Anufat

Chamorro · numen · perennial · numen

Anufat is the most vividly described of the individually named taotaomo'na, the ancestral spirits of the Mariana Islands. Accounts collected on Guam picture him as a huge, ugly spirit with long fangs or six-inch teeth and long nails, a dark complexion, a hole in the side of his head holding a bird's nest, and a gaping wound in his side out of which grows a large galak fern (galak dangkulu). He is bound to ancient burial places: the manåmko' (elders) teach that anyone walking through such ground must whistle so as not to startle Anufat, who may otherwise do the intruder great harm. He is thus a singular, named presence within the wider taotaomo'na belief that the spirits of the people of before still inhabit the jungle and sacred sites of the islands.

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