House of Taga

Latte  stones are not found anywhere else in the world, other than the CNMI. A latte stone is a vertical pillar and a hemispheric cap stone. There are 3 schools of thought concerning what the latte stones where used for, a dwelling  theory, a tomb theory and a garden theory. According to the information I read, most here believe the dwelling theory.

According to legend,  Taga was born to the Maga 'Lahl of Ritidian of Guam.  Taga was a giant. He got in a fight with his father and lost the fight, so he moved to Rota. He challenged the leaders there to a competition and won. He took a Chommorita as a wife and they had a daughter. At some point they moved to Tinian, and they had a son.

 

He started construction on his home, which consisted of 12 latte stones and a wooden house on top of the stones.

The legend continues that when the son of Taga turn 5 years old, Taga gave him a ayuyu (coconut crab) as a gift. Taga's son took the crab for a walk and it got away from him and hid under a tree. The son went to Taga and asked him to shake the tree so he could get his crab. Taga refused explaining that the coconuts were not yet ripe. Tags's son was angry and returned to the tree and shook it until it fell over. As he pulled the crab from the hole Taga's son found fresh water. He gave the well to his sister to bathe.

Realizing his son's strength and fearing he would rebel against him as he had his own father, Taga smothered his son as he slept. Taga's daughter saw this and ran and hid deep in the forest. By the time that girl returned to her mother, she was too weak and she died. This caused Taga's wife so much grief she too died. This caused much shame for Taga.

I will share more "historical facts" about Taga in a later post.

 

The Latte stone is a symbol used in many places here in the CNMI.

 

*History and legend I shared was from the information board at the site of "House of Taga".