What should I start with?

[Seven]

Knowledge is Power! I start this off because it’s the truth. Respect to the elders in this group and hope that more will post and get involved. Can members in this group post what books are good to have? Adults as well as children books that tells you about Tainos. I would love to learn the tales, language, arts, history, spirituality, hieroglyphics etc. If you know of a good site please let us know.

I would like to know the names to this, what do you call in the Taino language a healer, a spiritually person, an herbiest, and one who deal with the ancestors? Want to say thank you to the Taino Nation. When are you guys going to have the next meet up?

Blessings

Seven

[Caracoli]

1.) The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus by Irving Rouse (Paperback - Jul 28, 1993)

2.) Taino: Pre-Columbian Art and Culture from the Caribbean by Ricardo Alegria and Jose Arrom (Paperback - Feb 1, 1998)

3.) Cave of the Jagua: The Mythological World of the Tainos by Antonio M. Stevens-Arroyo (Paperback - Jul 15, 2006)

4.) Taino Indian Myth and Practice: The Arrival of the Stranger King (Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series) by WILLIAM F. KEEGAN (Hardcover - April 22, 2007)

5.) L'Art Taino by Kerchache (Hardcover - Jun 1994)

6.) The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino by Lesley-Gail Atkinson (Paperback - Jul 2006)

7.) Art and mythology of the Taino Indians of the Greater West Indies by Eugenio Fernandez Mendez (Unknown Binding - 1972)

8.) Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus by Samuel M. Wilson (Paperback - Oct 30, 1990)

9.) Art and Archaeology of Pre-Columbian Cuba (Pitt Latin American Studies) by Ramon Dacal Moure and Manuel Rivero De La Calle (Hardcover - Feb 13, 1997)

10.) Relacion acerca de las antiguedades de los indios by Fray Ramon Pane, Jose Juan Arrom, and ed (Paperback - Jan 1, 2004)

11.) Mitologia y Artes Prehispánicas de las Antillas.
José Juan Arrom, México: 1989.

12.) Encuentro con la Mitologia Taina,
Sebastian Robiou Lamarche 1992

13.) Historical Atlas of World Mythology, v.2. The Way of the Seeded Earth, pt. 3. Mythologies of the primitive planters: the Middle and Southern Americas. Joseph Campbell New York: Harper & Row, 1989. Share

[Caracoli]

BOOKS AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

ONE BOWLING GREEN

NYC, N.Y.

Books on Native Peoples of the West Indies
These books are in the collection of the Resource Center of the George Gustav Heye Center (New York City).

1.) Alegria, Mela Pons, & Ricardo E. Alegria, Exposicion de Esculturas de los Indios Tainos, 1987, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, San Juan, Puerto Rico. En espanõl.

2.) Barreiro, Jose, The Indian Chronicles, published 1993 by Arte Público Press, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, and reprinted 1998 by Akwe:Kon Press, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

3.) Barreiro, Jose, editor, View From the Shore: American Indian Perspectives on the Quincentenary, Northeast Indian Quarterly, Fall 1990: Columbus Quincentenary Edition.

4.) Bercht, Fatima, Estrellita Brodsky, John Alan Farmer, & Dicey Taylor, editors, Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art & Culture from the Caribbean, 1997, The Monacelli Press & El Museo del Barrio, New York. .)Bercht, Fatima, & Estrellita Brodsky, project directors, Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art & Culture from the Caribbean, 1997, El Museo del Barrio, New York.

5.) Fontánez, Edwin, Taíno: A Bilingual Activity Book, 1996, Exit Studio, Washington, DC.

6.) Forte, Maximilian C. Indigenous Resurgence in the Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival & Renewal. 2006. New York: Peter Lang.

7.) Hulme, Peter, Colonial Encounters: Europe & the Native Caribbean, 1492-1797, 1986, 1992, Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Routledge division, London and New York.

8.) Keegan, William F., The People Who Discovered Columbus: The Prehistory of the Bahamas, 1992, University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

9.) Krieger, Herbert W., The Aborigines of the Ancient Island of Hispaniola, 1929, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. From the Smithsonian Report for 1929.The New York Academy of Sciences, Scientific Survey of Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands, Volume XVII, Part One (1940), Part Two (1941), Part Three (1952), Part Four (1952).

10.) Olsen, Fred, Indian Creek: Arawak Site on Antigua, West Indies, 1974, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Olsen, Fred, On the Trail of the Arawaks, 1974, University of Oklahoma Press,

11.) Robiou-Lamarche, Sebastian, Encuentro con la Mitología Taína, 1992, Editorial Punto y Coma, San Juan, Puerto Rico. En espanõl.

12.) Rouse, Irving, The Tainos: Rise & Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus, 1992, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

13.) Stevens-Arroyo, Antonio M., Cave of the Jagua: The Mythological World of the Tainos, 1988, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

14.) Vega-Lara, Natalia, Taíno: Educator=s Resource Guide, no date, El Museo del Barrio, New York. In English and Spanish.

15.) Pamphlets published by the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation:De Booy, Theodore, Cirtain West-Indian Superstitions Pertaining to Celts, 1915.

16.) De Booy, Theodore, Pottery from Cirtain Caves in Eastern Santo Domingo, West Indies, 1915. 17.) Fewkes, Walter J., Engraved Celts From the Antilles, 1915.

