The Native people of Puerto Rico- Tainos

         

Here is a sketch I drew of the Taino Fertility God. He is known to fertile the Island of Puerto Rico with Panas. If he is not praised by the islanders there will be a shortage of food.

        The Taino people are native Indians to the island  of Puerto Rico. The Tainos are a subgroup of the Arawakan Indians. The Tainos were discover in the islands of the Caribbean Sea around the time Christopher Columbus arrived to the new world. The natives living on the island at the time called the island "Boriken" The island of the brave lord. Once Christopher Columbus arrived he though the name wasn't suitable for the island and renamed it in honor of St. John the Baptist. 

       The Taino were not as advanced as the Mayans of Aztecs, they did not have a writing system. The depended on numbers, they only counted to 21. They also depended on their drawings. The taino people, among many other tribe around the same time used pictures to illustrate many things. If you walk down the streets of Puerto Rico you are still able to see the cave drawings from these ancient Indian tribes. The taino natives drew pictures of things that were around there surroundings. The coqui is a native frog to the island of Puerto Rico, if it were to be removed the coqui will not be able to survive. No one nearly knows the story as to why the frog cannot live on any other tropical island, but it cannot. Any who, the tainos use the coqui to illustrate life on the island. The also use the sun to show that without sun there is not life. They believed that the sun was there God & if they didn't do right in the eyes of there God he would punish them by not giving them another day of life. Another very known symbol used by the Tainos is the symbol of triangilo.Triangilo is the God of fertility, he nourishes all plant life. They believe he brings all  the plants and vegetables water from the ocean to nourish them. 

   (These are cave drawing in the cave of camoy. This is the to a-toa symbol. The taints believed that when the women would live there children behind they would cry so much that eventually they would turn into a frog like human being.)

       The Taino people all dressed the same, their complexion was bronzed-colored. They had rough/kinky dark long hair and had dark eyes. Men generally walked around naked or wore a cloth named a nagua. Single women walked around the land of the tribes naked- they believed they single women should get attention from other single men in the village. Married women on the other hand wore an apron made of cotton. Depending on the rank of their family the apron would be longer and made with color. 

     As many well known tribes the Taino's held religious ceremonies to worship there Gods. The women would dress up in gowns with bright color and wear necklaces and head pieces. The bigger the head piece showed how high your rank was in the tribe. This showed that without the sun beauty didn't exist. Taino's also had a native danced called the areytos. Men in the village would play the drums and play beats while the witch doctor would say a prayer. Another way they would give thanks to there Gods (Which to me seems a little strange) is that they played a games. All the strongest men in the tribe would gather together and play a game of what is now know as basketball. There was a small hoop on the top of a large wall. The men would have to climb, jump, shoot or get in the ball between the vertical hoop to score a point. The team that scores 5 shots first is promised a better harvest then the rest of the village. 

                               (The image above shows Taino men playing the drums and dancing at a religious ceremony.)

      Tanios were also very skillful at agriculture and hunting. The men were great sailors, fishermen, canoe makers and navigators. Large dugouts canoes is what they are mainly known for- it was there prized possessions. They used canoes as a way of transportation's, fishing and other water sports. Single men mainly did the hunting while the older men in the tribes made canoes and other daily used objects. The Taino people weren't just a tribes of people that were treated equally. As many tribes around there time they had a system of division. 

     The Taino Indians of Puerto Rico lived in theocratic kingdoms that were arranged by chiefs. The taints were divide into three social classes: Nabories (Working class) Nitainos (Sub-chiefs) and Caciques (The highest head in the tribe.)

Here's a link to a youtube video that shows a man walking through the island of Puerto Rico and finding ancient artifacts from the native tribe.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB2CXzO-tNg