ONE DAY IN TANAPAG

 

TALISAI NUTS

I was early for a Mass in Tanapag in Saipan so I decided to park by the beach as the sun began its descent.

Out of my rear view mirror, I saw a huge utility truck pull up behind me. I lowered my window and, since I didn't want to assume the driver spoke Chamorro, I asked in English, "Do you need me to move my car? Are you doing work here?" He said, "No, no, you're good." I could tell from the accent he was not from another country but was someone local. He went over to a couple of ladies sitting nearby and sat down.

The scenery looked inviting so I got out of my car almost immediately after the man sat down with the ladies and I heard him tell them, in Chamorro, "Mamaisen este kao para bai facho'cho' guine," "This guy asked if I'm going to do some work here."

I walked out further from my car, which was partially hiding me from them, and now they could see I was a priest, and I smiled at them and said, "Adahe sa' siña ha' yo' fumino' Chamorro!" "Be careful because I can speak Chamorro!" And they laughed and we started a conversation.

The ladies had gotten to the beach first and were eyeing the tall talisai tree. The nuts looked ripe for the picking. By the grace of God, the man was just knocking off from work and drove his utility truck, the one with the buckets to lift workers up to the top of utility poles, to the beach. The ladies saw an opportunity. Let's climb on the truck and reach the nuts with our pole.

One of the ladies got up and used a pole to knock down the nuts. The others collected the fallen nuts, and cut them open.

"Estague' kandin-måme åntes!" "This was our candy before!" they kept saying.

People would either eat the seeds of the nuts "as is" or cook them in sugar in a pan. The taste of the talisai is like almonds, and one of the English names for it is "sea almonds" because the trees often grow on the shore.

Talisai (scientific name, terminalia catappa) has many health benefits, both the nut and the leaves. It is one of the plants used in the old days for medicinal reasons. The wood of the tree is also used and the tree itself is desirable for the abundant shade it provides.

There are places called Talisay, both on Guam and in the Philippines. The talisai more than likely was brought to the Marianas from the Philippines, since our name for it is the same as the Filipino.

A LESSON

Coming upon these friendly people in Tanapag purely by happenstance taught me a nice lesson of island life. To enjoy the talisai staring right in front of you, free of charge, a gift from God, so unappreciated by modern generations; to speak our language, laugh and be cheerful, and to be made a part of the gang instantly, hearing them say, "Let the priest try," several times. This is the kind of spirit we once had everywhere in our islands, unseen now in many parts, but which can still be found in the quiet, breezy shore of Tanapag if you manage to slow down and just park at the beach waiting to see what might happen.

B#B# ANDAUT

saipantry.blogspot.com

CHAYOTE 

Around 1904, James H. Underwood, an American resident of Guam, married to a Chamorro woman and eventually US Postmaster of Guam, came across an article in the Sunset Magazine about a vegetable that attracted his attention.

It was called chayote, a native of Mexico that spread elsewhere in time. In the Sunset article, a lady in Los Angeles was growing them in her backyard, and a photo of the vegetable was included.

Underwood wrote to the lady, asking if she'd mail him chayote seeds in exchange for seeds from Guam plants. She said yes. This episode was written up in the Guam Recorder in 1936.

HOW TO EAT?

There are numerous ways to eat it. Treat it like squash, or zucchini or cucumber. Sauté it, pan fry it, use it in soup. Whatever way suits you. Some eat in raw as long as it's pickled. It doesn't need even need to be peeled.

THE GUAM CHAMORRO NAME FOR IT

This is where it gets interesting.

Once the seeds got to Underwood, I assume he grew them or gave them to someone to grow and from there it spread among the people.

JAMES H. UNDERWOOD

Lacking a Chamorro name for it, the people soon invented one. We have no idea who started it. But it became the accepted local name for chayote.

Since it includes a sensitive word, I will not spell it out completely. The lady in the video says it, so you'll know it from her.

Many Chamorros in those days found it easier to pronounce Underwood as Andaut. That is, AN - DA - UT (OOT).

CHAMORRO CHRISTMAS TREE

Long before we saw Douglas firs.....

The Christmas Tree is an American custom, itself borrowed from Germany. During Spanish times in the Marianas, there was no Christmas Tree.

When the United States took over Guam, the American Naval community wanted to have an American Christmas in Hagåtña, where the highest levels among them lived, at least as much as possible.

As early as 1907, according to former Governor Dorn, the American Governor did something for the Hagåtña school children. After 1907, year after year, the children would gather at the Plaza de España and the Governor, with his wife, and other Naval officers and their wives, with some teachers, would pass out candy and toys, which were ordered and shipped in from the U.S. mainland, the Philippines or Japan.

