ESTORIAN MARIA REAGAN

 

THE CHAPEL

A Catholic chapel stands in Chalan Laulau in Saipan, and it's all due to the strong faith of a Carolinian woman with an unusual name. She was Maria Reagan. Maria was Carolinian, but her surname Reagan was not. It's Irish.

John Edward Reagan was an American from New York who somehow ended up in Saipan in the 1880s. He probably came on a whaler or perhaps a commercial vessel. We don't know if John Edward was born in New York or in Ireland, but he was certainly of Irish blood.

He, like a few other Caucasians, liked what he saw in Saipan and stayed, marrying a Carolinian woman named Joaquina Kileleman. Their first child, a daughter named Engracia, was born in 1889. María and other offspring came later.

SPANISH PRIEST FR ANICETO IBÁÑEZ

teaching Carolinian children the Catholic religion

Saipan was still under the Spaniards then, and the Catholic faith the only religion publicly allowed. But no one was forced to convert to Catholicism. Many Carolinians embraced the faith, and little by little everyone eventually became Catholic. Joaquina, by her first name alone, shows that she had been baptized and given a Christian name, and was Catholic.

A descendant of John Edward Reagan, Malua Peter, shares how devout Maria Reagan was.

Here is a summary in English of what Malua shared :

Tan Maria is the sister of Malua's grandmother. She was the daughter of Edward Reagan and she had very fair skin. Before the war, the family would walk from Chalan Kanoa to Chalan Laulau and pray the rosary every day. This continued after the war. Then we built a chapel there in Chalan Laulau. Right after the war there were only two churches, Chalan Kanoa and Tanapag. From 2 o'clock in the morning we wake up and we pack our things and we walk to the church. We sleep outdoors on canvas that we spread out on the ground and wait for whatever priest will come along to say Mass around 4 o'clock. Some weekends we walk to Tapochao. We also had special Masses for Holy Week. Tan Maria taught us about our obligations to God, to always pray. We began to pray the rosary in Chalan Laulau, first to Our Lady of Fatima and then it changed to the Immaculate Conception. The story's not so clear but Tan Maria saw something in the chapel and that's why we changed it to the Immaculate Conception. 

Tan Maria was very devoted to the Blessed Mother. You only saw her face and her hands because she always covered her head with a shawl or veil. She wore the brown Franciscan garment and the koreas (blessed leather belt of the Augustinians). 

She grew corn and she would share it with the family and we would eat it off the cob. 

When we were kids, we had English comics. They probably came from her father's family in the US. 

Tan Maria would take me to the dentist in Chalan Kanoa and tell me stories of the Blessed Mother as we walked. 

This chapel in Chalan Laulau (Limeiyóól) in Saipan is part of the legacy Tan María gave her family

SAIPAN CAROLINIANS IN CHINA?

 

CAROLINIAN CANOES

Sometime in 1909, Chinese fishermen discovered a canoe, with three unknown sailors from a different land, off Zhoushan Island in China, very close to Shanghai. What the Chinese did know was that these three foreign sailors were hungry, thirsty and weak. Had they not been discovered, they would probably had perished.

The Chinese fishermen took the three castaways to the civil authorities, but no one could speak to them as they had no common language.

The three lost sailors were described as being dark with frizzy hair. They wore huge earrings made of coral and shell, and necklaces made of the same material. The oldest of the three, who had a beard, also had tattoos. The only possession they had were two boxes of simple fishing material such as twines and hooks. Wearing only enough to cover their private parts, some of the people who found them gave them shirts and trousers.

Finally, after two days, someone considered that the three men might be from New Guinea, controlled at the time by the Germans. So, off they went to the German Consulate. The Germans still couldn't communicate with the three to verify where they were from, but someone was inspired to take out a map of the Pacific and show the map to the lost men. The castaways most likely wouldn't have had use for a map, probably never having used maps before nor being able to read. But when one of the Germans said out the name "Saipan" the three fishermen got all excited. They made unmistakable signs that they were from the island just mentioned.

If the three lost men were from Saipan and being described as they were, especially wearing large earrings and necklaces, then undoubtedly they were Carolinians from Saipan and not Chamorros. We add to these points the fact that Carolinians were still seafaring people at the time, while Chamorros no longer sailed the high seas in the same way. A Chamorro lost in China might be able to say "Saipan" or some words in Spanish or even English, even before a map was put in front of him.

I do not know if the three castaways ever made it back to Saipan, although that was the German government's intention.

But this story reminds us that Chamorro and Carolinian sailors could have unintentionally made it to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and many other places and we just don't know about it. Zhoushan Island is a long, long way from Saipan, as you can see on the map.

IT WAS FUNNY TO THEM

HATS ON, HATS OFF!

A foreign writer in the 1800s visiting the Marianas observed the Carolinians living in our islands at the time. By 1815 or so, people from Satawal, Lamotrek and other islands in the Carolines were living in the Marianas and by the 1880s, they were living on all four main islands : Guam, Luta, Tinian and Saipan.

