The Taino Woman

Although possibly dated in some respects, Jalil Sued Badillo's La mujer indígena y su sociedad is a very valuable read for anyone interested in the Taino. The author does an excellent job outlining the basic known factors in that complex mosaic of Tainoness found in the Antilles. Explaining the rise of cacicazgos, the greater development of stratification in said societies, and the importance of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola in this process, the author then examines what is known about indigenous women for various topics. It becomes clear that women were vital players in most aspects of society, particularly in the wielding of power and providing the labor for much of the subsistence, arts, crafts, and sociocultural activities of the Taino. Consequently, the Spanish conquerors quickly realized this, so the colonial order established by Europeans was very much a gendered one.

For instance, in religion and myth, women are, unsurprisingly, central. Perhaps as a product of the common pattern in ancient farming communities, women were associated with the land, fertility and the moon, all important associations in the Taino cosmovision and daily life. This significance is reflected in what is known of Taino religion from the Spanish sources. For instance, Guabancex,and her role in storms known as hurricanes. Or the mother of Yucahu, who had 5 names. Indeed, having so many names was, to the Taino, a sign of power. Some of the mythological figures we know of, like Guahayona, were a source of power. As illustrated by Guabonito, through whose aid Guahayona receives guanin and symbols of cacical authority (acquired through matrilineal succession patterns). All of these religious and mythological associations are connected to the associations of femininity with fertility, the moon, land, and, through myth, as the source of power. In addition, women also serves as shamans or behiques, according to at least one source from early colonial Hispaniola.

The Taino woman also played necessary and essential roles in agriculture, labor, artisanry and production. Women's labor was key in agriculture, preparing casabe, and producing a number of utilitarian tools and objects for daily life. Women similarly were artisans, involved with producing cotton textiles or objects associated with trade and ceremony. An example not cited by Sued Badillo can be seen in the role of women in La Gonave as producers of fine wooden objects. Women may have even been involved in gold mining, something we do not know enough about yet. Thus, women's labor was essential for subsistence, ceremony, arts and for items of exchange between communities. For these reasons, control of women's labor must have been one of the factors contributing to conflicts between communities or caciques. 

From what can be deduced on Taino family structure and the life cycle of women, it appears that women may have went through initiations upon puberty and possibly followed marriage customs similar to those observed in the Lesser Antilles and South America. We know from the Spanish chroniclers that girls began to wear a short skirt upon reaching puberty. Then, once they married, women wore longer skirts, especially those from the Taino elite. There were likely rituals or initiations attached to puberty and marriage. Divorce, on the other hand, may have been a simpler affair. In terms of sexuality, it seems likely that women before marriage were allowed to have sexual partners. Women as wives were additionally important for establishing alliances and kinship between different cacicazgos. As suggested by Sued Badillo, perhaps Agueybana's relations with Andres de Higuey were based on a marriage of relatives. However, unlike male caciques or nitainos, we have no evidence of female rulers having multiple husbands. Likewise, one wonders if husbands or males were ever buried with a deceased cacica to accompany them. Sued Badillo speculates that such a practice may have been a late development in the precolonial Caribbean for wives of caciques to be buried with them.

Besides in the areas of religion, economy, and arts, the Taino woman was similarly important in other areas of life. Women were participants in the batey games. They were also participants in areytos, with the famous report of 300 maidens involved in one for Anacaona of Jaragua. This reveals that women were not excluded from major community events that were of a public, communal nature and tied to the history and cosmovision of the Taino. Moreover, women could exercise authority themselves as cacicas. These female rulers likely enjoyed all or most of the prerogatives that their male counterparts possessed. So, not only was access to the position of cacique usually through the female line (patrilineal descent may have been in the process of spreading), but women could emerge as leaders in their own right. Even mothers of caciques exercised a political influence, as Agueybana's mother had been a major voice in favor of peace with the Spanish. Sued Badillo ends the essay by outlining a few examples of cacicas of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, such Anacaona and Ines de Cayacoa.

Unfortunately for the Taino, the gendered dynamics of the Spanish conquest severely weakened the sources of authority and basis for their civilization. The dramatic decline, for instance, of the Indian labor force at the Hacienda Real de Toa from 1513-1530, is partly related to this process. Using the cacique Caguas and his successors at this hacienda, Sued Badillo makes a clear case for matrilineal succession and female rulers. However, the Spanish helped destroy the naboria population serving under these caciques through their manipulation of a cacica named Maria. Sexually exploited and then married off to Diego Muriel, Maria must have been powerless to save the remnants of her community. While caciques and nitainos received better treatment and pay in the encomienda system, the inability of caciques to protect their flock must have contributed to an erosion of their authority. This is hinted at by another cacica mentioned by Sued Badillo, one whose encomienda naborias had largely fled. Due to this, and the Spanish subverting of a cacica's authority via marriage and exploitation of resources, one cannot help but wonder if the dramatic decline of the Hacienda Real de Toa's population from 2000 to 30 was in part a result of flight and erosion of actual power of the indigenous elite. After all, if your traditional leaders are unable to protect you from exploitation, rape, and overwork, why would you continue to obey them, especially if they marry the European invaders who are busy destroying your society's foundations?

