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.