Sapian by Alexander Spoehr

Author:Alexander Spoehr [Spoehr, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Germany, European General, Military, United States
ISBN: 9781839745379
Publisher: Barakaldo Books
Published: 2020-05-19T04:00:00+00:00

Stability of Religious Organization

Of all the various aspects of community organization on Saipan, that pertaining to the Catholic church and religion is among the most stable. The reason is obvious, for it is the explicit purpose of the priests and nuns to keep religious organization stable and to further church activities, educate the young in Catholic belief, and expand the church organization. However, the fact that Catholicism has long been established at the core of Chamorro culture greatly facilitates the task of the missionaries in maintaining the stability of religious organization and the authority of the church in all aspects of life into which it enters. The Chamorros in particular have long been accustomed to accord respect and obedience to the word of the church. They are regularly warned that they must eschew the views of other faiths. Although there are a small number of Baptists and Seventh Day Adventists among the Chamorros on Guam, to my knowledge there were none in the Saipan community during 1950. The people are well aware that there are many non-Catholics in the world, for during German, Japanese, and now American times they have had much contact, a great deal of it friendly, with persons of other denominations. Catholicism, however, is dominant in Chamorro life.

From the foregoing pages it can be seen that the Catholic religion enters into the pattern of community life in a number of ways: the regular week-day and Sunday services in the church; the special holy days with their observances, including religious processions; the lay societies and lay assistants with their particular functions; religious education of the young, supervised by the nuns, principally at the catechism school; and individual devotions on days of special significance. In addition, the church enters the realm of family life, at the times of crisis rites, through daily devotions held at home, and during family novenas.

Survivals of Ancient Chamorro Belief

THE TAOTAOMONA

Though there is no religious system surviving from ancient times among the Chamorros, an important increment of old belief still exists in connection with the supernatural and takes its form in the concept of the taotaomona.

As Thompson notes, little is known of pre-contact Chamorro religion, but the fragmentary documentary evidence indicates that the Chamorros believed in a variety of supernatural beings. With the coming of the missionaries these concepts were largely superseded by Catholicism, but those that survived tended to be merged into a belief in a class of powerful supernatural beings called taotaomona. Although the taotaomona may represent a post-Spanish concept, as Thompson holds, it is undoubtedly rooted in the pre-Spanish religion and is part of the widespread Micronesian preoccupation with and elaboration of concepts regarding the ghosts of the dead.

In contemporary usage, the word “animas” means both “ghost” and “soul.” Those who have died and are in purgatory (purgatorio) are termed animas. There are many stories of animas gathering in the church at dusk to pray that they may reach heaven. Virtually every boy who has served as a tanores can report having

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