Cultural festivals provide a unique way of understanding a diasporic community because they enable culture and identity to change, mix, and hybridize with other cultural expressions and evolve over time. Oceanic peoples have a long history of coming together to reaffirm the strength of their communities through small and large-scale gatherings.

Festivals today are a popular means of coming together. Major gatherings include Suva, Fiji’s Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPac) established in 1972; Auckland, New Zealand’s Pasifika Festival established in 1993; and San Diego, California’s Pacific Islander Festival (established in 1995). Attendees and participants in these events experience a circulation and migration of people, trade, ideas, arts, and cultures similar to what has moved throughout Oceania for millennia.

This module explores the importance of the Chamorro Cultural Festival (CCF), a celebration and commemoration of CHamoru culture held annually in San Diego, California, since 2009. It also explores how diasporic CHamorus maintain close connections to the Mariana Islands and is a large-scale expression of how CHamoru festivals strengthen diasporic communities.