What does it mean to be "indigenous" today?

[Anita Pagan]

"That's not "traditional'."
"They aren't REAL indians, they are wannabes."
"That is NOT part of our belief system."
"They are making things up."
"Fake indians."

These are common words coming from the mouths of our native friends, families and relations.  And when asked who a REAL indian is, the usual answers are "You either are, or you are not."  or "You know when you are."

My questions are as follows:

What makes a REAL indian?  What are the characteristics that define a person as Native American?
What is the difference between a Taino and any of the island labels, besides self identification?
And how important are these definitions?

[Irma Diaz]

Mr. Aquino:

I trust that you have been guided by our ancestors and that your words, are words of wisdom.TheTaino descendants are waiting for the harvesting time. For hundreds of years our blood has been in a deep sleep. This is the awakening time, we need to use whatever technology is available to let the world know that we still live.

May the spirit of our ancestors give you light and wisdom,

Respectfully,

I.Diaz

[Ramon Aquino]

M(r)s Diaz.

You make me blush with your crystaline statements and make proud of sharing the same honorable DNA that permeated these blessed lands long ago. I do have lots of information in the subject but is just that: information, when you practice it knowledge might be adquiered and long afterwards, perhaps wisdom is gained.

Today with the technology available is much easier and faster to transit from simple information to wisdom.

That is why I took the liberty (forgive me) of resending my oriiginal, long message to Miguel Sakaoko although I presume that you are close by him.

As you said, our Ancestors Blood has been dormant but no gone or inactive. That blood is in every Dollar and Euro that circulates today and in touching those currencies our collective memory gets activated piece by piece. Eventually we will coalesce and unify into a large social entity that will regain what was taken from us and we will become the harvesters of the New Era where the the verse of John 8:32 will be The Law of One.

May the Love and the Light of the Infinite Creatrix/Creator enfold you in their Grace

With admiration and respect

Hatueyenriquillo

[Miguel Sague Jr]

Takaji My Relatives

The question of what is a "real" Indian is a complicated one no matter how you look at it because there are many different ways to look at that question. The fact is that even if it is looked at from a genetic point of view there are millions of Indigenous people who have a huge percentage of  Native genes in their blood but do not self-identify as Indigenous because they may feel ashamed of that ancestry or may feel more in line with one of the other genetic ethnic heritages such as European. There are many people in Latin American who are obviously and visually inheritors of Indigenous ethnicity but who would rather self-identify as "white" of European ancestry. In my opinion every human being has the right to self-identify with whatever ethnic inheritance may be in his or her genes. This means that even if those people have a very small percentage of European blood and a very high percentage of Native blood they have the right to say I am "white" because they have "white" ancestors. By the same token there are modern-day Taino that may have small percentage of Taino blood and a larger percentage of European or Sub Saharan African blood, those persons still have the right to self-identify as Taino.

      The issue of blood quantum or percentage of Indigenous blood is probably not a factor in the amount of  divisiveness and argumentation that has existed in the modern-day Taino Resurgence movement. Actually the real reason for the conflict among modern-day Tainos is personal animosity, jealousy and competition for "legitimacy". Our brother Ramon Aquino has honored me with credit that I may not really deserve in regard to my ability to unite the current Taino people. It is true that I have dedicated myself to the unification of our people for a very long time and that the CANEY INDIGENOUS SPIRITUAL CIRCLE that I helped found is the oldest organized Taino Resurgence group. However there are other groups who have become key in the current unification movement and deserve just as much credit as the CANEY CIRCLE.

[Ramon Aquino]

Dear Miguel:

My deepest appologies for my arrogance in using the wrong words to aknowledge your works but in the multiplicity of fields that I function sometimes those expresions are door openers and got used to employing them. Sorry.

I just finished an extensive posting in this thread not as an Arawak/Taino/Eyeri, but as a Homo sapiens, a human that hurts and grief what happened to our abuelitos and wanting to do something about repairing that horrendous tear in the human morfogenetic field before mine joining of our Beloved Ancestors.

