Growing up, my parents instilled in me and my younger sister a knowledge, love, pride and respect for our three “islands”: England, for our maternal grandmother’s family; Ireland, for our paternal family; and the most unique of the three, Guam, for our maternal grandfather’s family. I say “unique” because everybody’s heard of England and Ireland before — more than likely, you may know a handful of people, celebrities or fictional characters who are English or Irish — but unless you’ve taken a geography or history class, you’ve probably rarely heard of Guam before, let alone know anyone from there. We’re kind of minorities among the world as a whole. When was the last time you saw a film or television program that took place on Guam or featured a Guamanian character? And I can’t even begin to tell you how frustrating it is when you want to wish your family on Guam a Happy Easter, but there’s no “Chamorro” option on Google Translate! I was inspired by the misconceptions I’ve encountered and questions I’ve been asked throughout the years regarding my Guamanian heritage to compile this list and set the record straight about Guam and its people.
- Where is Guam?
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It sounds like a silly question out loud — “just look at a map!” — but you’d honestly have more luck trying to find Waldo amongst a sea of red and white stripes than you’d have pointing out Guam on a map on the first try! Guam is located in the western Pacific Ocean. Just north of Australia, east of the Philippines, and south of Japan is a cluster of islands called the “Northern Mariana Islands.” That’s where Guam is. It’s approximately 30 miles long and nine miles wide, four miles wide at its center. Its exact latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates are 13.4443° N, 144.7937° E. The motto of Guam is, “Where America’s Day Begins,” referring to its proximity to the International Date Line; they’re literally the first ones to see each new day. If I can modify a line from Thor: Ragnarok (2017), I’d say “Guam is not a place, it’s a people.” I think that’s the answer you’d get if you asked a Guamanian — Guam is located in the hearts of its people, near and far.
- So, does that make you “Guamish” or “Guamian?”
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Well, neither, but I appreciate the creativity. You’re thinking of the Amish, perhaps? The people of Guam are actually called “Guamanians” or “Chamorros,” and have access to modern cars and technology, unlike the Amish. Many people of Chamorro descent use Guamanian and Chamorro interchangeably. I use them both interchangeably depending on whom I’m talking to. Guamanian has the word “Guam” in it already, so people usually have a better chance of understanding what I’m talking about as opposed to if I used “Chamorro.” The difference is that Guamanian is a nationality and Chamorro is the ethnicity. Everybody who lives on Guam is Guamanian, but not everybody who lives on Guam is Chamorro, if that makes sense. In vice versa, not all Chamorros live on Guam, but the ones that do (or are native) tend to refer to themselves as both. It’s like how everybody who lives in Florida is Floridian, but not all Floridians are Mexican, or Cuban, for example.
Chamorro is also the language of Guam. I can speak and understand some of the basic terms at an elementary level — foods, numbers, animals, names, places, insults, etc — but I am far from fluent. It’s extremely Spanish-influenced, as colonial Spain ruled the island for almost four centuries before ceding to the United States in 1898 through the Treaty of Paris during the Spanish–American War. Many words and phrases in Chamorro are borrowed from the Spanish language. The one that immediately comes to mind for me is numbers: “Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, echo, nueve, diez,” in Spanish. “Uno, dos, tres, kuatro, sinko, sais, siete, ocho, nuebe, dies,” in Chamorro. I get asked if I’m hispanic more often than not, and while the answer is “not at all,” you can see how there are at least some linguistic similarities there.
- Is it like Filipino?
