THE TAINOS

Taínos came from the center of the Amazon Basin, and are related to the Yanomama. This is
indicated by linguistic, cultural and ceramic evidence. They migrated to the Orinoco valley on the
north coast. From there they reached the Caribbean by way of what is
now Guyana and Venezuela into Trinidad, proceeding along the Lesser Antilles 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.
.
Taíno society was divided into two classes: naborias (commoners) and nitaínos (nobles). These
were governed by male chiefs known as caciques, who inherited their position through their
mother's noble line. The nitaínos functioned as sub-caciques in villages, overseeing naborias
work. Caciques were advised by priests/healers known as bohiques. Caciques enjoyed the
privilege of wearing golden pendants called guanín, living in square bohíos, instead of the round
ones of ordinary villagers, and sitting on wooden stools to be above the guests they received.
[16]
Bohiques were extolled for their healing powers and ability to speak with gods. They were
consulted and granted the Taíno permission to engage in important tasks

The Taíno had a matrilineal system of kinship, descent and inheritance. When a male heir was
not present, the inheritance or succession would go to the oldest male child of the deceased's
sister. The Taíno had avunculocal post-marital residence, meaning a newly married couple lived
in the household of the maternal uncle. He was more important in the lives of his niece's children
than their biological father; the uncle introduced the boys to men's societies. Some Taíno
practiced polygamy. Men, and sometimes women, might have two or three spouses. A few
caciques had as many as 30 wives.

The Taíno women were highly skilled in agriculture. The people depended on it, but the men also
fished and hunted. They made fishing nets and ropes from cotton and palm. Their
dugout canoes (kanoa) were made in various sizes, which could hold from 2 to 150 people. An
average-sized canoe would hold about 15–20 people. They used bows and arrows for hunting,
and developed the use of poisons on their arrowheads.

A frequently worn hair style for women featured bangs in front and longer hair in back. They
sometimes wore gold jewelry, paint, and/or shells. Taíno men and unmarried women were
usually naked although women wore a small cotton apron after marriage called a nagua.[17] The
Taíno lived in settlements called yucayeques, which varied in size depending on the location.
Those in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola were the largest, and those in the Bahamas were the
smallest. In the center of a typical village was a central plaza, used for various social activities
such as games, festivals, religious rituals, and public ceremonies. These plazas had many
shapes, including oval, rectangular, and narrow and elongated. Ceremonies where the deeds of
the ancestors were celebrated, called areitos, were performed here.[18]
Often, the general population lived in large circular buildings (bohios), constructed with wooden
poles, woven straw, and palm leaves. These houses, built surrounding the central plaza, could
hold 10-15 families each.[19] The cacique and his family lived in rectangular buildings (caney) of
similar construction, with wooden porches. Taíno home furnishings included cotton hammocks
(hamaca), sleeping and sitting mats made of palms, wooden chairs (dujo or duho) with woven
seats, platforms, and cradles for children.
Caguana Ceremonial ball court (batey), outlined with stones.

The Taíno played a ceremonial ball game called batey. Opposing teams had 10 to 30 players per
team and used a solid rubber ball. Normally, the teams were composed of men, but occasionally
women played the game as well.[20] The Classic Taíno played in the village's center plaza or on
especially designed rectangular ball courts called batey. Games on the batey are believed to
have been used for conflict resolution between communities. The most elaborate ball courts are
found at chiefdoms' boundaries.[21] Often, chiefs made wagers on the possible outcome of a
game.[20]
Taíno spoke an Arawakan language and used an early form of writing Proto-writing in the form
of petroglyph.[22]
Some words that they used, such
as barbacoa ("barbecue"), hamaca ("hammock"), kanoa ("canoe"), tabaco ("tobacco"), yuca, bat
ata ("sweet potato"), and juracán ("hurricane"), have been incorporated into Spanish and English.
For warfare, the men made wooden war clubs, which they called a macana. It was about one
inch thick and was similar to the coco macaque.