I made a statement of purposes with 11 steps I intend to follow; if you get to read it and feel that something is wrong, please correct me and help me by sugesting something else, or even better, feel free to alter the list and add or substracct from it.

I will need your help in obtaining a Taino Yearly Ceremonial Ritual Calendar if there is none posted in this site.

I also need some kind of daily routine from our Ancestry for daily practice. Again, if something similar is in the site, I will find it.

With Deep Respect, Admiration and Love of Our Ancestors

HatueyEnrikillo

[Ramon Aquino]

This topic has a relevance that, thus far, we have missed. Regardless of multivariegated facets of skin color, ethnic preference, national pride, geographical location, social groupings, tribal associations, etc, we lack the information and knowledge to make a conscious, lucid, insicive and discerned decision as to who or what we are. What has been written and taught for 525 years in our school systems (yes they came and showed us how to dress and belief (by chosing between a Mosket and a Cross), showed us civilization (? or sifilization?) and we receive some shiny, nice looking stuff. They have continued to do the same today but with different, more subtle ways and we continue sitting in our hands letting them get away with whatever they wish.

We are human and we all bleed red blood when injured but our MIND has been fed by deceitful and intentional misinformation given by our parents, schools systems and lately the pervasive media in particular, The Internet. So if I decide to identify with any ethnic group, I do so out of inocence of history and the events that transpired. Which one of us will be proud to be related to Hannibal-The Cannibal- Lecter in the 90's? Or "Freddie" the nightmare in the 80's-90s?.

This topics goes beyond ethnicity, nacionality or tribe. This is an issue that involves the whole humanity (there is only ONE RACE) and the future of these planet rests in part in addressing the issue and, colloquially  ¨grab the bull by the horns¨, not to confront it but to wisper in its ears. Each one of us must get involved and do what is within our reach to do. The saying that the person that watches a crimen and does nothing, is worse than the criminal committing the act apply to all of us. (My appologies my brothers and sisters if you are offended).

Our Ancestors lived a simple life in accord with the rhythms of nature which does not mean they lack intelligence. In fact, they posessed a highly developed Mind processes while walking around mostly naked. They were inventors of engineering and architecture. This is represented by The Zemi and meant that nature works with triads, be it at a physical construction level or the functioning of the physical body. Those in doubt can go here 

http://www.tensegrityinbiology.co.uk/definitions/ for validation.

It took 500 years for the europeans to get the concept by building EPCOT in 1982 in Orlando, FL. Now, The Zemi is making a comeback with Tensegrity and Biotensegrity and shamefully is being done by europeans. They were also adept at Astrognosia (Knowledge of the celestial bodies). Traveling guided by the stars they occupied the Caribbean Sea Islands and arrived to Boriken, Ayti/Kiskeia and Kuba. They knew about our REAL Solar System which is Digitaria a small and growing Black Hole related to the star Sirious, Constellation of Orion, The Pleiades, star Antares and Rigel. Digitaria is at the front end of the Arm Sirious of the Milky Way and is traveling to Saggittarius to complete de arm of Sirious in several billion years ahead. In fact, The Coqui frog of Boriken is a representation of this starry relationships. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/327636941610898367/ shows a simple drawing of a Coqui. This is named in antropology The Kanaga Symbol and is present in different epochs of the human civilizations all over the globe. In this setting I have nothing to give for reference but NASA already is familiar with the issue but is CLASSIFY.

Another example of their knowledge of nature is the so called Godess of the Waters when in reality the woden replica showed them the exact variations of the tides and Lunar cycles with a Lunar Month of -+30 days even though they follow mostly the Mayan Calendar of 13 weeks and 20 days. Just type in your browser wave measuring devices and you will find an almost exact replica (made of metal) use by today Coastguard. So, as a member of Humanity honoring my abuelitos, these are the actions I will do from now on:

1.-Give conferences and presentations of what really happened as often and wide as possible. For audiences older than 18 I will emphazise The Inquisition and Torquemada.....Just take of the bloquing of really horrid pictures and type toquemada in the browser and see the images. Handkerchief and reviving salts or ammonia at hand, you will need them.

