Chamorros
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Chamorros or Chamorus are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, which include the American territory of Guam and the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia. Today, significant Chamoru populations also exist in several U.S. states including Hawaii, California, Washington, Texas and Nevada. According to the 2000 Census, approximately 65,000 people of Chamoru ancestry live on Guam and another 19,000 live in the Northern Marianas. Another 93,000 live outside the Marianas.
Most Chamorus are Roman Catholic, but many in the Marianas maintain some customs and beliefs from time before the first European conquests. Some residents of the Marianas will still ask permission from ancestral spirits before entering parts of jungles. Traditional healers called Suruhanas are still greatly respected for their knowledge of herbal treatments and spirits. Before Spanish colonization, Chamoru life centered on one's clan. Today, large extended families remain central to life in the Marinas.
The Chamorro language
The Chamorro language is included in Malayo-Polynesian languages of the Austronesian family. Many words derive from Spanish, Tagalog, American English, and Japanese, with a few from other Asian languages, like Chinese, and Austronesian languages, such as Hawaiian. Among numerous lingual similarities were the numbers used by the ancient Chamoru, several of which bear a distinct resemblance to those used by other Oceanic cultures such as the Māori and Hawaiians. After colonization by Spain, the traditional number system was replaced by Spanish numbers in the Chamoru language. Chamoru is often spoken in many homes, but is becoming less common.
The ancient Chamorus
The Chamoru are commonly believed to have come from Southeast Asia at around 2000 BCE. Based on appearance and culture, they are most closely related to the natives of the Philippines to the west, and the Carolines to the south. They were expert seafarers and skilled craftspeople familiar with intricate weaving and detailed pottery making. Early European explorers noted their unique houses and canoes. The latte stone, a megalithic rock pillar topped with a hemispherical capstone, was the foundation of ancient Chamoru architecture and is a "national" symbol. Chamoru society was based on what sociologist Dr. Lawrence J. Cunningham termed the "matrilineal avuncuclan", one characteristic of which was that the brothers of the female parents played more of a "father" role than the actual biological male parents.Ancient Chamorus believed that the world was created by a twin brother and sister, Puntan and Fu'uña. Upon dying, Puntan instructed his sister to make his body the ingredients for the universe. She used his eyes to create the sun and moon, his eyebrows to make rainbows, and most of the rest of his parts for various features of the Earth. After she was done, she turned herself into a rock on the island of Guahan/Guam, and from this rock emerged human beings. Some believe that the rock was once located at the site of an Agat Church, while others believe it is the phallic-shaped "Laso de Fua" located in Fouha Bay in Umatac. Ancient Chamorus engaged in ancestor veneration, but did not practice "religion" in the sense that they worshipped deities. However, there is at least one account, provided by Christoph Carl Fernberger in 1623, that human sacrifice was practiced to curry the favor of a "great fish".
Chamoru society was divided into 2 main castes and continued to be so for well over a century after the Spanish first arrived. According to the historical records provided by Europeans such as Father Charles Le Gobien, there appeared to be racial differences between the subservient Manachang caste, and the higher Chamori/Chamurre, the Manachang being described as shorter, darker-skinned, and physically less hardy than the Chamori. The Chamori cast was subdivided into the upper-middle class Achoti/Acha'ot and the highest, administrative Matua/Matao class. Achoti could graduate to Matua, and Matua could be reduced to Achoti, but Manachang were born and died as such and had no recourse to improve their status. Members of the Manachang and the Chamori were not permitted to intermingle. All three classes performed physical labor, but had different specified duties. Le Gobien theorized that Chamoru society was comprised of the geographical convergence of peoples of different ethnic origins. This idea may be supportable by the evidence of linguistic characteristics of the Chamorro language and social customs. Father Pierre Coomans wrote of the practice among Chamoru women of teeth blackening/dental lacquering (also a custom among the Japanese and Vietnamese), which they considered beautiful. Fernberger wrote in his account of the Chamoru that "penis pins" were employed as a chastity measure for young males, a practice similarly employed by inhabitants at least as far south as Indonesia.
Foreign rule
Over the centuries, the Marianas have been occupied by several foreign countries, and present-day Chamoru society is almost entirely racially mixed, with the inhabitants of Luta/Rota being the least so. The Chamoru are primarily of Austronesian stock, but began to significantly intermingle with Spanish and Filipinos during the Spanish Colonial Era (1600-1898 AD). Primarily since the late 19th century onward, many Chamorus have intermarried with other Pacific Islanders, Mainland Americans, Polynesians, Chinese, and Japanese.During the Spanish Colonial Era, the Chamoru population was greatly reduced by the introduction of European diseases and changes in society under Spanish rule. The Spanish killed many Chamoru men and relocated most others to Guam where they lived in several parishes to prevent rebellion. Some estimate that as many as 100,000 Chamorus may have populated the Marianas when Europeans first arrived in the 17th century. By 1800, there were under 10,000. Within the parishes, the Spanish eventually focused their efforts on converting the natives to Catholicism. Father Frances X. Hezel stated that Chamorus caught or reported engaging in pagan "sorcery" were publicly punished.
Due to the fact that the Marianas are a part of the United States, the Chamoru people enjoy greater economic opportunities than many other Micronesian peoples. "Cosmopolitan" Guam, where Chamorus make up approximately 40% of the island's population, poses particular challenges for Chamorus struggling to preserve their culture and identity in the face of acculturation. The increasing numbers of Chamorus, especially Chamoru youth, relocating to the U.S. Mainland, has further complicated both definition and preservation of Chamoru identity. On Guam a Chamoru rights movement has developed since the United States gained control of the island. Leaders of the movement seek to return ancestral lands to the Chamoru people, and attain self-determination.
The remaining islands of the Northern Marianas, comprise the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and have many economic privileges (such as being exempt from federal income tax) while maintaining rights to control much of their own immigration, trade, and domestic policies. While this has led to controversy over some of the commonwealth's labor practices, it has provided rights to Chamoru people that residents of Guam do not enjoy.
See also
External links
- [a Chamorro community website]
- [A personal website on Chamorro Culture]
- [Chamorro Census Information]
- [A local Website]
- [Taotaomona page from Official Guam Website]
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