[Miguel Sague Jr]

Tau Caracoli
Bo Matun for the very thorough and complete catalog of print literature that you have listed here I myself am going to check out the few books mentioned here which I have not seen yet. Otherwise my personal favorites here are Cave of the Jagua, Historical Atlas of World Mythology, v.2. The Way of the Seeded Earth, pt. 3, Encuentro con la Mitología Taína, Indigenous Resurgence in the Contemporary Caribbean, Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art & Culture from the Caribbean, and finally Art and Archaeology of Pre-Columbian Cuba which by the way was published right here in Pttsburgh and whose publication was partially facilitated by archeologist David Watter, a friend of mine here at the Pittsburgh Carnegy Museum.
Taino Ti
Miguel

[Miguel Sague Jr]

I would like to add to this list a book published last year by a person who is a member of this network and who I believe is very knowledgable about our culture. He is Angel Rodriguez Alvarez and his book is called "Mitologia Taina o Eyeri..." I suggest you check out a discussion post that i made some time ago about this book. http://indigenouscaribbean.ning.com/group/caneycircle/forum/topics/...
Taino Ti
Miguel Sobaoko Koromo Sague

[Miguel Sague Jr]

Tau Michelle
Bo Matun for the wonderfully complete catolog of Taino organizations that can be accessed on the internet. I myself am going to explore some of the websites that you suggest here which I have not yet checked out.
I believe that your description of Taino spiritual guides was very accurate. In the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle we call shamans "boitiu', and ceremonial leaders "beikes". But to be frank with you there is a lot of difference of opinion in the Resurgence movement concerning what exactly to call a ceremonial leader as opposed to a shaman and so I personally remain open minded about this point.

Tau Seven
As Michelle suggested I would be happy to help you with any questions that you may have beyond the ones already addressed by Michelle. I do herbal work but I am constantly learning new things about this art. The website that Michelle suggested in association with my work is the official website of the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle and contains a great deal of inf that my answer a lot of the questions that you have in your mind. Otherwise you can communicate with me here on this network, at my e-mail address [e-mail] or contact our Caney Teaching lodge in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania suburb of Verona [phone]. This is also my home.
Taino Ti
Miguel Sobaoko Koromo Sague

[Rixturey]

Thank you for opening this discussion. There are many who are beginning this journey to reconnect with their indigenous ancestors and in need of guidance. An overlooked resource in our "modern" times is our own relatives. Call your eldest relation or friend of a friend who lived the tradition before it was called Taino. They didn't use that word — for them there was being Boricua, Quisqueyano or Guajiro, etc. or even Indio.

Start the conversation simply, ¿Quiero saber? What was your childhood like? What were the games you played? What songs/stories did your mother or grandmother sang/tell? Are there special stories that you remember? Did your family do special things on special days? What were the foods you ate and how were they prepared? Be willing to listen and learn from them and they will open up like beautiful flowers.

My father who grew up "en el monte" talked of hunting for "burukena" and his mother washing clothes in the stream by their home. I only knew what a burukena was because I had learned that it was a native word for a large land crab and when I actually saw one it was a shock to see how big and bright orange red they are!

Some of us heard stories of "El Cuco" or that we couldn't go out after dark because the spirits were roaming about. In my family the women were not allowed to cut their hair. I only saw my grandmother twice but will never forget her releasing her bun to reveal hair down to her knees.

Our indigenous traditions got mixed up (syncretized, using the anthropological term) with other traditions, but they are still there like hidden treasures waiting to be revealed. Many of us have lost touch with the land and our planting customs of working with the cycles of the moon to ensure growth and good harvests.

I have had the privilege of sitting with other like-minded folks around a table and remembering what our mamis, papis and abuelos would tell us and how they were. We learned the value of community in person. Perhaps others can share some of their stories and traditions here.

con respeto y honor…

[Caracoli]

Taino Ti

Cuco!!!! Man that brings back memories, my Abuela would say that to us to make us behave. You got me thinking about Abuela who we called "Mama". I miss Her.

How about the story of the woman in the white dress on the side of the road ?

My father told me a story where he met someone in a solitary place

He talked to him but the person wouldn't answer

My Father looked down and saw that the person had no feet

My Father then proceeded to run for the hills

nabori daca

tainoray

[Seven]

Wow el Cuco my mother also uses the cuco for us to behave. I use el cuco now so my kids can behave. The woman in white on the side of the road I have also headed, but this one was in Utuado. I am going to tell you a story about the stars:

When I would go visit my grandparents in El Monte I love to seat and look up at the stars. I am a city slicker so to see the stars was wonderful and amazing to me. My grandfather would seat with me. I would count how many stars where in the sky and my grandfather would say,” If you keep counting the stars, you will get freckles”. I have to say he was right. I was not born with freckles and did not have them growing up. I started to get them when I started to count the stars in the sky.

[Rixturey]

The woman in white is referred to as a Ciguapa in Quisqueya and I have heard other natives from Central America mention her as well. Interesting how these stories are still around!!

For those of us who have had children, we saved the umbilical cord (if we could remember to save the piece that falls off). On the island for a girl you would bury it near the home so she wouldn't go far. I kept my kids's cords for a very long time, but moved so much that they got lost somehow. Other native peoples have this kind of tradition as well.

It's also good to remember that women's traditions are rarely if ever written down in books.

[Seven]

"we saved the umbilical cord" This is something every mother in Puerto Rico does.

[Keiahani]

Seven is referring to the meetings that the Taino Nation of the Antilles gives, they are also known as the taino nation by some, they have been creating areitos for the past 15 years, and meetings every second Saturday of the month like clock since 2000. Seven has been to a meeting and an areito.

just log onto official taino nation news on the yahoo groups

[Caracoli]

Taino Ti Seven

Waribonex of the Wanakan Cultural Center is on this Network

You can ask him about the next meetup

For current news of the Taino Nation of the Antilles click here

tainoray