3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit On Course

Damon Corrie and Roberto Borrero at the offices of the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa, Canada (UCTP Photo)

Ottawa, Canada (UCTP Taíno News) – A planning meeting for the upcoming 3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas was held February 27-28, 2008 in Ottawa, Canada. The meeting was hosted by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the Native Womens Association of Canada.

Three representatives from the Caribbean Region were invited to attend as members of the planning committee – Damon Corrie (Barbados), Albert DeTerville (St. Lucia), and Roberto Borrero (Puerto Rico).

The Indigenous Leaders Summit will present a Declaration and Plan of Action to the 5th OAS Summit of the Americas that will be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad from April 17 – 19, 2009.

The Summit location has not yet been confirmed, but current choices location choices include Venezuela, Panama, and St. Lucia. Trinidad is also being considered but as a result of the OAS Summit, logistics could present a problem. While the cost and other factors will determine the actual meeting site, members of the local indigenous community are still hopeful that the Indigenous Summit will come to Trinidad.

“To not have this meeting in Trinidad would be a shame” stated Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez of the Santa Rosa Carib Community. Currently, the Santa Rosa Community is the only community on the island recognized by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

Close to 100 hundred indigenous leaders from throughout the hemisphere are expected to attend the meeting. Participants will be representative of 4 regions – South America; Central America & Mexico; North America (U.S.A & Canada ); and the Caribbean with about 20 participants per region.

Corrie was appointed to head the Communications Sub-Committee while DeTerville and Borrero will work with the Technical Committee. Outreach has already been circulated in the Caribbean Region for the delegate nominees.

The 3rd Indigenous Summit of the Americas will take place from April 14-15, 2009.

UCTPTN 03.05.2009

UA professor leads archaeological dig in Cuba

(Photo provided by the University of Alabama) Former UA grad student Paul Noe carefully digs within an excavation square at the site of a former native village in eastern Cuba.

A joint University of Alabama and Cuban archaeological dig in eastern Cuba is revealing how the natives there lived when Christopher Columbus found them and, more importantly, how Indians reacted to the Spanish.

“We have very few cases in the Caribbean where we can point to a certain place and say, ‘This is exactly what happened when Europeans hit the scene,’ ” said UA professor Jim Knight. “Of course, we have the Spanish documents, but archaeology can tell a different story sometimes. Some of these documents tend to whitewash what happened, but artifacts won’t lie.”

It took Knight nearly seven years to get permission and forms signed for UA to led an expedition in Cuba.

For the past two summers, UA graduate students worked alongside professional archaeologists with the Central-Eastern Department of archaeology of the science ministry of Cuba to dig through El Chorro de Maita, a large Indian settlement on a hillside off island’s eastern shore. The effort was sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

“It’s extremely rare for a U.S. institution to partner with a Cuban institution. It’s been our hope we could work something out from our end, and it worked out,” he said.

Cubans have long worked with European archaeologists and researchers, and the site UA wanted to work is widely known in Cuba. There is a museum there, and Knight compared it to Moundville here in Alabama.

Knight is well-versed in Native American culture in the Southeast and studying their encounters with Spanish conquistadors is a natural transition for the UA professor. The dig in Cuba recovered several thousand Spanish artifacts, far more than on any site Knight had ever seen, he said.

But archaeologists also found small stone idols, evidence the society had a hierarchical structure. The Arawakan Indians were similar to those at Moundville, the Mississippian Indians, in structure and sophistication when Columbus landed in Cuba in 1492. Although it’s likely that the explorer landed near El Chorro de Maita, it’s impossible to tell, Knight said.

The site was an Indian town from the late 1300s to the early 1500s, when Spain conquered Cuba and essentially wiped out Arawakan society. It is that interim time period from Columbus’ landing to Spanish society’s dominance that Knight and other researchers in the project are interested in understanding.

For instance, among the Spanish artifacts at the site were fancy tableware, which could mean Spanish settlers lived in the old Indian huts for a time or that Indians picked up the habits of their conquerors.

To understand more of the two cultures’ interaction, John Worth, a professor of anthropology at the University of West Florida, joined the team to decipher Spanish government documents from the day. Written in a Spanish barely recognizable as such by today’s standards, Worth is hoping to align the documents with the timeline established by the dig in order to understand how the Arawakans eventually melded into Spanish culture.

“We’ll eventually narrow down and pin down who we’re talking about, what the nature of the Indian contact was there because we really don’t know yet what kind of operation there was in that particularly district,” Knight said.

Author: Adam Jones
Source: Tuscaloosa News.com

*UCTP Taino News Editor’s note: This article is posted for information purposes and does not necessarily reflect the views of the UCTP Taino News Service or the United Confederation of Taino People.