In summation, the Taino woman, our foremothers, deserve our attention and respect. Although the precolonial order was no utopia, women were, in many instances, capable of reaching high positions and participating in various sectors of the economy, culture, and religion. One cannot romanticize this past, but compared to what transpired during and after the Conquest, one cannot help but lament the destruction of indigenous society. The imposition of colonial rule undoubtedly relied on gender as mostly male Europeans exploited local women for labor, sex and access to resources. In so doing, they further weakened the indigenous authority and undermined the cultural and economic bases for Taino society. 

Indians in 1560s Puerto Rico

One of the more interesting finds is recently realizing that the Boletín histórico de Puerto Rico, Volume 12 contains some of the surviving documents on an "Indian" community in Puerto Rico. Although not enough to reconstruct the story of this community, the indios of the Quebrada de Doña Catalina, living near San Juan, were active in 1568. However, the writings of the governor of the island at the time, Francisco Bahamonde de Lugo, establish that their community, cultivating conucos as their own hacienda, were multi-racial. Indios, mestizos and blacks (negros horros) formed part of it. Interestingly, Bahamonde de Lugo, who was accused of having Indian slaves in his house, actually admitted to having 2 Indian servants that he treated very well! So well, in fact, that they chose when and how to serve him and were treated like his own children! Elsewhere, this very same man bragged about being loved by the poor, including negros, indios, mestizos and mulatos. 

Although living outside San Juan, this community tried to defend itself from white landowners and elites eager to take their land. According to Sued Badillo's contribution to Making Alternative Histories, the community sought redress for the abuse and harassment of its members.  Unfortunately, the reality was even worse. A man using the title Protector de los indios y mestizos actually went against the provisor, Cristobal de Luna, in the ecclesiastical judge in 1568. First of all, it is astonishing that as late as 1568, when indios were supposedly few or extinct, that there was a man, Francisco del Rio, possessing a title that presupposes the existence of indios and mestizos on the island (while also claiming to be a protector of grifos, too. 

The particular man who particularly wounded the Indian community of Quebrada de Doña Catalina was also guilty of violently attacking its members as well as interfering with their lands. According to the governor, Bahamonde de Lugo, two members of its community died and they also wanted restitution for the economic losses caused by the attacker (who cost them more than 500 pesos). The case was somewhat confusing, since it was unclear if the Governor of the Bishop should resolve the issue. Bahamonde de Lugo apparently had a low opinion of the Church on these matters, but mentioned that Franciso del Rio wanted to petition to the Audiencia in Santo Domingo and the royal government This shows just how far the community was willing to go to seek compensation for their losses. Although it was likely a different person, a Cristobal de Luna was supposedly sent as a prisoner to a monastery in Spain in the year 1578, perhaps connected to this case?

Overall, the Quebrada de Doña Catalina community, which cultivated conucos and was of unknown size, appears to have acted like some of the documented indio pueblos of other parts of the Spanish Antilles. Relying on protections allegedly bestowed upon Indians by the Spanish Crown, they claimed protection from others to protect their lands. However, they also appear to have been under the Church, which failed to protect or stand up for their interests. Considering how Church officials often underreported the Indian population of the island in the period from the 1540s through the 1580s, and their own interests as landowners (including access to slave labor and cheap labor), it seems like this rural community knew it had to rely on the "protector" of the Indians and other forms of redress. While not a pueblo de indios like those of Boya, Cibuco, Guanabacoa, or El Caney in other Antillean colonies, the community appears to have perhaps acted like one. Their dedicated to conuco agriculture was probably also rooted in the precolonial people's agricultural practices, too. 

What happened to them? If these people, already indios, mestizos and free blacks, were cultivating conucos near San Juan, they presumably became pardos in the 1600s and 1700s. Similar patterns likely occurred elsewhere in late 16th century Puerto Rico, as "indios" in areas like Arecibo, San German, Mona, and other locations were reclassified or reconceived as other "ethnicities." That Indians of Mona were still recognized can be found in the 1590s, as officials discussed what to do with their trading with enemies of Spain and the presence of a "cacique of Mona" in San German. Overall, Indios and mestizos must have been a major component of the population, but as a distinct group, they gradually disappeared in much of the island. Except for San German and La Indiera, where local definitions of "Indio" remained relevant, the indios and mestizos of Puerto Rico became pardos and jibaros of later centuries. After all, from the testimony of Abbad y Lasierra in the late 1700s, we know that "indios" did not disappear but, as the example of Anasco illustrates, "disappeared" through racial mixture with people of European and African origins. As the "Indian" population "transformed" into mestizos and pardos, one can presume titles like "Protector de los indios y mestizos" also disappeared or completely lost their relevance. 

