The ruins of prehistoric settlements have been preserved in the Northern Mariana Islands. Some researchers believe that they were built by people …
Their descendants, inhabiting the archipelago now, cannot be called giants. But they keep knowledge of folk medicine, magic, communicate with spirits and still live according to the laws of matriarchy. For residents of the Far East, these places have long been something like Turkish beaches for Muscovites. No wonder: from Vladivostok to the largest island of the Saipan archipelago, it takes 5 hours to fly.
The locals are Chamorro and Caroline, two different ethnic groups that have been living together peacefully for thousands of years. “We call ourselves 'refaloash', which means 'land people' or 'earth people,' says Gordon Marciano, whose mother is Chamorro and dad is Caroline. - The Chamorro moved here 3.5 thousand years ago from Southeast Asia. And the Karolins settled on Saipan much later, in the 18th century."
Footprints of giants?
In the jungle, you can still see the ruins of villages in which the islanders lived 3.5 thousand years ago. In such places, you cannot speak loudly, and tourists are asked to mentally apologize to the spirits of the owners of ancient houses for invading their territory. The former village is a cluster of large stones (they are called "lattes"), by the location of which the outlines of huts are clearly guessed. Historians came to the conclusion that these stones served as pillars on which stood wooden, rather long houses. The place where they were mined is also known. This quarry is located on the island of Rota. Huge round and oval boulders are carved right into the rocky ground. Some are still in the field. It seems that the ancient workers abandoned their business overnight, without completing it. There is, however, one catch. The settlement built on such large lattes is taller than human growth,located on the neighboring island of Tinian. The ancient people obviously could not transport them on boats. How, then, were they moved from island to island? In search of an answer to this question, some researchers decided that people who lived here many thousands of years ago were giants and they simply threw stones or carried them on their hands. This version seems fantastic, but there is still no more plausible one. It seems that this mystery will remain unsolved, like the secrets of the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge. This version seems fantastic, but there is still no more plausible one. It seems that this mystery will remain unsolved, like the secrets of the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge. This version seems fantastic, but there is still no more plausible one. It seems that this mystery will remain unsolved, like the secrets of the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.
Get out, traitor
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Surprisingly, the modern inhabitants of the islands still live according to the same customs that were once adopted in the villages built on stone pillars. And there, by the way, the real matriarchy reigned. “The ancient villages were run by women,” Gordon nods in agreement. - Men constantly went to fish in the sea, and their wives and sisters kept the whole economy and public order. We still have everything the same way. The head of every family is a grandmother; women decide all important family issues. For example, my sisters are distributing the ancestral land."
Whether it is connected with matriarchy or with some kind of cults, but in ancient times it was believed that before marriage a girl should acquire as much sexual experience as possible. In the villages there were special houses where only boys lived and where girls constantly visited them - this is how mutual training in the science of love took place. It is not surprising that with such a freedom of morals, the man who took birth was considered the father of the child who was born. Why waste time and wonder who exactly was involved in conception? At the same time, the traitors were dealt with harshly - they were expelled from the village.
Swine Flu Weed
The most important knowledge - information about medicinal herbs and magical rituals - is still transmitted in the families of the Chamorro and Caroline people exclusively through the female line. “My mother taught me and my sisters, I teach my daughters,” says Bobby Taisaka, a traditional medicine practitioner on Rota Island. - My husband is not privy to secrets, he only helps me to collect herbs. Here Bobby gestures with his hand. Her husband immediately disappears behind the house, and a couple of minutes later returns from the garden with a bunch of long stems.
“This weed is called badbena,” Bobby tears off a leaf and crumples it in his hand. - I use it in many recipes for both children and adults. The time of collection is very important - we collect medicinal plants only at sunrise and never do it during rain. Dry the seeds. It takes a whole day to prepare a healing tincture. I've made it in reserve and I drink it myself - to prevent colds. We are not competing with traditional medicine - we are not trying to treat things like cancer, for example. But this new flu - as you say, swine flu, I think I could cure it.
The living Dead
Herbs on the islands are used not only in medicine, but also for witchcraft rituals, an important part of which is communication with the spirits of the dead. It is believed here that some ghosts fall in love with living women, literally haunt them and arrange everything so that they do not get married. It is said that a particularly large number of ghosts roam the deserted island of Rota. Their time is from 17 to 18 hours. Then, they say, they take to the streets, and it is easy to make a mistake, taking the dead man walking towards you on the road for a living. Sometimes, whether out of love or for other reasons, they infiltrate people, and they become seriously ill. Only a person with secret knowledge, a healer, can expel such an uninvited guest.
“Yes, this is a very ancient magic,” says Gordon Marciano. - It is largely lost now, but, for example, on the island of Yap it is still practiced. But what can I say - even my grandfather could call rain or, conversely, keep it! And his sister knew how to summon lightning. You can not practice magic to someone who is rude and angry. And the payment for this knowledge is special - the one who has it gets old faster. In our family, the services of healers are resorted to when doctors cannot diagnose or if it is necessary to remove damage. Two weeks ago a friend of my son fell ill. We called a relative who owns magic. She collected herbs, talked with the spirits of these herbs, called on others - after all, spirits are different, and you need to understand which one has entered into a person - the spirit of the earth or the sea. To do this, the room is filled with smoke, by the appearance of which the answer is recognized. When we lit the housethe patient broke free and ran towards the sea. They caught him, brought him back. Some herbs were boiled in a cauldron, others were heated on hot stones in a frying pan. He smelled them and ran again. This was repeated several times. But after three days they still cured him. “Adamasa” is the name of the spirit possession. If you do not intervene in time, then the spirit can become a part of a person, and then it will be difficult to help him, if not almost impossible.if not almost impossible. "if not almost impossible."
On the islands it is believed that most of the spirits gather in places where there were once ancient settlements, as well as where hundreds and thousands of people died during the Second World War. These are Suicide Rock, Banzai Cliff and the Last Command Post. Scary places. In 1944, American forces occupied the Mariana Islands, which had previously belonged to Japan. When it became clear that the battle was lost, the Japanese command issued an order: not to surrender. And women, who were hiding with children in the mountains, jumped down from a huge cliff, throwing their babies forward. The men who held the defenses on the shore shouting "Banzai!" threw themselves into the boiling waves, which immediately smashed their bodies against huge stones. The commander of the Japanese forces made hara-kiri at his headquarters, which is now called the "Last Command Post". Thousands of people died in this way. Their compatriots have erected dozens of monuments to these nameless victims of the war. There are many Japanese tourists in Saipan, and they all come to the memorials, bring flowers, toys, fruits. And they stand in silence for a long time - perhaps they feel the presence of those whose souls never found peace?