TRONGKON GÅGO TO THE RESCUE

For trees, the Americans had to improvise. The trongkon gågo, also known as the ironwood or Australian pine tree, was used as a substitute for the true pine and fir trees grown in North America. Though called Australian pine, it is not a pine tree but rather a she-oak. Its leaves are drooping needles that resemble horse hair or a horse tail.

Slowly, a few Chamorros adopted the American custom, modified in that the local trongkon gågo was used. This was an interesting choice since, at least by the 1930s, there were trees on Guam which looked more like pine trees, as seen in this photo of the Hagåtña Cathedral taken before the war. These were Norfolk pines, which aren't real pine trees either, but they sure looked it!

But these trees were not plentiful on Guam and, if cut down, it would take years to replace them. The trongkon gågo, on the other hand, grew in many places where, if one were cut down, hardly anyone would notice!

FINALLY, IN 1924

Then, in 1924, an American fir tree was shipped to Guam by Hans Hornbostel, a former serviceman who had lived on Guam and who was then traveling between Guam and Hawaii while working for the Bishop Museum, collecting Guam artifacts for that institution. The tree was put in cold storage for the trip. It is not known if more firs were sent to Guam for subsequent Christmases but, whatever the case, the trongkon gågo remained Guam's primary Christmas Tree for the moment.

In the Northern Marianas, which did not have American influence until after the war, Christmas Trees did not become common until much later.

When Chamorros decorated the trongkon gågo, they used whatever mother nature or their home closets provided. Store-bought decorations were limited, by each year one could add something new and, in time, a family could amass a little collection of Christmas ornaments. Otherwise, you used whatever you could easily find - even stringing popcorn, as seen in the picture above.

The one drawback of the trongkon gågo was that it quickly browned. Within a few days, its needles would drop to the floor and eventually the branches would be bare.

Judging from the smile of Julie Manley Villagomez, the young lady in the picture above, people were still happy with their trongkon gågo Christmas Tree, until the arrival of American trees became more available.

GÅGO.....NOT GAGO'

Gågo can easily be mispronounced as gago'. That changes the meaning of the word entirely.

Gago' means "lazy." Without the lonnat above the A, as in Å, a flat A is pronounced, like in the English word "fat." With the lonnat, it becomes an open A, like in the English word "father."

Also, in gago' there is a glottal stop at the end. In gågo, there is no glottal stop at all.

A POEM TO THE TRONGKON GÅGO

Utot i tronkon gagu,
(Cut down the gagu tree,)
chule' guatu gi gima';
(take it over to the house;)
po'lo gi fi'on i bentana,
(put it next to the window,)
pues na'ye ni kampana.
(then put on bells.)

Na'ye ni estreyas,
(Place stars,)
kana' diferentes kulot bola;
(hang balls of different colors;)
godde i paketi siha,
(tie the packages,)
pues agang i mambiha.
(then call the older ladies.)

I mambiha mambuñelos,
(The old ladies make buñuelos,)
para todu i bisita;
(for all the visitors;)
ma totche gi anibat,
(they dip it in the syrup,)
pues ma kana' i katupat.
(then they hang the rice pouch.)

1925 GARDEN CONTEST

Guam, like most of the Marianas before World War II, was self-sustaining in food in most things. Once in a blue moon, pests or storms might damage the island's crops and emergency food supplies would have to come from Manila, as did happen during Spanish times.

The Naval Government's policy before the war was to encourage the people to farm and produce more. The government schools could help promote this idea and one way to do it was to have the students from the different schools compete with their agricultural produce.

In 1925, a Garden Competition was held among the schools and these were the results :

BEST....	WINNER	SCHOOL
SQUASH	Jesus M. Chargualaf	Inalåhan
THREE EGG PLANTS	Martin Barcinas	Malesso'
EGG PLANT	Gregorio Taitague	Inalåhan
CORN	Jose S. Rivera	Hågat
WATERMELON	Jose H. Lujan	Inalåhan
CUCUMBER	Gloria C. Borja	Yoña
KONDOT	Jose Meno	Inalåhan
KW BEANS	Pedro Leon Guerrero	Intermediate (Hagåtña)
CANTALOUPE	Martin Barcinas	Malesso'
LETTUCE	Joaquin San Nicolas	Dorn Hall (Hagåtña)
CHAYOTE	Jose L. Babauta	Talofofo
PUMPKIN	Vicente Baleto	Sumay
RADISHES	Juan Cruz Perez	Bilibic (Hagåtña)
TURNIPS	Jesus Guerrero	Bilibic (Hagåtña)
TOMATOES	Jose Gutierrez	Intermediate (Hagåtña)
PEPPER	Martin Barcinas	Malesso'
MUSTARD	Jesus L. Tenorio	Bilibic (Hagåtña)
COPRA	1st : Joaquin S. Inoue 2nd : Vicente P. Leon Guerrero	Piti Inalåhan
ATMAGOSO	Juan M. Salas	Hågat

SOME NOTES....

