SAN ANTONIO FIESTA IN 1915

Naval Station Band in 1918
MARC collection

The feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, patron of the barrio of San Antonio in Hagåtña, fell on a Sunday in 1915.

Then, as we do today, the people celebrated the feast over the weekend.

On Saturday, the Navy band paraded through the streets of that district in the cooler evening hours, playing for the people.

On Sunday, a priest chanted the Te Deum, a hymn of thanksgiving to God. This was done in the San Antonio chapel. It was not a full-fledged church, nor even a parish. It was a chapel under the main Dulce Nombre de María church. A large crowd of faithful attended this service.

During the day, sports competitions were held, with prizes for the winners.

In the late afternoon, the procession. Along the route, the streets of San Antonio were adorned with the åtkos, wooden arches decorated with local fruits and vegetables and even the American flag. Once again, the Navy band played during the procession, but religious hymns this time, of course.

You can see where the district of San Antonio was in Hagåtña before the war, by looking at the upper right hand corner of this map. The area would be where Nissan Auto City, Meskla restaurant and Paradise Fitness are today.

THE GUAM CAPUCHINS AND LOURDES

Dedication of OL of Lourdes Church, Yigo

May 5, 1965

The Capuchins on Guam established most of the parishes on Guam, but Yigo stands out in a special way because that church may never had been called Our Lady of Lourdes had it not been for the Capuchins, and perhaps because of one in particular, Påle' Román María de Vera.

Påle' Román

The idea probably came about in 1919, because by early 1920, Påle' Román was already preparing a young Yigo lady named Isabel Torres Pérez to recite the novena in Chamorro which Påle' Román had written. Besides the novena, Påle' Román composed the hymn to her in Chamorro, using a Basque church melody, and taught it to a small group of young Yigo maidens, mostly sisters from the Pérez (Goyo) clan.

A very rudimentary chapel, made up of free materials from Guam's jungles, was built for the small numbers of people in Yigo at the time. As the years went on, the population grew, as Yigo was prime farming land.

The temporary chapel built in Yigo right after the war in 1945

THE SPANISH CAPUCHIN DEVOTION TO LOURDES

The Spanish Capuchins who worked on Guam since 1915 were from the Basque country, in the north of Spain near the French border. They were so close to France that devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes was something easily planted in the Basque country.

Lourdes (at top of map) is not very far from Spain

When the Capuchins began a presence in Manila, Philippines, they set up a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes in their church in Intramuros, and, when that was destroyed in World War II, moved it to its present location in Quezon City where it has become a National Shrine.

The Lourdes Devotion in the Capuchin Church in Manila before the War

This connection with the Capuchin Church in Manila before World War II is important because Påle' Román first served in the Philippines long before he came to Guam.

A REMINDER

When I designed the new friary on Guam, built in 2007, I wanted to remind us all of our traditional Guam Capuchin link to the Basque Capuchins, Intramuros, Påle' Román and Our Lady of Lourdes. So I had this simple outdoor shrine made for Our Lady of Lourdes, across the Friary chapel.

People see this shrine and think of Our Lady of Lourdes, but there's more to this than that.

I pass by and think of all those things mentioned above.

SAN ISIDRO DE GARAPAN

It's almost all but forgotten now, but San Isidro (whose feast is today) was once a "big shot" in Saipan.

We must remember that the Spanish priests had the custom of sometimes naming one patron saint for the town or village, and another for the church building itself.

The most prominent, but now forgotten, example is Hagåtña, the capital of the Marianas at one time.  The patron of the city is San Ignacio.  The patroness of the church is Dulce Nombre de Maria.

In Malesso', San Dimas for the village; Our Lady of the Rosary for the church.

In Inalåhan, San Jose for the village; Our Lady of Consolation for the church.  All but forgotten.

This custom did not occur in every case.  In Humåtak, San Dionisio is patron of both village and church.

In Saipan, the patron of the town of Garapan was, at one time, San Isidro.  Notice the parish seal above.  The parish was coterminous with the town.  It says, "Parroquia de S. Isidro de Garapan."  Or, "Parish of San Isidro of Garapan."

