HONORING ANANSI STORIES:

© 2019 by Michael Auld

In African American History Month

Above: Kweku Anansi the Spider-man — by the author. Asanti, Jamaican and Caribbean folk hero who appeared among South Carolina’s Sea Islands in Aunt Nancy Stories. 

“When we read the history of people of African descent in the Americas who came from their old homes on the continent, the story of their journey often begins with slavery or ends with despair.

Sometimes we learn about the rich heritage of African music. Or emotional outlets provided through gospel music, the blues, jazz, rock & roll, salsa, calypso, reggae, rap, and more.“ 

However, the art of storytelling is often overlooked.

 http://anansistories.com/Anansi_Came_to_America.html

Above: Storyboard panel of an African storyteller from an idea from "How Anansi Came to the Americas from Africa" -- by the author

Yet, African storytelling survives in many parts of the world today. Some stories remain exactly as they were told many centuries ago. The purpose remains the same. They are morality stories that teach people how to live amicably in this world.

In Ghana’s Akan language, Twi, “Anansi” means “spider”. “Kweku” is similar to “Wednesday’s Child”. Kweku Anansi’s stories are called...

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“Ananse-sem” means that ALL stories belong to Anansi. His stories are not necessarily age specific. However, some stories can be risque, but their morals belong to everyone. These morals come in the form of a proverb.

“It is the willing horse that they saddle the most”. -- A cautionary Jamaican self-explanatory proverb that would appear in an AnansiStory.

In one of his sagas, Anansi had won the title of “Keeper of All Stories” from his father, N’yame the Great Sky god. His mother, Asase Ya, was the Great Earth Mother. Their son, Anansi, the offspring of a sky god and the earth mother goddess, was turned into a spider-man because of his disobedience towards his father. The lesson here was that Anansi, as a spider who dwelled in a web is a go-between air and ground god, free to move around on a suspended web whose filaments were connected to the animate and inanimate. 

In the realm of spider mythology, “Among the Hopi of Arizona, USA, Spider Woman's web connects all things in the Universe.”— http://anansistories.com/Three_Spiders.html

Called the Web of Life, spiders’ filaments in both hemispheres, has had both spiritual and philosophical connotations. With these characteristics associated with Anansi, how does a writer create contemporary plots around this ancient folkloric figure?

A SHOUT OUT TO ÆSOP’S FABLES 

Æsop was an enslaved Ethiopian owned by a Greek. He and his African stories are legendary since they helped to be an integral part of the European morality. "Their ethical dimension was reinforced in the adult world through depiction in sculpture, painting and other illustrative means, as well as adaptation to drama and song. In addition, there have been reinterpretations of the meaning of fables and changes in emphasis over time". [Wikipedia].To see more of his stories go to--http://www.read.gov/aesop/001.html 

WRITING and ILLUSTRATING ORIGINAL ANANSI STORIES

My first attempt at writing for Anansi was in 1968 when my Anansesem comic strip was envisioned and published. The Jamaican newspaper, The Gleaner Company, took a chance on me. 

I had prepared a flyer on my Anansesem comic strip idea and got an appointment with a New York syndicate. At the meeting with the representative, he said,

“I love your idea. My kids would also love it. But, most of our newspapers are in the Midwest ad they would not like anything African.”

So, I did what was recommended when one is turned down. I turned to my hometown. In the 1970s, Africa was becoming in vogue in the Diaspora.

In an attempt to Africanize the comic strip, I had begun to research Anansi’s history and the West African visual aesthetics that lend itself more closely to a cartoon figurative style and proportions. So, although Anansi was Asanti, I chose Yoruba figures from the Benin bronze plaque tradition. Anansi’s face and the other characters in the strip were fashioned after these Benin bronzes.

Above: A traditional bronze plaque from Benin, Nigeria.

The aim was to return a more authentic African voice and traditions to a spider-man separated from the continent for 400 years.

For example, Jamaica’s Bra Tiger was returned to the traditional Osebo the Leopard.

One of Anansi’s sons that came with him to Jamaican folklore was his youngest, Intukuma, whom Jamaicans called Takooma.

All of the Anansi comic strip stories published by the island’s newspaper’s Gleaner Company were in an original continuous story format. They were weekly three-panel excerpts for the evening tabloid, The Star.

Above: B and W weekly Anansesem newspaper panel from the story "How Anansi Came To The Americas From Africa".

Above: A historic Anansesem comic strip panel of the published story, Anansi’s “Golden Stool of Asanti.” This was based on the historical story of how Osei Tutu became Asantehene or king and formed the formidable Asanti Confederacy. Here it illustrates how the Golden Stool descended from Heaven and perched on Osei Tutu’s knees at a gathering in Kumasi on a Friday.-- http://anansistories.com/Anansesem.html

WRITING ANANSI BOOKS

Above: Cover of the first Anansi book, published in 1899 by Pamela Colman Smith, whose father was an American while her mother was Jamaican.

Above: Pamela Colman Smith with some of her Tarot Cards. She was one of the first women to enter Prat Institute in New York City.

Anansi books are not only just a collection of traditional tales, but continue to his youngest son, Intikuma “Ticky-Ticky” Anansi. Part one of this trilogy is about a young quarter-spider boy’s search for his wayward father, Anansi.