2.-Find the Tainos in Kiskeia and Ayti (they call themselves Arawacos) and Unite as one borderless organization.

3.-Continue to skectch what to transmit in our radio station that can be heard in the web but still under construction. For those that do not mind music from Kiskeia, check us out: anakaonaradio/blogspot.com.

4.-Correct the medio/a with the incorrect naming of our culture. We are NOT Ibero or Hispano-Americans. we are LatinosAmericanos or L.A.

5.-Use the letter K instead of Q where suitable. Quisqueya is KISKEIA

6.-Get into Social Networks worldwide and yell from my keyboard my ethnia ARAWAK/TAINO/EIRI

7.-Dedicate every Saturday to roam the internet and locate every group doing to ancestral originarios work and connect.

8.-Obtain a yearly calendar with the sacred Tainos days and spread their meaning, learn the Rituals and practice them.

9.-Dedicate and name, if doable, all my scientific work as coming from a ARAWAK/TAINO/EIRI Lab or Company, ONG, etc

10.-Learn and do daily any ARAWAK/TAINO/EIRI Ritual if it exists. If not I make one up and do it.

11.-Use my clothing in Golden tones and Indigo (Royal Blue) color. These colors are in my stationay.

Again my appologies if I have offended anyone but at age 70 I want to do my part as a human to try to amend for the greatest crime committed in Human History

HatueyEnriquillo

[Tahiris]

I am a young product of the diaspora living in europe, I was born from a white man and a black caribbean woman.

Seeing this message really warms my heart because I relate so so so so much around this. I really dont know how to express more at the moment, I will need more time to explain better.
But thank you.

Taino Ti

[Michelle Inarú Ropará]

I know this is a very old discussion, but I just clicked on it today and would like to come back to it when I have more time (so this is just a reminder to myself)

[Oracle Druid]

I have never seen this topic, I guess better late than never. Because Im an old man born poor. I lived by foot walking from Orocobix to Morovix. I was born in Arecibo. My parents raised me the same as her parents passing on the old ways. When we travel we kept away from strangers, avoiding any people we encountered or heard from a distance unless they were other family members. A movie in Apocalypto (2006) showed the fear we felt when we traveled and encountered strangers. All the families from boys and girls including the old women were ready to fight. That scene reminded me of the old way of how dangerous it was when we met others on the road. The only one that questions our existence is usually someone from the USA or someone that never came to the island or they were raised on the island but in cities that have been Christianized with high Spaniards. We are forced to allow our children to go to public schools or pay fines or jail time. This was to educate our youth on the falsehood of Christianity to the so-called hero of Columbus. In Morovix and Orocobix there are still people from the old country nowadays refer as JIBAROS. Hidden from the eyes of the people that today try to harm us. In order to survive we learn to assimilate and make sure the young boys and girls learn to listen and learn to judge in fear the modern Puerto Ricans who are not Borikua only for the convenience of their selfish pride. To us, they are Christian simulations that will harm and even kill us when they are faced with the truth of their history. We, like Black fathers and mothers in the United States, tell our young men and women before going out to stay away or avoid them altogether. We survived by the great land that fed us and gave us water and rivers to survive. From tall trees to climb and hide to caves to shelter and hide. This is still our, Boríke. They can drown themself, asking us for our DNA to prove we are islanders from our own island. This is like asking a Hawaiian to prove they are Hawaiian even tho he was born on the island. Ask them to prove by DNA they are real Americans they will give you the answer they are because they were born in the United States. Birth Certificate Is the DNA of an American there fore born in Boríke makes you Borikua. If only Puerto Ricans learn what is under their feet they would drop the PR and be truthfully home.

[Ismael Diaz Casanova]

If one is born in Puerto Rico and you want to Know what your roots are simple have your DNA done

then you have no daunt about having Taino genes and stop the child like behavior