Tradition Counts More Than Beauty at a Pageant

JAYUYA, P.R. — The seven girls posed, preened and smiled with all the energy of Miss Universe contestants, but this was no ordinary pageant.

The competitors, from about 6-years-old to 16, had just paraded through a downpour to a small stage surrounded by mountains, where they displayed elaborate outfits handmade from wood, plants or, in one case, jingling shells. And the judges also sought a special kind of beauty: those who most resembled Puerto Rico’s native Indian tribe, the Taíno, received higher marks.

“It’s different,” said Félix González, president of the National Indigenous Festival of Jayuya, of which the pageant is a part. “It’s not white culture and blue eyes; it says that the part of our blood that comes from indigenous culture is just as important.”

Puerto Ricans have long considered themselves a mix of African, European and Native American influences. But since the 1960s, the Taíno — a tribe wiped from the Antilles by European conquest, disease and assimilation — has come to occupy a special place in the island’s cultural hierarchy.

The streets of Old San Juan are lined with museums and research centers dedicated to unearthing Taíno artifacts and rituals. Children are taught from a young age that “hurricane” is Taíno in origin, from the word “huracán,” while no Latin pop music concert is complete without a shout out to Boricuas — those from Borinquen, the Taíno name for Puerto Rico, which means “land of the brave noble lord.”

The ties may be more than cultural. In 2003, Juan Martinez Cruzado, a geneticist at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, found that at least 61 percent of Puerto Ricans possess remnants of Taíno DNA — and nearly all seem to believe they belong in that group.

“The Indian heritage is very important because it unites the Puerto Rican community,” said Miguel Rodríguez López, an archaeologist with the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, an independent graduate school in San Juan. “There is a feeling that it represents our primary roots.”

He added, “It is our symbolic identity.”

In Jayuya, a town of a few thousand people in the mountains north of Ponce, Taíno celebrations began decades ago. When local leaders discovered in the mid-60s that the town was named for a Taíno chief, they commissioned a sculpture to honor him. It was dedicated in November 1969 at the first indigenous festival, and every year since, the chief’s stern eyes have looked out over the event from a perch above the central plaza.

At times, he has been forced to share space with the more modern forces that decimated his people. One of the city’s major archaeological sites, discovered here two years ago, sits across from a Burger King. And before the pageant began on Saturday night, a performance of traditional Taíno dance competed with a pop song from Maná, Latin America’s biggest rock band.

Mostly though, the Taíno influence in Jayuya seems to have merged with its surroundings. The standard Taíno sun symbol, called a guanin, is now carved into the Spanish-style plaza. Many of the crafts being sold at the festival, like jewelry, purses and soap, also included Taíno symbols.

And even the pageant is a hybrid. Actual Taíno women wore only loincloths. But with the influence of local teenagers, the costumes have become exponentially more extravagant A few years ago, organizers had to limit their size to 8 feet high by 6 feet wide.

Even with those boundaries, which, of course, the teenagers tried to push, the costumes amounted to a mix of homecoming queen, Halloween, “Last of the Mohicans” and Las Vegas showgirl.

Mr. Rodríguez, the archaeologist and a former judge of the pageant, compared it to Brazil’s carnival. “It’s a sincretismo,” he said, using the Spanish word for “syncretism.” “They mix different cultures, different beliefs.”

Some scholars have scoffed at the concept, saying it is more a reflection of the joke that Puerto Ricans love festivals enough to have one for every cause or crustacean. But Mr. Rodríguez defended the idea. “You have to enjoy it because it’s for the people,” he said.

The contestants clearly love it. Natalia Fernandez, 16, said she had spent a month and half building her outfit, which required her to carry on her back a wooden Taíno dancer weighing at least 25 pounds, with a sprout above his head the size of a small coffee table.

Her bangs had been cut, her dark hair was straight (in a nod to what is considered Taíno style) and her naturally copper-colored skin made her appear as Native American as Chief Jayuya. But she was also 100 percent teenager. Asked before the contest how she thought she would do, she fiddled with her cellphone and said, “I’m going to win.”

The event started an hour late, and the rain and competition seemed to surprise Natalia. She frowned under the downpour, looking chilled with a bare midriff and no shoes, as she glanced nervously at the girl with shells and starfish netted in a four-foot-high headdress.

But her fears were unfounded. After all the girls introduced themselves and explained their outfits, the judges called Natalia’s name last, like all great pageant winners. Her friends and family cheered loudly from beneath umbrellas as she smiled and twirled for the digital cameras.

“It’s about a beautiful culture,” she said before taking the stage. “It’s not about just beauty.”

