Sakman "Flying Proa" Chamorro Canoe

Amidst all the encroachment of western society on the Pacific Island of Guam and the drive for economic stability clashing some times with the preservation of the native Chamorro culture traditions, efforts have been made to to recreate and keep alive those traditions.

Among them is the flying proas, the remarkable canoes that the ancient natives used to navigate the vast distances of the Pacific ocean long before the first Europeans set foot on Guam and it’s island neighbors.

The video below shows efforts to keep these seafaring traditions alive.  Although no pure blooded Chamorro is alive today,  the culture has survived through its oral history and traditions which have been embedded in the mixed blood descendants who hold on to that part of their cultural heritage quite vigorously.