The seal, probably made in Manila, features a little image of the saint, with his plow and a stalk of some kind of crop behind.

In 1865, there is a reference in the Saipan baptismal records that the church of Garapan was named after Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Spanish Nuestra Señora del Carmen. Thus we see the Spanish custom applied here. San Isidro for the parish of Garapan (the entire island of Saipan), and Mount Carmel for the church building.

Almost a hundred years later, in the 1930s, some older people remember the church in Garapan being called Kristo Rai, or Christ the King.

But the devotion to San Isidro lived on, mainly because he is patron of farmers so he would be popular among Chamorros, anyway, for that reason alone, at least in the good old days of farming.

Today, San Isidro is remembered each year in Saipan as the patron of farmers, especially by the Carolinian community.

Saipan singer Candy Taman at the San Isidro fiesta

SANTA GUADALUPE : A LONG HISTORY

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Santa Rita

Long before there was a post-war village we call Santa Rita, with Our Lady of Guadalupe as its patroness, this originally Mexican veneration was brought to Guam with Blessed Diego in 1668.

Marianas history always has to keep in mind its long connection with Mexico.  The Spanish government ruled the Marianas through Mexico for many years, and priests, soldiers and others came to the Marianas via Mexico on the galleons that sailed from Acapulco to Manila.

The Acapulco-Manila Galleon Route conveniently stopped by the Marianas almost every year

As a matter of fact, Sanvitores came to Guam via Mexico both times; the first, in 1662 when he first saw the Ladrones, as they were called then, and then in 1668 when he came back to live and die here, changing the name of the islands to the Marianas.

It was in Mexico that Sanvitores also raised some more money for the Marianas mission and recruited priests and soldiers to protect them.

He brought the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Marianas from the very start, and a church in northern Guam, now extinct, called Ayraan or Ayran (could that actually be Hila'an?) was dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe from the days of Sanvitores.  Besides that, there was a church in Sungharon, Tinian built under the same patroness, and a chapel at the Jesuit school in Hagåtña, the Colegio de San Juan de Letrán, had a chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Many Mexican soldiers and mission helpers came to the Marianas and it was only smart of Sanvitores to keep the Guadalupe veneration prominent in a mission with so many Mexicans.

Later, the village of Pago had a church dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.  When that village was abandoned after earthquakes and the 1856 smallpox epidemic, Sumay inherited that patroness.  When Sumay was closed by the U.S. Navy as a civilian settlement, the people moved to Santa Rita and kept their original patroness.

You know you're Chamorro when....

You say Guat - da - lu - pe for Guadalupe.

Chamorro nicknames for women with this name are Lupe and Pupe.

The Oktåba

A few years prior to the reforms of Vatican II, the Church had many octaves (octava in Spanish, oktåba in Chamorro).  These were periods of eight days (thus octo, the Latin word for "eight") during which an important church feast was celebrated for an extended time. The Church's new calendar still has octaves, but fewer than in the past.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary on December 8 used to have its own oktåba in the old calendar.  The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12, falls within that period, so Sumay/Santa Rita people refer to their patronal feast as the Oktåba.

SINAJAÑA HISTORICAL PHOTO EXHIBIT

This year's St Jude fiesta had to have a special touch.  Fifty years ago, the present church was dedicated.  So one of the special features of this year's observance was a historical photo display of the village.

The church built after the war.

The public school in Sinajaña before the war.

Vice Mayor Robert Hofmann and Peter Onedera spearheaded much of the fiesta events, and William Paulino on the right took these photos for me.

MAPAGÅHES GI KATMELO

It's the Fiesta of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Bithen del Carmen) in Hågat, and in Chalan Kanoa in Saipan.

This is one of the Chamorro hymns in her honor.  It focuses on the idea of the cloud (mapagåhes) of Mount Carmel.  What is the meaning of that?  I'll get to that later.  First, the lyrics in this video, which include the refrain and the last verse of the hymn.