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Considering Guam is just under three hours away from the Philippines, I’d say its culture is more similar to Filipino than that of another popular island, Hawai’i. Both are considered Austronesian nations. My best friend from childhood is of Filipino descent — we didn’t plan it that way, we were both just very quiet and introverted in school and we both attended the same church — and when I was really young, I didn’t understand why her parents liked me so much or why my mom would get so excited when they sent me back home with leftover Filipino food. It’s because there’s an overlap in the Chamorro and Filipino cultures, especially between their foods. Many Filipino foods are also Chamorro foods, as we share cultural, linguistic, theological and genetic similarities. Lumpia, or spring rolls, for example, can be found all over both Guam and the Philippines. We’re both extremely Catholic and family-oriented. We also share a love of rice, fish, and SPAM® brand canned meat. I’m not sure how other Chamorros would feel about being compared to Filipinos, or vice versa, but the ones I’ve known are some of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I feel lucky to know them and be genetically-similar to them, and I’m glad we’ve shared our cultures with each other.
- Is it a state or a country?
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Neither! Guam is a United States territory like Puerto Rico, and the people of Guam are U.S. citizens. You do not need a passport to travel from the U.S. to Guam and back. Most U.S. territories exist to provide military protection and exchange resources to the United States. Guam has a governor (the current one is Lou Leon Guerrero, the first Pacific Islander woman to serve as a state/territorial governor in the U.S.) and a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives, Michael San Nicolas. However, Guam has no senators. The people of Guam do have to pay taxes — with the exception of federal income tax — and receive tax returns. The people of Guam can also vote in Democratic and Republican primary elections; however they cannot vote in the actual presidential elections.
- Have you ever visited and what’s it like?
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I was fortunate enough to visit the island of Guam with my family during the summer of 2016! We flew out of Tampa, landed in Texas to catch a connecting flight to Hawai’i, and caught another connecting flight that took us all the way to Guam — roughly 22 hours up in the air. Not bad for my first plane ride, huh? We spent two weeks on Guam and stayed at my Papa’s house in the village of Barrigada (named after the Chamorro word for “flank,” aka the side of the stomach, or the belly/middle of the island). I loved “living off the land” during my time there, and I think it helped me appreciate and enjoy the island more than if we’d stayed around all the tourists in a hotel. Trying to talk about all the things I experienced during my two weeks there would take an article of its own! I always tell people that it’s a MUST VISIT place for anybody who’s a history buff, because it felt like every place we visited was either a battle site, a memorial site, or had some other major historical or cultural significance! The beaches we visited were absolutely stunning — not just sandy, as some had coral, rocks, shells or limestone instead! We visited the site of Manenggon concentration camp, where my Papa and his parents and siblings were forced to march more than 70 years before. I got to see the air force base and the street where my mom lived at one point. We saw the elementary school named after my Great-Uncle, Carlos L. Taitano. We got to see landforms like Mount Lamlam, Putan Dos Amantes (Two Lovers Point), and Talofofo Falls. We saw the Guam Liberation Day parade through Hagåtña in person, instead of on a live stream! We got to take a tour of Unibetsedåt Guahan, or the University of Guam, where my Great-Uncle Robert Underwood is the president and my Great-Great-Uncle, Richard F. Taitano, has a research center named in his honor. My sister and I got to ride a rollercoaster inside an amusement park behind the food court at the Micronesia Mall! I got to try new foods I’d never even heard of before, and I finally got to match the names of many of my family members to their faces in person. It was the trip of a lifetime and I wish that everybody could experience such an eye-opening trip like that at least once in their lifetime.
- What is Guam Lib Day?
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Guam Liberation Day, often shortened to Guam Lib Day, is the day we celebrate Guam’s freedom from Japanese rule. Guam was under Japanese occupation from 1941 until July 21st, 1944. Almost 76 years ago, in the midst of World War II, United States military forces stormed Guam to free the captive Guamanians who were forced to march to labor camps and were killed with bayonets, tortured and subjected to other horrors — my grandfather and his parents and siblings were among those forced to march to said labor camps. About 14,721 Guamanians endured war atrocities, and according to a U.S. government count, 1,170 Guamanians were killed, 1,880 American servicemen were killed, and as many as 18,000 Japanese were killed. That was 3/4ths of a century ago. Every July 21st, we celebrate freedom. We remember the ones we lost in the process and we celebrate the survivors who witnessed it firsthand and lived to tell their stories. Guam Liberation Day is celebrated with a fiesta — my family makes loads of Chamorro delicacies like atoli n’ maiz (chicken and corn chowder), kelaguen mannok (chamorro-style chicken salad), shrimp kådu (shrimp soup), and red rice and fina’dene’ — and a big parade through the village of Hagåtña that’s live streamed every year on PBS Guam’s YouTube channel.
