With the heightened campaign to preserve the indigenous traditions in the CNMI, we asked the community: If given a choice, which aspect of the CNMI culture should be preserved?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should preserve the traditions and teachings of the indigenous people. I was born in an era where my people are exposed to American influence so I feel it is very important to uphold the cultural aspect of it. All my life, I have been speaking English but I try to speak as much in my own language. It connects me more with my own people, my own history. So, for me, it’s about the language and the traditions.\u201d
\n\u2014Ray Jr. Deleon Guerrero, JKPL<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should preserve all aspects of our culture, especially our language. The generation now\u2026do not really speak our language. We use mostly English now, and our language is dying so we have to keep it alive.\u201d
\n\u2014Troy Laniyo, Chalan Kanoa<\/p>\n
\u201cAll [aspects] are very important. With this weaving that I know, that my dad taught me, the time that I spent with my dad telling stories when he was younger, he used to do this and he was passing it on. So I am super excited if and when I have my own family, that I’m happy to spend my time with my family doing weaving, and I think that keeps us, family, closer by also keeping our culture intact.\u201d
\n\u2014Patricia Matagolai, Kagman<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing I want to preserve is going to be the art, which is all the weaving and the formal clothing. I would like to preserve that one because I think it represents our culture a lot more. Other than that, I will say language because\u2026more and more people from our generation [are] slowly forgetting our language and slowly going more into foreign languages, like English.\u201d
\n\u2014Shane Borja, Chalan Kanoa<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that we should preserve our language because, without our language, we are going to slowly forget who we are\u2026because our language represents our cultural identity.\u201d
\n\u2014Joanna Villagomez, Koblerville<\/p>\n
\u201cThe part of our culture that we should preserve the most is the sailing. Since Emma and Pete [of 500 Sails] created a way to make us all learn how to sail and navigate and build canoes, and go on the water and everything like that, I think we should take advantage of that and it is a good opportunity.\u201d
\n\u2014Kianna Reyes, Tuturam<\/p>\n