Author: Damien Cave
Source: New York Times

In the Footsteps of our Ancestors

Artisan and teacher Alice Chéverez with student Luis “Kacián” Calderón creating pottery in Morovis, Boriken (photo: Roger Guayakan Hernandez)
By Luis “Kacián” Calderón
In my personal journey toward reaffirmation of my Taíno heritage, I have often wondered what our ancestors would have been doing if they lived right now and in today’s Boriken (Puerto Rico) in the 21st century. The answer doesn’t need a lot of speculation because they would be doing the same thing our native brothers and sisters in the southwest of the United States have been doing. That is that if you are an indigenous artisan, you would be doing artisan work just as your ancestors or family had been doing, most likely that’s what you also would be doing, especially if it would be a means of attaining economic independence. We as Taíno’s of today need to reclaim our arts, music, language, mythology, spirituality and philosophy as a continuing people. For me, I have decided to restore my people's heritage in the art of ceramics and working with clay. Our ancestors were Neolithic people. This means that they developed their culture through agriculture. People, who reach this level of development, also develop the use of clay and form functional clay pottery.

Living here in Boriken has allowed me the privilege of studying under a great teacher and artisan. Her name is Alice Chéverez. Alice is the youngest daughter of Don Pablo y Doña Varin. In the mountains of Morovis, Alice practices the ceramic arts of our Taíno ancestors, from acquiring clay here in Boriken to preparation and forming the piece fundamentally using the coil system. The drying and final firing of the pot is done in an open fire. Alice uses the same exact traditional method that our ancestors used to create pottery 500 years ago. She specializes in functional and ceremonial Taíno pottery and museums reproductions and uses traditional tools as higüera scrappers and wooden sticks to form the Taíno designs in the pottery. Alice doesn’t work with industrialized clay that can be bought in conventional ceramic stores, where is prepared and processed. She also does not work with the pottery wheel, which origins are from the Middle East and Europe. When firing the piece, she does not use an electric kiln oven, gas or wood kilns. Alice fires her pieces in an open fire using wood.

Alice learned the Taíno form of pottery from her mother while helping her create Taíno pottery. She has more than twenty years of learning this craft. Her mother learned from the Taíno artisan Daniel Silva, who today lives in the island of Vieques and continues the tradition, but using a new medium, higüera instead of clay.

Alice has sold her Taíno pieces in all the artisan fairs on the island, and in the past has traveled to the United States to exhibit her work. Due to the birth of her son, she hasn’t had the chance to travel around the island. Also due to her mother’s health, Alice has been given the responsibility of continuing the Taíno tradition of pottery making. Though her mother is in good health and spirit, she has decided to retire from pottery and giving the privilege to Alice as master potter.

As an educator, I would like to take the time to inform the Taíno community through the forum of the internet that Alice Chéverez of Taller Cabachuela is taking on new students. She would like to have serious students who can make a commitment to the serious study of learning our Taíno ancestors’ traditional way of creating pottery. The price is economical and all you need is your time and dedication. Alice is very serious about her work. Though her studio is very humble, what counts is the knowledge she will pass on. In today’s modern world, we have all suffered economically the recession that has been going on for the past few years. Many feel forced to go back to the university to study a profession that will give them the means economically to better themselves. Why not become an artisan promoting your ancestors’ tradition? At the same time, you will be helping yourself toward economic independence. I can attest that there is no satisfaction like creating a Taíno piece with your own hands and seeing it finally fired in an open fire. Alice Chévere as a teacher is excellent; she never makes fun of the student or his piece and is more than willing to help. She is open minded to all questions about the craft. If you live on the island or are visiting the island and would like to take a few classes, you can contact Alice at:

Alice Chéverez
Taller Cabachuela
Torrecillas, Buzón 5986
Morovis, PR 00687
(787) 321-8768

You can also write an e-mail to frets20@hotmail.com, call me at (787)260-7248 or (787)813-9379 for any questions regarding to Alice Chévere and Taíno pottery.

Author's note: I would like to thank the photographer and fellow student Roger “Guayakan” Hernández (see photo above) and Roberto “Múkaro” Borrero for the space offered in the UCTP website for this article.About the author: Luis “Kacián” Calderón has been an active member within the taíno community since the late 80’s., in New York City and has been living in Boriken from 1996 to the present. He received a B.A. in secondary education in history and a minor in music from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico in San Germán. Kacián has studied taíno pottery with Alice Chéverre for the past two years an also studied contemporary ceramics at Centro Sor Isolina Ferrer. He also studied the pottery wheel with his teacher Eduardo Martínez. The author lives with his wife Ana and boxer dog Chaco in Juana Díaz, Boriken (Puerto Rico).

Government Oppression of the Taino People in Puerto Rico

The General Council of Tainos Borincanos has planned to clean-up the Bucana river in Jacanas (Tibes - Ponce), Puerto Rico on April 12 but their attempt has been impeded by the Department of Natural Resources.

