Taotao Mona

Taotao Mona (Chamorro: "people before history" or "ancient people") are ancestor spirits believed to haunt the mountains and wild places of the Mariana Islands, which includes Rota, Saipan, Tinian and Guam, Micronesia. Belief in Taotao Mona is present not only on Guam but on many the islands of the Marianas.

With the Spanish conquest of Guam in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the resultant destruction of the old way of life of the native Chamorros, went also the practice of the worship of native gods and ancestor cults. Scholars believe that the concept of the tricky Taotao Mona were created by the Chamorros in response to Spanish subjugation.

Taotao Mona are believed to inhabit any secluded natural place on the island—particularly in the south of the island—and despite the modernity of most Guamanians, there is still a healthy respect for them. It is thought that if they are offended, they can cause bad influences in a particular location or towards a particular person.

References

* Robert Tenorio Torres, PDFlink| [http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Pre-Contact_Marianas_Folklore,_Legends,_and_Literature.pdf "Pre-Contact Marianas Folklore, Legends, and Literature: A Critical Commentary"] , "Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Sciences", University of Hawaii, December 2003, pp. 12-13.