Taíno mythology
mythological beliefs of the Taíno
Taíno mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Taíno in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Greater Antilles. The Island Arawak-speaking Taíno recorded their mythology in communal sacred performances called areitos which are mostly lost. Areitos involved complex elaborations in dance, music, oratory, fabric, and trance. They also performed areitos for important social events like harvest time and births, marriages, and deaths of chiefs.
Taíno religious practice was centered on veneration of zemis, ancestors, and mythic heroes within a perception that had no distinction between natural and supernatural. Zemis generally held away over specific natural domains, processes, rhythms, and resources. Yucahu, son of mother goddess Atabey, for example, was the god of cassava or yucca, the primary food source of the Taíno. Opiyelguobiran, the soul dog, ferried dead souls between realms. Religion was administered by priests (behikes or bohikes), and chiefs or kasikes (cacique) aulso played important roles. Chiefs like Anacaona for example, were poets and musicians who actively contributed to the mythic archive of areitos.
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