Three Egg Plants. I can only guess that competitors could enter three egg plants to see whose trio was the best.

Kondot. There was no English name for this listed in the original but it can be called the wax gourd in English.

KW Beans. Stood for "Kentucky Wonder." I remember my grandmother (born 1899) using this term for those beans.

Chayote. Better spelled chaiote or chaioti in Chamorro. This was a variety of squash said to have been brought to Guam by James Underwood and given a Chamorro name using his last name!

Atmagoso. Bitter melon.

Villages. Among these 19 categories, Hagåtña schools took six prizes and Inalåhan took five.

Persons. The individual student who took the most prizes was from Malesso', one Martin C. Barcinas.

PIAO LÅHE

PIAO LÅHE

I never knew that bamboo came in two genders, male and female.

At least in Chamorro.

There are countless types of bamboo all over the world, but the Marianas only has one predominant variety, the Babusa vulgaris or "common bamboo," prevalent all over the world.

The thorny bamboo, as seen above, is called the piao låhe in Chamorro, or "male bamboo," on account of the protruding stems. They can also be called piao tituka, or "thorn bamboo."

The smooth bamboo, lacking prickly stems, is called piao palao'an, or "female bamboo, as seen in the picture below :

PIAO PALAO'AN

Both varieties, male and female, are useful and were used by our people, but the male bamboo rises taller (as high as 50 feet) and is harder. The male variety, therefore, was prized for projects needing stronger and more durable material.

THE MANY USES OF BAMBOO

Bamboo can be used in a hundred or more ways.

Beams, frames, floors, walls, partitions, ceilings, doors and windows. Bridges, ladders, fences, furniture, musical instruments, sports equipment, tool handles, fishing poles. Cups and drinking troughs. Our elders collected sap from coconut trees to make tuba into bamboo tubes.

Bamboo thrives in moist areas, such as along river banks. They can grow as rapidly as 3 inches a day, and fresh cut bamboo can take root just by being stuck in the ground.

The one negative thing about bamboo, but it is significant, is that the fallen dead leaves can form a perfect blanket for snakes to nest under. When you reach a grove of bamboo, be very careful!

CHAMORRO CANCER CURE?

I was visiting a family the other day and I noticed a tree on their property that was full of soursop.  I had never seen so many soursop fruits hanging on one tree, and this size.  They were huge.

This fruit is native to Central America and the Caribbean.  It's almost a guarantee that it was brought to the Marianas from Mexico when the galleons stopped on Guam on their way from Acapulco to Manila.

The Filipinos call this guyabano, but we call it laguaná.  The name for it in Mexico and other places in that region is guanábana.  I can easily see how Chamorros modified the pronunciation of guanábana into laguaná.  Just as Chamorros heard people say, in Spanish, "la mesa," "the table" and made it one word "lamasa," they probably heard people say, in Spanish, "la guanábana" and turned it into "laguaná," a shortcut of "laguaná - bana."  This leads me to believe even more that the fruit came to the Marianas directly from Mexico and not from the Philippines (who got it from Mexico as well) since we did not adopt the Filipino name for the fruit.  I can also see how guyabano may be a variation of guanábana, but laguaná is more clearly derived from guanábana rather than from guyabano.

There has been a lot of enthusiasm for soursop lately because of its purported medicinal benefits, including claims that it fights cancer.  The medical establishment is not as excited about it, and consuming large amounts of soursop can pose health risks, too.

I don't go crazy over soursop but I do like it when it comes across the table, especially on very hot days.

PUPULU : IT'S ALL GOOD

The pupulu, or pepper leaf, is traditionally an indispensable part of chewing pugua' (betel nut).

But it's not just the leaf that's good.  The long stigma in the middle is also very nice.  According to some, chewing it keeps the whole wad of mamå'on (betel nut, leaf and lime rock) compact and held together.

In Chamorro, this stigma is called the kalili'.  Stress on the first syllable : KA - li - li'.

