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.