The writer said many things about the Carolinians; their customs, attire, dances and sailing.

Some people from Europe and the US saw the Carolinians as having strange ways. But the Carolinians could, and did, say the same thing about the Caucasians!

The writer said something the Caucasians did made the Carolinians laugh heartily. The kind of laugh that comes from the belly.

When Carolinians saw two Caucasian men meet on the road and take off their hats to each other, bow and put their hats back on, the Carolinians burst out laughing.

I suppose, to them, they saw no reason for men to do this. What was the point of taking it off and putting it right back on?

Taking off one's hat momentarily as a greeting or salute is called doffing and was part of Western etiquette back in the days when Western men wore hats on a regular basis. When greeting others, men would take their hat off, keep it in their hand for a moment and put it back on. Sometimes, when greetings crowds, politicians and dignitaries would wave their hat. This video gives us an idea.

VERSIÓN ESPAÑOLA

(traducida por Manuel Rodríguez)

ERA DIVERTIDO PARA ELLOS

Un escritor extranjero que visitó las Marianas en el siglo XIX, observó a los habitantes carolinos que vivían en nuestras islas durante aquella época. Aproximadamente en 1815, la gente de Satawal, Lamotrek y otras islas de las Carolinas vivían en las Marianas y, en la década de 1880, vivían en las cuatro islas principales: Guam, Rota, Tinian y Saipán.

El escritor comentó muchas cosas sobre los carolinos; sus costumbres, atuendos, bailes y navegación.

Alguna gente de Europa y los EE. UU. veía a los habitantes de las Carolinas como personas extrañas. ¡Pero los carolinos podían decir, y dijeron, lo mismo sobre los caucásicos!

El escritor destacó que algo que hicieron los caucásicos provocó risas a los carolinos con ganas. El tipo de risa que sale del vientre.

Cuando los habitantes de las Carolinas vieron a dos hombres caucásicos encontrarse en el camino y quitarse el sombrero el uno al otro, hacer una reverencia y volver a ponerse el sombrero, aquellos carolinos se echaron a reír.

Supongo que ellos no veían ninguna razón para que los dos hombres hicieran eso. ¿Qué sentido tenía quitarse el sombrero y ponérselo de nuevo?

Quitarse el sombrero momentáneamente como saludo era parte de la etiqueta occidental en los días en que los hombres occidentales usaban sombreros con regularidad. Al saludar a los demás, los hombres se quitan el sombrero, lo mantienen en la mano por un momento y se lo vuelven a poner. A veces, cuando las multitudes saludaban, políticos y dignatarios agitaban su sombrero. Este vídeo nos da una idea.

 

LABORERS FOR AGRIGAN....

AGRIGAN

(photo courtesy of Angelo Villagomez)

...or Pagan. Not the picture. But the place of work. The picture is definitely Agrigan.

An Englishman named H.T. Williams tried to make money here in the Marianas in the 1880s. He was up in Saipan in 1885 seeking money-making opportunities and one way to make money in those days was through the sale of copra, the dried meat of the coconut. The oil extracted from the dried meat could be used in a variety of products that needed a dose of oil in them. Think of soap, for example.

Copra production was found everywhere in the Marianas but the boon to doing it in the northern islands, like Agrigan or Pagan, was that there were no property owners! It was all government-owned, and an entrepreneur only had to secure approval from the Spanish government to lease the entire island. Williams was not the only one to seek his fortune in northern islands copra.

Williams recruited forty Carolinians living in Saipan to work on the coconut plantations in Agrigan or Pagan that year. The contract stated that the work period would not exceed fifteen months. The men were to be paid three pesos per month, with a six peso advance. Williams was to provide for their daily meals and to transport them back to Saipan within that fifteen month period.

Why Carolinians? There were indeed Chamorros living on Saipan in 1885 but, at that time, the Carolinian community was still the majority of the Saipan residents. Saipan had zero human residents from around 1740 on, thanks to the Spanish policy of relocating everyone north of Luta to Guam or Luta. It was just the birds and animals on Saipan for the next seventy years or so.

Around 1815, Carolinians were allowed by the Spanish government to settle on empty Saipan, and the Chamorros (mostly from Guam, a few from Luta) followed behind them in very small numbers. The Chamorro population began to soar by the end of the 1800s and by the early 1900s the Chamorros became the majority of the Saipan population.

But, in 1885, it was still a Carolinian majority and they were available for hire. The Chamorro settlers were busy tending their own farms; too busy to be hired in big numbers to help other ventures. The Carolinians at that time did not farm in the same way the Chamorros did, with their almost 200 years of Spanish experience with the plow and hoe. The Carolinians fished and planted in the old, island way; yam and taro. Other foods, like breadfruit, didn't even planting. Just pick them off the tree when edible. Less time was needed for these, compared to western farming, and so there were Carolinian men available for hire.

