Early Chamorros structures may have appeared The Chamorros are commonly believed to have arrived in the Marianas Islands from the
Philippines . They are most closely related to other
Austronesian-speaking Native people from the Philippines, eastern
Indonesia (specifically in
Maluku and
Sulawesi),
Taiwanese aborigines, and peoples of the
Caroline Islands to the south (in particular the outer islands of the
Federated States of Micronesia state of
Yap). Recent advanced DNA testing conducted on the remains of ancient Chamorros showed that the lineage of both the Unai and the Latte periods originated during the Holocene Epoch in eastern Indonesia, most likely Sulawesi, with no direct prehistoric connection to the Philippines. They were expert seafarers and skilled craftspeople familiar with intricate weaving and detailed pottery-making. The
latte stone, a megalithic rock pillar topped with a hemispherical
capstone, was used by early Chamorros as foundation for buildings, and has since been appropriated as a national symbol. Chamorro society was based on what sociologist Lawrence J. Cunningham termed the "
matrilineal avuncuclan", one characteristic of which is that the of the female parent plays a more primary paternal role than biological male parent of a child.
Agriculture Spanish colonial records show that Chamorro farmers planted seeds according to the phases of the moon. For example, farmers on Guam often plant tuber crops such as
sweet potato and
yams at full moon during low tide. According to the
University of Guam (UOG),
Unibetsedåt Guåhan, the history of Agriculture on Guam had an outstanding number of farms reported in the year of 1940. With a high number of reports in 1975 and a decline in 2007, those involved field crop production, livestock and poultry, fish and agriculture. Based on the data, market crop sales decreased and a number of agricultural production is unrecognized. As he lay dying, Puntan instructed his sister Fu'uña to make his body into the ingredients of 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 into various features of the Earth. Once her work was complete, she descended on an island called "
Guåhan", and transformed herself into a giant rock. This rock split, and from it emerged all human beings. Some believe that this rock was once located at the site of a church in
Agat, while others believe it is the phallic-shaped
Laso de Fua located in
Fouha Bay in
Umatac. Ancient Chamorros engaged in
ancestor veneration, but did not practice a formal "religion" in the sense of worshiping deities. At least one account by Christoph Carl Fernberger in 1623 holds that
human sacrifice was practiced to placate a "great fish". This claim may be related to a Chamorro legend about why the island of Guam is narrow in the middle. According to the legend, a gigantic fish was gradually eating away at the island from both sides. Although the ancient Chamorros supposedly had magical abilities, the huge creature eluded them. When the men were unsuccessful in hunting it down, the women used their hair to weave a net, which grew larger as they sang. The singing enchanted the fish, and lured it into the giant net. Enraged that Father Diego Luis de San Vitores had baptized his child, a Chamorro man and his friend killed the priest and Filipino catechist Pedro Calungsod in April 1672, dumping their bodies in the ocean.
Castes and classes Chamorro society was divided into two main
castes, and continued to be so for well over a century after the Spanish first arrived. According to historical records provided by Europeans, such as Father
Charles Le Gobien, apparent racial differences existed between the subservient
Manachang caste, and the higher ''
, the Manachang being described as shorter, darker-skinned, and physically less hardy than the Chamori. The Chamori caste was further subdivided into the upper-middle class Achoti
/Acha'ot
and the highest, the ruling Matua
/Matao'' class. Achoti could gain status as Matua, and Matua could be reduced to Achoti, but Manachang were born and died as such and had no recourse to improve their station. Members of the Manachang and the Chamori were not permitted to intermingle. All three classes performed physical labor, but had specifically different duties. Le Gobien theorized that Chamorro society comprised 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.
Clothing and beauty practices Prior to Spanish contact, Chamorro boys and men wore no clothing and went about fully nude at all times. Chamorro girls went nude until around the age of eight to ten, at which point they began to wear a small genital covering made either of bark, one or more leaves, a piece of a turtle shell or in some cases matting. Both sexes at times wore hats of woven leaves to protect themselves from the sun. Father Pierre Coomans wrote of the practice among Chamorro women of teeth blackening/dental lacquering (also a widespread custom in ancient
Maritime Southeast Asia,
Japan,
Southeastern China, and parts of
Indochina), which they considered beautiful as a distinction apart from animals. Fernberger wrote in his account of the Chamorros that "
penis pins" were employed as a chastity measure for young males, a type of genital piercing similar to those employed by inhabitants of precolonial maritime Southeast Asia.
