Democratic Party has been historically so strong that even the occasional Republican is dissuaded from running. "Don't even bother," some are told, if they are Republican. But fifty years from now? Who knows?

Mangilao might have the better chance for a Democrat to be elected. Its population is very mixed politically, and it all depends if the Democrats can present a strong candidate one day.

Hagåtña and Tamuning tend to be Republican, but the future depends on the attractiveness of the individual candidate and on weakening party loyalty. A Democrat may well win in those villages, but the future remains to be seen.

THE TERRITORIAL JINGLE

 

Before there were Democrats and Republicans on Guam, there were the Popular and the Territorial Parties.

If the Popular (later Democrats) were Goliath, then the Territorials were David. Except that, in this case, David hit Goliath in the forehead only one time, and Goliath got back up.

In all the 1950s and 60s, the Territorials won only one legislative election and that was in 1964. Two years later the Territorials lost the election and by that I mean they lost every single legislative seat. In 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1966 and 1968 the Popular/Democrats won ALL 21 SEATS in the Legislature.

But that didn't mean the Territorials didn't try.

In the very spirited campaigns of those olden days, when people of both parties campaigned with great passion and commitment, music played a role in boosting morale. Jingles were very common in those days, sung in rallies and meetings and even played on loud speakers mounted on pickup trucks going around the village.

In the 50s and 60s, the Chamorro language was still going strong on Guam and many of the voters spoke best in Chamorro, and were best spoken to in Chamorro. In almost all the villages, everything was conducted in Chamorro except for a few villages where there were non-Chamorro voters and some of the speeches were given in English.

Here is a Territorial Party jingle in Chamorro from the 1960s which Ruby Aquiningoc Santos remembers to this day. Just goes to show how frequently this jingle was sung for her to remember it some 60 years later.

BOTA I TERRITORIAL, CHE'LU;

(Vote for the Territorials, brother/sister;)

BOTA TERRITORIAL YA TA GÅNNA I DEMOCRATIC, CHE'LU.

(Vote Territorial and we'll beat the Democrats, brother/sister.)

TERRITORIAL PARTY CONVENTION OF 1964

The only election the Territorials ever won

UNUSUAL MEDICINE

 

Even as late as the early 1800s, that is, 120 years after Spanish colonization, our ancestors turned to some very unusual (for us) remedies for illnesses, using the things available to them at the time.

Unusual things such as diseased body parts and animal poo.

French visitors to Guam in 1819 wrote down their observations, describing some of these unusual cures. Some of these remedies used things that only came after Spanish colonization, such as some animals. But the principles probably went far back to pre-contact times.

Access to western medications was very limited, so one has to keep in mind that necessity is the mother of invention. When one is sick, one takes what one can get.

TÅKE' BABUI

One Chamorro lady fried pig feces in oil and applied the paste to the part of her body that ached. She boasted how the pain went away. The French doctor remarked that it was simply the heat of the fried manure that did the trick.

The Frenchman only had to remember that the ancient Romans and Egyptians also used fecal matter, both human and animal, in various cures. The Romans, for example, considered that animal manure was good fertilizer. It made the land grow and produce. So perhaps it could also heal the human body. Cows and other ruminants ate herbs that were known for their healing properties, so the digested herbs in cow manure could possibly heal as well, so they thought.

Another Chamorro took canker sores that had come off and boiled them in water till half the liquid evaporated. In one gulp, she drank the brew and cured her stitches, which are cramps or aches around the abdomen or sides.

SPIDER'S WEB

To cure indigestion, rice flour is grilled with spider's web (tararåñas or tiraråñas), and then the powder is added to water and the patient is given this to drink.

Perhaps less distasteful, to us, were other ingredients used in remedies such as grease, charcoal and the soot of burnt shells.

In addition to these, our ancestors had recourse to the many and varied plants that had curative benefits. Although some of these plants are very bitter to the taste, we wouldn't find them as strange to consume as tåke' babui or tararåñas.

A BRITISH ADVENTURER IN THE MARIANAS

 

WILLIAM MANN

He knew Guam well

The Marianas were not his only "playground," but he lived, worked and romped around the Marianas for a good portion of his sea-faring life.

William Mann was born in 1816 in Kirby-le-Soken, Essex, England. He was one of eleven children and did not get along with his father. He left his parental home to make a life for himself at age fourteen. He took to the sea, and traveled to the Americas.

In 1834, at age 18, he joined a whaling ship, the Falcon, and that was his first arrival to the Marianas, where for two years the ship went in search of whales in our part of the Pacific.