Atan guihe gi san lago / a'annok i mapagåhes
(Look there towards the sea / the cloud is appearing)

Mapagåhes gi Katmelo / maila' ya un Nånan-måme.
(Cloud of Carmel / come and be our Mother.)

Tayuyute ham Maria / gai Yius na mapagåhes
(Pray for us Mary / cloud containing God)

un ma'åse' nu i taotao / mames na Bithen del Carmen.
(have pity on the people / sweet Virgin of Carmel.)

Why clouds?

Carmel is a mountain in northern Israel.  It is associated with the Prophet Elijah, who fought against the loss of faith by many in Israel in the true God as they started to worship the pagan gods of their neighbors.  God punished the land by holding back the rain and a severe drought and famine set in.

It was on Mount Carmel that Elijah conducted a contest with the prophets of the false gods, to see which altar of sacrifice could light up spontaneously by the power of God.  All day long, the false prophets cried out to their god to light their altar, and nothing happened.  Then Elijah called on God and his altar caught fire, even though Elijah had poured water over the altar three times to prove the miracle even more.

Then Elijah prayed for the end of the drought.  Seven times Elijah's servant looked at the sea for signs of rain, and on the seventh, he saw a small cloud.  Elijah said the cloud would bring rain and end the drought.  You can read all about it in 1 Kings 18.

Mary - the Heavenly Cloud

The Church saw all of this which happened in Elijah's time as prophetic of Jesus and Mary.  Jesus is the Savior, whose coming ended the punishment all mankind suffered because of the sin of Adam and Eve.  Jesus is the rain that comes to the rescue of man's spiritual drought.  But how did Jesus come into the world?  Like rain falls from the clouds, Jesus the rain fell from the cloud called Mary, His Mother.

Clouds are formed from the water of the ocean, but without retaining the weight and saltiness of sea water.  Mary comes from the human race, but freed since the moment of her conception from the weight and bitterness of Original Sin.  Just as the water becomes drinkable and clean as it rises out of the sea to form a cloud, Mary rises out of sinful humanity pure and sweet.

The servant of Elijah who saw the cloud said it resembled a man's foot, and some translations render it a man's hand.  Either way, there is a spiritual metaphor.  If the foot, then Mary is that foot which crushes the head of the serpent, our Ancient Enemy who started this mess with Adam and Eve.

If the hand, then Mary is the hand that gives us our Savior.  In either case, the operative word in the passage is vestigium - trace, footprint, vestige - of a man, or, of a human being.  Mary is the one who gave Christ His human nature.

Finally, just as a cloud pours down its rain without human cooperation, Mary gives us Christ without the aid of a human father.  The image of the cloud rising from the sea is rich in meaning!

About a thousand years ago, Christian hermits started to live on Mount Carmel.  They eventually formed the Carmelite Order, men and women, and the Prophet Elijah is one of their patrons.  As they spread to Europe, the Carmelites spread the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and from Spain, where Mary is very popular under this title, the devotion was brought to the Marianas.

I Mapagåhes gi Katmelo

The Cloud of Carmel

MAINA : THE VILLAGE OF TWO LADIES

This weekend is the fiesta of the small community of Maina.

The village name - ma ina - means "to illuminate, enlighten, shed light on."  Why this area, among the hills and valleys near Hagåtña, should be so-called, no one knows.

What is certain is that the parish was named after the village, and not the other way around.  There was no parish in Maina until many years after the war.  When they decided to build a chapel and give it a name, they chose a patroness inspired by the Chamorro village name.

Years ago, there was a church ceremony practiced much more than today.  It was called the "Churching of Women."  A woman, sometime after giving birth, would come to church, with a candle, to give thanks to God for a successful delivery and to be blessed.  The use of a candle is a connection with the Chamorro word ma ina - "to illuminate."

The ceremony recalls the time Mary brought the Child Jesus to the Temple for present Him to God and to purify herself after childbirth.  The Jewish custom was to do this, bringing a candle.  In Spain, Our Lady under this title became known as Candelaria.  In English, she would be called Our Lady of the Purification.