Folklore The Chamorro creation story revolves around two celestial siblings named Puntan and Fu'una. In time, this creation story underwent a series of modifications due to the complications in passing the story along from generation to generation. In this Chamorro creation story, Puntan and Fu'una create the world with their body parts and souls. Puntan's various body parts were turned into the land, his chest into the sky, his eyebrows into rainbows, and his eyes into the sun and moon. Fu’una having the ability to give life, brought the sun, soil, and waters to life, and with a final transformation, she turned into stone and gave birth to the Chamorro people. Evidence supporting this creation story can be seen through the names of the villages on Guam as they are named after body parts. Barrigada translates to flank, Tiyan translates to stomach, Hagatna translates to blood and Mongmong translates to a heartbeat. Taotaomo'na are spirits of ancient Chamorros. Birak is a broader term that may refer not only to the undead, but also to demons or general
elemental types. Taotaomona essentially translates to "people of early times," referring to the ancestors of the Chamorro peoples. The Taotaomona is a supernatural ancestral spirit that Chamorros and some neighboring islanders from Rota and Saipan believe in. The Taotaomona possess a strength that far exceeds man and has the ability to cause sickness and death to those who offend them. The appearance of a Taotaomona can vary as they can be a female or male and can take an attractive form or a monstrous form.
Spanish rule On March 6, 1521,
Ferdinand Magellan and his men, after having crossed the
Pacific Ocean, had encountered the first "Indios" since leaving South America. Later Spanish visitors named the inhabitants "Chamurres", derived from a local term for the upper caste; this was then converted to "Chamorros", an old Spanish term for "bald", perhaps in reference to the local habit to shave. Over the centuries, the
Mariana Islands have been occupied by several foreign countries (Spain,
Germany,
Japan,
United States), and present-day Chamorro society is almost entirely multiethnic, with the inhabitants of Luta/
Rota being the least so. The Chamorros are primarily of Austronesian ancestry, but began to significantly interact with Spanish and
Filipinos during the Spanish colonial era (1521–1898 AD). Primarily since the late 19th century onward, many Chamorros have intermarried with other Pacific Islanders, mainland Americans, Filipinos,
Chinese, and
Japanese. During the Spanish era, the Spaniards focused their efforts on converting the Native people to
Catholicism. Father Frances X. Hezel stated that Chamorros caught or reported engaging in
pagan "sorcery" were publicly punished. Through this, they were given
Spanish surnames through
Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos or Alphabetic Catalog of Surnames. During the
Spanish–American War, the United States
captured Guam on June 21, 1898. Under the
Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898, Spain ceded Guam to the United States effective April 11, 1899. Guam is among the 17
nonself-governing territories listed by the United Nations.
World War II Before
World War II, five American jurisdictions were in the Pacific Ocean: Guam and
Wake Island in Micronesia,
American Samoa and
Hawaii in Polynesia, and the
Philippines in Southeast Asia. On December 8, 1941, hours after the
attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces from the Marianas launched an
invasion of Guam. Chamorros from the Northern Marianas, who had been under Japanese rule for more than 20 years, were brought to Guam to assist the Japanese administration. This, combined with the harsh treatment of Chamorros during the two-and-a-half-year occupation, created a rift that would become the main reason Chamorros rejected
the referendum on reunification approved by the Northern Marianas in the 1960s. During the occupation, Chamorros were subjected to forced labor, incarceration, torture, and execution.
American forces recaptured the island on July 21, 1944;
Liberation Day commemorates the victory. After World War II, the
Guam Organic Act of 1950 established Guam as an
unincorporated organized territory of the United States, provided for the structure of the island's civilian government, and granted the people U.S. citizenship. The governor of Guam was federally appointed until 1968 when the
Guam Elective Governor Act provided for the office's popular election. Since Guam is not a U.S. state, U.S. citizens residing in Guam are not allowed to vote for president and their congressional representative is a nonvoting member. They do, however, get to vote for party delegates in presidential primaries. The increasing numbers of Chamorros, especially Chamorro youth, relocating to the U.S. mainland, has complicated both the definition and preservation of Chamorro identity. On Guam, a Chamorro rights movement has developed since the United States gained control of the island. Leaders of the movement seek to return ancestral lands to the Chamorro people, and attain
self-determination. ==Modern Chamorro culture==