I MAN GAI TAOTAO

It was because of a science project in 8th grade that I first came to know something more about the suruhåno and suruhåna (folk doctors) of our islands.

I chose for my topic traditional Chamorro medicine, made up mainly of herbs, flowers and roots, and put together by the suruhåno. So I asked an aunt to take me around to a few suruhåna to learn more about this art.

It was then that I learned, "We must choose our suruhåna carefully."

"What does that mean?" I asked. My aunt replied, "Some suruhåno have ga'chong. You can also say these suruhåno are gai' taotao. These are spirit friends who tell the suruhåno information that ordinarily cannot be known, or who give the suruhåna powers ordinary people do not have."

"Like what, for example?" I asked further.

"A suruhåno who had a taotao or a ga'chong could tell the person what he did exactly, and where, to anger the taotaomo'na (ancient spirits). That way the suruhåno can tell the person exactly where to go back and apologize to the taotaomo'na."

"Or, the ga'chong can give the suruhåno the power to heal, or catch an unusually large quantity of fish, or find a medicinal herb in the jungle hard to find."

But the main power of the suruhåno with a spirit friend, the reason why they were often sought out, even by practicing Catholics, is that these suruhåno with spirit friends could ask their spirit friend to lift the punishment inflicted on a person made sick for offending the taotaomo'na in the jungle or near rocks or latte stones or the trongkon nunu (banyan tree).

When western medicine didn't help, and when it was certain that the sick person, often young, misbehaved in those places known as sagan taotaomo'na (spirit places), or didn't ask permission to pass through the jungle or, worse yet, urinate in the jungle, parents were more convinced that a suruhåno with a spirit friend was needed.

So, the suruhåno would speak to his spirit friend as mentioned above. Sometimes, his taotaomo'na would have to fight with the taotaomo'na who made the person sick. If he prevailed, then the sick person got better. If he didn't beat the other taotaomo'na, the sick person stayed sick.

I once asked a practicing Catholic why she went to a suruhåno with a spirit friend, because her grandson was sick. "Ti isao i para ta gågao i taotaomo'na ni ayudu-ña?" "It's not a sin to ask the taotaomo'na for his help?"

She replied, "Ti guåho gumågao na i suruhåno. An isao pues isao-ña, ti isao-ho." "It wasn't I who asked, but the suruhåno. If it's a sin then it's his sin, not mine."

When people feel helpless and think they have no alternative, this is how they reason.

BUT THERE IS A PRICE

"But the suruhåno who agrees to receive the help of a ga'chong has to pay a price,: my aunt said.

"What is that?" I asked.

"That suruhåno has to give up God."

"Oh my!" I said with some fear.

"That is why," my aunt said, "we have to chose our suruhåno carefully."

And so I heard for the first time that there were some suruhåno who never went to church.

One suruhåno, who died just 20-some years ago, had a religious wife who made sure the whole family, even he, went to Mass on Sundays. While the whole family sat inside the church for Mass, he stayed outside the church, close enough to the front door to periodically see what was going on. This suruhåno said nothing bad about God, or religion or the church. He didn't try to dissuade anyone from their Catholic faith, and if he was conversing with someone and the other person spoke about God or prayer, this suruhåno would nod his head in agreement and utter some supportive words. But he himself sat outside for Mass.

He was the exception. Most suruhåno/suruhåna who had a spirit friend avoided going to the church altogether. If the suruhåno couldn't avoid going to church, let's say because it was the funeral of a close relative or friend, the suruhåno with a taotao or ga'chong just stayed outside the church door, looking in. He would never enter the church door.

In fact, it was said that there was this one suruhåno who, even if he attempted to put one foot inside the church, was physically prevented from entering, pushed back by an invisible force.

"Not all suruhåno are gai' taotao or gai' ga'chong," my aunt said. "And even some who have a spirit friend still go to church. But some who have a ga'chong, who have a spirit who tells them secrets and gives them power, some do not go to church. Because it's the devil's knowledge and power."

OTHER SPECIAL MARKS OF THE GAI TAOTAO

Besides the forsaking of Christianity, the gai taotao supposedly couldn't eat salt, either. They couldn't eat salty dishes, add salt to their food or dip fruits in salt as we often do. This might have something to do with the worldwide recognition of salt as a purifying agent which evil spirits detest.