Maina's Patroness - La Candelaria

Holding a candle, the Child Jesus shows us the meaning of ma ina

Maina was not the only place women were churched after childbirth, but the name of the village is connected to that religious ceremony.

THE OTHER LADY

Besides Our Blessed Lady, Maina is also known for a different kind of lady - the White Lady.  As far as I can tell, this is a new legend developed after the war.  It doesn't go back that far, then.  It probably originated in people's imaginations as a reaction to the scary-looking valley and bridge on the road that connects Maina with Agaña Heights.  Different versions of the myth exist, but they all center on the ghost of a woman who appears at night on this bridge.  I think it may not be purely coincidental that this ghost is a white lady, when the area's Chamorro name and its Catholic patroness , La Candelaria, all bring the "light" to mind.  Maybe it sparked the imagination.

But he don't believe...

Agapito is a life-long resident of Maina.  He says his mother saw spirits, but not at the White Lady Bridge.  As far as he's concerned, there is no White Lady.  He even says some people he knows light candles down there at night to give drivers a thrill at night.  I jokingly add that maybe the White Lady legend helps boost tourism to the village.

CHURCHING - or MA INA

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The woman holds a candle (ma ina) and is lead by the priest to the altar for a blessing.

NIÑO PERDIDO

The "Lost" Child Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple

Once again, the Spanish stand out as having a devotion to Jesus, under the mystery of His remaining three days behind in Jerusalem, without Joseph and Mary's knowledge.  The devotion is present in other Catholic countries of Europe, but not to the extent it is in Spain.

There is even a town named after the Niño Perdido : Alquerías del Niño Perdido (Valencia).

He is the patron saint of Asan, which celebrated its fiesta last weekend.

Asan Church

Since the devotion is virtually unknown in the States, an American Capuchin, new to Guam, made the following mistake.

He saw the list of Mass intentions he was supposed to read out before Mass.  First on the list was "Misan Ånimas," for the departed souls.  Next was "Niño Perdido."  He had never seen that before and thought it was the name of the Mass donor.  Imagine the shock and a few giggles from the older ladies in church when the priest announced "Misan Animas, offered by Niño Perdido."

kulone.com

GUPOT TRES REYES

Three Kings, Tres Reyes - the end of the Christmas Season (traditionally) in the Marianas and elsewhere.

As the lady in the video says to the Niño, "Esta otro såkkan ta'lo!"  "Till the coming year again!"

TRES REYES

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January 6 is the traditional feast of the Three Kings, or Tres Reyes. 

The Reyes family of the Marianas are really the de los Reyes family.  It literally means "of the kings."  In American times, most of them dropped the "de los."  A few in Saipan still keep "de los Reyes."  The name is in honor of the Three Kings, and many with the Reyes last name throw a feast on January 6.

In times past, this was the feast that ended the Christmas season.  Some families end their Christmas nobena today.

The Other Three Kings

pimentelguitars.com

A Mexican singing trio

FIESTAN SAN JUDE - SAN DIEGO STYLE

SINAJAÑA COMMUNITY KEEPS FAITH AND TRADITION ALIVE

The lukao (procession)

For many years, the people in San Diego with roots in Sinajaña have held a very successful Fiestan San Jude, usually one of the biggest Chamorro religious events in California.  Don't forget that, after the war, Sinajaña, together with Barrigada, was one of the most populated villages on Guam.  Check the Guam censuses of the late 1940s and 1950s and you'll see that.  Evidence of this is still seen in the large church that was built in 1962, and the fact that Sinajaña still has a Vice Mayor, even though it has been surpassed in population today by many other villages.

The Choir sings "Ayudånte gi Chinatsaga"

It's interesting how a melody takes on unique features village to village, sometimes choir to choir.  Here we see how a tune changes slightly after crossing the Pacific Ocean.

In San Diego, they still pray the Nobena - in Chamorro!  Commendable!

