Beliefs and Rituals Ancient Chamorros did not worship any idols, according to Fray Juan, but they had reverence for the skulls of their ancestors, especially those of their parents and grandparents. He makes a remark about not worshipping idols but rather “ancestral locations,” but does not elaborate further. Such a practice would conform to the surviving belief that the ancestral spirits reside in the jungle, in specific places most often associated with the banyan tree. Land was passed down through generations of clan members, and was therefore ancestral land. Like the surviving belief of asking permission to pass near the ancestors who reside in the banyan tree, ancient Chamorros probably asked permission to enter the ancestral lands of another clan (Cunningham, 1992: 100).
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Several chroniclers state that the Chamorros had no religion, probably referring to the lack of edifices dedicated to worship of any deity. They did, however, have specialists in the manipulation of and intervention between the physical and spiritual world, called makahnas [contemporary spelling]. Although every family evidently kept skulls and performed rituals with them, the makahnas were reported to have many skulls with which they conferred regularly. As opposed to individual clan members who revered and talked to their antes – or ancestors, a makahna could commune with anites – spirits of clans other than his own and who could be malicious to members outside their clan (Cunningham, 1992: 100). Makahnas promised health, rain, successful fishing, and similar benefits by invoking the skulls of dead persons that they kept in little baskets in their house (Garcia, p. 174).
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It is ironic that these seventeenth-century Europeans would not recognize another concept of spiritual intervention which in many ways paralleled beliefs of their own civilization at that time. This was the time of witchcraft trials in Europe and America, when many women were tortured and killed for allegedly exhibiting signs of black magic. It was also a time when the Spanish Catholic church advanced the cause of their religion through frequent exorcism rituals to triumph over the devil, and through the verification of miraculous acts to glorify the divinity of their god. The chroniclers could only explain spiritual intervention of another culture by ascribing the acts to their own devil.
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From the actions described, however, we can begin to understand that the Chamorro sense of proper behavior and respect revolved around community beliefs that were interpreted and regulated by the makahna. One’s sense of personhood developed from his expected role within these regulations. Mockery and ridicule were ways of keeping members of society within expected roles. Punishment for transgressions became in a way self-imposed through peer condemnation. 2nd Marianas History Conference 2013 ・ !77