Above: Book cover design of Anansi’s son’s search for him. The cover includes Taino mythological entities such as; a spinning  Hurakan; skull-like Coaybay, Island of the Dead and its sister Island of the Setting Sun; the Island of Women; and the Island of Gold.

Ticky-Ticky is a twelve-year-old with a secret: He is the youngest son of the infamous trickster Anansi the Spider-man. Hiding in the human world, Ticky-Ticky fears his father’s enemies will recognize and punish him for being the butt of Anansi’s embarrassing pranks.  

Now, the joke’s on Ticky-Ticky. A school incident forces him to follow his missing father’s footsteps on a dangerous quest across time and reality. Riding a magical ghost-bat canoe with a dog of the dead as his guide, Ticky-Ticky encounters Anansi’s folkloric foes out for revenge. After a lifetime of avoiding his father’s legacy, can Ticky-Ticky find his father before he loses his life or even worse: becomes just like him?-- The back cover with an introduction to“Ticky-Ticky’s QUEST”.--https://www.amazon.com/Ticky-Tickys-Quest-Search-Anansi-Spider-Man-ebook/dp/B01MRT1UKW/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Michael+Auld%27s+Ticky-Ticky&qid=1549841950&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull 

Anansi and his Jamaican family live in an island whose indigenous population called themselves “Yamaye”, the source of the name Jamaica. Part one of this trilogy begins in Jamaica while Part II (currently in production) is where African and indigenous Taíno mythologies converge.

Above: Ticky-Ticky (L) next to his friend, Iggy Iguana, discussing a school related problem. Iggy is an indigenous shape-shifting Taíno iguana, while Ticky-Ticky is Anansi’s quarter-spider son.

Above: Makaetauri Guayaba, the Caribbean’s God of the Afterlife and the large image of a guava behind him, a fruit that represented the “Sweetness of Life”.

Above: An illustration of Guabancex, Angry Goddess of the Hurakan, Rider of the Winds, with her twin accomplices, Guatua-BA the Herald (the thunder and lightning) who announces her pending arrival. Along with Coatrisque the Deluge, or the Surge....Just  before snatching Ticky-Ticky out of the airborne bat-canoe. Then she deposited him on Matinino, the Island of Women. — http://anansistories.com/Ticky_Ticky.html

Many Jamaican AnansiStories include Taíno cultural retentions. Whenever, corn, sweet potatoes, geneps, pumpkins, peppers, etc. are mentioned, Taíno foods are introduced, making the story a truly indigenous Jamaican (Yamaye) AnansiStory.

Above: Illustration of a traditional story, titled “Anansi and the Yam Hills.” Mrs. Guinea-fowl stands on an Taíno styled dirt mound from the Taíno "conuco" (garden). The "hill" is planted with African yams.

PART TWO OF THE TRILOGY 

“Ticky-Ticky’s QUEST: 

Travel to Turtle Island”

Above: Currently in production, Part II of the search for Anansi. Ticky-Ticky is surrounded by ancient North American spider gorget images that were found on carved quahog clam shells.

TICKY-TICKY’S QUEST (Part II): Back and Front covers with an image of "Turtle Island", the Native American name for their continent. They believed that, from the air, the continent was shaped like a giant turtle.

All because of an infraction in his high school, TICKY-TICKY’S QUEST (Part II), “Travel to Turtle Island” is a continuation of a young Spider-boy’s relentless search to find his notorious wayward father, Kweku Anansi the Spider-man.

"Falling into the hands of a voodoo man, he was forced to enter the ancient Caribbean’s spirit world. With the loan of the Lord of the Dead’s bat-canoe and his dog, Opiel, Ticky-Ticky is allowed to traverse time, space and different realities.
Having traveled through the Caribbean’s Spirit World with Opiel, the Hunting Dog of the Dead, without a scratch, but with clues of his father’s cold trail, Ticky-Ticky is taken to Turtle Island. On Turtle Island, the ancient Native American name for North America, there are many spider families. There he hopes to find Anansi who himself has gone there on some cockamamie search for rich American spider relatives.
Will he survive the trials and tribulations such as the man-eating Algonquian shape-shifting monster, the Windigo?"-- TICKY-TICKY’S QUEST: Travel to Turtle Island

Look out for the publication date.

HAPPY TCHOCOAT DAY

Food of the Gods and Love:

A rediscovery of a 4,000-year-old potion
© 2019 by Michael Auld

Known as Valentine’s Day, it is the amalgamation of three cultures, the Mayans, the Romans, and the English. The occasion is the coming together of two “pagan” erotic traditions, one Mesoamerican and the other European. All three were steeped in blood sacrifice (animals, humans and the “Blood of Christ”), dominated by a martyred Christian saint, all in the name of love

Left: “Symbols of love”, Heart-shaped Cacao and Heart held in Victorian Cupid’s hands; R; Top- Interior of a cacao pod with sperm-like seed covered membrane, medicinally used in making cocoa butter; Middle; Cacao pods hanging from the trunk of a cacahuaqucht (cacao) tree; Bottom; Assorted box of Cadbury (England) chocolates, first commercial Victorian Valentine’s gift box

VALENTINE’S DAY HAD ITS ORIGIN IN PAGAN EUROPE

Yet it is also the only holiday that is based on an ancient love potion originated among Amerindian lovers who discovered the ingredient in Mexico over 4,000 years ago. It represents the holiday we now call Valentine’s Day. The holiday’s most important icons are a heart and Tchocoat, a condiment borrowed by Europeans only 400+ years ago, who re-branded it as an expression of their romantic love.

