Spring Equinox Ceremony in New York City 2012

[Miguel Sague Jr]

 

Takaji my relatives
On Sunday March 18 2012 I had the honor of participating in the annual
Spring Equinox observance organized by members and the leadership of
the United Confederation of Taino People and the Yukayeke Guaynia at Brooke Park in the Bronx New York.
I was further honored by being authorized by Kasike Roberto Mukaro
Borrero to lead the group in our traditional Caney Circle Equinox
Ceremony right after the guanara sweatlodge purification led by the kasike.

 

Our altar included the sacred coa hoop which to us represents the
divine uterus of our cosmic mother Ata Bey. To this holy object was
attached the three-pointed semi sculpture of our lord Yoka hu the lord
of Life. Yoka hu's image was still tied there from the time it was
bound by cords to the coa hoop during the Winter Solstice in December
of 2011.

We tied it there to symbolize the fact that we considered Yoka hu to
have returned to the maternal womb after having died at Fall Equinox.
At Winter Solstice we looked forward to a three-month gestation pregnancy from
which the Life Lord would eventually emerge triumphant again at Spring
Equinox.

 

Our ceremony included the traditional Caney Circle Boa Constrictor serpent dance in which the women of the group separate from the men's circle and weave a long set of ropes 

together into the image of a snake. 

The women then lined themselves along the length of the woven rope and
danced the snake effigy back in serpentine imagery to the men,

symbolizing the ancient connection between the Earth Mother Ata Bey and

the sacred boa serpents of our island homelands.

 

The cermony culminated when a woman of the group representing Ata Bey
and a man from the group representing Yoka Hu (our own kasike Mukaro),
finally cooperated in the ritual separation of the three-point semi
representing Yoka Hu from the cos hoop that represents Ata Bey 's
uterus.

 

 

       

After the ceremony we enjoyed a wonderful meal of the food brought by the participants.

  

I want to express my sincere gratitude to Guama Roberto Mukaro Borrero,
kasike of Yukayeke Guaynia and director of the UCTP, and to the
membership of these two organizations, for giving me this opportunity
to share Caney tradition with our brothers and sisters in New York City.

Taino Ti

Miguel Sague