Taíno Concepts

An Arawakan tribe, the Taíno were the inhabitants of most Cuba, Jamaica, Kiskeya, the Bahamas, and the northern Lesser Antilles. This is a Xaymaca-Taíno historian's blog.

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In Hiwayawa'jianiwa'nikuno, "biawiasa" means nonbinary / two-spirit. Once Higuayaga publishes their dictionary, this blog will post more grammar and word lists.

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Shot & edited by @shahka

A tribute to the Caribbean 🦜

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Bear in mind that this is the circle from the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle. Other Taíno may have different colours for the wheel.

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FIRST VERSE

Ata Bei, also known as the Cosmic Matriarch, Mother of all. She is the source of all, and the conclusion of all. She defines prime matter and all that is tangible, and she manifests the cosmic cycles. She is the soul of the Cosmic Serpent. The shape of her sacred womb is reflected in the shape of the stone oval hoop. Her spirit is instilled in the coa, the mystic agricultural digging stick that is the tool by which the people provide for their livelihood.

Ata Bei causes her belly to swell, wills herself pregnant, and she bears the fatherless twin brothers. Ata Bei’s children are born simultaneously. They are the cosmic children of the cosmic womb.

SECOND VERSE

Ioka Hu Bagua Ma-Orokoti (Yokahu) is the first born, and yet he has no beginning. He is eternal and continuously cyclical. And that is the mystery of his existence for he is born of the Mother yet he has no beginning or end. He has endless life-cycles. He has endless births and endless deaths.

Ioka Hu is the Life Force of the Universe. His essence is evident in the magnificence of heaven, which is called “Turei” and he is talked of as living there.

Ioka Hu joins Ata Bei his mother and their union creates the sacred balanced unity called “Iaia-GuaTurei” (Yaya) (the GREAT SPIRIT).

THIRD VERSE

Guakar (Oa-Kar) is the second born, constant companion of humanity. He is human challenge. He is all painful experience from which humans can learn. He was even born in pain for he causes the Cosmic Mother great suffering as he is born and his name means “Our Harsh Menstrual Cramps”. Guakar brings forth the gifts of trials, tribulations and the agony of the human state. He is the hard lessons that we each have to learn in order to be true to the human condition. He is ever watchful to maintain us on the right path. Because Guakar represents a manifestation of the monthly cycles he is actually a flip-side manifestation of the moon spirit. As the female moon spirit manifestation, Karaya, is the epitome of creative fertility, so the male moon spirit Guakar represents the opposite, a manifestation of challenge and infertility, imbalance, illness, a “bad moon”.

FOURTH VERSE

Ata Bei spoke to her son Ioka Hu (Yokahu) and commanded him thus: “I hereby give birth to the sacred cycles and you are co-author.”

Their joint cycles produce the great wonders that illuminate the skies. Through the power of his cycle Ioka Hu (Yokahu) unites in coitus with At Bei and she conceives. Then upon her command he reaches into her sacred womb through the cave Iguanaboina. He withdraws his hand and brings forth Guey, our radiant sun, upon which our planet’s life depends for its existence.

Ioka Hu reaches into the womb of Ata Bei a second time and brings forth Kararia (Karaya) , the silvery reflector of Guey’s light, who measures each month the sacred fertility cycle of Ata Bei’s womb. Karaia is the sacred moon.

And the holy cave through which the great lights were born became manifest on Earth so that humans may have a reference point. And the sacred cave, the opening into the womb of the Great Mother, is called Iguanaboina.

FIFTH VERSE

Ioka Hu reaches again into Ata Bei’s womb and withdraws his hand holding four stones. These four stones are stars and he places them in the four sacred directions of the sky. The first he names ACHIANO and he places it in the SOUTH. The second one he names KOROMO and he places it in the WEST. The third one he names RAKUNO and he places it in the NORTH. The fourth one he names SOBAIKO and he places it in the EAST. They are now millions for the “four” is the symbol number for eternity. They are the stars that we now see in the Turei (Turey) (heaven).

Then Ioka Hu reaches into his mother’s womb again and brings forth three stones. He places these at the center of the Turei and establishes the triangle of the primordial hearth (Con tres piedras hizo el fogon). And from the Primordial hearth rises the smoke of the FIRST FIRE. The smoke rises ever higher and solidifies into the trunk of a mystical tree, with its roots at the bottom of the primordial sea and the upper branches in the Turei (sky). This is the sacred ceiba tree, the mother of all trees. The tree that stands at the center of Creation. Iokahu stirs the fermenting mists of the heavens and by doing so he forms and shapes all of the heavenly bodies.

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Taino Chronicles

THE TAINO CHRONICLES

These are the ancient legends and teachings of the Taino peoples as they were interpreted to the boitius and beikes of the Caney Spiritual Circle through the inspiration of the hupias (spirits of the ancestors) and the semis (the spirits of Nature).