FROM GUAM TO POHNPEI

While sailing around the northwestern Pacific, the Falcon got short on wood and water and happened to meet up with another ship whose captain recommended the Falcon follow them to Pohnpei, then called Ascension Island, where the paramount chief of the island was friendly to this captain.

In two days at Pohnpei, the Falcon got all they needed but, in departing the island, the ship was forced into a rock by the wind, tearing a hole in her. The crew managed to get hundreds of sperm whale oil onshore and the chief agreed to take care of them till they were able to leave again. But the Pohnpeians got so interested in the iron hoops that wrapped around the oil barrels that the barrels broke open, spilling and wasting the oil, when the islanders took off the hoops to use for their own desires.

The captain of the Falcon argued with the chief and made the fatal mistake of slapping him. Not long after, the Pohnpeians attacked the crew of the Falcon, killing many. Mann was among those who survived the attack. An English ship came to Pohnpei later seeking to avenge the massacre of the crew, but Mann had no idea the ship was coming and was in another island when it arrived and left, leaving Mann in the islands. For two more years Mann lived in Pohnpei just like a native, with minimal clothing, but always fearing the islanders.

He had good reason to fear them, because he was attacked one day by two of them. He survived, but lost some fingers when he raised his hand to protect his head from a cut, and his mouth was also severely damaged. Two of his fellow crew members bandaged him best they could and protected themselves with their guns. Finally, an American whaling ship came around and took them to Guam.

RECUPERATING AT GUAM

PAUL WILLIAM GEORGE

Guam's Doctor in the mid 1800s

Paul William George was an Anglo-Irishman who left the seaman's life to settle on Guam for good. He had some medical knowledge and was something of the island doctor on Guam in the mid 1800s. This was the founder of the George family here on Guam.  George treated William Mann's injuries "very skillfully," said a news report. But in the photo of Mann above, you can see that the injury to his mouth was never fully corrected.

Mann continued to live in the Marianas for between thirty and forty years! But he used Guam as a base from which he traveled all over the Pacific, buying and selling. He eventually got tattooed all over his body.

BURIED TREASURE ON PAGAN?

PAGAN

Stories had been going around for many years that treasure had been buried on one of the northern islands in the Marianas. No one knew for sure which island, but Pagan was always a favorite. For two years Mann and some allies dug around Pagan, to no avail.

HE AND HIS CHAMORRO CREW COMMANDEERED

Mann eventually became captain of his own small schooner, which had been stolen from the British, and he got into the business of carrying cargo up and down the Marianas and other islands in the area.

One day, while anchored at an island, nine Spanish prisoners who had escaped from Guam boarded his schooner and took over. Mann had a small crew of three or four Chamorro so they were outnumbered. The escaped prisoners forced him to sail to Yap and there he met the American Crayton Philo Holcomb, "married" to the Chamorro Bartola Garrido. A German ship came by and directed Mann to Hong Kong where, unfortunately, the British discovered that Mann's schooner had been stolen.

DOWN AND OUT IN HONG KONG

OLD HONG KONG

Deprived of the schooner, Mann barely eked a living for eleven years in Hong Kong. An English chaplain to seamen in Hong Kong took an interest in Mann's plight and managed to send Mann back to his native town in England, which he had abandoned more than fifty years earlier. There back in England he died penniless, surviving on the charity of kind people.

One has to admire the man. He frequently lived on the edge of destruction, but lived into his 80s. He lived in some of the most remote places on earth for the longest time, and died right back where he started at the place he was born.

A bachelor living among us in the Marianas all those years....who's to say he never fathered Chamorro children without marrying, whose descendants are still with us today?

KÅNTAN GUMA'YU'US : I FLECHAN YU'US

 

FLECHA MEANS "ARROW"

This is one of the better-known Chamorro hymns to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Alex Unpingco plays it in this video with parishioners joining in singing it.

LYRICS

I flechan Yu’us ha tokcha’ hit

(The arrow of God has pierced us)

I korason-ña ha guaiya hit.

(His heart has loved us.)

 

1. Håfa Jesus-ho i malago’-mo

(What, my Jesus, do you want)

Gi dinilok-mo nu i taotao?

(from your piercing of the people?) (1)

Yanggen i sensen pat i anti-ña

(If it be the flesh or its soul)

Yu’us Lahi-ña chuli’e’ hao.

(God the Son, take it for yourself.)

 

2. Guåho magåhet lånsan Longinos 

(I am truly the lance of Longinus) (2)

Kalåktos, inos flumecha hao.

(Sharp, easily fitting, which pierced you.) (3) (4)

Tåya’ dumulok i korason-mo

(No one pierced your heart)

Na i patgon-mo ni guåho ha’.

