Lullabies and Anthems: O Land of Mine
In the middle of the ocean
Is where my home is
That is where I will spend my days
It is my desire
And if one day I leave
I will return
For I can never leave you
O land of mine
A thousand times and more
I will honor and salute you
Beautiful islands of the Mariånas
Glory be to you
Translated above is the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ (Northern Marianas) anthem. After singing the “Star Spangled Banner” and pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, the sovereign nation over our islands, the people of the Northern Marianas pledge allegiance to the Northern Marianas flag and sing the Northern Marianas’ anthem.
Sung only in the native tongue of the indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian peoples, respectively, “Gi Talo Gi Halom Tåsi” (In the Middle of the Ocean) is the Chamorro version of the Northern Marianas’ anthem and “Satil Matawal Pasifiko” (Far Out in the Pacific Ocean) is the Carolinian version.
The Chamorro anthem is said to have been composed sometime after the horrific WWII battle in Saipan ended and the Carolinian version about the time when the Northern Marianas signed the Covenant agreement to be in political union with the United States.
Interestingly, the tune of the anthem is from a German tune and probably influenced by the Northern Marianas’ once upon a time German rule 115 years ago.
The Chamorro version was what I grew up learning. It was one of the first songs I learned in Kindergarten and also required to sing just about every morning in front of the school flagpole. We were taught to stand, put our right hand to our heart, look up at the sky to the flagless flagpole and sing to what seemed at the time the very long twelve lined anthem in Chamorro.
Though the Carolinian version was produced the year I was born actually, many moons ago in 1976, I don’t recall learning it at school. Credit
In fact, I don’t even recall having to memorize or learn the “Star Spangled Banner” but do know there was always a sheet of paper handy with the lyrics if we needed to sing it at school or at special events.
Chamorro is my first language so even as a little girl I knew what the lyrics of the Chamorro version of the Northern Marianas anthem meant. It never felt so profound and sentimental until I reached adulthood though. I’m not quite sure what happened and when I actually found such a connection and became so patriotic but it was rather recent I would say.
Having to leave my island home of Saipan straight out of high school for college in the U.S. was truly an eye opener for me as a young adult. I missed home so much and realized that there really was no place like home. The world felt so much bigger and I, so insignificant. It was not at this stage of my life when I gained that sense of patriotism, loyalty and love for the Northern Marianas, however.
In fact, though I missed home, I had no plans to return to stay there because the opportunities were greater in the U.S. Either to join other family members in the U.S., advance their education or simply just to find a job because work was hard to find back home even with a college degree, many family and friends, neighbors and familiar faces have left the islands to pursue the American dream.
There are higher paying jobs in the U.S.; more educational and job opportunities; better benefits and medical care; and there was so much more to see and experience in the U.S.
In retrospect, and twenty years after first leaving home for college, I still agree with the latter statements about greater opportunities and benefits in the U.S.; but the need to leave my homeland? …I have a change of heart.
With no plans to permanently stay in Saipan, I left the U.S. and moved back home to Saipan unexpectedly in 2001 because of a family situation. Thirteen years later, I’m still back home and I cannot imagine ever leaving again.
There truly is no place like home. There’s no place like the Northern Mariana Islands. Biased? Of course. But I hear the same sentiment from our visitors, who always find their way back for another visit, and many foreigners and Americans who found our islands by chance and now call it their home.
Perhaps it’s the year round sun, the tight knit community, the hospitable people and for me, the family that’s still here. Aside from the grandparents, parents, aunts and cousins, everyone is family here in the islands. Everyone practically knows each other and if not, locals can spot if you’re not local.
Like in most small communities, one’s work and contributions benefits family members, neighbors and friends at a scale that can be felt and seen. And though there is so much need and hardship in the islands, with it also comes great potential and opportunity.
As an indigenous person, the responsibility to realize such potential and opportunities is great. I was taught even as a child that “respetu” (respect), “I familia” (the family) and “I tano-ta” (our lands) are the most important in the world. I grew up knowing that our lands have been entrusted to us by our ancestors and those loved ones who have passed and yet to come.
I never really made sense of these values growing up and only recently have I become conscious of it. Perhaps because I’m now a mother and feel a sense of responsibility to pass on to my children what was passed on to me. In hopes that my very own children, other indigenous children and peoples who call our islands their home would protect, love and nurture our homeland and peoples like that of a mother’s love for her children, I have committed my professional and personal journey to sharing my love for my homeland, joining others who have been sharing their love for our islands and taking steps to also make others more conscious about the need to protect, love and nurture our homeland and its peoples.
So I suppose the anthem of the Northern Marianas did serve its purpose.
Gi talu gi halom tåsi
Nai gaige tano-hu
Ayo nai siempre hu såga
Malago’ ho
Ya un dia bai hu hånåo
Bai fåttu ha’ ta’lu
Ti sina håo hu dingu
O tano-hu
Mit beses yan mås
Hu saluda håo
Gatbo na islas Mariånas
Hu tuna håo
I left my islands and have returned to stay and cannot and will never leave, if God allows. I salute and profoundly love my islands a thousand more today than yesterday and wish those who have left will find their way back home.
I found myself not only singing the Chamorro and Carolinian version of the Northern Marianas Anthem at special events, but also singing it as my younger children’s lullaby when they were babies, which never failed to make them emotionally cry to sleep. Quite funny and cute but true. Perhaps it was beyond the beautiful tune and words of the anthem. I suppose the love and heartfelt connection my babies felt from my heart and that of their father’s, as we sang them their lullaby that made them emotionally cry to sleep.
Now three and five years old, and their two older siblings both teenagers, I catch my two young ones singing the Northern Marianas anthem around the house. I pray that they too, along with other generations of children and my two teenagers as well, will be as conscious as I for our homeland and peoples and hopefully also have that connection and pride for our islands as our anthem was intended for.
So sing your anthem to your babies like that of a lullaby, teach them your native tongue and values and educate them about your people’s stories and history for they will be the stewards of your homeland, your heritage and identity as a people that our ancestors, those loved ones who have passed and yet to come entrusted us with.