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"The use of caves for secondary burial seems to have been by far the most frequent manner of utilizing them among the Tainos. In Jamaica, as has been said, it is the only use they were put to, as far as is known up to the present time. However, it is very unfortunate that all the Jamaican burial caves, with the exception of the one excavated by Reichard at Montego, were destroyed in the course of the centuries.

Not only the skull but also other bones were placed in the funerary vessel. The especially interesting cave of Boca del Plurial shows the leg-bones placed in an X-form."

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List of Taínos - Wikipedia

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Taíno People and Hatuey

It’s like half past 1am, still back in 2017 as I write this, but reading about the Taíno people, is still one of my favourite reads honestly. I think not just because I genuinely thought their history was cool, and because of some very brave warriors they’ve had, but probably also because it makes me think of my dad.

The story goes, my dad asked me one day to draw him a picture of Hatuey. The reason he asked me is because Hatuey is kind of a patron of the village he lives in, (Baracoa); they have a statue of him, and so he wanted me to draw him so the whole village could see. Of course I wanted to do something for my dad, and I think now that’s super sweet of him. 

So anyway, who is Hatuey? Why is he a village hero?

Hatuey was a Taíno chief (or cacique) from the Island of Hispaniola (the island which is divided between the Dominican Republic and Haiti). The Taíno were one of the largest groups of indigenous people in the Caribbean, populating most of Islands such as Cuba, the aforementioned Hispaniola or Jamaica, amongst many others, and had a very rich culture with their own mythology, beliefs and social structure. Sadly, some of their history shows just too well the kind of damage that the Europeans did to Natives all over the Americas, and how horrendous those crimes against humanity were. Some people like to think that the Europeans who went to colonise the Americas were more civilised, and were in fact gifting the natives with their presence and what their had to offer. This is one of the blatant examples, where the whites who came over have shown to be nothing but barbaric; that actually many many native peoples were doing just fine, and even treated their women better than the europeans. The last is quite interesting to read in the context of Taíno.

They had a matrilineal way of tracing descent, on which inheritance also depended. Where polygamy was practiced, men as well as women could have multiple spouses; they also had more control over their sexuality, as the women lived together, with the children, and therefore they decided when they wanted to engage sexually. And although usually the men would fish or sometimes hunt, and the women would be occupied with the agriculture (they were very skilled at that too!), some evidence now suggests that none of the activities in their society belonged strictly exclusively to any gender. It is also worth noticing that in the Taíno mythology, one of the main gods Atabey, who is a female god, wasn’t solely associated with nurturing, but also with natural disaster, and rather the opposite, where she’d be known as Guabancex.  Nurturing wasn’t the only element associated with women, but the ‘opposite’, destructive aspect, and the aspect of force was recognised also. All this while also being the mother of two other major gods, Yúhacu and Guacar, as a result of a ‘virgin’ birth. The Taíno had a very rich spiritual life in general, with loads of beautiful idols, and with an entire, complex creation myth, consisting of many gods and spirits. They also had elaborate spiritual ceremonies led by shamans (bohiques) who played a very important role in society, and also advised the chiefs.

Unfortunately as the Spaniards came over, via an expedition led by Christopher Columbus (who else), they basically fucked it all up for them to an immesurable degree. Not only that, and this is awfully sickening, but the Taíno didn’t meet the Spanish with violence. They welcomed them with open arms. This is one of the things which Columbus wrote about them, and it just gets worse and worse once you learn the atrocities committed by them in the face of their welcome

They traded with us and gave us everything they had, with good will … they took great delight in pleasing us … They are very gentle and without knowledge of what is evil; nor do they murder or steal…Your highness may believe that in all the world there can be no better people … They love their neighbours as themselves, and they have the sweetest talk in the world, and are gentle and always laughing.

And yet, as these people welcomed them, entertained them, the Spanish expected the Taíno to accept the Spanish king, convert to Catholicism, work for them or give them gold, and once they revolted from this cruelty and injustice, they have been beaten, killed, their villages destroyed. Not only that, but they took in the women, and objectified them - began treating them as a commodity, and violated them. They began treating the Taíno women, which had an equal place in their own society, the same way they have been treating their own, the way they have been told to by the Catholic church which sought to bring them down.

And here’s where Hatuey comes in at last. As I mentioned previously, he was a chief. After his village and island (Hispaniola) has been invaded, he fled to Cuba with 400 other people, in order to warn the chiefs there. Unfortunately they did not listen, so Hatuey only received a little help from some Cuban natives. He managed to keep the Spanish away for a while, but was eventually caught, and tied to a stake with the intention of being burned. Before the Spanish decided to deal him his death, they asked if he would accept Jesus as his lord and covert, so that he may go to heaven. This is the response that ensued (as recorded by Bartolomé de las Casas):

[Hatuey], thinking a little, asked the religious man if Spaniards went to heaven. The religious man answered yes… The chief then said without further thought that he did not want to go there but to hell so as not to be where they were and where he would not see such cruel people. This is the name and honor that God and our faith have earned.