(Except your child which I am.)

 

3. Sahguan guinaiya, figan na hotno

(Vessel of love, fiery furnace)

I korason-mo, mames Jesus.

(Is your heart, sweet Jesus.)

Tåya’ taiguennao na ginefli’e’

(There is no love like that)

Ha na’ ma li’e’ na si Yu’us.

(made visible except for God's.)

NOTES

(1) I interpret this to mean that our Lord pierces our hearts with His arrow of love in order to open our hearts to accept and be changed by His love. Love is repaid with love, as the Spanish saying goes. So we offer Jesus our bodies (sensen, which means flesh) and the soul (ånte) which gives life to the body.

(2) Longinus (in Spanish Longinos) was, according to tradition, the Roman soldier who pieced Jesus' side with a lance (spear), opening the Lord's heart from which flowed blood and water, representing the Eucharist and Baptism. Longinus left the Roman army and became a Christian and later died for the faith and is considered a saint.

SAINT LONGINUS WITH SPEAR

Mary and Saint John at Calvary

(3) Flumecha means "to be arrowed." Although "arrowed" does exist in English, it isn't common.

(4) Inos means something that is able to slide into something else. Thus it can also mean slender. But a fat snake can still fit into a narrow crack, so even it is inos. When a hand can fit snuggly into a glove, or when a key can easily be inserted into a lock, those are all inos.

SPANISH ORIGINAL

Many of our Chamorro hymns are based on Spanish hymns. I Flechan Yu'us is taken from the Spanish hymn "Con Flecha Ardiente," meaning "With a Fiery Arrow."

The Spanish version says :

Con flecha ardiente, dueño y Señor

(With a fiery arrow, master and Lord)

abre en mi pecho llaga de amor.

(open in my chest a wound of love.)

A lot of the Spanish original says the same thing, or contains the same images, as the Chamorro version. I won't give all of the Spanish lyrics, but here's some more which shows that the Chamorro version is based off the Spanish :

Tu amante pecho, no fue el soldado

fue mi pecado quien lo rasgó.

Your loving breast, it wasn't the soldier,

it was my sin which ripped it open.

The "soldier" mentioned is Longinus, as is named in the Chamorro version.

THE CINEMA THEATER

 

It was the most modern movie theater on Guam in its day.

The Cinema Theater opened on April 12, 1967 showing The Sound of Music, a huge hit musical that year. One of the last Hollywood blockbusters shown at the Cinema was the movie Titanic in 1997. That movie still ranks the third highest money-making film in cinematic history.

Besides having the latest equipment to show movies and a cinemascope screen 51 feet wide and 23 feet high, the entire theater was carpeted, air conditioned and filled with semi reclining, cushioned seats.

In the lobby, all the usual snacks could be bought at the concession stand.

There was enough space in the paved parking lot for 200 cars.

It cost over $500,000 to build. Today, that's around 4.7 million dollars.

Putting their money into the project as part-owners were Peter Sgro and Pedro Ada, Jr, among others.

ORIGINAL OWNERS

Peter Sgro (far left) and Pedro Ada, Jr (2nd from right)

and others involved in the new theater

NOT JUST FOR MOVIES

When Guam had far less venues that were fully air conditioned, the Cinema Theater made a great location for events in general. In 1971, the 125-plus graduates of the University of Guam received their diplomas at the Cinema Theater. The reception was right across the street at Hong Kong Gardens.

The theater was also used at times for fundraising events.

In time, the theater changed ownership over the years and closed for good sometime in the early 2000s.

Newer and larger movie theaters had come around and the movie-watching crowd went their way. Even halving the theater into two separate sections, A and B, showing different movies, was not enough to drum up business.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The building still stands, now a Vietnamese restaurant after being used in a number of ways after the movie house shut down. And it has this one remaining historical significance. World-renowned violinist Isaac Stern played in concert at the Cinema on November 15, 1967 at the invitation of the Insular Arts Council.

ISAAC STERN PLAYING AT THE CINEMA

NOW A VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT

SINANGAN I MAN ÅMKO'

 

MAOLEK-ÑA HINATMEN SAKKE KE NI HINATMEN GUÅFE PAT TÅSI

(It is better to be invaded by a thief than by fire or the ocean.)

A thief usually steals just some things; no thief can carry away everything. But fire and water can destroy everything.

Siña pine'luye hao ni lina'lå'-mo ni sakke. Lao i guafe ha lalachai todo, yan i tasi todo ha chuchule' huyong.

A thief can let you keep your life. But fire consumes everything and the ocean carries out everything.

Remember in life - bad as it might be, it can always be worse.