Because the gai taotao communed with these spirits, there was a certain air or demeanor about them. You noticed right away that these suruhåno gave off a different feeling from ordinary people. They weren't the smiley type nor friendly in the normal way. They weren't belligerent either, but they were somewhat stoic and grave.

It was said that they couldn't look another man in the eye. They were often feared by their own people and by their neighbors. You kept a respectful distance from them.

They were usually willing to help you, and many people sought their help when a loved one, especially a child, was sick and western medicine didn't help. But even if your loved one got better, you didn't become best friends with the suruhåno who had a spirit friend. These suruhåno lived almost in a world of their own.

PASSED DOWN

Just as knowledge of herbal medicine was often passed down from parent to child, in many cases, a suruhåno with a spirit friend tapped one of his sons to follow in his path. The father usually enticed the son to join him when the son was a teenager. Sometimes the son struggled with the offer, whether to accept or not.

If a son didn't follow his father's footsteps, the suruhåno might take another boy under his wings, again usually in his teen years. The suruhåno's spirit friend or friends would then also adopt the young man as their own.

IMPRESSIVE, BUT FROM THE DEVIL

Some people were really impressed by these suruhåno with ga'chong.

One man admitted this when he went to see a suruhåno because of a swollen foot. He thought it might be gout, but he never had gout before. Still, he went to a western clinic and got tested. His uric acid was fine. The pills he was given did nothing to alleviate the swelling and the pain. So, he decided to "go Chamorro" and "go suruhåno."

A certain suruhåno was recommended, one the suffering man had never met nor heard of. In fact, he had never gone to a suruhåno before. He met the suruhåno, who told him,

"Five Saturdays ago you parked at the back of Guam Memorial Hospital to visit someone in the hospital. You parked there because you couldn't find any other parking. As you parked, you felt the need to urinate. There was no one around. The sun was setting and it was getting dark. There were coral rocks in front of you, covered with tångantångan and other bushes. You thought you could easily pee there and no one would ever know. Nobody saw you, but the taotaomo'na were right there. You were urinating on their territory, and you didn't even ask permission. So they punished you with the swollen foot you have now."

The man's jaw hit the floor. How could this elderly suruhåno know this? Every detail was completely true! Other people are impressed by the suruhåno's identification of the ailment and the speedy cure of it.

But others would say, "They have knowledge and power, but from the devil. In the end, they get you into worse problems than the problems they cure."

TWEED OF ALL PEOPLE

If you needed more evidence, would you take it from an American Navy radioman who hid in Guam's jungles, avoiding capture by the Japanese, all due to the help he got from Chamorros, many of whom were punished and even killed?

If a man ever needed super human powers, it was George Tweed, often just an inch away from death at the hands of the Japanese.

And one Chamorro woman, probably having a crush on Tweed, was ever-ready to suggest a super human solution.

The story comes from Tweed himself, so take it for what it's worth. It is probably based on fact, but whether the story was embellished for the sake of book sales or not is anybody's guess.

The Chamorro lady of 19 was worried for Tweed. He needed to stay safe from the Japanese. Her uncle knew a man who had a ga'chong. The ga'chong gave this man the power to carry heavier loads and swim farther than other men.

These spirits, she said, were very powerful and could protect Tweed. The spirits could even hide Tweed so that the Japanese would never find him. Was she implying he could receive the power to suddenly become invisible to Japanese search parties? Stand right there and not be seen?

What must he do, Tweed asked? She replied, "Give up God and pray to the devil!"

This was a Chamorro girl speaking, certainly baptized Catholic. And yet this is what she told Tweed, according to him. Tweed declined her suggestion.

Even after almost 300 years of Catholic influence, not every Chamorro gave up old beliefs in spirits. Some even turned to demons, so it was said.

Contrary to what some think, the Spaniards did not make our Chamorro ancestors into little Spaniards. And not all of them became or remained genuine Christians.

NOTES

Ga'chong in Chamorro means "companion." It does not really mean a friend, although many people think it does. But a friend can and does accompany his or her friends at times, so then the ga'chong is also an åbbok,  amigo or amiga (friend). When you see someone eating chicken but nothing else, you can ask the person eating, "Håfa ga'chong-ña i na'-mo månnok?" "What is the companion to your chicken?" Companion; not friend.

Taotao can mean "person" or "people." A suruhåno who is gai' taotao has the spirit of a person long-dead assisting him.

For some reason, it seems that more male suruhåno had spirit friends than female suruhåna, as far as I have heard all my life. Not that it's all suruhåno who have them.