|
|
|
The first 20th Century version of Puntan dos Amantes (Two Lover's Point)
was published in the "Guam Recorder, February 1933" by Mrs. Albert R. Buehler. This was
the Era of Naval Administration of Guahan as a U.S. territory after the 1898 Spanish American War.
The Legend was set during the Spanish Period of Guahan prior to 1898.
In Agana, Guahan once lived a maiden beautiful of mind and body. So alluring was her
beauty that no man could behold her without feeling his heart sway like a palm
frond touched by a high wind. It was no wonder that her Spanish father and native
mother had brilliant plans for her future. When a mighty and rich but old and cruel
sea captain became stricken with her charms and asked for her hand in marriage,
their dreams for their lovely daughter's future was realized and they readily
consented to the suitor's request.
But the girl was bewildered and distraught. No Love had she in her heart for any but her lover,
a poor, humble, native boy whose adoration for her was ever true. She told her parents of her love for the
boy and pleaded with them to be allowed to marry the love of her heart.
When they refused to heed her wish, she went to the boy at their sweet meeting place.
The lovers wept for the dismal years of separation to come and finally, in desperation, ran away
together. While the wedding party waited, they made their way to a point of land that reaches out
into Tumon Bay.
The furious rejected suitor sent out soldiers in pursuit. When the boy and girl heard their
approaching footsteps, they tied their hair together, clenched each other in their arms,
and, with a promise of eternal devotion upon their lips, threw themselves over the sheer cliff
into the cruel deep waters below.
No trace of them has ever been found. Rumors hint that their spirits live together in the
caves beneath the cliff. Many people who have stood quietly upon the beach that
fringes Tumon Bay say that they heard a distant murmur float from the caves that was
like the laughter of young and happy voices; other people who have heard the same
far away sound believe it only the noise of the surf lapping against the sides of the
cliff.
This is the story of Puntan Dos Amantes.
A visiting Spanish historian Dr. Carlos Madrid Alvarez-Piner,
indicated [by personal interview]
that the modern version of Two Lover's Legend was transformed from
a Chamoru local legend into a Spanish Era legend during the early
American Administration of Guahan.
The following paragraphs were written by Paricia Shook, Triton's Call pg 4 Nov 21, 2002.
Dr. Alvarez-Piner states that it is a "black legend" of
Spanish colonialism [i.e. the Spanish during the 1600's have been
traditionally portrayed as "exterminators of native populations"].
Madrid puts Father Diego Luis de San Vitores' mission on Guam - 340 years ago June 15, 1668,
in perspective. While the motivation to maintain colonies in the Americas and the
Philippines were closely
tied to economic gain, Madrid said Guam was not considered an essential re-supplying station for the galleons.
The Spanish monarchy was not interested in acquiring territory in the Marianas. Rather, the
San Vitores family, who had close ties to Queen Mariana of Austria, had requested support
for the mission as a personal favor to the young priest. Madrid said the San Vitores family in Madrid
continues to be a wealthy and influential family today.
Madrid said the Spanish government had little knowledge of what was happening in the Marianas in the two
centuries that followed, as communication between Spain and its Pacific colonies was limited
to sporadic galleon runs between Mexico and the Philippines. As the Spanish officials on
Guam were an assortment of businessmen and military officers, rather than representatives of the
Spanish government, each ruled the colony as he saw fit - frequently motivated by personal profit -
and often in conflict with Spain's domestic policies.
Historical Commentary: Historians recounted that
Chamorro Legends on the Island of Guam are
one of the few records of Chamorro oral tradition, and therefore an invaluable source for
cultural memory as well as the study of how Chamorro identity changed
throughout colonializing experiences. The tales emerged from centuries of cultural
submergence, and clearly bear the marks of cultural domination.