The General Council of Tainos Borincanos having proposed - as part of our activities to promote conservation and respect of the environment - the clean-up of the Bucana river to mend the damage caused to the sacred site of Jacanas, Ponce, PR and to renew its integrity; had made efforts since the beginning of February to contact the Department of Natural Resources, the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and other governmental agencies through various means of communication such as faxes, telephone calls, letters and personal visits. The Taino Council’s requests were never officially answered.

The Department of Natural Resources sent a delayed and confusing letter with no instructions on the procedures for carrying out such an activity; however they implied that the Taino Council needed to have the endorsement of federal agencies to clean our rivers and to protect Mother Earth.

On April 11th representatives of the Taino Council received a visit in the area designated for the activity, from agents of the Department Natural Resources who indicated that we could NOT hold this activity and that they had received orders from their superiors in San Juan.

At that time, leaders of the Council asked what law existed that prohibited the cleaning of the river and what violation constituted their action. No answer was received from the agents. This is ironic since the government of Puerto Rico and the Department of Natural Resources invest so much money and energy in announcements to the people of Puerto Rico insisting that the public mobilize to clean-up the environment. Here in Jacanas the government of Puerto Rico and the Department of Natural Resources has gone against the public mandate of set by their organizations.

This situation is especially sad since garbage continues to accumulate at the river and contaminate such an important and sacred place. There are NO signs to indicate that garbage should NOT be thrown. All of these realities offend the dignity and disrespect the memory of our ancestors and in general the people of Puerto Rico.

As this is happening at this very moment in Puerto Rico, this unfortunate and possibly dangerous situation is evidence of the state of repression that the descendants of the Taino-Boricua People and the People of Puerto Rico are facing. These actions taken by the government of Puerto Rico and the Department of Natural Resources clearly constitute discrimination and a violation of law and the freedom to exercise our rights.

General Council of Tainos Borincanos is requesting support from all Puerto Rican/Boricua environmental, cultural and indigenous communities as well as international indigenous rights organizations in order to exercise our rights as a people as well protect our patrimonial legacy.

To support, endorsement, or reactions, and ideas, write to
anacaotoao@hotmail.com or call 787-568-1547 or 787-858-4855.

Tracing Taíno Ancestry in Puerto Rico

Since 1994, Dr. Juan Carlos Martínez Cruzado has been working on the quest to find the origins of the Taínos. The genetic professor from the Biology Department of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez (UPRM) confessed that the only thing that he knew before about the first inhabitants of our island was what his 5th-and 11th-grades history classes taught him.

He recalls that the archaeologist Juan José Ortiz Aguilú, director of the Archaeology Program of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, was the person who awoke his interest on this topic, when he offered Martínez Cruzado the chance to investigate the mitochondrial genetic material (mtDNA) of an ancient skeleton.

Although the majority of our genetic material is inside the nucleus of our cells, the mtDNA can only be found outside the nucleus in an organelle called mitochondria. Martínez Cruzado, a Harvard Ph.D., clarified that the mtDNA is 200,000 times smaller than the nuclear DNA.

“We all possess the mtDNA, but it’s only transmitted by mothers,” explained the
professor. Also, in the mtDNA a mutation or change in composition occurs each 3,000 years.

Because of this, the mtDNA can be preserved through many generations and help trace human migrations around the world. Although racial mixing has been a common historical phenomenon in the Caribbean, there are mtDNAs that have maintained their original state and can be identified as African, Taíno or Caucasian. “The evolution of human kind is written on the mitochondrial DNA”, he stated.

At the beginning of his research Martínez Cruzado searched for Taíno ancestry by
extracting mtDNA from bones. This technique was discarded because the results didn’t show variety in the genetic material extracted, and the technique was too expensive and complicated.

The professor, then decided to collect hair, saliva and blood samples from people with typical Taíno traits to obtain their mtDNA. Between 1998 and 1999, the investigation was based on analyzing the mtDNA of voluntaries from UPRM and Indieras, Maricao. The study revealed a higher incidence of Taíno DNA in people from Indieras whose physical appearance resembled Taínos: black hair and slanted eyes.

The professor then obtained funding from the National Foundation of the Science of United States to analyze the mtDNA of a representative sample in Puerto Rico.

Martínez Cruzado found 19 maternal lineages; nine of which have enough frequency and variability to suggest that they go back to the pre-Columbian period. “All the members of each lineage share a great-great-grandmother. These great-great-grandmothers are responsible for all the lineages in the world and share an African great-great-grandmother,” explained the scientist.

The study shows that the majority of the Indian lineages in Puerto Rico originated in the Amazonic region.

Martínez Cruzado’s study has been published in many scientific journals, including the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in September, 2005. The professor has extended the investigation of Indian migrations in the Caribbean region to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where he has also found mtDNA with Indian heritage. The results are expected in 2008.

Author: Margarita Santori López, PRENSA RUM
Source: http://www.uprm.edu/news/docs/UPRMNews2008009.pdf