Guamanian Spirits of the Olden Times

One of my friends at work spent her childhood in Guam, a U.S. territory in Micronesia, in the South Pacific.

Perhaps the one entity from Guam's indigenous Chamorro mythology that stands out the most to me are the Taotao Mo'na, the spirits of the ancient ones who live in the trees and will not let you into the jungle without permission.

They are morally ambiguous, and their actions are based on how they are treated.

Their behavior in traditional stories makes them almost fairy-like.

During downtime at work, I decided to come up with my own representation of these spirits of the before times...and have just uploaded it into the Oceania page of this website.

I gave the Taotao Mo'na a ghostlike body and face to showcase that it is a spirit.

Since they are spirits of the precolonial ages, it wears a loincloth.

To match its habitat, I gave the Taotao Mo'na plantlike hair and a garland made of leaves...and colored its loincloth green.

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!

...and have a great fall (in the North of the World)