Amerindian — African Relationships:

The Maroons and the Taíno People

UCTP © 2001 All Rights Reserved

Relationships between the Taíno (and other Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean) and Africans are significantly documented from the 16th century colonial period and beyond. We hope to continue this focus on the historic ties of these two culturally distinct peoples within the multi-layered mosaic that is Caribbean society.

- The Editor,

La Voz del Pueblo Taíno

http://www.uctp.org/lavoz.htm

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The following excerpt was part of an article, which was originally published in the 1992 Festival of American Folklife catalogue; reprinted with permission from the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage of the Smithsonian Institution.

(http://www.si.edu/maroon/educational_guide/23.htm)

"Maroons: Rebel Slaves in the Americas" by Richard Price

The man who was to become the first African-American maroon arrived within a decade of Columbus' landfall on the very first slave ship to reach the Americas. One of the last maroons to escape from slavery was still alive in Cuba only 15 years ago. The English word "maroon" derives from Spanish cimarrón -- itself based on an Arawakan (Taino) Indian root. Cimarrón originally referred to domestic cattle that had taken to the hills in Hispaniola, and soon after it was applied to American Indian slaves who had escaped from the Spaniards as well. By the end of the 1530s, the word had taken on strong connotations of being "fierce," "wild" and "unbroken," and was used primarily to refer to African-American runaways.

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The following excerpt was taken from the Exhibition "The Sacred Art of Vodou" hosted at the American Museum of Natural History from October 1998 until January 1999. (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/vodou/about.html) 

The Sacred Art of Vodou

Escaped slaves, called Maroons, mingled in mountain hideaways with indigenous Taino people. Both peoples had much in common. Taino memories are still evoked by stone celts placed on altars. Other Native American traces persist in Vodou as well, from words to musical instruments, dance and dress styles, and weaponry. Although discrete Taino survivals are difficult to isolate, the secret Bizango rites keep alive the history of the intermingling, as do bands of Rara performers during their post-carnival celebrations…

Haitian Vodou was born in the seventeenth century, when enslaved Africans brought their religious traditions from West and Central Africa to the Caribbean, and were in turn exposed to a variety of European traditions, including the art and ritual practices of Roman Catholicism. Vodou, still evolving through its practice in Haiti and North America, thus represents the fusion of several different belief systems into an original religion.

The Fon and Kongo kingdoms of West and Central Africa gave Vodou its basic vocabulary of form and content (the term Vodou means "sacred" in the Fon language). Vodou art and practices also reflect the encounter with the aboriginal Taino, the shattering experience of slavery, and, especially, the enduring legacy of confrontation with colonial cultures and European religious and mystical traditions. Haitians have found a way to channel these diverse arts and rituals into Vodou, which thus embraces a wide range of spiritual expression.

In Vodou the strongest "survivals" are those with multiple origins. Parent cultures from West and Central Africa-Fon, Kongo and others-strongly share spiritual concepts such as the veneration of ancestors, protective magic, the importance of the crossroads, sacred cosmographs, and the concept of balancing hot and cool energies. Many Vodou objects reflect multiple African sources. Even certain words conflate Fon and Kongo parentage. For example, the Haitian word manbo (priestess) is a hybrid of the Fon term nanbo (mother of magic charms) and the Kongo mambu (healer).

'Ayida Wèdo' by Edouard Duval-Carrié

Cemi (Taíno deity of death) wanga

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