HALLOWEEN and All Souls’ Day are said to be the time when the veil between the realm of the living and the dead is the thinnest. Yet, for the Chamorro, we believe that some of our most ancient ancestors called the taotao mo’na, meaning “people from before,” continue to walk among us in this realm and the next. For thousands of years prior to the Christianization of the Mariana Islands, the Chamorro ancestors honored their ancestors, along with Saina (God) and the spirit of all living things. Although Catholicism and Christianity changed the way we honor our ancestors, we still have a great reverence for our elderly and the deceased. While many have forgotten the ancient beliefs, many of us still believe in the taotao mo’na. We teach our famagu’on to always respect the land, ask permission before entering the jungle and sacred sites and to never to swim at the beach nearing and after dark. Many people living in the Marianas have experienced the taotao mo’na or have heard stories of others’ experiences. These stories have been passed down through generations. As a Chamorro Studies teacher, I asked my students to submit their taotao mo’na tales as we are nearing the season of remembrance of the dead. I was surprised that they had such vivid and haunting experiences. In honor of our ancestors, I would like to share some of my students’ taotao mo’na tales, or estorian taotao mo’na.
— CANDICE MUNA, Chamorro Language & Heritage Studies teacher at Marianas High School
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Soldiers at Moonrise
By Jazabelle Sumor
This is one of the taotao mo’na experiences that I had on the island of Guam in the village of Dededo. On the night of my 14th birthday, I was in a really deep sleep until sometime between 11 and 12 o’clock when I awoke to twin boys sitting right beside me, one to my left and the other to my right. Under the light of the moon, I saw that both boys were light-complected with army haircuts. Both wore army camouflage pants with no shirts. At first, I thought I was dreaming, but this was different. To make sure I wasn’t dreaming, I covered my face with a blanket, rubbed my eyes, and removed my blanket to see if they were still there. And they were!
I started shaking in fright because both of them were staring and laughing at me. One of them held a white string and swayed it back and forth in front of my face. Then I realized this was all real because I was crying and shaking so much that my sister woke up and asked me what was wrong. I pointed to both of the boys who were still beside me, however, she could not see them. All I kept telling my sister was, “Tell them to go away!” Although I kept trying to point them out, she told me she couldn’t see anyone. Then she said she would wake up my mom but I held her arms tight in fear, hoping that they would disappear.
So many thoughts flooded my mind, but the most prominent one was the fear that they would take me away. I kept wondering why this was happening to me on the night of my birthday. Then I realized that my window was wide open because a little girl came in through it. She was wearing a puffy white dress and had curly hair. She looked young, like 8 or 9 years old. Even more scared, I cried because there were three of them! The little girl looked me straight in the eyes and summoned the two boys who got up from the bed and followed her out the window.
Finally, I felt so relieved! I asked myself, “Why would this little girl help me?” I told my sister that they were finally gone and she woke up my mom. I told both of them the whole story. My mom asked, “Can you describe the little girl?” When I did, my mom told me that I just described her sister, May, who had died when she was eight years old from a hit and run. The next day, we went to my Auntie May’s grave so I could pay my respects and thank her for protecting me from the young soldiers who haunted me at moonrise.
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Aniten Ayuyu
By Jonovan R. Hernandez
One afternoon when I was around six years old, my tåtan bihu, tihu and I were setting ayuyu traps at my tåta’s farm in Tagå’chang in the village of Yo’na on Guam. When we finished setting the traps, we walked back to the ranch where we waited for night to come. After dark, we walked to the closest traps. While my tåta and I checked the three first traps, I saw a large rock that looked like a latte stone. I noticed that it had a hole in it, so out of curiosity I peeked inside and saw an ayuyu! Without thinking, I stuck my hand inside the hole to catch it. After pulling it out, I realized it was the biggest ayuyu I had ever seen. I began to secure its pinchers and put it in my backpack. After I slung my backpack on my back, I felt a painful pinch as it clinched my back. “OUCH!” I threw my backpack to the ground and my tåta, who was on the other side of the latte, came around and asked me, “What’s wrong?” “It bit me, Tåta!” He asked, “What happened?” “I got the ayuyu in the rock,” I explained, pointing over to the latte stone. Then he asked, “Which one did you get out of the rock?” Once I pointed to my backpack, he opened it up, took out the ayuyu, examining it and began shaking his head. He freed its pinchers and walked over to the latte stone where he returned it. Then, he started saying something in CHamoru, “Dispensa’ Yu’, put fabot, Saina.” Afterward, he came to me and said, “Lahi-hu, that’s not an ayuyu. That was a taotao mo’na spirit living inside that ayuyu! Never take an ayuyu from a stone like that, you understand?”
After I nodded my head in agreement, I picked up my backpack and we began to walk under the light of the full moon deeper and deeper into the jungle toward the other traps. When we had gone further into the jungle, I looked to my left and saw three pale men walking toward me. At that age, all I could think of them was that they were very scary looking. They were completely white and had no heads! Immediately, I closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them again, they would disappear and that I would forget about them. I began to cry in fear. My tåta started carrying me and then we met up with my uncle. We checked the other traps, then my uncle decided to go further into the jungle by himself to check the other traps. My tata told him that we would meet him there.
Several minutes later, my tåta and I walked further into the jungle to look for my uncle but we could not find him. Although we called his name, he did not respond, so he decided that we would walk back to the ranch to wait for my uncle’s return. We stayed up for the rest of the night and after the sun rose, my uncle called my mom from a neighbor’s house to pick him up. When he returned to the ranch, he told us that he was lost in the jungle, walking in circles for hours. From that day on, my tata told me to never take an ayuyu from or near a latte’ stone because it is sacred. He said, “I don’t care how big the ayuyu is. If it is near that stone, do not take it.” After that incident, I always asked permission before entering and before hunting, and I never approached that stone or any latte stone ever again.
