DEVOLVI EL BASTON CUBANO JORNADAS DE PAZ Y DIGNIDAD---I RETURNED THE CUBAN STAFF JOURNEYS OF PEACE AND DIGNITY July 2017

[Miguel Sague Jr]

En una bella ceremonia llevada a cabo a las orillas del sagrado Rio Toa en la zona oriental de Cuba tuve el honor de devolverle a la comunidad taina de Baracoa el baston sagrado que represento a esa comunidad en las carreras de las JORNADAS DE PAZ Y DIGNIDAD de 2016.  Este baston fue llevado por corredores de la Jornadas desde New York viajando rumbo al sur, hasta Panama, donde se juntaron con otros corredores que venian viajando rumbo al norte desde America del Sur. Las carreras eran una oracion dedicadas a las semillas del mundo.

During a beautiful ceremony that was carried out on the banks of the sacred Toa River in the eastern zone of Cuba I had the honor of returning the sacred feather staff that represented that community in the runs of the PEACE AND DIGNITY JOURNEYS of 2016. This staff was carried by PDJ runners from New York, traveling south all the way to Panama, where they were joined by other runners who were arriving, coming north from South America. The runs were a prayer dedicated to the seeds of the world

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Llegue en la preciosa region de Baracoa en automobil desde mi propia ciudad natal de Santiago De Cuba que no se encuentra muy lejos. Esta area entera de Oriente es el foco cultural de la tradicion taina de Cuba.

I arrived in the beautiful Baracoa region by car from my own native city of Santiago De Cuba which is not very far away. This whole Oriente area is the epicenter of Taino native culture and tradition of the island.

Primero me encontre con mi amigo el historiador de la ciudad de Baracoa el Dr Alejandro Hartmann. El fue el que organizo mi encuentro con Bibi Idalis Ramirez, la hija de Kasike Don Panchito, el dirigente la comunidad taina de esa region.

First I met with my friend, the Baracoa city historian Dr. Alejandro Hartmann. He is the one who organized my meeting with Bibi Idalis Ramirez, the daughter of Kasike Don Panchito, the leader of the Taino community in that region.

El Dr Hartmann escojio un local muy vistoso y muy sagrado a las orillas del Rio Toa para la ceremonia en la cual yo le debia de devolver el baston al pueblo taino de Cuba. Este local fue testigo de mchos de los eventos mas importantes de la historia de sublevacion de indigenas contra los espa~oles en Cuba por kasike Hatuey y Kasike Guama.

Dr Hartmann chose a beautiful and very sacred site on the banks of the River Toa for the ceremony during which I would return the staff to the Taino s of Cuba. This area was witness to many of the most important events in the history of the Indigenous uprisings against the Spanish  in Cuba led by Kasike Hatuey and Kasike Guama. 

La ceremonia se llevo a cabo en una peque~a islita no muy lejos de la orilla del rio.

The ceremony took place on a low island not far from the right bank of the river.

Durante esa misma visita a Baracoa se me otorgo el honor de participar en una ceremonia en honor a la curandera taina mas importante de esa region quien fallecio recientemente. Llegue a la casa de la bibi y su familia me recibio muy amablemente. Alli se llevo a cabo la ceremonia.

During that same visit to Baracoa I was given the honor of participating within my role as a behike, in a ceremony dedicated to the most important woman healer of that region who had passed away recently. I arrived at the home of the bibi. Her family received me with a great deal of courtesy. The ceremony was carried out there.

[Jaime Rosario Rivera]

It would have been such an honour to have been able to run and carry the staff from Tok,AK to Mexico back in 1992 during the very first Peace&Dignity Journeys Run. So happy to see that the run went home to the Caribbean where it all started in 1492. Seneko Kakona!

[Miguel Sague Jr]

My brother people like you and I who have been involved with the PEACE AND DIGNITY JOURNEYS off and on since 1992 understand the significance of this sacred prayer that happens every four years. We Tainos have been increasingly involved in this endeavor since 2008. And then last year, after Boricua and Kiskeyan participation in recent runs the Cubans and the Jamaicans were finally represented. I had the honor of sculpting the staff that was run in behalf of the Cubans out of Cuban mahogany wood after that wood was blessed on the banks of a sacred river in Cuba. And it was my honor to then return the staff to the Taino people of Cuba on the banks of a different sacred river this Summer for safe keeping til 2020.

[AkuTurey]

I read this and looked at the pictures with great pride and reverence. It all seems amazing, almost unbelievable! Thank you all, my ancestors from Cuba as well, if not especially so.