GUAMPEDIA Manånaf yan Semu Pulan
Volume VI Issue VI
Junio 18- Agosto 15, 2023 June 18- August 15, 2023
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Realigning Pulans Manånaf yan Semu With disruptions and delays caused by Typhoon Mawar, to realign our pulan newsletters with the lunar cycle, we combined two pulans in this issue! To our ancestors, pulan Manånaf signified a time to go on all fours or crawl on the ground. It was hard to imagine what they were referring to. However, during Manånaf’s gualafon (full moms) on July 3, one could see punglao (crabs) crawling along roadways and technically on “all fours!” With pulan Semu, debuting over the Marianas on July 18, we could not find any recorded meaning. What we do know from our natural environment and over the past several decades of World War II commemorations in Guam and the Northern Marianas, Semu’s lunar phases are often hindered because of our wet season or Fanuchanan.
In the Marianas , archeologists have tried to examine how environmental changes may have impacted our ancestors who began occupying these islands 4,000 years ago. As masterful seafarers, they adapted to a tropical environment while facing frequent typhoons, periods of drought and occasional earthquakes and tsunamis. Based on research of the climate and geology of the region, the Marianas archipelago also experienced significant changes in sea level and landscape topography that affected the kinds of plants and animals that thrived as well as human settlement patterns. When an environment changes, the ways in which a population interacts with that environment may change as well. Activities may be altered; new tools and technology may develop; or different rituals and customs may be established.
Fun facts with “The Nature Facts” Explore Fish and wildlife sheets with these creatures crawling on land and in the sea. Guampedia is a non-profit affiliate of the University of Guam with operations funded by the Government of Guam’s tourism attraction fund.