I come from a diverse mix of peoples. One of them are the Tainos. My great great grandmother on my mother's side was of Taino blood. She came from a mountain village in Puerto Rico. Which btw, many Tainos fled to when the Spanish conquestadors came to enslave them.
I find this Native American culture fascinating:
The word Taíno comes directly from Columbus. The indigenous people he encountered in his first voyage called themselves "Taíno", meaning "good" or "noble", to differentiate themselves from Island-Caribs.[2] This name applied to all the Island Taínos who in the Lesser Antilles were often labeled according to their specific Taíno tribe. Locally, the Taínos referred to themselves by the name of their location.
Two schools of thought have emerged regarding the origin of the indigenous people of the West Indies. One group contends that the ancestors of the Taínos came from the center of the Amazon Basin, subsequently moving to the Orinoco valley. From there they reached the West Indies by way of what is now Guyana and Venezuela into Trinidad, proceeding along the Lesser Antilles all the way to Cuba and the Bahamian archipelago. Evidence that supports this theory includes the tracing of the ancestral cultures of these people to the Orinoco Valley and their languages to the Amazon Basin.[4]
The alternate theory, known as the circum-Caribbean theory, contends that the ancestors of the Taínos diffused from the Colombian Andes. Julian H. Steward, the theory's originator, suggested a radiation from the Andes to the West Indies and a parallel radiation into Central America and into the Guianas, Venezuela and the Amazon Basin.[4]
Taíno culture is believed to have developed in the West Indies.
The word Taíno comes directly from Columbus. The indigenous people he encountered in his first voyage called themselves "Taíno", meaning "good" or "noble", to differentiate themselves from Island-Caribs.[2] This name applied to all the Island Taínos who in the Lesser Antilles were often labeled according to their specific Taíno tribe. Locally, the Taínos referred to themselves by the name of their location.
Two schools of thought have emerged regarding the origin of the indigenous people of the West Indies. One group contends that the ancestors of the Taínos came from the center of the Amazon Basin, subsequently moving to the Orinoco valley. From there they reached the West Indies by way of what is now Guyana and Venezuela into Trinidad, proceeding along the Lesser Antilles all the way to Cuba and the Bahamian archipelago. Evidence that supports this theory includes the tracing of the ancestral cultures of these people to the Orinoco Valley and their languages to the Amazon Basin.[4]
The alternate theory, known as the circum-Caribbean theory, contends that the ancestors of the Taínos diffused from the Colombian Andes. Julian H. Steward, the theory's originator, suggested a radiation from the Andes to the West Indies and a parallel radiation into Central America and into the Guianas, Venezuela and the Amazon Basin.[4]
Taíno culture is believed to have developed in the West Indies.
Culture and lifestyle
Dujo, a wooden chair crafted by Taínos.
In the center of a typical Taíno village (yucayeque) was a plaza used for various social activities such as games, festivals, religious rituals, and public ceremonies. These plazas had many shapes—oval, rectangular, or narrow and elongated. Ceremonies where the deeds of the ancestors were celebrated, called areitos, were performed here.[5] Often, the general population lived in large circular buildings (bohio), constructed with wooden poles, woven straw, and palm leaves. These houses would surround the central plaza and could hold 10-15 families. The cacique and his family would live in rectangular buildings (caney) of similar construction, with wooden porches. Taíno home furnishings included cotton hammocks (hamaca), mats made of palms, wooden chairs (dujo) with woven seats, platforms, and cradles for children.
Dujo, a wooden chair crafted by Taínos.
In the center of a typical Taíno village (yucayeque) was a plaza used for various social activities such as games, festivals, religious rituals, and public ceremonies. These plazas had many shapes—oval, rectangular, or narrow and elongated. Ceremonies where the deeds of the ancestors were celebrated, called areitos, were performed here.[5] Often, the general population lived in large circular buildings (bohio), constructed with wooden poles, woven straw, and palm leaves. These houses would surround the central plaza and could hold 10-15 families. The cacique and his family would live in rectangular buildings (caney) of similar construction, with wooden porches. Taíno home furnishings included cotton hammocks (hamaca), mats made of palms, wooden chairs (dujo) with woven seats, platforms, and cradles for children.
