Puengen Minagof Nochebuena 2014

Puengen Minagof Nochebuena
by Michael Lujan Bevacqua
December 3, 2014
The Marianas Variety

THE Chamorro Studies Program at the University of Guam organizes numerous events and programs each year. We host or co-host forums, such as the female candidate forums and sexual harassment forums held earlier this year. We offer Chamorro language classes and over the past year Chamorro dance and weaving courses. We hold regular colloquia where people speak on issues important in a contemporary or historical sense to the Chamorro people, including last year’s “The Chamorro Experience gi Fino’ Chamorro” a lecture series in the Chamorro language. But amidst all these activities there are two primary events that the program organizes each year, I Inachaigen Fino’ CHamoru or the Chamorro Language Competition, each March on Charter Day and Puengen Minagof Noche Buena, a Chamorro Christmas celebration each December.

This year’s Puengen Minagof Noche Buena will be taking place this Friday, Dec. 5 starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Humanities and Social Sciences building atrium at UOG. It is a collaborative effort of the instructors and students for all the Chamorro languages classes at UOG in the Fanuchan’an (fall) semester.

Normally, the evening features a bilen-making competition, however this year is different. A bilen is a Nativity scene, usually featuring a baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, some shepherds and the Three Kings (Wise Men). Nowadays many people buy a set or use a set bought in previous years, but in the past a family would collect moss and wood from the jungle and build the scene themselves. In the past, classes would use found objects and natural or recyclable materials to build their bilens and they would be pitted against each other to see whose was the best. The competitive aspect will still be present this year, but instead students will be constructing latte stones. They will still have to use natural and recyclable materials. Judges will be scoring the latte stones in the following categories: Most Beautiful, Most Relevant to the Theme and Most Creative. There is an additional category where those attending Puengen Minagof will be able to vote for their favorite in the People’s Choice Award.

A must for each Puengen Minagof is the enjoying of Chamorro Christmas songs. Students will be singing a wide variety of songs both traditional and more contemporary. Come and join UOG students and sing along to old favorites such as “Dandan i Pandaretas” or “Kantåyi gui’” or “Ta Falågue Sahyao.” You can also hear contemporary Christmas songs such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” or “Jingle Bells” and “Silver Bells” translated into Chamorro. Here’s an excerpt of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or “Rudof” translated into Chamorro:

Rudof agaga' i gui'eng-mu/ lålamlam kada puengi,/ ya kada ma attan i gui'eng-mu,/ sigi hao di ma kasse,/ todu i mangga'chong-mu,/ sigi hao di ma kasse,/ sa' hågu ha' nai na binådu,/ sasahnge yan na'ma'se'.

I am proud to present that for this year’s Puengen Minagof, we will also be featuring Chamorro weaving demonstrations. This semester the Chamorro Studies program has been working with the group Pa’a Taotao Tano’ to offer a class in Chamorro weaving. For the past few months, students in the course have been learning how to weave items such as the gueha (fan), katupat (rice pouch), guafak (woven mat), piña (pineapple), puti’on (stars), ala (basket) and tuhong sakman (canoe hat). The instructor is Art Pangelinan from Pa’a Taotao Tano’, who has been teaching the students to weave with both hågon niyok (coconut fibers) and akgak (pandanus fibers). The students will be presenting the items they have learned to weave this semester and also be offering some demonstrations for those interested in trying their hand at a kaputat, a puti’on or a apacha’ (grasshopper).

There will be other displays and demonstrations, including the screening of Chamorro language film projects by students and the introducing of a new virtual dictionary website. Professors Gerhardt Schwab and Rosa Palomo of UOG have been working on developing a virtual database and learning resource for the Chamorro language. Students in CM301, or Advanced Chamorro, have been working this semester to add words, dialogues, grammatical lessons to the website which will hopefully be launched sometime next year. Rosa Palomo has been teaching Chamorro at UOG for many years. Gerhardt Schwab is actually a social work professor at UOG, but recently declared himself a Chamorro Studies major and has since returned to school to learn the Chamorro language.

Finally, what is perhaps the most exciting aspect of Puengen Minagof for people is the food. This year’s table will feature a variety of exciting types of buñelos, or donuts. According to the students coordinating the table, there will be buñelos dågu, buñelos aga’, buñelos månglo, buñelos kalamasa, buñelos kamuti, buñelos manha and perhaps several other surprises. 

I want to thank Dean James Sellmann of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences for hosting the event. I also want to congratulate the fafa’na’guen Chamorro at UOG for all their hard work in making this event happen: Sinora Palomo, Sinora Flores, Sinora Mendiola, Sinot Franquez and Sinot Benavente. They are all part-time faculty who are dedicated to the promotion and protection of the Chamorro language and each year organize wonderful events like this to that end.

Biba Puengen Minagof! Biba Chamorro! Biba UOG!

ChaNoWriMo 2013

"ChaNoWriMo"
by Michael Lujan Bevacqua
Marianas Variety
11/6/13

IN THE writing world, November is a special month, although a generally crazy one.