Valentine’s Day was an ancient pagan Roman tradition co-opted by the Victorian era. The amorous practice was ascribed to a mysterious Christian priest, Valentine, who broke Emperor Claudius II’s law by secretly marrying young lovers. Claudius II had banned young marriages because he believed that young unmarried men made better soldiers.

However, the practice of Saint Valentine was instituted at the same time as the old pagan Roman priest’s observance of the celebration of February as the month of romance. The middle or ides of February (the 14th) was the celebration of a fertility festival of Lupercalia. “Lupa’ means wolf and is associated with Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. The festival would begin with the sacrifice of a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purity. Strips of the goatskin would be dipped in its blood and acceptingly rubbed on women in the street as a hope of fertility for the coming year. During the festival, young women would place their names in an urn in the city and young bachelors would pick the name of the one that they would live with for the year. “Matches often ended up in marriage.” [history.com -History of Valentine’s Day] The fertility festival was dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture. Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of agriculture and also associated with aphrodisiac Tchocoat served the same purpose. During the European Middle-ages, Valentine’s Day became increasingly associated with romance. Added to this, the Victorian Era had access to the byproduct of the Tchocoat or the cacao bean.

THE ARRIVAL OF CHOCOLATE

  

The tradition of giving a box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day began in England in the 19^Th Century by Richard Cadbury “the scion of a British manufacturing company.” [history.com] The Company had developed a method of manufacturing a variety of chocolates. "Cadbury pounced on the opportunity to sell the chocolates as part of the beloved holiday." [ibid.]

 The Eastern Hemisphere never had cacao before 1492. They would not have known how to process it before 1519. The knowledge of the amorous qualities ascribed to the cacao bean was learned from the Aztec Empire of Mexico. Upon meeting Hernán Cortez in 1519, Emperor Montezuma offered him the sacred tchocoat drink. Cortez’s arrival at the time of the Mexica calendar date of the predicted return of the main (bearded) god of the cacao, Quetzalcoatl, no doubt influenced Montezuma to offer the tchocoat drink and mounds of cacao beans to the unusual man that he mistakenly thought was the returning Quetzalcoatl. Disappointed, Cortez had expected gold. In Mesoamerica, cacao was more revered than gold.

With its export of cacao to Spain, the world became addicted to a revered bean, from the Tree of the Gods, which was also a love potion. The chemicals in the cacao tugged on the erotic heartstrings of Mexica (Mé-she-ka) lovers. To the Mexica or Aztec, cocoa beans were considered an aphrodisiac (a concept still ascribed to its byproduct, “chocolate”). The tree on which the bean pods grew was also believed to bring fortune and strength.  Manufactured and adapted for Valentine's Day, today no better gift is as revered as is chocolates.

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Cocoa (ko-ko-ah) Cacao (or ka-ka-o)

1. From the Nahuatl (Aztec) word cacahuat or cacao seeds. 2. From the Mayan word Tchocoat and the Ca-ca-hua-qu-cht  the "cacao tree". 3. A variant of cacao. 4. A small tropical American evergreen tree cultivated for its seeds, the source of cocoa and chocolate. 5. the fruit or seeds of this tree. 6. A powder made from dried, roasted and ground seeds. 7. a color.

Chocolate (chok-let)

1. From the Mayan word tchocoat, meaning 'bitter water'. 2. Food prepared from the roasted, ground cacao beans. 3. A blood-red Aztec beverage made with ground cocoa beans, water, peppers, musk, honey, vanilla, and annatto/achiote. 4. A beverage of chocolate boiled in sugar-sweetened water, with cow’s milk or coconut milk added. The first chocolate milk was made in Jamaica.

5. A candy or sweet with chocolate coating. 5. A brownish gray color.

How to make Mexica (Aztec) XOCOLATL?

1.                             Remove beans from cocoa pods.
2.                             Ferment and dry them.
3.                             Roast them on a griddle until done.
4.                             Remove the shells and grind the seeds into a fine paste.
5.                            Mix paste with water, chili peppers, and cornmeal.
6.                     Pour the resulting concoction back and forth from pot to cup until frothy             foam develops on top.
7.                               Serve with pride in finely decorated earthenware cup.

VALUE TO THE MAYA

The cocoa or cacao tree originated in the South American homeland of the ancestors of the Taíno, the Amazon or Orinoco basins. The plant also grew wild in the rain forest of the Yucatan Peninsula of Central America. Its benefits have been appreciated for over 4,000 years and the Maya cleared land to establish the first known cocoa plantations. The Maya considered it an important item in their society and was the “food of the gods.” Cocoa beans were given as gifts at a child's coming of age observance and in religious ceremonies. Cocoa beans were used as food and money. Cocoa was often consumed during marriage celebrations. For example, the rate of exchange of goods was as follows: A pumpkin was worth 4 cocoa beans, 10 for a rabbit, 12 for a courtesan and 100 for a slave.

Maya merchants traded cloth, jade and ceremonial feathers for cocoa beans. The Maya considered cacahuaqucht (the cacao plant) to be the tree of the gods. "Ek Chuah, the merchant god, was closely linked with cocoa and the fruits were used in festivals in honor of this god". Their reverence for cocoa was passed on to the Toltecs and Mexica (Me-she-ka, or Aztecs).