- Why do you call everybody “auntie” or “uncle,” even if they’re younger than you?
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It’s a “respecting your elders” thing. Chamorros follow a strict hierarchy system of “pecking order.” If you look at a family tree, they call everybody (aside from mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather) who falls on a generational level higher than them “auntie” or “uncle” out of respect, whether they are blood relatives, family friends or strangers. All of my mom’s Chamorro cousins are my aunts and uncles, despite the fact that they are her cousins because they fall on the same generational level as her. The same goes for my grandfather’s cousins, and so on and so forth. It starts to get crazy when you have somebody younger than you who falls on a generational level higher than you. For example, my Papa’s cousin has a son who is just under a month younger than me. Because he falls on the same generational level as my mom, he is my uncle. Everybody on my generational level are my cousins, and similarly, I am the “auntie” of everybody who falls on a generational level below me; I actually have some nephews and nieces from some of my Chamorro cousins! It’s kind of hard to explain everybody’s relationship to one another to non-Chamorros, but it starts to make sense after a while.
- Why do you have two middle names?
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My younger sister and I were both given our family name, “Taitano” to carry as a second legal middle name. “Tai” meaning “non” or “no,” “tano” meaning “land” or “earth.” The literal translation of Taitano is “no land” or “the landless.” We were named that in honor of our biological great-grandmother, Joaquina Crisostomo Lizama Taitano, whom we lost during the Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II. Joaquina’s sister, Florencia Cristosomo Lizama Garrido, adopted her kids — my grandfather and his sister — and they took her last name. She’s our adoptive great-grandmother, Grandma Garrido. Our parents gave us the middle name “Taitano,” not only to honor our great-grandmother and our bloodline but to remind us of their strength.
- Do they still use a dowry system?
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For all intents and purposes, YES. If you wanna be my lover, forget the expensive diamond ring — sharpen your spear and gift my father the fattest babui (pig) you can find, or whatever the Spice Girls said! In all seriousness, cattle and pigs were used as dowry for a Chamorro bride at the beginning of the 20th century. The bigger the pig that the future husband gave, the prouder the family was of their offering. The pig would be roasted over an open fire on a spit for the wedding fiesta. The men would typically slaughter and clean the pig, and prepare it for roasting by shaving it, draining its blood and removing its entrails. If THAT’S not metal enough for you, the entrails would be used for fritåda (a blood stew) prepared by the women. The pig is constantly basted until it turns crispy — it’s an all-day ordeal to cook — and then it is placed on a serving tray at the center of the table and decorated (think Shrek 2). I didn’t know I cost a dowry until my cousin got married. My future husband could always do what hers did and gift my father a plush piggy instead!
- Who are Taotaomo’na?
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Taotaomo’na are the spirits of our ancient Guamanian ancestors believed to live within the banyan trees and haunt the wild places of the island. “Taotao” meaning “person/people,” and “mo’na” meaning “precede,” Taotaomo’na loosely means “ancient people” or “the people of before.” Taotao’mona are known to pinch, bite and bruise people who enter their spaces without permission or who behave without respect. They are also known to incite fear and play tricks on the Chamorro people. Things such as salt, money, and religious objects are used to repel taotaomo’na and keep them away.
I hope that after reading this you have a newfound love and respect for the people of Guam. I hope you all understand me a little bit better, and I hope that I was able to provide clarity regarding any questions, concerns, or misconceptions you may have had about us before now. Definitely put Guam down on your list of places to visit someday! My descriptions only encapsulate a piece of the beauty and wonder that the island has in store; Guam is one of those places that you just have to see for yourself!