LOCAL artists and educators gathered in Susupe on Saturday to celebrate Chamorro culture.
The “Silebrasion Mes Chamorro” was held from at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Guma Higay at the Civic Center in Susupe, and was the culmination of the Chamorro Month celebration in the Marianas.
The event highlighted indigenous arts and crafts, traditional knowledge, Amot Chamorro or local medicine, musical performances, presentations and demonstrations of indigenous practices such as the Karetan Guaka or ox cart, and Chamorro delicacies.
The event was sponsored by the Indigenous Affairs Office and the Matua Council for Native Chamorro Advancement.
IAO program manager Cris Ogo said Chamorro Month is October in the CNMI, but the Matua Council wants a joint celebration with Guam, which observes the event in March.
Ogo said it is great that the Matua Council invited the IAO to join a Marianas-wide recognition of Chamorro culture.
“So we are happy to be here and share what the Indigenous Affairs Office has been doing since the reopening of its office in 2016,” he said.
IAO staffers demonstrated coconut leaf weaving and performed cultural songs.
Also present were master of indigenous arts Eusebio Borja, local historian Ben Borja, Chamorro fisherman Herman Tudela, former Historic Preservation Office official John Reyes, indigenous arts and crafts maker Germaine Deleon Guerrero, Chamorro language and heritage teacher Candice “Primitiva” Muna, local musical artist Ben “Lamlam” San Nicolas, IAO Director Roman Tudela Jr. and Matua Council Chairwoman Liana Hofschneider.
“We celebrate our resistance, we celebrate our survival and we celebrate our people who are persevering through the Covid-19 pandemic,” Hofschneider said, adding that the annual celebration is also a learning process.
LeAnn Sewell, a community development worker from Texas, who is visiting her daughter on Saipan, said she was so excited to witness the celebration and “learn the heart of the culture.”
“That is the beauty of what makes it unique on this side of the earth,” she said.
Matua Council for Native Chamorro Advancement Chairwoman Liana Hofschneider, third right, and Indigenous Affairs Office program manager Cris Ogo, center, join indigenous artists and educators at Guma Higay during “Silebrasion Mes Chamorro” on Saturday at Civic Center in Susupe.