Above: Ek Chaufg, Ek Chuah or Ek Chauj, the merchant and Cacao god of the Maya. He is always depicted in black and white. It is obvious that the Maya were consummate traders. He was the patron god of merchants and cacao. Cacao was one of the most important products traded by Maya merchants and it was often treated as currency.

MEXICA TCHOCOAT

In Mexica mythology, the god Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, was the creator of the forest and the sacred cocoa tree.” The tree was believed to bring fortune and strength.” This belief that chocolate was an aphrodisiac was transferred to Europe with the cocoa bean. There, in the 16th century, the Catholic Church banned its use for that reason.

In Mexico, Hernán Cortez was greeted with mountains of cocoa beans instead of gold. Cocoa was ceremoniously used by the Mexica and it was given as a drink by the Emperor Montezuma's servants to Cortez in 1519. “The beans themselves were used to make hot or cold chocolate drinks. Both the Maya and the Aztec secular drinks used roasted cocoa beans, a foaming agent (sugir), toasted corn and water.”—International Cocoa Organization.  

Quetzalcoatl

Above: Codex illustration of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, god of agriculture and Tchocoat or cacao.

Because of a Mexica prophecy which coincided with Cortes's arrival, Emperor Montezuma II, mistakenly thought that the Spaniard might have been the returning creator of the cacao, the god Quetzalcoatl. Tchocoat, from which the word "chocolate" came, was a prized drink made from the dried and crushed cacao beans mixed with chili pepper, musk, honey, vanilla and annatto (or, achiote, which made the thick drink a spiritually significant blood-red color) [see another recipe above].

Above: Sculpture of Quetzalcoatl related to gods of the wind, of the planet Venus, of the dawn, of merchants and of arts, crafts and knowledge. Traditionally, as among other Central American cultures, he was a part of legends of a bearded, possibly "white men", thus, the confusion with Cortez.

Hernán Cortez, who was not fond of the Maxica recipe, saw the commercial value of the cocoa bean and took a large amount to Spain. With Spain chocolate was combined with pepper, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon or mixed with beer or wine. Milk and milk chocolate came later. Other Europeans used this Mexica recipe of vanilla mixed with cocoa, but added sugar and cream to suit their taste buds.

Although Columbus was the first European to record seeing the beans in the Caribbean and took some back with him, not much was made of cocoa in Spain until Hernán Cortez re-introduced it into that country in 1527. This was eight years after Cortez took his armed force to the heartland of the Mexica.

In 1502, on a voyage in the Caribbean, which took him to the coastline of Central America, Columbus came across a large trading canoe off the coast of today's Honduras. The canoe was loaded with copper axes and bells and great quantities of cocoa. Columbus’ ship got stuck on a sand bar, blocking the route of the Maya canoe, whose captain angrily waved Columbus off.

Maya trade routes by sea took them further distances along the Yucatan's Caribbean coast than the short distance across to the Taíno island of Cuba. Although historians stated that cocoa was grown in the southern Caribbean island of Trinidad during pre-Columbian times it is not yet certain if the Island Caribs or the Orinoco basin ancestors of the Taínos brought the plant to the other northern islands. The Taínos played the Central American rubber ball games which, like the cocoa bean, had profound ceremonial and religious significance. It is likely that they were also very familiar with cocoa.

The cocoa tree is a Tropical American plant which only grows in humid climates along the equatorial belt. The tree reaches a height of 26 feet. Its foot-long leaves start out as the light rose colored and mature to a shiny, leathery dark green. The plant flowers continuously and produce more abundant buds twice each year. An unusual aspect of the cocoa tree is that its flowers grow in clusters directly on the trunk and lower branches. They vary in color from bright red to pink, white, and orange with pink. Each tree produces 30 to 40 pod-like fruits each year. The American football-shaped pods attain a size of one foot in length and 2 1/2 to 5 inches in width when mature. The smooth or lumpy surface of the pod hardens and may become scarlet, yellow or various shades of green. When opened the pod contains a sticky, tangy to the taste,  pink colored pulp, which envelopes 30 to 40 pink or light purple seeds called beans. When harvested the cocoa beans must go through a series of processes before it can be turned into edible cocoa or chocolate [see recipe above].

There are about 20 varieties of cocoa trees which are divided into two classes. South America still produces one class of fruit which provide the best quality cocoa beans. "Fine flavor" cocoas are produced by Ecuador, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Jamaica, Siri Lanka, Indonesia, and Samoa. A second lower quality of cocoa, which was transported to Africa, is produced there mainly for commercial purposes.

Cocoa processing follows prescribed sequences. The seed coat and germ are removed from the edible segment called the "nib". The bean must be fermented for 5 to 6 days, sun-dried, sorted, roasted, cracked (to remove the shell) before it is ground. The shell is sometimes used as a fertilizer, cattle feed or a substitute for coffee. The roasting process removes the bitter tasting tannins and determines the color and flavor of the bean. The use of the bean for cocoa powder or chocolate determines the length of the roasting time. The roasted bean is then ground into a sticky paste called chocolate mass or chocolate liquor. Chocolate mass or liquor contains 53% cocoa butter, which is a yellow fat. Further processing produces a cocoa powder which contains 10% to 25% fat. Cocoa butter is also used as a cosmetic with skin healing and sun blocking properties.

