700 ancestral remains reburied at IPI site

A total of 700 ancestral remains that date back to the ancient Chamorro settlement of Anaguan—which is now the present-day village of Garapan—were reburied last Friday at the site where they were dug up—at the Imperial Palace Saipan in Garapan.

To mark the occasion, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres ordered that all CNMI flags in the CNMI be lowered to half-staff and the non-profit group 300 Sails, which is trying to revive the CNMI’s ancient sailing tradition, participated in the ceremony by sailing three traditional canoes, called proa, to the beachside of the site.

The CNMI Historic Prevention Office, in partnership with Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC, led the poignant reburial ceremony. HPO administrator Rita Chong said the agency went to great lengths to make the ceremony as culturally authentic as possible.

“The preparation of the remains took about three weeks. HPO staff prepared all the remains, cleaned them, we put them in cloth bags, and in woven baskets that were then placed at the burial place,” she said. “We were able to reach out to all government agencies for assistance to rebury the remains.”

To ensure that the remains were reburied according to tradition, Chong said the ceremony was followed by old rituals. “We had already designed various templates that are culturally sensitive so we didn’t want to do a modern burial, and researched and found out what their burial rituals were,” she said.

The Historic Preservation Office leads the reburial ceremony for about 700 bones that were dug up during the construction of the casino. The reburial was held at the grounds of the Imperial Pacific Saipan casino last Friday, Aug. 21.
(KRIZEL TUAZON)

During the ceremony, there was kulu (conch) chanting, a ceremony by the water, and singing They had about 20 kulu blowers ranging in age from 8 to 65.

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres’ senior policy adviser, Robert Hunter, was also present at the ceremony and thanked IPI and HPO for finally returning the islands’ forebears to their rightful resting place. “We are really thankful for the support of those who helped out with this ceremony. It’s been the Department of Community and Cultural Affair policy that we are not going to let ancestral remains be sitting for years. We owe them a respectful reburial.”

Torres echoed Hunter’s message and is grateful for the ceremony held for the reburial. “This is very sentimental and now that I feel comfortable about having our ancestors get the time to have a proper ceremony so that their souls can rest in peace,” he said.

500 Sails was also able to give a beautiful ceremony by having three sailboats out to the waters and having kulus blown while sailing out.

IPI CEO Donald Browne said the company is glad to have contributed its part to the reburial. “This is a very proud moment for us and the people of the CNMI to reinter the remains of their ancestors. You can see a lot of people are very emotional and HPO did a very good job with the event, I am happy about it.” (Chevy Alipio)

MD: 700 ancestral remains reburied.

KW: HPO, IPI, ancient remains, reburial.