The Stingray and Taino Culture

Did You Know: Since ancient times, stingrays have been a part of the Caribbean’s marine environment and the cultures of the region’s Indigenous Peoples. Taino and other Caribbean Indigenous Peoples, for example, would traditionally use the barbed spine located toward the bottom of a stingray’s tail in various ways. Stingray barbs would sometimes be used as tips for spears and arrows used for hunting or weapons, as well as for adornments like necklaces and bracelets. Like sharkskin, the rough skin of certain stingrays were  also used as a grating tool to grind yuka (yuca/cassava/manioc) into a fine powder.  Some Taino words for stingrays include Libusa, Sabina, Lebisa, and Chucho (spotted eagle ray). - UCTP Taino News © 2013

Arepa

Did You Know: An arepais a flat corn bread patty developed by Indigenous Peoples in Northern South America, but its use has spread throughout the Caribbean region for generations. An arepa can be made fresh or with dried corn, which is ground into flour and made into dough that can be cooked in different ways. If dried corn kernels are used, however, they are boiled and soaked in water over night to breakdown the “hull” of the corn. Some indigenous communities also add ground limestone or ashes to breakdown the hull. The term arepa is used in the Taino language today, but it is actually a non-Taino “loan word” originally from the Karina or “true” Carib peoples of mainland South America. – UCTP Taino News © 2013

Taino Flag

Did You Know: The flag of the United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP) represents Taíno people “reaching out in solidarity” across the Caribbean Sea in all the sacred directions wherever their relatives can be found.  The original flag symbol was created in 1997 for the UCTP by artist Marie Crooke and further elaborated by artist Joe Leon. The UCTP flag is a part of the permanent collections of and displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.; the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Connecticut; the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico; the Virgin Islands National Parks Service; and the Sami Parliament in Norway.  – UCTP Taino News (c) 2013

Taíno vegetable root tuber: iautía (yautía)

Did You Know: Among the various indigenous vegetable root tubers cultivated traditionally by Taíno people, iautía (yautía) was, and remains a favorite. Similar to the Taíno staple of iuka (yuca), the iautía tuber has an elongated shape and the skin is bumpy, patchy, brown, and shaggy and it needs to be cooked before it is eaten as it contains some toxins. It has a nutty, earthy flavor with starchy consistency when prepared and its flesh can be white, yellow, pink or purplish.  In much of the Greater Antilles the tuber is still identified by its Taíno name – iautía - however; it is also sometimes called malanga, tannia, or cocoyam. In the Lesser Antilles iautía is also called dasheen and is often confused with the similar plant taro. The young, unfurled leaves of some varieties are sometimes boiled in soups or stews such as in Caribbean callaloo. The iautía’s botanical genus is Xanthosoma, it is high in carbohydrates, has some proteins, it is a good source of dietary fibers, high in Vitamins C and B, high in potassium, its starches are easily digestible, it has no cholesterol, and is free from gluten. – UCTP Taino News © 2013

Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center

Did You Know -  The Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center (Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes) is currently considered by archeologists to be the oldest indigenous ceremony center in Boriken (Puerto Rico).  It represents a continuous habitation of indigenous peoples more than 1,000 years before Columbus encountered the New World. Within its designated 40 acres of this park owned by the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, one of the largest burial grounds was also “discovered”. Arql. Luis Á. Rodríguez Gracia cites the earliest inhabitants as Igneri with preceding populations as “pre-Taino” and finally Taíno.   The site consists of “nine ball courts and three ceremonial plazas” as well as a Museum, garden, and several “recreated pre-Columbian homes”. Rodríguez Gracia believes it to be the oldest astronomical observatory in the Antilles. – UCTP Taino News © 2012

MAISI

Did You Know – The Taino word for corn is maisi or mais (maiz), which is the origin of the word “maize”. While not as important as yuka (manioc/cassava), it was a significant food source found throughout the Caribbean islands in several varieties. Traditionally, corn was eaten, roasted, off the cob as well as ground into meal. According to Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, it seems that cornbread was not as favored as it molded faster than bread made from yuka. Some chroniclers stated that Taino drank a fermented corn beverage called chicha as well as a fermented yuka beverage called uiku.  A traditional Taino form of boiled corn dumpling called guanimeis still made today in various forms. – UCTP Taino News © 2012