Cocoa plantations were established in the Caribbean and West Africa and the Spanish monopolized the trade for almost a century. The French used the drink as an aphrodisiac while 17th and 18th century England opened popular chocolate houses which rivaled the pub. Once highly valued by Central American civilizations as a potent beverage, chocolate is still universally appreciated as a hot cocoa drink. The bean contains carbohydrates, protein, and fat. One pound of chocolate has twice as many calories as a pound of beef or a dozen eggs. It has theobromine, a stimulating alkaloid similar to the caffeine found in tea and coffee. Biochemists have isolated the compound anandamide from cocoa powder and chocolate, which acts as a narcotic stimulant. Actually, it is the chemicals in the raw bean that stimulate the senses and heighten feelings of joy and pleasure. Other substances in chocolate may create a high or have an addictive effect. The term "chocoholic" is lightly applied to persons on who chocolate may have a psychoactive effect.  

In its pure form a hot chocolate drink has a very strong flavor and retains its heat for a long time when the freshly roasted and the ground bean is boiled in water, then sweetened and milk added. Of the world's top three hot beverages (tea, coffee, and cocoa) cocoa is the most versatile. Valued as a soothing drink, it is also prized by confectioners as a solid candy bar or as a sweet or a bitter chocolate coating for nuts, fruits, and other exotic fillings. Chocolate candy is considered as an appropriate expression of affection.

The art of using chocolate as confection was developed in Europe and excelled in by the various nationalities. The first chocolate bar was produced in England by J.S. Fry and Son in 1847 and was too dry. In 1876 Henri Nestle and Daniel Peters added milk and sugar and invented the first milk chocolate. In 1894 Milton Hershey was the first to mass produce chocolate and sold the Hershey Bar for five cents. Chocolate can be divided into four categories. Unsweetened chocolate consists of the crystallized mass which is too bitter to be eaten on its own. In this form, it is used for baking. Dark chocolate is both bittersweet and semisweet and consists of 35% to 70% chocolate liquor, sugar, and emulsifiers. Milk chocolate has milk powder, sugar, vanilla, and cocoa butter. This type of chocolate is mainly for candy. White chocolate has no chocolate liquor and is made from cocoa butter, milk, sugar, powdered milk, and vanilla.

CHOCOLATE AS AN APHRODISIAC

It has already seen that chocolate is believed to be an aphrodisiac. What makes it an erotic stimulant?

“Nowadays, scientists ascribe the aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate, if any, to two chemicals it contains. One, tryptophan, is a building block of serotonin, a brain chemical involved in sexual arousal. The other, phenylethylamine, a stimulant related to amphetamine, is released in the brain when people fall in love.”

-- Jul 18, 2006, New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/health/18real.html

Promoting chocolate as a sexual stimulant is attributed to its chemical makeup. Not just a Valentine gift, now on the Internet, the praises of chocolate as a love potion is being advertised.

Above: Chocolate balls as advertised aphrodisiac balls that brings out the libido in the bedroom. https://www.organicauthority.com/organic-food-recipes/aphrodisiac-raw-chocolate-recipe

--http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6558775.stm--

Above: British research on the erotic effects of chocolate-"found an interesting result in a study with 20 participants.".

"When it comes to tongues, melting chocolate is better than a passionate kiss, scientists have found."-https://sarajanechocolates.co.uk/chocolate-is-better-than-kissing/

Chocolate as candy is one of the most exotic sweets, as a flavoring, it is used in drinks, ice cream, and baked goods. Washington, D.C. was affectionately called "Chocolate City" because of its high percentage of “chocolate-colored” African Americans resided.

The Caribbean or Bagua

© 2019 by Michael Auld 

  If you intend to visit, have been to, are from the Caribbean, or are just curious, or not just interested in sun, sand and sea, this blog is for you. Are you aware of our area's 6,000 years of human history? 

Although the area still retains some original natural beauty, in terms of flora and fauna, it is but a shell of itself of 500 years ago [See extinct Cuban/Jamaican Macaw (a Taino word) below the map].

The Amerindian areas in the Caribbean Islands.

Watercolor painting by Jacques Barraband, ca. 1800. The Cuban macaw (two Taino words) or Cuban red macaw (Ara tricolor) was a species of macaw native to the main island of Cuba and (a similar red specie was found in Jamaica) the nearby Isla de la Juventud that became extinct in the late 19th century. As many as 13 now-extinct species of macaw have variously been suggested to have lived on the Caribbean islands. Macaws are known to have been transported between the Caribbean islands and from mainland South America to the Caribbean both in [earliest times by Amerindians] and [post-Colombian] times by Europeans [and others].-Wikipedia

WHAT IS THE CARIBBEAN? and HOW DID IT COME INTO EXISTENCE? 

Caribbean (Kare’-bee-an, or Ka-rib’-yan) 

1. From the Taíno word Cariba (Strong Men), Caribe, for the Kalinago or Island Carib, the most feared warrior inhabitants of the Antilles. 2. Partially enclosed body of water in the Western Hemisphere called Bagua by the Taínos, 3.  The name of the sea and arc of islands which begin off the coast of Venezuela and end off the coast of Florida.  4. A western extension of the Atlantic Ocean which borders on Venezuela, Columbia (South America); Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico (Central America); and the islands of the West Indies. (5) considered by some as part of North America.

