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News • Guam • United States • 2012-01-17

Lina’la’ Cultural Park Recreates Life on Guam 500 Years Ago

GUAM’S FIRST AND ORIGINAL

Chamorro cultural theme park recreates

Chamorro life 500 years ago. Lina’la’

Park rests on an actual Chamorro village,

dating over 1,000 years ago. Latte

stones, pottery, and other artifacts

reveal that villagers lived there until the

beginning of the Spanish era in the 17th

century.

The park features a visitor center displaying

cultural artifacts and a brief film

about the Chamorro creation belief. A

nature walk filled with tropical flowers,

medicinal plants, and fruit trees leads

visitors to the recreation of an ancient

Chamorro village.

Visitors are greeted by men and women

wearing what looks like traditional garb

— a loincloth and small bandeau top

for women. When Magellan landed on

Guam in 1521, islanders were mostly naked,

however, women sometimes wore

a small triangular apron called a tifi, or a

skirt of grass or leaves suspended from

a belt.

The pre-Magellan stage at Lina’la’ is

filled with a handful of pitched roof

houses that would have made up any

village. The largest A-frame domain

housed the chief and was founded on

impressive latte stones. Visitors can climb

into the house via a wooden staircase.

Some latte structures served as guma’

uritao, or a men’s house. This was

a meeting place for men and living carabao, pigs, goats, ducks, and chickens.

Coconut crabs, monitor lizards, and

a brown tree snake are also on display.

“Seeing is believing and a walk through

Lina’la’ is like stepping back in time,”

said GVB General Manager Joann

Camacho. “The park not only preserves

our Chamorro history, but makes it come

alive.”

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