Survival of Yuca Culture in Puerto Rico

Whilst perusing "Survival of la cultura de la yuca in Puerto Rico" by Juan Manuel Delgado, or at least the incomplete translation of his much longer article, as part of Bread Made From Yuca, edited by Jane Gregory Rubin and Ariana Donalds, one is reminded of the central importance of yuca for precolonial Puerto and even much of Puerto Rico during the last 500 years. Delgado illustrates this with numerous examples from folklore, medicinal uses, spiritual and religious practices that seem to at least partly draw from the indigenous heritage. Even work parties and sung rosary prayers are compared with the indigenous areytos as practices which include, or once included, yuca as part of it. Intriguingly, in at least one region of the island, yuca was also associated with Saint Antonio of Padua. This is intriguing since archival sources also support the idea of Saint Patrick as a protector of yuca from worm infestation, at least according to Jose Colomban Rosario's thesis on the jibaro.