THE CARIBBEAN CREATION STORY: 

According to the Taíno 

In the Taíno Creation Story, one of the earliest acts to be accomplished was the birth of the ocean and all the animals therein. One story tells of the exploits of  Deminan, son of Itiba Cahubaba, and one of the Four Father's of Humankind, as the principal ancestor among the four Sky-Walking Brothers.

Watercolor painting by Jacques Barraband, ca. 1800. The Cuban macaw (two Taino words) or Cuban red macaw (Ara tricolor) was a species of macaw native to the main island of Cuba and (a similar red specie was found in Jamaica) the nearby Isla de la Juventud that became extinct in the late 19th century. As many as 13 now-extinct species of macaw have variously been suggested to have lived on the Caribbean islands. Macaws are known to have been transported between the Caribbean islands and from mainland South America to the Caribbean both in [earliest times by Amerindians] and [post-Colombian] times by Europeans [and others].-Wikipedia

Above: "FOUR TWINS"; In the process of a cesarean birth. Deminan Caracaracoal, the eldest, and his three Sky-Walking brothers are seated in the womb/cave of their mother, Itiba Cahubaba (Fifth Earth Mother. "The Blodied One"). Together, they are the Four Fathers of humankind. Demenan, the oldest, is the father of the Taíno. The petroglyph painting in the background is a composition of the symbols such as iguana-el, representing the sun. His serrated tail and back is a reflection of the sun's rays. Iguanas love to sun themselves for the absorption of warming ultraviolet rays, and therefore represent that celestial body. Along with boina-el, the black snake cloud, and as Iguanaboina they symbolize the source of life.--Silkscreen print by the author.

Deminan's mischief caused a deluge. The story begins with a god named Yaya whose disrespectful son Yaya-el was exiled for wanting to kill his father. After some time went by, Yaya-el disobeyed his father and decided to return home. Yaya slew his son. According to Taino tradition, Yaya hung his son's bones in an urn in the house. The bones turned into fishes. Yaya-el's disobedient return is interpreted by Antonio Stevens-Arroyo (1988) author of Cave of the Jagua (a book on Comparative Religion by examining Taino culture), he analyzed this myth as a cautionary tale. Forced to leave the Orinoco River Basin because of overpopulation, the ancestors of the Taíno were warned to move on and not to return "upon the pain of death". 

 Deminan sneaked into the the Supreme Being, Yaya's house while he was away, took the urn (or gourd) down and hung it up badly. The urn fell, gushing out water and spilling out many fish and creatures that came to earth. This is a Great Flood story about the origin of the sea or Bagua. The Taíno’s sentiment about this body of water can be summed up in the following manner. Yucahuguama Bagua Maorocoti, (Below) was the positive and creative force who became the God of the Bagua. His title meant “yuca giver-sea-provider-of woman born without grandfathers”, making him the result of a virgin birth. His mother, Atabey or Ataberia (from the Arawakan Atte, mother.) is the goddess of childbirth and fresh water.

Stone petroglyph of Atabey, at Caguana Ceremonial Park, Puerto Rico. She is one of many stone structures that surround a ceremonial ball-court.

Symbolism: Her legs are frog-like, representing fertility; The bird's head is from a myth associated with a woodpecker who created a vagina for female creatures without genitals, provided to the men after their wives had been seduced during the Guahayona ("Our Pride") Epic, and taken to Matinino, the legendary Island of .Women. Also, as the goddess of childbirth, her ribs are symbols of fresh water running down the mountainside. Her earrings are moon icons.

Yuca or Cassava root-like Yucahuguama Bagua Maorocoti in the form of a three-pointed stone cemi. Cemis or zemis are religious icons similar to those objects in other religions.

(Below: Some of the products from the Taíno staff of life.)

The Caribbean Sea... 

Occupies a geographic area of the Americas and is  971,400 sq mi (1,562,983 sq km) in size. [Approximately the size of Europe]. Its greatest depth (7,000 m or 23,009 f ) is Bartlett Deep in the Cayman (Taino word for crocodile) Trench between Cuba, Cayman and Jamaica. The sea floor is made up of a complex system of ocean ridges, trenches, and basins. The floor of the sea is composed of tan to brown muds which contain coarse organic and inorganic materials. Surface water seasonal temperatures vary little from the air above which, in Winter can be 81 deg F (27 deg C) in the day and 70-75 deg F (21-24 deg C) during the night. Torrential rains fall during June, July, and August after the dry months of February and March. There are comparatively long periods of fair weather but from July to October hurricanes (huracan) develop.

Above: Illustration fashioned after a ceramic pot's image of Guabancex, Angry Woman Goddess of the Huracan/Hurricane, Rider of the Winds superimposed over hurricane Katrina. --Photoshoped by the author. 

Background image: Sattelite photography. Contemporary meteorologists call the head of Guabancex, an "eye". Taíno women drew the huracan as an "S" shaped form of a flailing woman viewed from above.

