Concerning the roots and evolution of our sacred Ancestral Spirituality

Country Dwelling In Haiti!!!

Concerning the roots and evolution of our sacred Ancestral Spirituality.

Note: Old Discussion That Needs To Be Rekindled

I wanted to continue this important discussion concerning the roots and evolution of our sacred Ancestral Spirituality.

Many years ago a Voudu houngan from Haiti came to visit me because he had heard about me. He brought me a small stack of literature (in French) on the Taino culture.

We communicated back and forth for a number of years. I did a ceremony for him with basically the Fire, the River and the Monte. He was very grateful and I felt it was no coincidence that we had met. Of course he immediately requested a guord of water and permission to do a libation for my Taino Medicine because he recognized its Spirit. He had a bunch of people in Florida who he wanted to bring up to me, but when the recent coup occurred we lost contact. I am in the process of finding him once again because I am certain that it was no coincidence that a houngan of Haiti had come to seek a Taino Medicine person.

When the African came to our shores under slavery, they brought their culture and traditions, their deities and spiritual practices. What they met in the Caribbean was a culture, tradition, deities and spiritual practices which simultaneously created a harmonious “marriage” (if you will (Palo Ceibe)) and which contributed elements which would allow for the survival of the African and his/her Traditions in the Caribbean. These cultures WERE NOT IN CONFLICT with one another in fact they were unbelievable (but believably!) similar in terms of many, many points. Specifically the Taino culture contributed elements of Aggression and Survival which were embraced by the African who needed those very elements in order to survive. The Afro-Caribbean traditions were very much revolutionary traditions dealing with conditions of oppression in the Caribbean. Both the Taino and the African were both subject to the same barbaric oppression and therefore found the same remedy in rebellion, revolution and revolt and also of course escape to remote locations to continue with a very strong mixed spirituality containing both African and Taino elements. For any Taino today to negate these facts is to be determined to embrace the ostrich totem and bury the head in the sand. Certain deities within Afro-Caribbean traditions are Taino in origin and flavor, especially deities of the burial grounds. In Voudu you have the term “Zombie” referring to one of the wandering dead who one might meet in the burial ground or on the cross road or road. The Voudu deity Baron Samedi is guardian of both the Burial Ground and the cross roads. Zombie is derived from Zemi (Cemi) the Taino word for the Dead be they Ancestors or the Spirits of Natural Forces. Baron Samedi is clearly related to Guatauba Maquetaurie (Ruler of Coabey). Simbi is a deity related to Rain and “magic” or (the work of the Boitiu). All of these are related to the Cemi. One of the Voudu cults in particular which is very often mistaken for “evil” is particularly Taino in flavor (Petro cult) which gets stronger under conditions of greater oppression because of its aggressive powerful deities. It deals in the currency of anger against the oppression and therefore provides remedies against the oppression. It is useless to go talk to a passive deity about a situation of injustice or oppression, you have to go talk to a deity who deals in that energy.

The point that I find it necessary to make here is that if the Taino of today is seeking to find an identity outside of the historical collaboration and unification with the African Spirituality then what that Taino of today will be left with is a collection of European flavored, christian influenced French Espiritismo morphed to a “Taino Image” which lacks any real spirit of our Revolutionary Warrior Ancestors. Our Ancestors were no pushovers. The accounts of the Europeans (esp. Las Casas and Columbus) is what has contributed most heavily to the image of the gentle, passive (easily colonized and Christianized) Taino which is used today to designate who is a “real” Taino or not. We here on Taino Makana are widely spoken about as “the bad Tainos” or something like that, with no understanding or grasp on our historical story. When the African unified with the Taino a new generation sprung up and after that generation gave rise to another generation and so on, the first new generation who was practicing a unification of Taino and African spiritualities became Ancestors, Spirits, who continued to move in the lives of their future generations right to our present moment. To deny either the Taino or the African is to deny our Identity and the key element which allowed our survival and our RECLAIMING OUR DIGNITY. It was through SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, TRADITION, CEREMONY that our Ancestors were able to survive and rebel against the oppressors. If we lose sight of the beginning our Resurgence which ACTUALLY started the moment the invaders invaded, we forget totally who we are. It is only through SPIRIT that we can recover from the hypnosis/ witchcraft of colonialization, and for us to try to control and rule over who and what that spirit is, is total stupidity.

The Living Gods of Haiti

I want to continue by bringing forth some work done by Maya Deren author of “Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti”. She is one of the few authors who actively sought out Taino spirituality and Medicine within the practice of Voudoun. She herself was an initiate, so she is not talking as an outsider looking in but rather with the love and respect of someone initiated into the tradition.

At one point she is speaking of the Maraca as a SACRED tool to the Taino and in Voudoun whereas she had found it was more of a musical instrument in Africa. She addresses the mythology of a “Woman coming from the Sea (mermaid)” in Arawak and Taino myth and relates her to the Voudoun myth of Water People who are spirits inside the Petro cult. I include her actual words here:

(Speaking of the Maraca) “Yet the most revealing legend in this connection is the tale of the Orinocan Orehu, who are water sprites, or mermaids, and who may drag a man to the depths of their aquatic haunts. This is a very recurrent myth in Haiti. They are not altogether evil; for it is said that in ancient times an Arawak, walking beside the water and brooding over the sad condition of his people, beheld an Orehu rise from the stream, bearing a branch which he planted as she bade him, its fruit being the calabash, till then unknown. Again she appeared, bringing small white pebbles, which she instructed him to enclose in the gourd, thus making the magic working rattle. She instructed him in its use and in the mysteries of Semecihi, who are medicine men of the Arawak corresponding to the Carib Peaimen, though the word seems related to the Taino Zemi. Orehu is no other than the mainland equivalent of the Haitian (Taino) woman of the sea, Guabonite, who taught the medicine hero, Guagugiana, the use of amulets of white stones and gold. This legend is precisely comparable to the stories in Voudoun mythology that are told of the Water People, who Herskovits (P.244) classifies as baka, spirits of the Petro group, which are sometimes good but sometimes drag or entice the victim to the bottom of the water.” (From Appendix B).

Clearly we can see the correlation that she is making is significant. It is also significant on many other levels, if we look at the bringing of a Medicine Tool or even Medicine Spirit into the hands of the Taino, we cannot negate a “woman of the water”. Which goes completely contrary to the unfortunate and misguided popular belief that women have no business being Boihitus. It was actually a woman, Guabonite, who initiated the man, Guaguguiano, into the secrets of Medicine. Not only is this true with the Taino, but we can see that it is wider than just this one point when we look at the Arawak myth spoken about above. It is important not to let primarily christian dogma invade our thinking when it comes to our Ancestors who have been staring us in the face all along. There is no reasonable indication that only the men were Medicine People whereas there is a entire Myth clearly indicating that the woman was absolutely essential in the process of developing the Medicine.

To be continued…