History & Culture with Dr. Judy Flores

On November 21 I gave a talk for the MARC Seminar Series at the University of Guam.   This talk was meant to encourage a continuing discussion of the crescent-shaped, carved body ornament called Sinahi by contemporary Chamorros.   My interest in this object is due to the fact that it has become a major icon of Chamorro identity, yet its ancient origins and usage is a mystery.   To summarize my talk: ·       The name Sinahi was given by contemporary Chamorros because it looks like a crescent moon.   This is confusing because Sinahi actually means New Moon, meaning the dark moon.   According to my sources, ancient Chamorro language described the waxing moon as Sinahi---( i.e One, Two) , using ancient terminology for the   enlarging size of the crescent over the month’s cycle.   Contemporaries shortened these terms to just Sinahi .   In the northern Mariana Islands, it has been called Kalang , meaning pendant.   ·       It was carved from the giant clam shell, a ver

To lovers of the arts, history, and Chamorro culture - this blog is for you! I hope to share tidbits that I enjoy, and I hope you enjoy them too. Oops - that sounds too much like a poem, and I am not a poet.  However, I admire poets - passionate Poetry-Slam students of Mel Borja and powerful word pictures evoked by Craig Perez, lyrics sung by Candy Taman... I'm passionate about people who are passionate about our beautiful Mariana Islands - the beauty and the good people who inherited these lands, as well as the issues that drive their passion to make things better. But I'm not an active activist.  I prefer to observe and reflect; to engage people in discussion about issues - to keep the discussion going so that hopefully issues will be enlightened by the pros and cons and be resolved by collective thinking towards the greater good.  So, I'm an idealist. I like to create beauty that extends from my art to my house, to my garden, to my yard, to my village, and thro

 Judith (Judy) Selk Flores, PhD, retired in March 2011, after serving as Advisory President and Historian for Historic Inalahan Foundation, Inc., a non-profit Corporation whose mission is to revitalize the Inalahan Historic District.  Originally from Colorado, Flores and her family moved to Guam at age eleven when her parents accepted teaching jobs in 1957. The family was the first off-island American family to be housed in the southern village of Inarajan, where Flores grew up immersed in the rich cultural traditions of the village. She learned to speak Chamorro fluently and married into the culture. She and her husband, Juan N. Flores, have two grown children and seven grandchildren. Artistically inclined from an early age, Judy Flores earned a degree in art education from the University of Guam and taught art in secondary school for ten years. During her early years of teaching she began experimenting with the wax and dye art media of batik, which became her pr