  

The combined land area of all of the islands is 91,000 sq mi (236,000 sq km) with the highest mountain, Pico Duatre, Dominican   Republic, rising to 10,417 ft/ 3,175 m.  The isles of the Caribbean are also called the West Indies and are comprised of over 1,000 islands and many cays (from the Taíno "cayo").  They are composed of the Bahamas, the Greater and the Lesser Antilles which range in size from Cuba (42,827 sq mi/110,922 sq km, the size of Texas) to Saba (5 sq mi/13 sq km).  The Greater Antilles are mountainous and mainly sedimentary in composition. The Lesser Antilles are composed of the Leeward and Windward Islands, many of which are volcanic in origin. Temperatures vary from cool temperate mountains to warm sunny beaches to thorn bush and cacti covered savannas (from the Taino "sabana", meaning flat land). Northeasterly Trade Winds determine rainfall quantities and matching topographic descriptions. Many of the Caribbean islands were lush, tree-covered tropical forests at the Colombian arrival in 1492. 

Over six thousand years ago is considered as the Caribbean's Pristine Era. After human arrival some early animals like the sloth became extinct. Each sduccesive wave of human arrivals weighed hevily on the Caribbean only to accelerate during the modern era. Some flora and fauna (like the Cuban bumblebee-sized hummingbird below) were found indigenous to only some islands. For hours passing flocks of parrots and doves blotted out the sun while a school of snappers could darken the sea. The dazzling array of aquatic animals was the hallmark of Caribbean bounty. From turtles to seals, dolphins to revered manatees (Taíno for “Big Woman Goddess) and whales swam its waters

Another concept associated with the geographic area was that the Caribbean consisted of a bagua (sea) with “a bracelet of islands”. In another of their Origin Story arietos (saga songs) the lyrics told that the islands were formed after Deminan was smitten on the back from a glob of cohoba (tobacco snuff inhaled into the nostrils that mixed with snot) discharged from the nostril by the god, Baymanaco on to the mischievous Deminan’s back.

"A swollen hump formed on his back and he loses strength.  Lying down on a sliver of sandy beach, in the middle of the vast ocean, Deminan takes deadly sick. Using a coral knife, one of his brothers lances the swollen hump. Out of his back comes one and other turtles. [Turtle Mother lives with the brothers and help to produce the human race]. Out of his back, slide out longer reptiles that swim out to sea. [Reminiscent of the biblical Eve being formed from Adam's rib.] When they surface from under the waters, the heat of the sun petrifies them, forming the islands, big and small, mountain ranges all over our Taino sea. Thus were our lands created." —Taíno informant.

Below (R and L): Bifricated cohoba inhalers for inducing trances. Often used only by shamen and cacikes (chiefs) to cross over into the spirit world. There is a recorded story from Cuba told to the Spanish upon their arrival. "Before the arrival of the Spanish, a past cacike, in a cohoba trance, told of the destruction of their civilization by outsiders. The Taino believed that these outsiders were the Carib. But we found out it is the Spanish."

"The corresponding ceremony using cohoba-laced tobacco is transliterated as cojibá. This corresponds culturally to the practice of drug-induced "astral traveling" so common to the Americas and elsewhere"- Wikipedia.

Wooden and Manatee bone bifricated inhalers

Left and Right: Taino inhalers that some believe was called Tabacu

The word was mistakenly applied to the tobacco leaf, then called kohiba..


In the Bagua, shellfish cruised or burrowed along its shores. On land, snakes, lizards, hutias ( a nocturnal rabbit-sized rodent - still found in Jamaica as Indian "Coney," an Old English word for rabbit.) crawled through its underbrush and trees. Crocodiles (called cayman by the Taíno) trekked the swamps and brackish mangrove (from Taíno manglé) waters.  Bats, as Taino souls, glided through firefly-lit nights. Different ethnic Amerindian groups later populated the opulent Caribbean islands. 

The earliest human inhabitants to have survived into the "historic era" are thought to be the Guanahatabeys of eastern Cuba. Although linked to the Yucatan, they also shared cultural similarities with Florida inhabitants. They were present in 1492 and spoke a different language than the more populous Taíno and Kalinago or Island Caribs.


Casimiroid People from the Central American (Yucatan) peninsular, at around 4,000 BC, entered Cuba and continued into Hispaniola (Haiti/The Dominican Republic). They brought with them flaked stone tools (some beautifully designed and decorated) and lived off indigenous crocodiles, sea turtles, manatees, whales, a variety of shellfish, fruits (pineapples/anona, guava/guayaba), vegetables (probably amaranth or "callaloo") and a local tuber called guayiga. 

Above: Key -(1) Scientific illustration of the guava/guyaba. (2) and (3) Stone carvings of Maquetauri Guayaba, god of the Afterlife who lived on one of twin islands. His was Coaybey, Island of the Afterlife or "Those Who Were Absent". (4) Opiel Guabirang, the hunting Dog of the Afterlife, who hunts down wayward souls (opias) at night to return them to Coaybey (twin island of Soraya or "Sunset", an unreachable place) before sunrise when they would be turned into stone.-- Carved conch shell with superimposed guava seed irises.(5) Sweet commercial Guava Jelly. (6) Guava cheese or paste. Delicious with cream-cheese squares, secured with a toothpick  as an Hors d'voeuvre. (7) Bat vomiting stick from a manatee bone, used to empty the stomach before going into a cojoba trance. Fruit bats were spirits, who, at night searched for guava berries that represented the "Sweetness of Life".

Above, Contemporary book illustration of Maquetauri Guayaba from my book "Ticky-Ticky's QUEST" (Below). 

