Felis is borrowed from Spanish feliz which means "happy." You can replace felis with magof which is the indigenous, Chamorro word for "happy." Our grandparents who lived closer to Spanish times would have stuck with felis.

Maña i hechura, asta la seputtura! We take our habits to the grave.

Refrain : Si Yu'os ha gigiha i galaide. (God is guiding the boat.) 1. Ha håtsa hulo' i galaide-ho ya hu patcha i kanai-ña; (He lifted up my boat and I touched His hand;)

The Nobenan Niño in Chamorro probably did not come about until the 1920s because, as Pale' Roman and others have said, Chamorros prayed mainly in Spanish until that time. Prayer books in Chamorro were few in number until Pale' Roman started translating dozens and dozens of them.

They say that modern man doesn't know how to wait, and so we jump right into Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. In many homes, the Christmas tree comes down on December 26 and people find it odd when others continue to say "Merry Christmas" till January 6 or so. We celebrate too early and we end it too early.

The nice melody has a lot to do with it, but the words are very meaningful and have a lot to say about who Mary is for us Catholics. CLICK ON THE LINK for more information and to hear the Guam and Saipan versions.

This Chamorro hymn to Mary speaks about the beauty of Mary. It is primarily a spiritual beauty, that came about through God's doing, God's grace, while Mary, as a free human being, cooperated, accepted and followed through with that grace.

There are no turkeys native to the Marianas.

It used to be a very common practice. But, today, even many devout Catholics in the Marianas don't do it. Time to bring it back? Absolutely!

The village of Sumay is gone. But not its cemetery. Most of the lápida (gravestones) are now nameless slabs of stone. But a few remain, in Spanish, Chamorro and English, to the extent that we can come up with a list of the people buried here :

This is a photo of the inside of the Hagåtña church around the year 1900. Notice anything? NO PEWS. You see some benches, but there are curious things about these benches.