Nginge' at wedding. Rene Mahone collection from the Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC).
Chamorro Culture

Nginge’: Showing Respect

Nginge’ is a term that describes the smelling or sniffing of the back part of an elder’s slightly raised right hand. Elders, or manåmko, collectively

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Matatnga by Raph Unpingco
Ancient Guam Era

Matatnga: Fearless

Matatnga is defined as “strong personality or fearless.” Chief Hurao, a CHamoru leader during the Spanish-CHamoru wars in the late 1600s, was the living embodiment

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Emmok Revenge Featured Image
Ancient Guam Era

Emmok: Revenge

The CHamoru expression inafa’ maolek (making it good for each other) expresses a core CHamoru value. A life of harmony is taken to be the

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A village scene depicts the difference in caste through body language and building structures. Also illustrated is the lack of body coverings as being unnecessary. Bachelor’s houses were houses for young CHamoru/Chamorro men in the Mariana Islands from ancient times until the late 1600s. A village scene of the Ancient CHamorus illustrated by JA Pellion from Freycinet’s Voyage Autour de Monde, Paris, 1824. Guam Public Library System
Ancient Guam Era

Taotaomo’na

Taotaomo’na, the people of before, refers to ancestral spirits that inhabited the earth along with the living. Ancient Chamorros/CHamorus believed the world around them was

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