Personally, I even chew on the stems.  Makes it all more pika (peppery).

GOT LUMUT?

We don't grow Douglas firs or build snow men, but in the islands we do have lumut!

Which means we can build awesome belens, or nativity scenes, which I would suggest have more to do with Christmas than reindeer and the North Pole.

 

Lumut is a moss that grows wild in the dark, moist and rocky interior of what's left of Guam's forests.  The shade that the trees provide encourages its growth. 

 

 

A lumut-covered landscape can look charmingly other-worldy, as if elves are about to run from their jungle hiding places.

The lumut has to be carefully pulled from the coral rocks so as to tear them up in as large a piece as possible.  This way, a large piece of lumut can lie almost like a single carpet on the floor of the belen.

Twigs, leaves, insects and the like all have to be taken out of the lumut.  When stored in a plastic bag, the lumut should be folded in, with the brown underside exposed, to keep the moisture in and the lumut green.

A lumut-covered belen.  Much better, I think, than store-bought green carpets, papier-mache or fabric.

MORE ON CHAMORRO MEDICINE

Today, the Åmot Conference (Chamorro medicine) went to an herbal farm run by Mr & Mrs Nelson in Dededo.  They call it the Åmot Taotao Tåno' Farm, or the Farm of the Medicine of the People of the Land.

Participants were able to see many differents plants and herbs and hear how they differ; even how they interact.  Some plants don't like to be placed next to certain plants, so Mrs Nelson changes their position.  Suruhånos and suruhånas were there to demonstrate how to use some of these herbs to make local medicine.  But no recordings of these were allowed.

Fermina Blas from Luta shares a little about the medicine she makes for those afflicted with coughing (lo'lo').  She uses håle' måtbas, ka'mang tåse, sibukao and flores ilang ilang.  She dries the ilang ilang flowers first because they are too fragrant when they are fresh.  Then she makes a tea out of the dried flowers. 

EAT AN ALLIGATOR

ALAGETA

The mangoes have been so plentiful this year, people are paying you to take them.  It seems we also have more than enough avocados to go around this year as well.  We've been getting bags and bags of them.

The Chamorro word for avocado is alageta.  I have often wondered about that because we know it is native to Central America and so it had to have been brought to the Marianas.  There was no indigenous name for it.  But in Spanish it is called aguacate.  The Filipinos call it abukado.  But alageta? Where did we come up with that?

For years it did strike me that alageta sounds like a Chamorro pronunciation of alligator.  Sure enough, "alligator pear" is another English name for avocado.

Then I checked Safford, an American Naval officer who was secretary to the Governor in the very first years of the U.S. occupation of Guam.  Safford was interested in everything; language, plants, history, you name it.  And he wrote a lot of it down.

According to Safford, he introduced avocados to Guam.  So there we have it.  No wonder we don't even call avocados by their Spanish name, as we often do with fruits and vegetables introduced by the Spaniards.  This was brought in by an American, and another English name for avocado is "alligator pear," or, as we would pronounce it with our accent - alageta!

huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu

William E. Safford

Next time you eat a local alageta, you have him to thank for it

SI CHAILANG YAN I TINANOM-ÑA SIHA

Chailang is a vivacious, cheerful friend of mine from Saipan since the 1990s.

When I last visited her, we talked about many things but she also showed me the things she has growing around the house.

Sunin Honolulu.  Taro imported some time ago from Hawaii?

Mendioka.  Tapioca. The yellow kind (amariyo).  Which she says is considered tastier.

Chå'guan Lemon.  Lemon Grass.  Stuff it in a roast pig to flavor the meat.

Alageta.  Avocado.  All the rage now in health circles.

Åbas.  Guava.  The leaves can be used medicinally.

Papåya.  One tree is påsmo (withered), the other as strong as the telephone pole, she says.  "Haligen telefon."  I had never heard the word påsmo applied to a plant before, only to pneumonia in humans, so I laughed.  Now I know.  You can learn something new everyday if you just look and listen.

Lalanghita.  A kind of green orange.  From the Spanish naranjita, or "little orange."

Lemmai. Breadfruit. Lemmai Balåko to be exact.  Balåko means "boar," or large male pig.  There's also the variety known as either Lemmai Palau (Palau Lemmai) or Lemmai Måhlos (Smooth Lemmai).  Some Chamorros (as you can hear Chailang say) pronounce måhlos "måslos."  Chailang says the Balåko variety is native to the Marianas, and the Måhlos variety from elsewhere (she says her sister's tree probably came from Ponape), hence the other name Lemmai Palau.

ATCHA BABY!

