TÅYA' ILU-ÑA!

 

Manet came running as fast as he could to his father's ranch house in Luayao, just past Barrigada heading towards the eastern cliffs of central Guam.

He and his father were supposed to spend the night there and they had arrived there just after the noon hour, having taken a karetan guaka (bull cart) from Hagåtña. After feeding the pigs, goats and chickens, and repairing some fences, Manet's dad told him to take it easy and relax while the dad did some last-minute preparations before the sun went down when they'd have dinner and go to sleep. 

It was around 5:30 in the afternoon when Manet went, stick in hand, into some jungle trails surrounding their ranch property. Reaching dead ends, he'd go back and try another trail. One lead him to the edge of the cliff, where he was able to just see the horizon of the sea by stepping on some huge boulders to get past the tree line. The sun was setting on the other side of the island but Manet was able to get a glimpse of the dark blue sea.

As light was leaving fast, Manet jumped off the boulders and headed back towards the ranch. The scene was very quiet, as Manet was all alone in a secluded place and the ranch dogs hadn't even followed Manet all the way in. Bored, perhaps, or maybe hungry, the dogs had deserted Manet and returned to the ranch ahead of Manet. Every now and then, a faint bark from the dogs reminded Manet where the ranch was.

As Manet passed a håyon lågo tree, he distinctly heard some rustling to his left. He figured it could be benådo (wild deer) or a babuen hålom tåno' (wild pig), or maybe even a hilitai (iguana). Whatever the case, he thought to himself, it was getting darker and he'd rather be back at the ranch than fight off some angry animal. Picking up his gait, he sped his way down the stony trail.

But the further he went, the rustling seemed to follow him. He sped up some more. The noise on his left seemed to have stopped. He was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when all of a sudden he heard rustling on his right! "Asaina!" "Lord!" Manet thought. "Are there two animals tracking me? Or did the one cross to the other side?" Neither possibility was good, Manet thought.

Relieved he was nearing the main trail that took him directly to the ranch house, the periodic barks of the ranch dogs sounding closer and closer, Manet was now briskly walking down the trail. Ouch! His foot got snagged in an unseen crevice in the ground, hidden by nightfall's darkness. Down Manet went, but he broke his fall with his outstretched hands. But when Manet gathered his bearings, instead of the rustling of trees and bushes to his left or right, he heard the rough noise of moving gravel behind him.

Still on his hands and knees on the ground, Manet peered behind him. Looming high above him about ten feet away was a massive black shadow, with the broadest shoulders he'd ever seen on a torso. As dark as it was, this deep black shadow still stood out against the purplish dusk sky. When Manet turned around, the figure stopped walking and, without thinking, Manet jumped to his feet and ran for his life.

"Tåta! Tåta!" "Father! Father!" Manet screamed as he got to the ranch house, illuminated by coconut oil lamps here and there. "Påkkaka'!" Manet's dad yelled back. "Keep quiet"

"Manli'e' yo' taotaomo'na!" "I saw a taotaomo'na (ancestral spirit)!"

"Ha falagu'e yo'!" "It chased after me!"

Manet's dad explained, "Masea lao tåya' bali-ña i para un essalao. Esta hao maolek. Trangkilo." "Even if it chased you, yelling about it doesn't do any good. You're safe now. Just calm down."

"Lao tåta....tåya' ilu-ña! Tåya' ilu-ña!" "But dad, it had no head! It had no head!"

The fact that Manet only saw a huge black figure with broad shoulders but no protruding head lead Manet to the firm conclusion that the spirit was headless. The fact that it had no head was what really did it for Manet. The fear factor increased by a thousand percentage points because of it. How could a spirit know where it was going if it had no eyes in a head to see?

WHY SOME TAOTAOMO'NA ARE HEADLESS

If the taotaomo'na are the spirits of ancient Chamorros, then it's no surprise that some of them appear headless.

Our people in the days before European contact often took the skulls of deceased relatives out of the grave and placed them back in their homes. Sometimes the skull was put in a high place inside the home and other times the skulls were placed in baskets.

The skulls were valued as ways of venerating the deceased relative or of asking them to bring good fortune, or both. In any case, ancient Chamorros often separated the skull from the rest of the body remaining in the grave, so it makes sense that some ancient spirits chose to reappear on earth as headless beings.

As for the broad shoulders, this could be attributed to the fact that a lot of hauling of heavy stones and other artifacts was needed to be done by men for, let's say as an example, the building of latte stone sites, some of which were used in house building.