There was a lot of pride, too, in being an alumnus/alumna of Saint Jude Thaddeus School (SJT).  What is now Bishop Baumgartner Memorial School was founded in the mid 1950s as a parish school, run by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (La Crosse, Wisconsin).

 

Beloved Father Kieran, long-time pastor of St. Jude, was coming every year to San Diego to celebrate the festal Mass until travel became more difficult for him in recent years.  He lives in Wisconsin.

BIBA SAN JUDE!

My grandmother (3rd lady from left) walking in the Saint Jude procession in Sinajaña

Early 1950s

Prior to the war, Sinajaña had a small chapel dedicated to the Dulce Nombre de Maria, the Sweet Name of Mary, just like the Hagatña Cathedral.

But after the war, the little hamlet with a small population grew to the largest village on Guam for a while, as many displaced Hagatña residents (including my own family) settled there.  A large church had to be built.  For some reason, a new patron saint was also selected.

We have (so far) no documented evidence why Saint Jude was chosen.  Saint Jude, even in the States, was not well known.  As the story goes, his counterpart Judas Iscariot gave Jude Thaddeus a "bad name" for many centuries.  Both men, the good one and the bad one, really have the same name - Judas.  That's why one had to be called a second name, Iscariot, and the other Thaddeus.  To further distinguish the good Judas from the bad, the good Judas became better known as Jude.

Still, he was not a very popular saint for hundreds and hundreds of years.  Few churches in his name, hardly any devotion to him at all.

Then came the Dominicans.  They promoted the devotion to Saint Jude because of their long missionary contact with the people of Armenia, where Saint Jude is thought to have worked and where he is highly venerated to this day.

But what connection do the people or priests in Sinajaña in the late 1940s have with the Dominicans?  None, except that, through oral history, whose accuracy cannot always be guaranteed, says that Francisco de la Cruz (Paco) introduced the novena to Saint Jude to Sinajaña after the war.  Before the war, Paco lived in both Manila and Hong Kong, with Dominicans working in both places. I wouldn't be surprised if Paco had more contact with the Dominicans in Hong Kong than those in Manila, since the Catholic Church was a small minority in Hong Kong and the Dominicans would have stood out more there than in Manila, with its huge variety of Catholic orders.

Whatever the case, Saint Jude became the patron of Sinajaña.  Since it was a post-war devotion, there was no novena in Chamorro until someone finally typed one up.  It took many more years for a Chamorro hymn to be composed to Saint Jude.  And I was "there," so to speak, when it happened.

Stationed at Saint Jude's one summer while studying for the priesthood in the States was one Jesus Sonoda from Saipan.  Being a fluent Chamorro speaker, he was asked by the pastor of Sinajaña to compose a Chamorro hymn to Saint Jude.  He did; both the music and the lyrics.  And I was present when he taught it to the kantoras (singers) and techas (prayer leaders) of the parish, guitar in hand.

I was a kid, but I remember it.  This was in the ealry 1970s.  The song was a hit and it took off.  So did the devotion, and now many parishes have a weekly devotion to him.

Ayudånte gi chinatsaga / patron i man tai esperånsa

(Helper in difficulty / patron of the hopeless)

Tayuyute ham San Jude Thaddeus / hame nu i mañe'lu-mo.

(Pray for us, Saint Jude Thaddeus / we your brethren.)

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JESUS SONODA
Still with guitar in hand

Composer of the Chamorro Hymn to Saint Jude "Ayudånte"

Not long after, Jess felt a different call from God, to married life - and began a family with his wife Anicia Castro.  The couple is strongly involved in Marriage Encounter and the Church.

BIBA SAN DIONISIO

This weekend there will be parties in Humåtak celebrating its patronal feast of San Dionisio.

The village, of course, is an ancient one.  Tradition has it that Magellan landed here in 1521 and replenished his ships with water and food.  The Chamorros in turn took things from his ships and Magellan burned down some of the houses of the village and took off.