Food and agricultureedit

Cassava, starchy (yuca) roots, the Taínos' main crop

Taíno staples included vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish. There were no large animals native to
the Caribbean, but they captured and ate small animals, such as hutias and other
mammals, earthworms, lizards, turtles, and birds. Manatees were speared and fish were caught
in nets, speared, trapped in weirs, or caught with hook and
line. Wild parrots were decoyed with domesticated birds,
and iguanas were taken from trees and other vegetation.
The Taíno stored live animals until they were ready to be
consumed: fish and turtles were stored in weirs, and
hutias and dogs were stored in corrals.[23]
Due to this lack of large game, the Taíno people became
very skilled fishermen. One technique was to hook
a remora, also known as a suckerfish, to a line secured to a
canoe and wait for the fish to attach itself to a larger fish or
even a sea turtle. Once this happened, men would jump into the water and bring in their assisted
catch. Another method used by the Taínos was to take shredded stems and roots of
poisonous senna shrubs and throw them into nearby streams or rivers. Upon eating the bait, the
fish were stunned just long enough to allow the fishermen to gather them in. This poison did not
affect the edibility of the fish. Taíno youth, mostly young boys, also
collected musselsand oysters in shallow waters and within the mangroves.[24]
Taíno groups in the more developed islands, such as Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Jamaica,
relied more on agriculture (farming and other jobs). Fields for important root crops, such as the
staple yuca, were prepared by heaping up mounds of soil, called conucos. This improved soil
drainage and fertility as well as delaying erosion, allowing for longer storage of crops in the
ground. Less important crops such as corn were raised in simple clearings created by slash and
burn technique. Typically, conucos were three feet high and nine feet in circumference and were
arranged in rows.[25] The primary root crop was yuca/cassava, a woody shrub cultivated for its
edible and starchy tuberous root. It was planted using a coa, a kind of hoe made completely from
wood. Women processed the poisonous variety of cassava by squeezing it to extract the toxic
juices. Then they would grind the roots into flour for baking bread. Batata (sweet potato) was the
next most important root crop.[25]
Contrary to mainland practices, corn was not ground into flour and baked into bread, but was
cooked and eaten off the cob. Corn bread becomes moldy faster than cassava bread in the high
humidity of the Caribbean. Corn was also used to make an alcoholic beverage known as chicha.
[26]
The Taíno grew squash, beans, peppers, peanuts,
and pineapples. Tobacco, calabashes (West Indian pumpkins) and cotton were grown around
the houses. Other fruits and vegetables, such as palm nuts, guavas, and Zamia roots, were
collected from the wild.[25]

Spirituality[edit]

Taíno zemí sculpture from Walters Art Museum.

Taíno spirituality centered on the worship of zemís. A zemí is a spirit or ancestor. The major
Taíno Zemis are Yúcahu and Atabey. Yúcahu,[27]which means spirit of cassava, was the Zemi of
cassava – the Taínos' main crop – and the sea. Atabey,[28] mother of Yúcahu, was the zemi of
the moon, fresh waters and fertility.
The minor Taíno zemis related to the growing of cassava, the process of life, creation and death.
Baibrama was a minor zemi worshiped for his assistance in growing cassava and curing people
from its poisonous juice. Boinayel and his twin brother Márohu were the zemis of rain and fair
weather, respectively.[29] Guabancex was the non-nurturing aspect of the zemi Atabey who had
control over natural disasters. Juracán is often identified as the zemi of storms but the word
simply means hurricane in the Taíno language. Guabancex had two assistants: Guataubá, a
messenger who created hurricane winds, and Coatrisquie who created floodwaters.[30]
Maquetaurie Guayaba or Maketaori Guayaba was the zemi of Coaybay or Coabey, the land of
the dead. Opiyelguabirán', a dog-shaped zemi, watched over the dead. Deminán Caracaracol, a
male cultural hero from which the Taíno believed themselves to be descended, was
worshippedas a zemí.[29] Macocael was a cultural hero worshipped as a zemi, who had failed to
guard the mountain from which human beings arose. He was punished by being turned into
stone, or a bird, a frog, or a reptile, depending on interpretation of the myth.
Zemí, a physical object housing a zemi, spirit, or ancestor
Lombards Museum

Zemí was also the name the people gave to their physical representations of the Zemis, whether
objects or drawings. They were made in many forms and materials and have been found in a
variety of settings. The majority of zemís were crafted from wood but stone, bone, shell, pottery,
and cotton were also used.[31] Zemí petroglyphs were carved on rocks in streams, ball courts, and
on stalagmites in caves. Cemí pictographs were found on secular objects such as pottery, and
on tattoos. Yucahú, the zemi of cassava, was represented with a three-pointed zemí, which could
be found in conucos to increase the yield of cassava. Wood and stone zemís have been found
in caves in Hispaniola and Jamaica.[32] Cemís are sometimes represented by toads, turtles,
fishes, snakes, and various abstract and human-like faces.

Cohoba Spoon, 1200-1500 Brooklyn Museum

Rock petroglyph overlaid with chalk in the Caguana

Indigenous Ceremonial Center in Utuado, Puerto Rico.