It is known as NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. During this month all of those who have a passion for writing are encouraged to cast caution into the wind and blitz out the novel they have always dreamed of writing. It is something anyone, from any walk of life can participate in. All it takes is commitment and time management. The link for the website where you can sign up is nanowrimo.org.

For those who take on the NaNoWriMo challenge, the number 50,000 signifies both a hated overseer and a inspiring target. As this process is about getting those who want to write, to write, everyone is given a target – 50,000 words – they are to reach by the end of the month. Over the course of November you are to type out 50,000 words of your chosen story.

Since the target is all that matters you are not encouraged to edit and rewrite as you write, but simply charge forward until you finally scale that 50,000 word tall peak. The rest of the year can be spent tweaking and rethinking, but November is purely for writing. So you take your idea and see whether it can take you to 50,000 words or not.

I participated last year and used November as a chance to start a story I had always imagined but never gotten around to really fleshing out. My story was titled “The Legend of the Chamurai” and takes place over 600 years after a great warrior makahna, or spiritual fighter, receives a vision foretelling the doom of her people. Along the way, conquistadors and Japanese samurai make appearances. Ferdinand Magellan appears in a cameo at one point.

As Ancient Chamorros believed in ancestral worship as their religion, they saw the world around them as filled with the spirits of their ancestors. These spirits give guidance and good fortune, and so my story tries to give life to this possibility, placing the worlds of the living and the dead side by side. Makahnas (today known as suruhanus) have the ability to harness the power of the spiritual world and cast spells, summon monsters and create shields of protection.

Famous taotaomo’na figures such as the white lady and Gadao are there, as are lesser known spirits such as Anufat and Gamson. Even the infamous trickster spirit Ukudu plays a role in the story.

I reached my goal of 50,000 words and have been eagerly awaiting November so that I can continue my story.

This year is different however, because I am currently the program coordinator for the Chamorro Studies major program at the University of Guam. The purpose of the program is to preserve, study and promote the knowledge, language and culture of Chamorros. So this year’s NaNoWriMo has a visibly local twist for me, and I am encouraging people to join me and participate in ChaNoWriMo, or “Chamorro Novel Writing Month.”

Participating in ChaNoWriMo is just as easy as NaNoWriMo, with one expected difference. For NaNoWriMo you can write about anything, for ChaNoWriMo, you have to take special care to weave throughout your story things that are representative of Chamorros. In other words, write a story that will use the Chamorro language, history and culture as core parts of how the plot unfolds.

This can mean that you write a story entirely in Chamorro, or it can mean just the dialogue is in Chamorro. Or it can just be a promise to use Chamorro words as much as possible in the dialogue or the text.

But these sorts of things can be incidental; the inclusion of a minor character from Guam, the use of “Hafa Adai? here or there, or as most films and novels do it, just the mention of Guam randomly at some point. For those who want to participate in ChaNoWriMO, you have to go a bit further. You have to really find a way to creatively represent Chamorros. This means finding a part of the Chamorro story or the Chamorro experience that doesn’t receive as much attention and highlighting it. Or it can mean taking something that people are already familiar with and writing about it in a completely new light.

For example, I am looking forward to someone updating the traditional “suruhanu/suruhana” figure. Suruhanus can help people in many ways. They have natural remedies, sometimes offer midwife service, can be experts at massage, and can also be our link to the spiritual world. When you are at a point where an illness seems to have no cure or where some supernatural mystery cannot be answered, you turn to a suruhanu to help you.

I can’t wait till someone writes a series titled, “CSI: Suruhanu.” In it, families and the police when faced with crimes or mysteries that cannot be solved or have some unfathomable dimension, they’ll call in the services of CSI: Suruhanu, who can use his mental fortitude to analyze clues, but also his connections to his “ga’chong” in the taotaomo’na world for finding the truth. If this concept doesn't interest you, take some other aspect and write a similar transformation for it.

The Chamorro Studies Program Facebook page will be offering more information on how to participate in ChaNoWriMo. To receive these updates please like it on Facebook.

The Garrido Manuscript

Mirconesian Area Research Center Presents Findings on over 200-Year-Old Garrido Manuscript

Research offers unique glimpse of Chamorro Language in 1798

A one-of-a-kind document written in the Chamorro language of the 18^th Century is being brought to light as a result of research recently conducted at the University of Guam Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC). The UOG Chamorro Studies Program and MARC are presenting a translation of this document to the community and offering a rare look into what the Chamorro language looked and sounded like more than 200 years ago.

The presentation will be held at the CLASS Lecture Hall on the University of Guam Campus from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 27, 2014.

About the Manuscript

In 1798, Manuel Garrido, a Chamorro and official of the Spanish Government of the Mariana Islands was asked to translate into Chamorro news received from Manila regarding the victory of Spanish and Filipino soldiers against a British ship attacking Zamboanga, in Mindanao. In the translation of this document, Dr. Calos Madrid (MARC Researcher) and Jeremy Cepeda (Chamorro instructor, Simon Sanchez High School) have uncovered a sizable amount of Ancient Chamorro words now in complete disuse or completely unknown to Chamorros today.