His death and the fate of his people was nothing less than horrendous, and showed the real evil against the people, the reality of colonialism, and the sad sad loss of a beautiful culture, one amongst many that have met the same fate. At the very least, he is known and appreciated by Cubans as a national hero, and I think he and his bravery should be remembered today, on the day of his death, dealt to him by cruel cruel hands. On the day of the 2nd of February (1512). On this day, let’s really reflect on the realities and fates so many natives had to face, for the sake of greed whose claws still have their hold in too many places. Let’s remember the beautiful culture and its people’s bravery.

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A cemi sculpture.

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A dujo, a wooden ceremonial chair.

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Cacicazgo of Xamaica/ Yamaye (Jamaica) Photo by Fred Kennedy author of HUAREO-Story of a Jamaican Cacique

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This zemi Guabancex was in the country of a great cacique, one of the principal caciques, whose name was Aumatex. This zemi is a woman, and they say there are two others in her company; one is a herald, and the other a gatherer and governor of the waters.

And they say that when Guabancex grows angry, she moves the wind and water and tears down the houses and uproots the trees. They say this zemi is a woman and is made of stones from that country.

Of the other two zemis in her company, one is called Guataubá and is a crier or herald who on orders from Guabancex commands all the other zemis from that province to assist in causing a great deal of wind and rain.

The other is called Coatrisquie, who they say gathers the waters in the valleys between the mountains and afterwards lets them run to ravage the country. And they hold this to be true.

Pané, Fray Ramon. An Account of the Antiquities of the Indians (Chronicles of the New World Encounter) (Kindle Locations 643-650). Duke University Press. Kindle Edition.

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A note: Pané is a key into the past but isn't 100% reliable. He didn't actually understand Taíno but a different language of the Macori people on Hispaniola.

He also had limited paper when he was there and makes note often in his writings that he had to make sense of his own notes.

An Italian man was hired by the king and sorted out Pané's notes. He recorded the parts that he wanted to include and discarded notes that aren't opened again until the 1880s. And that's how Pané's book came to be.

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The Dead

They believe there is a place where the dead go, which is called Coaybay (koaibei), and it is located on one side of the island, which is called Soraya. They say that the first person in Coaybay was one who was called Maquetaurie Guayaba, who was the lord of the said Coaybay, house and dwelling place of the dead.

They say that during the day they hide away, and at night they go out to walk about, and they eat a certain fruit that is called guayaba, which has the flavor of [quince]. At night they change into fruit, and they celebrate and accompany the living. And in order to recognize them, they observe this procedure: they touch one’s belly with their hands, and if they do not find his navel, they say he is operito, which means dead: that is why they say the dead have no navel. And thus they are sometimes fooled when they do not notice this, and they lie with one of the Coaybay women; when a man thinks he has her in his arms, he has nothing because the woman disappears in an instant.

They still believe this even today. When a person is alive, they call his spirit goeíza, and when he is dead, they call it opía (like the Jamaican Patois word for ghost, duppy). They say this goeíza appears to them often, in a man’s shape as well as a woman’s, and they say there have been men who have wanted to do battle with it, and when such a man would lay his hands on it, it would disappear, and the man would put his arms elsewhere into some trees, and he would end up hanging from those trees. And everyone generally believes this, the children as well as the adults, and that it appears to them in the shape of father, mother, brothers, or relatives, and other forms. The fruit they say the dead eat is the size of a quince. And the aforesaid dead do not appear to them in the daytime, but always at night, and that is why one is very fearful who ventures to walk alone at night.

Pané, Fray Ramon. An Account of the Antiquities of the Indians (Chronicles of the New World Encounter) (Kindle Locations 492-494). Duke University Press. Kindle Edition.

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Allegory of the Cave

There is a province in Hispaniola called Caonao in which there is a mountain called Cauta, which has two caves. The name of one of these is Cacibajagua, and Amayaúna the other. The majority of the people who populated the island came from Cacibajagua.

When they were living in those caves, these people stood watch at night, and they had entrusted this task to a man by the name of Mácocael. Because one day he was late in returning to the door, they say, the Sun carried him off. Because the Sun had carried away this man for his lack of vigilance, they closed the door against him. Thus it was that he was turned into stone near the door.

Afterwards, they say, others who had gone to fish were captured by the Sun, and they were changed into trees they call jobos [hog plum trees], and they are also called mirabálanos [myrobalans]. The reason why Mácocael was keeping watch and standing guard was in order to see where he would send or distribute the people, and it seems that he tarried to his great misfortune.

Pané, Fray Ramon. An Account of the Antiquities of the Indians (Chronicles of the New World Encounter) (Kindle Locations 375-378). Duke University Press. Kindle Edition.