~
“The fallen Latte is the sign. It is from within the row of Latte that we feel our strength. It is the

severred capstone that gives us Their message, ‘Ti monhayon I che’cho.’ We will not rest until the

Latte is whole.”

                              —Cecilia C. T. Perez

                              from Signs of Being—A Chamoru Spiritual Journey




		~



“these latde stones

were moved from

the village of mepo

behind the military fence

to a museum—

but then they were moved

again to this park

for tourists
              [early prelatte period : prior to 1485 bc—500 bc]
“to build i guma’latte’

a traditional house

start with the foundation

the latde— 
“find a stone that resembles

the haligi, the pillar

then find a coral head from the reef

for the tasa, the capstone	
“to build larger latde

you have to go to the quarry  	
“first outline the shape of

the haligi and the tasa

in the stone like writing

the bones of a house 
“then dig 
              “an act 
              relative to

              changing 
              the official name

              of guam 
              to its name in

              Chamorro 
              Guåhan
“to move the tasa and haligi

[we] need rope

“peel the bark from

the hibiscus

cut into strips

dry and weave with

your hands

like this 
              [intermediate prelatte period : 500 bc—1 ad]
or get coconut husk

soak and dry

and braid the strands

like this
                                 “from

                            guaha :

                               there is

                                 have

                            exist
                            the final ‘n’

                            	denotes

                                possession of		
                            	Guåhan : a place that has

                            a place of resources

                             all-encompassing	
“then [we] pull

the stones from the quarry

pull with your legs pull with

your arms your back pull with

your shoulders pull

from your bones and

breath and

blood 
              [transitional prelatte period : 1 ad—1000 ad]
“pull the stones

to the land

that will hold the house
                                                                                    here?
“dig

to root

the haligi

fill the space

with rocks
              [larger latte period : 1000 ad—1521 ad]
“build a ramp of dirt to

the top of the haligi pull

the tasa and place it

on top
              “unlike Guåhan

              it is difficult to decipher

              the base word guam

                                          or its etymology
              guam

                            was predominately referred to as Guåhan

              from 1521 until 1898

                            in 1898 the treaty of paris signed by spain and us

              referred to the island as 
              guam
              words instill ownership
“when all the latde stones

are placed in parallel rows then

[we] can build the house above
“the spanish called them casa

de los antigos

house

of the ancients

before they destroyed them

but many latde stones survived

just like us
              “the legislature finds that guam

                            shall herein after be

              Guåhan		 
              all references to guam shall be renamed

              or understood to refer to Guåhan
              And shall be

              the official designation 
              of the island	
“in the space beneath the house

within the latde stones

you can work

cook

build and shelter canoes

learn to navigate 
              [early historic period : 1521 ad—1700 ad]
“the dead were buried

beneath the dirt beneath the house

woven into the roots of the latde

close enough to protect [us]
                                                                                    even if [we] were moved? 
“even here

yan pago

hasso

i patgon-hu

hasso