Chailang is known all over Saipan for her signature phrase, "Atcha baby!" which can mean anything, as long as it is positive.  She says it several times in the video.

PUPULU

Today on Guam, the majority of people who even chew pugua' (betel nut) do so without adding pupulu, the pepper leaf.

But the real custom is to chew a combination of pugua', pupulu and åfok (baked limestone).  Many man åmko' also added amåska or chewing tobacco.

But how do you know which leaves of the pupulu bush to pick?  Terry and Frank explain this to me in the video.

PUPULUN YAP

In Saipan, there is another variety of pupulu called pupulun Yap (Yap pupulu).  It more or less looks like Marianas pupulu but tends to be larger and the feel of the leaf just a tiny bit thicker and the texture just a tad bit more rubbery.  It's the taste that presents the biggest contrast; far more peppery (pika) than the Marianas variety.  Am sure it was brought to Saipan by our Carolinian brethren, who relish this variety of leaf.  I like it, too.

saymanmaw.20m.com

Pupulun Yap - looks the same but packs a meaner punch

PUPULUN ANITE

(Devil's Pupulu)

university.uog.edu

This is the only other traditional variety of pupulu on Guam.  It isn't chewed with pugua', but it has medicinal usages.  It doesn't look like regular pupulu.  It is more rounded and has a duller color.

If I remember correctly, wetted pupulun anite can be placed directly on one's forehead to get rid of a head ache; after which, one might develop a "devil-may-care" attitude about the rest of the day.

TIEMPON MÅNGGA

They are still gada' (unripe, green) but it seems in a month or so Guam will have a bumper crop of mangos.  They're coming out in great numbers all over the island in this hot and dry time of year.

Those who like them this green are already picking them and pickling them.

You can expect Agat to have their Mango Festival pretty soon.

BANANA FESTIVAL

Chiquita bananas just don't do it for me, compared to local bananas.

Every April, the Talofofo people host a Banana Festival.  This year I met Ben Meno, who explained to me some of the many varieties of bananas to be found on island.

If it's unripe banana, it's called chotda.

Aga' if it's ripe.

Some are for cooking; some for eating raw.

I buy local bananas usually once a week.  My favorite is the macau, because it keeps longer than manila, which I do like as well.  I also buy the cooking bananas and just steam them.  They're delicious just like that.

Other varieties are chotdan long, dåma, tanduki, galayan, and påhong among others.

TRONGKON ATGIDON

Cotton in the Marianas?

Absolutely. 

But not the kind grown in Alabama.  Spaniards imported a tropical variety of cotton that comes from these tall, slender trees with branches that normally shoot out horizontally.  I find them to be handsome trees.

Algodón is "cotton" in Spanish.  In Chamorro, it is atgidon, or atgodon.  So, the tree (trongko) is called Trongkon Atgidon.

The cotton from these trees (scientific name, Gossypium barbadense, after the Barbados Islands in the Caribbean) can be of excellent quality, commanding a higher price than regular cotton, and so silky in texture that it was sometimes blended with silk.

This particular tree is replete with bulbs opening up with white cotton.

But our mañaina didn't know how to spin and weave, so the cotton from these trees was used just for stuffing pillows and cushions, and as swabs I imagine. 

I'll have to check if suruhåno and suruhåna used any part of the tree for medicinal purposes.

Cotton, from trees growing wild in the Marianas

During Spanish times, there was an attempt to grow these Trongkon Atgidon commercially and make lots of money.  Japanese workers were brought to Guam to do this.  The project failed and the Japanese who didn't die on Guam sailed back to Japan.

FÅHA

Fåha is the "heart" or kernel found inside a coconut that has sprouted.  It is formed by the coagulation of the water inside the nut.  The older the nut, the drier the fåha becomes.

It makes a great treat, especially when made cold in the fridge.

TÅKE' BIHA

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TÅKE' BIHA

(Cassia Alata)

Tåke' Biha is not to be ingested internally, but is for external use only.  Pounded or boiled, it is used as a remedy for fungal infections of the skin and ringworms.  I wonder if a local entrepreneur could market it as a treatment for athlete's foot.

It is native to Mexico and is called, in fact, Akapulko in the Philippines.  Acapulco is a city in Mexico.  More than likely, the plant was brought to the Marianas and the Philippines from Mexico.  Why it is called Old Woman's Excrement (Tåke' Biha) is anybody's guess, but it points to the foreign origin of the plant, since part of its name is Spanish.  Biha is the Chamorro form of vieja, which is Spanish for "old," in the feminine.