In CHamoru legend, the god Puntan died and his sister, Fu’una, used his body to create the world. With his back, Fu'una created the boundless sky and all its brilliant lights; and with his eyes she made the sun and moon. As the world was formed, Fu’una missed her brother deeply and cried tears that became the vast oceans.
Lonely, she turned herself into Fouha Rock on the island of Guam, from which all the peoples of the world sprang from.
This is how the CHamoru people explain their place in the world. But according to science and genealogy, three thousand years ago, an intrepid group of voyagers bid farewell to their families off the coast of Asia, pushed their canoes into the sea, and began one of the greatest voyages in human history. Looking east towards the horizon, using knowledge of past expeditions and rumors to drive them forward, they landed on the island of Guam which would be the first island in the Pacific to be settled by people.
Across the ocean in the lands and waters now called Vietnam, another people defined their origins as the descendants of the mountain fairy Au Co, the sea dragon Lac Long Quan, and their one hundred children. But Au Co deeply missed the mountains as Lac Long Quan missed the sea. And the lovers parted, dividing their children across the land and water.
In the 20th century, some of the CHamoru descendants of those first voyagers were sent to fight on behalf of the United States in the land of the fairy and dragon's children–– Vietnam.
In 1975, Operation New Life further brought these two people closer in both history and experiences.
For more information on CHamoru seafaring, check out this podcast episode from Memoirs Pasifika.
