Solemn reenactment of Magellan's landing goes on, even as festival on hold this year (2024)

Residents gathered around Humåtak Bay Monday to watch the reenactment of Ferdinand Magellan’s landing on Guam, but the solemn event commemorating CHamoru Heritage Day wasn’t accompanied by the usual lively festival held next door.

While the smell of food in the air and the carnival rides weren’t around, hundreds still showed up to watch the performance of youths dressed in ancient CHamoru garb, the approach of “ships” on the horizon, and the traditional song and ceremony which accompany the reenactment.

This year’s Humåtak Guam History and CHamoru Heritage Day Festival was canceled due to damage to the festival grounds caused by Typhoon Mawar and still awaiting repair, Humåtak Mayor Johnny Quinata said.

“But look, the turnout was beautiful,” he said.

Damage to a number of wood-and-tin pavilions was evident Monday, and the mayor said they’re still awaiting reimbursem*nts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be processed so reconstruction can start.

“So I said to myself, I don’t want to do any concessions because of (the) safety of the people of Humåtak and the safety of the people of Guam,” he said, though plans are to get the repairs done by next year’s festival.

Bringing people together to learn about the history of the CHamoru people is the most enjoyable part of the celebration, said Brian “BJ” Terlaje, the fafa’någue, or instructor, for Guma’ Råsan Acho’ Latte, one of the numerous Guma’ or cultural dance houses that participated in the reenactment.

Terlaje said Guma’ Råsan Acho’ Latte has been a part of the mock Magellan landing since 1999, though he has memories of it going back even further, into his high school days. Over 50 people from five different Guma’ had come out for Monday’s reenactment.

He said the story of what happened to CHamorus after their first contact with people from outside the Marianas is what CHamoru Heritage Day is all about.

And the reenactment stresses the hardship and the resilience of the CHamoru.

“There still lives a humble village people,” recited this year’s narrator for the landing, Logan Duenas of Guma’ Nina’s Acho’ Latte.

“Changed forever by that historical event, these people still remain toiling under the warm sun,” he read.

This year’s event culminated with a new tradition, a laying of flowers into the waters of Humåtak Bay, in honor of all those who died for the protection of the land and culture of Guam.

“Within this story, it is very evident that you see, and you hear that, you know, a lot of our people have died because of what has taken place within our history,” Terlaje said.

He said the ceremony is an homage to the CHamoru ancestors, and offering flowers back to the ocean reflects the passage of life into the spiritual world.

“Because the ocean brought us here, we would give back to the ocean,” he said.

Joe Quinata, chief program officer of the Guam Preservation Trust, said the idea for giving the wreaths to the ocean had come about during the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe and landing on Guam in 2021.

The Juan Sebastián de Elcano Spanish navy ship pulled into Guam on CHamoru Heritage Day that year.

Because the Spanish delegation wasn’t onboard with the reenactment of Magellan’s landing, and COVID-19 restrictions limited the gathering, event organizers came up with the idea of laying wreaths of flowers out in the water as a way to greet the ship.

“Now it is an ongoing tradition to lay the wreath in the water for the people that really protected Guam back then and died,” Quinata said.