Although it is now officially an illegal activity, cockfighting was a fixture of Chamorro culture up until it was banned in the U.S. territories just a few years ago. I’ve never been to a cockfight, but it was part of Jay’s childhood growing up on Guam in the nineties. In this song we get to hear about cockfighting in Chamorro culture, including some name drops of favored rooster breeds for the fighting pit. In this post we have Chamorro lyrics and an English translation for the song Gayera by Daniel De Leon Guerrero. Happy listening!
Continue reading “Kåntan Chamoru: Gayera”Author: Schyuler Lujan
Learning to speak, read and write Chamorro while creating digital materials to support our worldwide learning community.
The Right of a People
It is Guam’s Mes Chamoru (Chamorro month) once again! To kick off our celebration this month, our Saturday morning practice group will be reading the essay I Derechon I Taotao, written by Rosa Salas Palomo and originally published in 1987 as the opening essay to the book Chamorro Self-Determination. At that time, the Guam Commonwealth Act was up for the vote. In this essay, Señora Palomo repeatedly emphasizes the importance of the Chamorro language for our culture, our children, our people, and our future political status.
This post includes the Chamorro text, an English translation, and a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le. Happy reading!
Cooking in Chamorro, Part 1 – 20 Words for Preparing Ingredients (Washing, Chopping & More)
Food and cooking is a huge part of our culture, and it’s also something that we often bring with us even when we are away from the Mariana Islands. In part 1 of this blog series, we will be learning 20 key words for food preparation. This includes washing and chopping food, and other common preparation steps such as peeling, grating or removing seeds. We will also use these words in simple phrases, many of which were found in the Revised and Updated Chamorro-English Dictionary from the CNMI. This post includes terms, definitions, example phrases, and audio pronunciations voiced by Jay Che’le. Happy studying!
Continue reading “Cooking in Chamorro, Part 1 – 20 Words for Preparing Ingredients (Washing, Chopping & More)”Kåntan Chamoru: Kasamientu
A wedding day is a celebration of love, commitment, and the promises made between two people. This heartfelt song by Daniel De Leon Guerrero captures that moment in the Chamorro language. Our Saturday evening practice group transcribed this song together last night, and while the slower pace made us expect an easier listening comprehension exercise, there were still words here and there that were tricky to catch. But we all helped each other out, as we always do 🙂 This post includes Chamorro lyrics and an English translation for the song Kasamientu by Daniel De Leon Guerrero. Happy listening!
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Chamorro Federico Palm Dishes
This one is a rarity in itself. Meticulous preparation of the Federico Palm’s nuts is crucial, as they’re toxic when not properly prepared. I’ve never encountered dishes made with these nuts before, but they were yet another staple in traditional Chamorro life. In this post we will learn more about the Federico Palm in Guam and read about the steps for preparing it, along with three short recipes. This is the sixth part of the book Manmannge’ Na Nengkanno’ I Manchamorro Yan Taimanu Manmafa’tinas-niha written by Carmen C. Blas, which I found in the UOG Archives and Digital Collections website. This post includes the Chamorro text, an English translation, and a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le. Happy reading!
Image Credit: “Understory habitation” by Chamorroplants671 available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed from Wikipedia.
Continue reading “Chamorro Federico Palm Dishes”
Lengguahi-ta 