Writing to Agueybana in 1511

Since it is a document written in 1511, it is very difficult to read. Fortunately, PARES has summarized the letter and one can make out Guaybana's name in this letter. This document is supposedly telling him that they will speak of him to the Spanish crown but interesting to see since Agueybana obviously could not read it. Still, it shows the way in which the Spanish dealt with a paramount cacique as a sovereign leader. Furthermore, if Miguel Diaz d'Aux had a relationship with a Higuey cacica before moving to Puerto Rico, it is possible Agueybana was already well-aware of who the Europeans were. 

Maritime Interactions in the Greater Caribbean

We are still obsessed with the question of interactions between the Isthmo-Colombian region and the Caribbean in the pre-Columbian past. While much more needs to be uncovered before we can speak confidently about the subject, a number of finds by archaeologists and the probable import of guanin from Colombia suggest long-distance trade and interactions.

Tairona and Muisca

Although they not our Taino, the likelihood of South American indigenous cultures like the Tairona being the source of the Taino guanin is likely. Moreover, the stylistic similarities in Tairona and other indigenous arts of Colombia suggest trade and other forms of relationships with the indigenous peoples of the Antilles.

Maya and Aztec Influences in the Greater Antilles

Influencias mayas y aztecas en los taínos de las Antillas Mayores: del juego de pelota al arte y la mitología by Osvaldo Garcia Gocyo is another speculative study on Mesoamerican influences in the precolonial Antilles. Following in the footsteps of Eugenio Fernandez Mendez, Garcia Goyco suggests the number of parallels between Taino and Mesoamerican cultures in religion and the ballgame are proof of Mesoamerican & Taino contact. He even goes further than Fernandez Mendez in his analysis of the religious and mythological parallels, believing the similarities could not be the product of deep archetypes or independent evolution. In order to affirm this theory, Garcia Goyco takes the reader on an excursion through Taino and Mesoamerican art (usually less persuasive than other evidence), religion, and mythology, with occasional references to the Carib and South American indigenous groups for comparative purposes.

In terms of the actual evidence, like Eugenio Fernandez Mendez, Garcia Goyco's argument is strongest with regard to the ballgame and the plazas or courtyards associated with it. The astronomically-aligned Taino batey does not have an equivalent in the northern South American regions their ancestors came from. Moreover, there is possible evidence for human sacrifice in the plazas and the use of stone collars that are reminiscent of those found in Mesoamerica. While the ballgame and courtyards associated with it can be found as far back as the Olmecs, there is so far no evidence for the construction of elaborate plazas in Venezuela or the Orinoco Basin. Thus, Garcia Goyco finds it quite likely that Mesoamerican influences reached Hispaniola and Puerto Rico by or around the 600s or 700s of the Common Era, around the time for the earliest known courtyards in the Greater Antilles. Why we do not find evidence of such elaborate plazas in western Cuba or Jamaica early on is perhaps, according to our author, a product of the later spread of the Taino culture to those islands. It is suggested that the less "advanced" cultures resident on the island were less interesting for economic or cultural purposes to Mesoamerican peoples (perhaps akin to the Putun Maya traders?). 

Besides the evidence from Taino and Mesoamerican ballgames, the rest of the evidence is more suggestive than anything else. The fact that the Taino on one side and Mayas and Aztecs on the other believed in cosmogonic eras and believed there was once a flood or deluge is one example of the types of sources utilized by the Garcia Goyco. It is certainly interesting that in Taino myth children are transformed into frogs, an animal associated with rain. However, it could be purely random that the mother goddess figure of the Aztecs, called Tona, happens to have a name similar to the cry of the children-turned-frogs in Taino myth. Indeed, the association of the frog with rain among the Taino, Aztecs, and Maya does not constitute evidence of Mesoamerican influence on the former. Furthermore, the deity or god Juracan or Hurakan, supposedly tied to the Yura-can of the Galibi Caribs, may not be connected to the Maya Hurakan. Garcia Goyco tries to develop this theory based on Coatrisquie, a deity associated with Guabancex. Coatrisquie's name is similar to the Aztec Coatlicue, who was associated with subterranean waters. Perhaps Guabancex had multiple names like other cemis of the Taino, so Garcia Goyco postulates that Juracan was one of these additional names. Moreover, the Hurakan of the Maya in Guatemala is part of a trilogy of gods associated with the sky, sea, land and life. Indeed, Hurakan to the Maya meant heart of the sky and "a leg." For our author, Jurakan may also be another reference to Anacacuya, whose name points to the Polar Star (hurricanes also rotate around the Polar star).