Go to http://anansistories.com/Ticky_Ticky.html to see more about the book.

OTHER WAVES OF PEOPLE

Around 2,000 BC, Ortonoid peoples came by canoa/canoe into the Caribbean by way of the South American coast into Trinidad and continued north to a frontier in Puerto Rico. Around 1,000 BC, the Ortonoid of Puerto Rico faced the Casimiroid people of Hispaniola across the Mona Passage. The next group to follow into the Caribbean were the Saladoid circa 1,000 BC. 

These Taíno people... continued west into Haiti (Hispaniola), Cuba and Jamaica and north into the Bahamas until they may have eventually reached Florida. Later, Kalinago/Callinago/Island Caribs expanded from mainland South America into the Caribbean. Later, they made trading trips (by sail-rigged canoe) back down to South America. 

Kalinago or Island Carib

The people for whom the Caribbean was named were called Carib (Strong Men) by the Taíno or, as they called themselves, Kaliago. They were called Island Carib by ethnohistorians to distinguish them from their cousins, the mainland Caribs of South America. Their territory in 1492, through the conquest of the Taíno men (and intermarrying with the women) stretched above Trinidad up to Guadeloupe with extensive influence further north. Their ancestors continued to live side by side on the mainland with the Arawaks. 

Their language, like Taíno , belonged to Arawakan. The men persevered the use of pidgin Cariban, employed in the communication between the mainland Caribs and Arawaks. Not much is known about the culture of precolumbian Island Caribs. Records of their language and culture were taken after their numbers were swelled by Taíno refugees escaping Spanish oppression in the northern Caribbean. They joined in alliances with the Taínos to fight Spanish incursion into the Caribbean. Although they shared many cultural practices with the Taínos they had some distinctive differences. Linguistic differences from Taino may have been because of a Carib amalgamation with the Igneri, the people who preceded them in the islands. The Island Carib, it is believed, settled among the Igneri (also Eyeri or Ieri) and adopted their language. Their reputation as un-swaying warriors caused them to endure. They have the only Amerindian reservation in the Caribbean on the island of Dominica (Dommi’-nee-ka, not to be confused with the Do’-mini-can Republic). 

For survival, they successfully fought the Spanish, French, Dutch, and British. In Colonial Williamsburg, the British who were very fearful of the Carib warriors, passed a law to hang any "Carib" brought to the Colony. In Dominica, the Caribs are dignified and industrious farmers who continue to manufacture many of their traditional crafts. Steadily regaining their culture, they are the principal producers of Dominican bananas, coconuts (copra), and passion fruit on the 3,700 acres Carib Reserve. 

 Above: Chief Irvince Auguiste (1992) of the Carib Reserve, Dominica (Pronounced: Domi-nee-ka as opposed to Do-min-nican Republic the country that shares Hispaniola with Haiti.To see a 1992 interview with the chief, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFnDZSToAW4&t=193s

Above: Herminie (1992) a 7th grade Kalinago girl of Domnica.

Above: Traditional Kalinago basket-maker, Felix Francis,

 Above: Traditional Kalinago canoe-maker, Napoleon Sandford. Dominica.

SOME CARIBBEAN CURIOS THAT SURVIVED

A Taíno batu player. (Illustrated by the author) Playing the solid, heavy, bouncing rubber-ball game on batey, a clay field. The ball could break bones. Each village had a batey.  When the Spanish arrivals saw the ball bounce, they thought that it was witchcraft. The world's first team sport originated among the Olmec of Mexico's Yucatan. Played by all the major Central American civilizations from the Olmecs to the Aztecs, was also found in Arizona.Invented by the Olmec (Olmec = "People of the Rubber Country"), who first invented Latex Rubber and later, the Ball Game from the Preclassical Period (2500-100 BCE). Made from the sap of the Rubber tree (Castilla elastica) mixed with the sap of the Night Shade in different quantities, made bouncing balls or hard rubber for sandals and pliable waterproof capes. 

All rubber-ball games played on a court came from the Olmec invention. Two teams face off together, one North and the other South. The heavy ball is kept airborne by the hips. Among the Maya stone hoops were placed on the East and West walls of the stadium (like basketball).Hitting the ball through the hoop won the game. Among the Aztec the ballplayers were warriors prepared to die by sacrifice to become messengers to the gods.The airborne ball represented the sun and each team may represent positive or negative forces. The game was a form of divination. Among the Aztec more ball-courts were built during times of strife.Betting was true in the Caribbean and Mesoamerica. Lords lost or won kingdoms there. In the Caribbean both women (using a bat) and men played separate games that were more social. Beautifully carved stone belts and elbo protectors were worn. Agility was premium. The Ball Game survives in Mexico among the Maya.

Above: Sixteenth century manuscript illustration of demonstrations of the first Taino ball-game played in King Philip of Spain's court. Illustrated by the Dutch Ambassador. Forefront: A carved Taíno protective batu stone belt

The world's tiniest bird and smallest hummingbird, the Bumblebee or Bee hummer. Endemic to and found only in Cuba. When the photographer first stalked it, he ignored the bird at first, thinking that it was a bumblebee

The Taíno's Aji, also called pepper, Scotch bonnet, or Habañero

Jamaican Rock Iguana (a Taíno word), thought to be extinct until 1991 when one was chased out of the bushes on Hellshire Hills, by a wild pig hunting dog.