NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Amongst Guam and Chamoru legends, you will find different themes, different archetypes. Some of them are familiar, common, while some are much more complicated and show clear layers of intervention and influence. This legend for example, which goes by many different names and has lots of different versions is one such fascinating example. It clearly shows European elements. You can see in it tropes that are common in other cultures, where deities visit the human world to test or view real, unvarnished life. And then from these experiences some one or some group is chosen to represent the best that humanity has to offer and others are punished.  There are versions of this type of story that go back to the Spanish era, but then there are others that show the editing or altering due to educators or writers adapting them in certain ways. One of the things that I enjoy most about this type of Chamoru legend though is how it becomes a creation story for the Chamoru people, after coloniza...

Recently I visited the Faniyakan Sinipok or the Guam Department of Education Immersion school to hold a storytelling session with the families of the program's students.  Similar to the families for I Maga'låhen Hurao Charter School, while the children may progress and show great development in the Chamoru language, unless the parents are fluent or are working hard to learn Chamoru on their own, they will fall far behind and not be able to support the learning of their children.  I've seen it many times in the Hurao school where children begin to develop fluency, but they hit a ceiling because first, the limited amount of peers that they can speak and identify with, and second, because their family can't match their fluency or learning level. While their families are interested in having them learn Chamoru, the parents themselves are often not fluent or not actively committed to learning, and so their children will quickly hit a ceiling.  It is for this reason that when...

  I have been around and involved in movements and organizations that do work around language and culture for more than 25 years now. Sometimes I think of my start in these discussions as beginning when I started to learn Chamoru 25 years ago while a senior at the University of Guam. But in truth, it started in small ways a few years earlier while I was helping my grandfather sell his blacksmith tools at this shop at the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña and at different cultural fairs. While I was by no means an expert and often times could care less about the conversations around me, because I was my grandfather's driver and his helper, I ended up participating in cultural politics years before I became passionate about them. Sometimes as I look back, given how involved I've been it is easy to feel that things have changed or things are different because I am so familiar with the issues that what might seem inconsequential to some or minor to others, seems major or significant to m...

  Put si nanå-hu biha, i puti'on gi langhet-hu, i anghet-hu para i kotturå-ta yan i lengguahi-ta.        Put si nanå-hu, i pilan gi langhet-hu, un chalåni yu' sa' achokka' guaha na biahi echong yan matahlek yu' gi chalån-hu todu tiempo un pupulan yu'.        Put i guinaiyå-ku, un na'kabåles i korason-hu yan i familia-ku. Hu agradedesi i guinaiyå-mu yan i sinapotte-mu mås kada diha gi este karerå-ta.      Magof Ha'ånen Mannånu nu hamyo na tres ya hamyo todos ni' mannåna.

If you are looking for articles, essays, poems, and other random things written in Chamoru, about a wide variety of topics, then you should definitely check out "I Sakman i Fino'-ta." It was started in 2022 by Benny Anderson as a means of promoting Chamoru language and writing. Anyone can submit for the website, which is filled at this point with hundreds of short pieces written in Chamoru. The inspiration for the name is that the website is a vessel for the language in the same way the såkman was a vessel for the Chamoru people the past, using it to travel and transport. If we continue to use our language on a daily basis and pass it on to the next generation, it will continue to evolve and grow as we grow. It will stay with us on this journey. The published pieces come from active, current learners of Chamoru, first language speakers of Chamoru and second language learners of Chamoru. They are free to write about whatever they are interested in. You will find plenty of ...

Todu i taotao-ta på'go ma tungo' i pusision-ña i sihek, ya ma tungo' na esta sen hassan i paluma. Guaha mås ki un siento ha' na sihek tetehan gi mundo lao manlå'la'la' yan mañåsaga todu gi halom gigao siha gi fanggå'ga'an pat otro taiguihi na lugåt siha.  Put este na råson, esta ti tahdong i tiningo'-ta put i sihek, sa' para i meggaiña na Chamorun på'go tåya' nai ta ripåra siha manlibre gi halomtåno'. Lao estague un lihende put i sihek, i taotao ma sångan gi åntes na tiempo put i sihek, ni' umeksplikåkayi hit put i kustumbre-ña yan i bonito na pusision-ña i paluma.  Estague i lihende: Gi åntes guåntes na tiempo, eståba un taklalo' na biha ni' sumåsaga na maisa gi halomtåno'. Mampos banidosa yan presonida este na biha. Gof ya-ña mamåhan guaguan na magågu, esta bubula todu i aparadot siha gi halom i dangkolo' na kastiyu-ña. Sesso di manusa kulot åsut na bestidu, åpa’ka’ na tapes yan kulot kåhet na pañelu....