The translation process required working simultaneously in three languages, Spanish, Chamorro and English, but by the end of this one year research project, theories regarding many of these unknown words have been formed. Working side by side and providing input and guidance in this endeavor was Leonard Iriarte (I Fanlalai'an Oral History Project), Fr. Eric Forbes (Capuchin Friary), Rosa Salas Palomo (UOG) and Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua (Chamorro Studies Program).

At A Glance
UOG MARC Presentation
The Garrido Manuscript: A Unique Glimpse of the Chamorro Language in 1798
by Dr. Carlos Madrid and Jeremy Cepeda.
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 27, 2014
University of Guam, CLASS Lecture Hall

This presentation is free and open to the public and anyone with an interest in Chamorro language or Marianas History is encouraged to attend.

For more information, please contact Dr. Carlos Madrid at cmadridap@hotmail.com or 735-2154/2153.

Save the Chamorro language by using it

Save Chamorro language by using it

By Robert Underwood
Guampdn
2/17/13
 

For over three decades, I have been a participant in the discussion about the future of the Chamorro language. In the beginning I was strident but in recent years I have been more reflective.
 

For me, the objective of keeping the Chamorro language alive remains one of my strongest personal passions. I am fortunate that I can speak and write Chamorro reasonably well. I tried to pass it along to my own children but with only moderate success among the older ones.
 

In addition to this, it was part of my professional responsibility for nearly two decades as a bilingual educator and teacher trainer.
 

Looking back on my personal and professional efforts and based upon the declining use of Chamorro in the public sphere, I feel like I have failed. I am part of this general failure when it comes to saving the Chamorro language.
 

In recent years, the cause of protecting the Chamorro language has become increasingly popular among elected officials and has made it into renewed legislation. Earlier this week, it made it into Gov. Eddie Calvo's State of the Island speech. These are good-faith efforts and I don't doubt their sincerity, but one can't help but be bemused by individuals who argue passionately for something they don't do themselves. It is as if we were being admonished to exercise by people who never get off the couch.
 

Solution: Use the language
 

The solution to saving Chamorro is obvious -- don't encourage its use by others; use it yourself. Use it daily. Use it in some fashion other than the word of the day. At the word of the day rate, we will be into the 22nd century before we repeat one word.
 

Use it like a language is meant to be used. When in school, teach it. Teach it as a language, not as part of another activity. Don't substitute dancing or basket weaving or hut making for it and then claim that you are teaching language through activities that may be worthwhile, but they don't really teach language.
 

It seems that we want others to use it and others to teach it, but nobody wants to use it themselves or really learn it. The Chamorro language is an object to be admired, not a tool for expression or a conduit for a culture.
 

Immersion program
 

The solution is obviously not just more mandates in school, although that is part of a broader solution. If we are going to create a Chamorro-speaking community, we must have Chamorro language immersion programs starting next year with very young children. The Hurao Academy carries this out with great success with a small number of children. Let's replicate this for hundreds of children at public expense. It won't be for everybody, but it should be made available to anybody who wants it.
 

We can continue with the Chamorro language mandate for everyone else. But nobody can seriously think that a language can be taught via elementary school lessons of 20 or 30 minutes daily in which choral reading, choral responses, singing and activities take central focus. If the children already spoke Chamorro, these would be great ways to reinforce their knowledge.
 

Moreover, in order for people to take this subject seriously, assess the progress in the same way you would assess any school subject. Where are the Chamorro language assessment instruments and when will they be administered to the children?
 

Schools cannot be the only institution that provides support or a venue for Chamorro language use. It must be used in the public sphere in a way that is friendly and encouraging and can be embraced by all. This can be done via local TV and radio stations, government agencies and religious institutions.

Of course, the university needs to step up itself and provide the intellectual infrastructure for the Chamorro language. We recently began a Chamorro Studies program. We will see how many people are interested, but we will provide the necessary support for the broader community while we study the language in depth.
 

Worthwhile objective
 

There will be those who argue about language and utility as an economic issue, as a historical fait accompli or as a matter of social and cultural oppression. There will be those who will argue that mandates offend choice and freedom. All of these arguments about the role of language in any society have been around for decades. I have heard most of them.
 

The reality is that preserving the Chamorro language is a worthwhile objective for Guam. Spending common resources on what makes Guam unique is not wasteful. It is at the core of who we are as a society and as a people.
 

Next time you say "hafa adai," try to imagine all the words, thoughts, feelings, ideas and emotions that are part of the language and people that produced this elegant but simple greeting.
 

I thought that simple words like hafa adai and manamko' were generally comprehensible in Guam. I recently drove through a fast food restaurant. I was greeted with a friendly hafa adai. I was asked what I wanted, I said I wanted oatmeal and a manamko' coffee. I was charged the regular coffee. I raised my voice and told the young lady that I asked for a manamko' coffee. She told me that the restaurant only served regular or decaf. I am willing to bet that this young lady probably took Chamorro in school years ago. She can recognize her colors and count to 10 or 20 and sing "Fanohge Chamorro." But this amko' could only get regular or decaf.
 

Maila' ya ta satba I lengguahe-ta!

GDOE Chamorro Studies Division

Materials on the wall at the GDOE Chamorro Studies Division Office at Agueda Johnston Middle School in Ordot.