Carolinian Men of Saipan

Early 1900s

We have the names of the Carolinian men hired by Williams in 1885. Many of the family names are still around on Saipan to this day. I am listing them here in the way their names are spelled in the document. Keep in mind that the spelling comes from Spaniards (and Chamorros) who heard the Carolinian names with their Spanish and Chamorro ears. Thus, the spelling. I am also putting the more modern way of spelling these names.

Included in the list is one man from Satawal, spelled Sataguat, which would be the Chamorro way of pronouncing Satawal. Satawal is one of the many islands where the Carolinians of Saipan originated. In other words, this man from Satawal was from the same ethnic group as the Saipan Carolinians. But he is not baptized; otherwise, he would have had a Christian first name, as all the others do.

Mariano Matagolay (Matagolai)
Pedro Caipat (Kaipat)
Gregorio Rangamar
Vicente Faibar
José Faibar
Juan Ulaitiman (Olaitiman)
Timoteo Ruiliang
José Parong
Juan Rapugao
Miguel Rogolifoy (Rogolifoi)
Demetrio Olorit
Vicente Taroligay
Matías Rapaito
Uguleal de Sataguat (Uguleak of Satawal, an island in Yap State)
Romualdo Taralimang
Antonio Angailen
Simón Ulaitiman (Olaitiman)
Andrés Robopes (Rogopes)
Romualdo Ylisua (Lisua)
Lucas Itauer
Carlos Ruabutac
José Maifes
Ygnacio Capileo (Kapileo) (Ygnacio is now spelled Ignacio)
Francisco Angailen
Juan Angailen
Vicente Railog
Juan Leangarang
Macario Robopes (Rogopes)
Matías Faibar
Ramón Faay
Guillermo Satur
Juan Rabauliman
Mariano Ygubor (Igibor)
Ramón Ysarobong
Juan Faay
Félix Saralu
Sebastián Mangud
Vicente Saralu
Domingo Robopes (Rogopes)
Vicente Taman

Matagolai is a name many people think is Chamorro, since it's a coincidence that it seems to be made up of two Chamorro words : måta (face/eyes) and gollai (vegetables). But an older Carolinian told me in the 1990s the way it is pronounced in Carolinian, and documents show that the first Matagolai recorded was a Carolinian.

Some of the more familiar last names to me here are Rabauliman, Olaitiman, Satur, Rogopes, Taman (Candy, the singer), Kaipat, Rogolifoi, Rangamar, Kapileo, Lisua, among the others. Saralu calls to mind the Saralu singers. Malua Peter, a well-known lady in Saipan, is from the Angailen clan. There is an area on Saipan called As Rapugao, after the family. A lady from the Parong family married into the Chamorro Sablans, which gave birth to one of Saipan's mayors after the war, Elías Parong Sablan.

If there are other names that are spelled differently today, leave a comment.

What we have is a document spelling out the contract between Williams and these hired men. Whether they actually did go to Agrigan and completed their work is not known (yet).

When the contract needed to be signed, the names of the Carolinian men were all written down by the Chamorro clerk. But the Carolinian men could not sign their name; they had not been taught to read or write, since they lived the traditional, island ways from before the Europeans' arrival. Even up to American times, a good number of Chamorros, especially the women, could not sign their names as well.

So, instead, they made a cross with the pen on their names, which the clerk pointed to. Some people think this is where the last name "de la Cruz" comes from, which means "of the Cross." This may have been true in some cases, but not in every case, and, I suspect, not in the majority of cases. If that were really the case, then all these Carolinian men would have then become known as "de la Cruz" since none of them could sign their names, but only draw a cross next to their names.

COPRA!

ÅCHO' YAP

waterworks-sysooke.blogspot.com

 

 

Satawal canoe arriving in Saipan

From an article written in a 1938 Guam Recorder issue, we get the story of "Yapese" coming to Guam during Spanish times looking for a certain kind of rock for use as money (åcho' Yap).   The famous stone money in Yap, we know, was actually obtained in Palau.  But there is speculation that some of it could have come from the Marianas.

Antonio Crisostomo Suarez, a mestizo Chamorro of the late 1800s and early 1900s, who had spent some time in the Northern Marianas, then talks about natives from Satawal and Lamotrek making the voyages up to the Marianas in the same breath.

So I wonder about this, since people from Satawal and Lamotrek are part of the State of Yap, but are not ethnically Yapese.  Their language and culture are part of the extended Chuukese group, though they have some affinities with Yapese customs, such as betel nut chewing.

Still, it interested me to find out, from Suarez, that when the Carolinians (the term used for the Outer Islanders in Yap State) sailed for the Marianas, they had an easy source of protein : the fish they caught on the way.  For carbs, they soaked green breadfruit in salt water (unpalatable to others) or baked and pounded it and mixed it with coconut milk.  Other roots were brought along as food.  Fresh water was stored in bamboo tubes, and replenished with rain water.

It makes one wonder if there were any similarities between this and the way the first peoples of the Marianas brought food with them from their original lands to their new home in our chain of islands.

The Carolinians were so much a part of Saipan's history and community that the Chamorros could say Sataguåt (for Satawal) and Oleai (for Woleai).