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Banking
Guam’s banking history began during what is known in the banking world as the Pacific’s Concessionary Era that ran from 1900 to 1945.
Techa: Traditional Prayer Leader
In the Mariana Islands, the techa is the traditional prayer leader who directs and recites the prayers and hymns for various religious activities within the Catholic Church, including rosaries or lisayo, novenas or nobena, and other devotions and special occasions.
Nobena: Novena (Catholic Devotional Prayers)
The nobena, or novena, is a series of devotional prayers said over the course of nine days that are associated with the various feasts of the Catholic Church year. The purpose of a novena is to make a particular request through the intercession of the honoree for whom the novena is named.
Burial Practices
Although death is an occasion for grief, the CHamorus consider it as a chance for the extended family throughout the island to gather and pray for the repose of the spirit of the difunto, or deceased male, or difunta, or deceased female.
Slingstones
Slingstones were used as weapons by ancient CHamoru warriors. Slingstones are stones of various sizes sharpened at both ends and hurled from a sling with deadly force in combative times.
Marriage Traditions
In ancient CHamoru society, the clan leaders arranged marriages. Women did not marry men in their clan since marriage was a chance to improve clan status and increase influence in gaining hunting, fishing and farming rights in other clan districts.
Prebirth
Editor’s note: This entry was adapted and reprinted with permission from ”Cultural Traditions,” from the Hale’-ta Series, Department of CHamoru Affairs, Government of Guam. Åntes di finañågu The pattera (nurse mid-wife) and suruhånu (traditional doctor) played important roles in the Chamorro/CHamoru society, especially when it came to pre-birth-to-birth events in the family. They assumed the […]
Pre-Historic Pottery of Guam
The Mariana Islands has a history of pottery-making that is more than 3,500 years long. The first people to arrive in the Mariana Islands apparently had brought with them pottery-making skills; the broken remains of their pots, called sherds, have been found at archaeological sites dating back to circa 3,500 BP
Ahu: Recipe
Sweet coconut dumpling soup dessert Ingredients Boil water and add sugar. Extract coconut meat from shell and grind into chunk-sized pieces. Add tapioca starch to coconut meat and mix thoroughly. Slowly add coconut mixture to the pot of boiling sugar water, stirring constantly. Allow contents to reach a rolling boil and then immediately remove the […]
Slingstones: Weapons
The signature weapon of the ancient Chamorro/CHamoru warrior, slingstones of various sizes were sharpened at both ends and hurled from a sling with deadly force in combative times. Slingstones were also used for hunting birds.