In addition, the author suggests more parallels between Taino and Mesoamerican mythology. For instance, take the Xibalbay mentioned in the Popol Vuh. Since it bears a slight resemblance to the Taino Coaybay and both were the land of the dead, it is possible there may be a connection between Taino and Maya beliefs. The two cultures also associated bats with death or spirits. Similarly, the Taino Opiyelbuobiran, a cemi with four legs, is linked to the Chacs of the Maya, which also are associated with dogs, forests, and lagoons. Perhaps even more intriguing is the alleged relationship between the Aztec montecitos and the three-pointer cemis of the Taino. Believing the three-pointers to be identified with Baibrama and fertility, Garcia Goyco argues for similar practices among Taino and Aztec communities with regard to the reverence attached to these objects. He even argues that the myth of Deminan and his three brothers has a Maya parallel in a tradition collected from the Yucatan by Antonio Mediz Bolio. Indeed, the tale of Deminan, Yaya, Yayael and the deluge does bear some common features with the Yucatecan tradition of Giaia and his two sons, Giayala'el and Halal. In the the Maya version, however, the father, Giaia, is killed by one of his sons but the same ending with a flood caused by siblings occurs. In fact, perhaps even the 4 Bacabes or brothers in Maya tradition is also an influence on the Taino myth of Deminan and his twin siblings (gemelos divinos). Something similar may also be seen in the Taino and Maya perception of the land as a giant iguana or reptitle floating in water. 

Overall, Garcia Goyco's study finds some interesting parallels between Taino and Mesoamerican cultures. While his evidence is strongest with regard to the ballgame and plazas, some of the similarities in mythology might point to deeper shared influences or cultures. Mesoamerican cultural influences spread far and wide so it is certainly not impossible for elements of them to be found among the Taino of the Greater Antilles. However, is it not possible that some of the mythological similarities might be a product of later influences? Perhaps Taino who accompanied the Spanish to Mesoamerica introduced elements of these myths and traditions? And one cannot discount the possibility of Taino (and Carib) seafarers in the Caribbean traveling to Mesoamerica in the distant past. Perhaps some of the similarities are also merely a coincidence of similar mythologizing based on animals like bats, frogs, and reptiles. By and large, studies pointing to greater similarities with South American lowland Indians are more convincing. Of course, it does seem likely that Mesoamerican influences must have also reached the Antilles either via Central America or directly from Mesoamerica at some point in the precolonial past. 

Los indios de Cuba en sus tiempos históricos

Felipe Pichardo Moya's Los indios de Cuba en sus tiempos históricos is a fascinating but dated work. Focusing on the history of Cuba's indigenous peoples since the arrival of Columbus, Pichardo Moya finds evidence of indigenous survival everywhere. First, he demolishes the myth of an easy conquest of the island. In addition to Hatuey, a number of indios alzados and other Cuban indigenous rebels and maroons continued to resist the Spanish for several years. Some of these resisters were leaders who opposed Velasquez while others were leaders like Guama who seized opportune moments to rebel (such as the Florida expedition). Indeed, they also were well aware of Enrique and the Taino resistance on Hispaniola. With the official end of Indian slavery and the disappearance of the encomienda system, the surviving indigenous population of the island experienced two processes: the settlement or establishment of pueblos de indios like Guanabacoa or El Caney and the descendants of Indian maroons settling in marginal or distant areas of the island, away from colonial authorities. According to Pichardo Moya, those in the pueblos de indios were likely more influenced by colonial society and ways, but even they conserved Indian dances and customs. Those living in marginal areas and less likely to be documented, were supposedly able to preserve even more indigenous practices and customs. To what extent this is actually true is up for debate, but Pichardo Moya neglects the potentially significant impact of Indian slaves and migrants from other parts of the Americas in Cuba. 

Nonetheless, there are some interesting sources cited for the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s on Indian Cuba plus the author's own grandfather was involved in El Caney's legal struggles in the 1800s to protect their land. Last but certainly not least, the fact that some isolated areas of Cuba have retained matrilineal inheritnce, a practice also said to have been practiced among the indigenous people of the island, is also suggestive of another area of Indian survival. Despite Cuba's pueblos de indios being better documented than those of Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic, the conditions in the other two Spanish Caribbean colonies were possibly similar. It would be interesting if ethnographic work in Puerto Rico, for instance, indicated evidence of matrilineal inheritance in areas with oral traditions of native ancestry. Perhaps a thorough examation of the libros parroquiales may be in order for some areas of Puerto Rico, too, since they could reveal "Indian" survival in parts of the island in the 1600s and 1700s that is not documented elsewhere.