The soon-to-be published CHamoru Legends, A gathering of Stories, is not the first public effort to preserve a vital part of Guam’s culture. There have been many retellings of these stories that are very familiar to those native to Guam and those who have become familiar with the island during many years of residence. The University of Guam Press has tapped skilled writers, translators and artists to produce an edition, in both CHamoru and English, back to back, that will bring these often told tales to a wider audience and encourage them to tell and retell their own tales.
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Sirena
Sirena is truly an icon in the world of Guam legends and her depiction by artist Veroni Sablan is only the latest of many of this half-girl, half-mermaid figure.
And as to the meaning of this legend, in which this disobedient girl is cast out of her home by her mother and undergoes her transformation in the ocean, it utterly depends on the tale-teller.
“As a little girl, I was really not told the legends per se, story by story. I didn’t even read the story and know the entirety from start to end, the story of Sirena,” said Maria Ana Tenorio Rivera who brought her CHamoru translation skills and decades of cultural knowledge to the retelling of a familiar tale on Guam. “I just thought of Sirena as being a naughty little girl who became a fish.”
In this eloquent version of the story, Sirena’s mother rages at her daughter who is constantly drawn to the ocean, neglecting both her chores and preparation for a life of conventional motherhood.
“Nåna’s voice thundered as if it came from someone else. ‘Since you love the water so much, live there until you die there! You will never have children. You will never have a home!'
"At that unbearable moment, the echoing boom of these words threatened to tear down the walls of the house. Nåna’s admonitions pierced Sirena’s ears with a stabbing pain and clouded her eyes, blinding her. Sirena’s instinct was to flee from a heartbreak that she didn’t recognize. She blindly backed out of the house, turned and ran instinctively toward the smell of the ocean.
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Sirena’s nina watched her goddaughter run away from her home, Nåna only wanted what she thought was best for her Sirena. And although Sirena could never go back to her home, the young girl lived out the rest of her days half fish, half woman, in the body preserved for her by her godmother and in the form given to her by her Nåna, a form that most captured her spirit."
As with all legends that last, the Sirena story can be read and understood or told on many levels. This was brought home to those who labored to produce the new collection of CHamoru legends, with the added dimension of two distinct languages and cultures.
Retelling legends such as that of Sirena in a way that reflects their true depth and passion challenged the collaborators and consumed nearly two years, said publisher Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero.
"A lot of people say they were never told the whole story of Sirena as a child. They were just told, ‘Don’t be disrespectful or be like her,’ so the lessons of the stories just become everyday examples of you being scolded."
Leon Guerrero said the new translation is a more grown-up version of the legend.
“They don’t give it this fantasy spin like, wow, now she’s a mermaid. It was very painful when she became a mermaid in the story.”
And she adds, it is not difficult to find echoes of past family relations in the Guam of today.
“If you think about a CHamoru daughter and her relationship with a strict CHamoru mother. When your mother is that angry with you and she has literally exiled you, that is the deepest heartbreak. And think of that happening today… It’s sort of a cliché, but the daughter wants to be with a certain person and the mother doesn’t approve and she tells you, ‘fine, go with that person but I’m never going to talk to you again.”
As reflected in this legend, both daughter and mother are left with regrets.
This article originally appeared on Pacific Daily News: CHamoru legends: Sirena, the girl turned mermaid
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