Turkeys in the Caribbean

[Miguel Sague Jr]

Takahi my relatives.

The issue has been raised to us in the CANEY INDIGENOUS SPIRITUAL CIRCLE that why do we honor turkeys as sacred beings in our spiritual tradition, even considering this bird as the totem animal of one of the four directions, since turkeys are not native to the Caribbean islands. It is a valid question because we generally avoid mentioning mainland animals in our Caney Circle tradition such as eagles, bears and wolves, all of which are extremely meaninful to our North American Native relatives but are not evident in traditional Taino island culture. Our response to these commentaries is that, although turkeys, like wolves and bears, are not native to the Caribbean islands, there is evidence and reason to believe that the ancient Tainos knew of the existence of turkeys and understood the significance of this sacred bird in the spiritual realm.

The fact is that the ancient Taino were descended from mainland people and had brought with them to the Caribbean region the knowledge and appreciation of living creatures that were native to the mainland regions from which they came but did not exist in their new island homes. There have been several studies carried by a number of important researchers such as Dr Yvonne Narganes-Stordes of Boriken (Puerto Rico)  that prove the existence of a veneration by ancient Arawakan Caribbean people of non-island animals such as jaguars. This research includes the discovery of jaguar teeth and the parts of other South American mainland animals that never have existed in our Caribbean islands. Jaguar-tooth pendants incised with Taino patterns prove that at some point in the development of Taino spirituality jaguars were important.

By the same token, more recent research has come to light demonstrating the presence of Taino pattern incised deer bones in Taino archeological settings, proving that our island ancestors were perfectly capable of acquiring the parts of animals that were not native to their Caribbean homeland through canoe travel trade with South American Natives and with the Mayas of Central Anerica. One example of this is the discovery of Mexican white-tailed deer jaw bones incised with Taino patterns.

The historic-era Taino maintained a lively trade and goods-exchange with the Classic-era Maya people and their descendants. The Mayas always domesticated turkeys. There are only two existing species of turkeys in the world. Both of them are native to mainland America. The most well-known species is the common Northern Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) that we all know about and is abundant here in North America and Mexico.

The other one is a much more extravagantly colored iridescent-feathered blue, green and orange creature that is native to the southern regions of Central America, in Guatemala and Yucatan, the Ocellated  Turkey (Meleagris Ocellata).

Although the colorful ocellated turkeys grew wild all around them the ancient Maya never managed to domesticate them so the only parts of these birds that the Maya could ever get their hands on would have to be hunted in the wild. On the other hand the more drab colored common northern wild turkeys had been domesticated by northern Mexican Natives and the Mayas were able to  acquire them through trade. So the Maya were able to keep domesticated common northern turkeys. They then could easily trade either live or butchered domesticated northern turkeys with the Taino. In any case I am convinced that the ancient Taino managed to get their hands on turkeys. There is a word for turkey that has survived in some islands of the Caribbean region. That word is "guanajo" (guah-nah-hoh). This word is ascribed to the Arhuaco tribal language of South America. The Arhuaco language is a member of the Chibchan language family, a language family that has been distantly associated with the Carib-related Choco language. Of course the Caribs are one of the prominent nations in the Caribbean and are the people from whom the region got its name. The Chibchan language family has also been associated with the Warao tribal language of Venezuela, which some sources suggest provided the Taino language with words such as "duho". It is also suggested that the Guanahatabey language of western Cuba may have Warao influence. I personally grew up with this word in Cuba. It was the word commonly used for "turkey" in the country where I was born. 

The Boricua researcher Eugenio Fernandez Mendez used the term"guanajo" in reference to the turkey as an important totem bird within Taino spirituality in his 1972 book ART AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE TAINO INDIANS OF THE GREATER WEST INDIES.  In page 75 of his book Fernandez Mendez suggests that the ancient Taino associated four sacred birds with the four distinct positions that the sun assumes in the sky throughout the four seasons of the year, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. These four birds were the turkey, the owl, the hummingbird and the red tailed hawk. Fernandez Mendez identifies the last of these four birds as an "eagle" but then he uses the Taino term "guaraguao" as its name. This confirms that the bird is not, in fact, an eagle since the word "guaraguao" is the Taino word for red tailed hawk.

page 75

He included a list of photos in the form of image plates that show Taino sculptures of four birds.

Plate XXV

In the list of photos he includes a carved stone three-point cemi sculpture discovered i Boriken (Puerto Rico) and credited to the research of the U.S.A. researcher Jesse Walter Fewkes, that obviously represents the head of a turkey complete with the fleshy protuberances above its head and beak that are distinctive of these birds. 

As I mentioned earlier, Fernandez Mendez refers to the turkey using the term "guanajo".

We in the CANEY INDIGENOUS SPIRITUAL CIRCLE accept the association of the four birds that Fernandez Mendez mentions in his book with the four positions in the sky that the sun assumes during the four seasons of the year. We also recognize a connection between these four seasonal sky positions and the four cardinal directions of North South East and West. The concept of the number four, four directions, four seasons, four sides of a rectangle, as an important general element of Taino culture is suggested by the researcher Sebastian Robiou Lamarche in in his book ENCUENTRO CON LA MITOLOGIA TAINA page 64 when he writes about the four legendary quadruplets, Deminan and his three brothers.

We, therefore associate these birds with the four directions of the Medicine Wheel as well as with the four seasons.

In our understanding of these concepts, informed as they are by the research of prominent researchers and by the spiritual counsel of our Taino ancestors, we know that our forbears did in fact recognize four sacred birds in their spiritual tradition, and that these birds did, in fact represent the four distinct positions of the sun in the sky throughout the year and also the four directions of the Medicine Wheel. One of those four birds was GUANAJO, the turkey.