By the time Sanvitores was in the Marianas, Humåtak was called San Antonio by the Spaniards and was the usual bay used by visiting ships.  In 1680 (eight years after Sanvitores' death), the Jesuits started a church in Humåtak, dedicated to San Dionisio Areopagita, a favorite devotion of the Duchess of Aveiro, a major benefactor of the Marianas mission.

Who was San Dionisio?  He was Greek; an official of the Areopagus, a court in Athens.  In the Book of Acts it is recorded that he was converted to Christianity by the preaching of Saint Paul.  He later became the second bishop of Athens.  His name in Latin is Dionysius; in French Denis and in English Dennis.

From the Chamorro Hymn to San Dionisio

Gi siudå giya Atenas / ma fanå'gue i saina-ta;

an un hungok si San Pablo / i anti-mo gef magmåta.

Ennao mina' un sen yute' / i linachen hinengge-mo.

(In the City of Athens / our patron was taught;

when you heard Saint Paul / your soul was truly awakened.

That is why you truly abandoned / your erroneous beliefs.)

thefierymind.wordpress.com

Like many early Christians, San Dionisio lost his head during the persecutions of the Christians.

KÅNTAN SAN FRANCISCO

Today, the village of Yoña celebrates its patronal feast in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, in Chamorro, San Francisco de Asís.

There are several hymns to him, but the most commonly sung is "Mames na Tåta."  The above clip has part of the hymn.  It begins,

Mames na tåta, ma sen gofli'e hao,

(Sweet Father, you are very loved,)

sa' un fa' maolek i fumatoigue hao.

(because you make well those who come to you.)

O San Francisco!  Hungok i ginagao,

(Oh Saint Francis!  Hear the plea,)

i linahyan taotao ni umagånge hao.

(of the crowd of people who call to you.)

PATRONON TALOFOFO : SAN MIGET ATKÅNGHET

September 29 is the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, Patron of Talofofo.  Well, I guess it is only fitting that God's Archangel be patron of God's Country.

"Michael" is Hebrew, derived from the question "Who is like God?"  The El in Micha-el is the Hebrew generic term for the deity or God.  Notice how -el pops up frequently in names like Daniel, Gabriel, Israel and so on.

This angel has that name because he did battle with Lucifer who claimed to be equal to God.  Michael opposes this hubris with the question : Who is like (equal to) God?  The answer : No one.

This theology is reflected in one of the Chamorro hymns to San Miget Atkånghet.

Håye si Yu'us?  Taichilong si Yu'us.

(Who is God? God is without equal.)

San Miget Atkånghet, hungok magogof

(Saint Michael the Archangel, be pleased to hear)

i in sangan på'go na tinayuyut.

(the prayers we now say.)

San Miget Atkånghet, chomma si Satán

(Saint Michael the Archangel, push back Satan)

sa' i manganite ti yan-ñiha ham.

(because the demons do not love us.)

Before the war, Talofofo was a mission chapel under Inarajan parish.  I'll have to dig more to verify or debunk, but if the first chapel was built after 1935 and if the devotion started only then, I wouldn't be surprised if Saint Michael was chosen to be the patron because the new bishop at the time was Bishop Olano, whose first name was Miguel Ángel, or Michael Angel.

Chamorro Prayer to San Miget Atkånghet

(this was said after every Low Mass back in the day and to this day in the traditional Latin Mass)

San Miget Atkånghet, goggue ham gi mimu, pattang ham gi tinailaye yan i ginadde' i manganite siha.  Si Yu'us u tinago' gue', in tatayuyut hao man umitde, ya hågo, må'gas i ehetsiton långet, dulalak nu i yiniusan minetgot-mo guato sasalåguan si Satanås yan i pumalo na man chatante ni i manailaye, na manlalayao gi tano' ha na' kekefanailaye i ante siha.  Taiguennao mohon.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.  May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.  Amen.

goggue = defend
gi mimu = mumu means "fight" or "battle"
pattang = to block or shield
ginadde' = gadde' means to "ensnare, trap"
manganite = anite means "demon." Man+anite = manganite = demons (plural)
ehetsiton = ehetsito means "army," borrowed from the Spanish ejército.  Stress is on the 2nd syllable : e-HET-si-to.
dulalak = chase away
yiniusan = divine.  From "Yu'us" or God.  Yiniusan = godlike
chatante = ånte means "spirit."  Chat means a defect in quality.  So, "bad spirits."
na' kekefanailaye = tailaye means "evil."  Ke means "to try to, to attempt." Na' ketailaye = trying to make evil.