Taíno society was divided into two classes: naborias (commoners) and nitaínos (nobles). These were governed by chiefs known as caciques(who were either male or female) which were advised by priests/healers known as bohiques.[9] Bohiques were extolled for their healing powers and ability to speak with gods and as a result, they granted Tainos permission to engage in important tasks.Taínos lived in a matrilineal society. When a male heir was not present the inheritance or succession would go to the eldest child (son or daughter) of the deceased’s sister. Taínos practised a mainly agrarian lifestyle but also fished and hunted. A frequently worn hair style featured bangs in front and longer hair in back. They sometimes wore gold jewelry, paint, and/or shells. Taíno men sometimes wore short skirts. Taíno women wore a similar garment (nagua) after marriage. Some Taíno practiced polygamy. Men, and sometimes women, might have 2 or 3 spouses, and the caciques would marry as many as 30.
Taínos spoke a Maipurean language. Some of the words used by them such as barbacoa ("barbecue"), hamaca ("hammock"), canoa ("canoe"), tabaco ("tobacco"), yuca ("yucca"), and Huracan ("hurricane") have been incorporated into the Spanish and English languages.
Religion
Taíno religion centered on the worship of zemís or cemís. Cemís were either gods, spirits, or ancestors. There were two supreme gods: Yúcahu,[14] which means spirit of cassava, was the god of cassava (the Taínos main crop) and the sea and Atabey,[15] mother of Yúcahu, was the goddess of fresh waters and fertility.[16] Other minor gods existed in Taíno religion; some of them related to the growing of cassava while others were related to the process of life, creation and death. Baibrama was a god worshiped for his assistance in growing cassava and curing people from its poisonous juice. Boinayel and his twin brother Márohu were the gods of rain and fair weather respectively.[17] Guabancex was the goddess of storms (hurricanes). Popular belief names Juracán as the god of storms but juracán was only the word for hurricane in the Taíno language. Guabancex had two assistants: Guataubá, a messenger who created hurricane winds, and Coatrisquie, who created floodwaters.[18] Maquetaurie Guayaba or Maketaori Guayaba was god of Coaybay, the land of the dead. Opiyelguabirán, a dog-shaped god, watched over the dead. Deminán Caracaracol, a male cultural hero from which the Taíno believed to descend, was worshipped as a cemí.[19]
Taino Descendents
A recent study conducted in Puerto Rico suggests that over 61% of the population possess Taíno mtDNA.[34] Recently, a few Taíno organizations, such as the Jatibonicù Taíno Tribal Nation of Boriken (Puerto Rico) (1970), the Taino Nation of the Antilles (1993) and the United Confederation of Taino People (an international initiative) (1998), have been established to put forth these claims. What some refer to as the Taíno revival movement can be seen as an integral part of the wider resurgence in Caribbean indigenous self-identification and organization.[35] The Jatibonicu Taíno tribe of Boriken, had reaffirmed and reorganized itself in Puerto Rico back on November 18, 1970.[36] Lambda Sigma Upsilon, a Latino Fraternity, adapted the Taíno Indian as their cultural identity symbol in 1979.[37]References
Irving Rouse (1992). The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the people who greeted Columbus. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300056966.
Ricardo Alegría (April 1951). "The Ball Game Played by the Aborigines of the Antilles". American Antiquity 16 (4): 348-352.
Guitar, Lynne. 2000. "Criollos: The Birth of a Dynamic New Indo - Afro - European People and Culture on Hispaniola." KACIKE: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology, 1(1): 1-17 http://www.kacike.org/LynneGuitar.html
Indigenous Resurgence in the Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival and Revival. Edited by Maximilian C. Forte. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2006. http://www.centrelink.org/resurgence/index.html
DeRLAS. Some important research contributions of Genetics to the study of Population History and Anthropology in Puerto Rico. Newark, Delaware: Delaware Review of Latin American Studies. August 15, 2000.
The Role of Cohoba in Taino Shamanism Constantino M. Torres in Eleusis No. 1 (1998)
Shamanic Inebriants in South American Archaeology: Recent lnvestigations Constantino M. Torres in Eleusis No. 5 (2001)
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