  Humånao si Lulai (si Chuguangguang) para i Fangga’ga’an San Diego para i primet na biahi gi nigapña. Gof ya-ña!     Manli’e’ familian hiarafa (giraffe) minetras manmamomokkat yan mamboboka. Gof annakko' i aga'ga'-ñiha!   Manli’e’ gago’ na hippo, umåsso gi inai. Ilek-ña si Lulai, “ayu na yommok na crocodile!” Hu admimite na ti meggai tiningo’-ña i neni put i dos.   Manli’e’ katdumen meerkats taiguihi ginen i mubi i Rai Leon (Lion King). Gigon ha hungok na gaige si Timon i atungo’ Simba, inalululala lumi’e’. Gof dångkolo’ i chinalek-ña anai hu kantåyi gui’ “Dångkolo’ i daggån-ña” gi i tunadan “Hakuna Matata.”     Manli’e’ yan este i mas ya-ña un elefånte, i na’ån-ña si Shaba.    Gof dångkolo’ yan makalelu i elefånte! Ilek-ña si Lulai, “Anakko i gui’eng-ña!” Hu sangåni gui’, hunggan, adahi sa’ kada umachem kalang un kañon. Pangpang! Anai ha hungok este, ha tåmpe i talanga'-ña, gof kinute!   Gi todu, un gefpågo yan didide’ manengheng na ta...

 Ai mohon na mås gailugåt yu' yan mås gaifuetsa yu'! Fihu hiningongok-hu ginen otro taotao put i mineggai hu cho'cho'gue yan mampos tinanane' yu'. Ya achokka' hu tungo' na guaha minagahet gi håfa ilek-ñiha, gi minagåhet todu tiempo, hu siesiente na ti nanahong i bidadå-hu. Guaha mås gi este na bånda, gi ayu na bånda, gi este na påtte, put este na prublema, todu tiempo guaha mås siña hu cho'gue. Un maolek na hemplo put este, este na blog.  Gi i ma'pos na simåna, sinangåni yu' nu dos na taotao na hagagas ininspired siha nu este na blog. Ma taitaitai, ma a'atan. Gof maolek na resource este na blog put i litråtu siha, i commentary, i Fino' Chamoru na tinige'.  Hu agradesi este na sinangån-ñiha, nina'magof yu', sa' guaha na biahi pine'lolo-ku na esta manmaleffa todu put este na blog.  Sa' gi minagåhet, mås ki sesso Guahu lokkue' maleleffa yu' put este na blog.  Put enao na råson, na chini'ut lokkue' ...

A student from my Zoom Chamoru classes recently asked me for some suggestions for some Chamoru sayings or words of wisdom that she could use for a speech she had to give for a friend's wedding.  I get this type of request pretty frequently and so over the years I have a number of lists of ways to say "I Love You" in Chamoru. For years that was one of the my most visited pages on this blog, a simple page that had more than a dozen different ways to say "Hu Guaiya Hao" ranging from the poetic and deep, to the silly and sexy.  When I looked at many of those lists, I realized that the majority of the ways love was expressed, was indeed written in Chamoru, but not necessarily rooted in Chamoru. What I mean by this, is that alot of the sayings were simply translated from English or variants of ways that love would be expressed in English.  For me, I am definitely in support of these sorts of things, I love having our language adapt and take on new forms, especially wh...

  Earlier this month, Siñot Kin "JC" Concepcion, who was an inspirational elder to me, but also a good friend passed away. I have spent the days since his passing reflecting on his impact on me and on the wider Chamoru/Guam community over the course of his life. The first time I really remember meeting and talking to Siñot Kin "JC" Concepcion was in 2014 when his family was pushing for the legalization of medical marijuana on Guam in honor of his son, the singer Savage K. The family had asked if I could sponsor a film screening at the University of Guam as part of their community campaign and I was very happy to do so. The love and loss he felt for his son who had died the year prior was powerful and manifest then and it remained so in all the time I knew him. For the next few years, I would regularly see Siñot Kin at KUAM, where he was sometimes interviewing me and sometimes producing others. I was thankful for what he was doing in terms of continuing to pr...

In the 20th century, the fate of the Chamoru language depended heavily on the development of a contemporary Chamoru music industry. This is something that is scarcely discussed both in historical terms, but sadly even less so in terms of what it may take to revitalize or sustain the language in the future.   As the Chamoru language was rapidly losing relevance in society following World War II, with the language being used less and less, especially among younger generations, the creation of Chamoru music was essential in creating new and contemporary possibility for the language. It wouldn't be chained to the past, something to just disappear and fade away. It was something tied to the current moment, something that could gain new sounds and new life.   But with the decline of Chamoru music in the past two decades, as fewer and fewer artists are releasing songs or albums in the Chamoru language, means that this source of vitality has disappeared as well. Compared to ...