Some zemís are accompanied by a small table or tray,

which is believed to be a receptacle
for hallucinogenicsnuff called cohoba, prepared from
the beans of a species of Piptadenia tree. These trays
have been found with ornately carved snuff tubes.
Before certain ceremonies, Taínos would purify
themselves, either by inducing vomiting with a
swallowing stick or by fasting.[33] After communal bread
was served, first to the zemí, then to the cacique, and
then to the common people, the people would sing the
village epic to the accompaniment of maraca and other instruments.
One Taíno oral tradition explains that the Sun and Moon come out of caves. Another story tells of
people who once lived in caves and only came out at night, because it was believed that the Sun
would transform them. The Taíno believed they were descended from the union of Deminán
Caracaracol and a female turtle. The origin of the oceans is described in the story of a huge
flood, which occurred when a father murdered his son (who was about to murder the father). The
father put the son's bones into a gourd or calabash. When the bones turned into fish, the gourd
broke, and all the water of the world came pouring out.
Taínos believed that Jupias, the souls of the dead, would go to Coaybay, the underworld, and
there they rest by day. At night they would assume the form of bats and eat the guava fruit.
Spaniards and Taínos[edit]
Columbus and his crew were the first Europeans to encounter the Taíno people, as they landed
in The Bahamas on October 12, 1492. After their first interaction, Columbus described the
Taínos as a physically tall, well-proportioned people, with a noble and kind personality.
In his diary, Columbus wrote:
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.

— [34]
At this time, the neighbors of the Taíno were the Guanahatabeys in the western tip of Cuba, the
Island-Caribs in the Lesser Antilles from Guadeloupe to Grenada, and
the Calusa and Ais nations of Florida. The Taíno called the island Guanahaní which Columbus
renamed as San Salvador (Spanish for "Holy Savior"). Columbus called the Taíno "Indians", a
reference that has grown to encompass all the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
A group of Taíno people accompanied Columbus on his return voyage back to Spain. [35]
On Columbus' second voyage, he began to require tribute from the Taíno in Hispaniola.
According to Kirkpatrick Sale, each adult over 14 years of age was expected to deliver a hawks
bell full of gold every three months, or when this was lacking, twenty-five pounds of spun cotton.
If this tribute was not brought, the Spanish cut off the hands of the Taíno and left them to bleed to
death.[36] These cruel practices inspired many revolts by the Taíno and campaigns against the
Spanish —some being successful, some not.
In 1511, several caciques in Puerto Rico, such as Agüeybaná
II, Arasibo, Hayuya, Jumacao, Urayoán, Guarionex, and Orocobix, allied with the Carib and tried
to oust the Spaniards. The revolt was suppressed by the Indio-Spanish forces of Governor Juan
Ponce de León.[37] Hatuey, a Taíno chieftain who had fled from Hispaniola to Cuba with 400
natives to unite the Cuban natives, was burned at the stake on February 2, 1512.
In Hispaniola, a Taínos chieftain named Enriquillo mobilized over 3,000 Taíno in a successful
rebellion in the 1520s. These Taíno were accorded land and a charter from the royal
administration. Despite the small Spanish military presence in the region, they often used
diplomatic divisions and, with help from powerful native allies, controlled most of the region. [38]
[39]
In exchange for a seasonal salary, religious and language education, the Taíno were required
to work for Spanish and Indian land owners. This system of labor was part of the encomienda.
Women[edit]
Taíno society was based on a matrilineal system, meaning that descent was traced through the
mother and that women lived together with other women and their children apart from the men.
Because of this Taíno women seem to have had a lot of control over their lives, their co-villagers
and their bodies.[40] Since they lived separately from men, they were able to decide when they
wanted to involve in sexual contact. This is in part what shaped the views of conquistadors who
came in contact with Taíno culture. They reportedly perceived women as "macho women" who
had strong control over the men.
Most historical evidence suggests that, although unclear, it seems that Taíno gender roles were
non exclusive to most of the activities done in their community.
Taíno women played an important role in intercultural interaction between Spaniards and the
Taíno people. When Taíno men were fighting intervention from other groups, women were left
back home turning into the primary food producers or ritual specialists.[41] Women seem to have
participated in all levels of the Taíno political hierarchy, they went up to occupy roles as high up
as being caciques.[42] This meant that Taíno women could potentially give permission to other
Taíno men and women to take on important tasks and that they could too make important
choices for the village.[43] There is evidence that suggests that the women who were wealthier
among the tribe collected crafted goods that they would then use for trade or as gifts.
Despite women being seemingly independent in Taíno society, coming into the era of contact
Spaniards took Taíno women as an exchange item, putting them in a non-autonomous position.
Dr. Chanca, a physician who traveled with Christopher Columbus, reported in a letter that
Spaniards took as many women as they possibly could and kept them as concubines.[44] Some
sources report that, despite women being free and powerful before the contact era, they became
the first commodities up for Spaniards to trade, or often steal. This marked the beginning of a
lifetime of theft and abuse of Taíno women.[45]