Category: Chamorro Stories

Pohnpeian Story: Sakier, The Amazing Bird

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

Jay and I are getting settled back into daily life again, after about 4-5 weeks of being away. We put our Saturday practice groups on pause while we were traveling and are excited to be starting them again this week. In honor of FestPac 2024, we will be reading some stories from other Pacific islands throughout the rest of this summer. This story comes from Pohnpei or Ponape, and was translated into Chamorro by Dolores Marciano. We found this in a PDF of Chamorro language stories from the Pacific Languages Collection at UH Manoa, which you can access online! In this post the Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, and an English translation are included. Happy reading!

Continue reading “Pohnpeian Story: Sakier, The Amazing Bird” →

The Young Man and the Tiger

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

Håfa adai! It has been a quieter than usual on the blog these past few weeks, mostly due to me being frequently unwell. I’ve been trying to rest more, but I’ve missed posting on the blog. Jay and I are also on vacation for most of June, so it may be continue to be quieter than usual until July. But I will try to post when I can. Enjoy summer and take care of yourselves 🙂

In this post is a Chamorro story that our Saturday morning practice group read and translated a few Saturdays ago. Jay had an unexpected business trip that week and was unable to record the narration ahead of time. So he ended up reading the story live to the group. This is a fun (and long) story that is a Chamorro retelling, by Dolores Marciano, of a folktale from Thailand. And it’s another great find from the KPV Collection 🙂 This post includes a Chamorro narration by Jay Che’le, the Chamorro text, and an English translation. Happy reading!

Continue reading “The Young Man and the Tiger” →

Kottura: I Taotaomo’na

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

Our Saturday morning practice group will finish reading and translating The Dolphin and the Two Children this week, so the new story for this week is a bit shorter. It’s from a book written by Carmen C. Blas about different Chamorro cultural beliefs and practices, which I found in the KPV Collection. This short piece discusses beliefs about the taotaomo’na, or ancestral spirits. The Chamorro text, an English translation, and a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le is included in this post. Happy reading!

Continue reading “Kottura: I Taotaomo’na” →

The Wind And The Sun

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

Here is a story of competition between the wind and the sun from Aesop’s Fables, translated into Chamorro by Rita Inos. It was found in a draft manuscript among other translated works in the Pacific Area Languages Materials collection from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

In this post I’ve included the Chamorro text, an English translation, and a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le. Happy reading!

Continue reading “The Wind And The Sun” →