One of our faithful readers points out where to hear the original Spanish version of this hymn :

FIESTAN SAN ANTONIO

GUPOT SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA

Hunio dia 13

Tamuning's fiesta?  Well, one of them.

When the church we know today as Saint Anthony's was built in Tamuning after World War II, the original patron (and co-patron to this day) was Saint Victor.  America's victory in WWII can easily be seen as the connection.

But Chamorros didn't have a devotion to Saint Victor, and eventually Saint Anthony was added as a co-patron and eventually superceded Saint Victor for prime place.  The reason?

First of all, because Saint Anthony was greatly venerated by Chamorros, to the extent that his relic was venerated in all of Guam's churches every Tuesday.

Secondly, because prior to the war, there was a district (barrio) of Hagåtña called San Antonio, and the Spanish Capuchins built a chapel there in his honor, with at least one Sunday Mass there.  The barrio of San Antonio is where Padre Palomo Park, the U.S. Naval Cemetery and the now-defunct auto dealership are, in the old Ada's commercial area where Meskla restaurant is.  After the war, that entire area became commercial and the chapel was never rebuilt.  The devotion needed a locus, so Tamuning inherited it.

INARAJAN FIESTA 100 YEARS AGO

Well, not quite 100 years ago but close to it.  These photos were taken sometime in or around the 1920s in Inarajan.

Notice it's the men front and center at the feast of the patriarch, Saint Joseph, all in their white shirts.  They carry Saint Joseph on an åndas just as they did this year, almost a hundred years later.  The women follow behind with their white handkerchiefs for veils.

Inarajan Church around the same time, before the present one was built between 1939 and 1940.  That's the konbento (casa parroquial) on the right.  Did you know that while the patron saint of the village is San Jose, the patron of the church is Nuestra Señora de la Consolación (Our Lady of Consolation)?

BIBA SAN JOSE!

This year, the parish of Saint Joseph in Inarajan was able to celebrate its patronal feast on the actual feast day, March 19.  As usual, the festal Mass and procession were celebrated on Saturday afternoon, followed by dinner for all who attended, hosted by the parish.  This feast was very popular on Guam before World War II when many people from Hagåtña traveled to Inarajan to spend a few days and nights with friends and relatives for this feast.  Anticipation of this feast was generated seven Sundays prior to March 19 with the observance of the Siete na Damenggon San Jose (the Seven Sundays of Saint Joseph), a devotion prayed by the faithful.  The focus of this devotion was on the men, who took Saint Joseph as a role model.

On March 19, the Church looks specifically on Saint Joseph as the Patron Saint of the Universal Church; hence the Chamorro title Patrosinio for this particular feast.

The image of Saint Joseph is carried in procession on an åndas.  A karosa is another mode of carrying a statue, but on wheels.  If the statue is carried on a pallet on the shoulders of the bearers, it's an åndas.  Both terms were borrowed from the Spanish (andas; carroza).

Notice how our people need to touch and feel.  Hands instinctively reach out to make physical contact.  Children are raised to reach the statue.

I noticed many people from all over the island drive down south for the fiesta.  Before the war, travel to Inarajan was not a quick trip like ours was tonight, driving from the friary in Agaña Heights to Inarajan in just 40 minutes.  Back then, one really was a taotao tumano', a person journeying over the land (tåno').  The food served after the fiesta is the na' taotao tumano', the food for those journeying by land (pilgrims).

The carving station at the Inarajan fiesta.  Well, one of them anyway!  There were several.