Peter Espeut IN THE rush to emphasise the African aspects of our Jamaican heritage (which do need to be more exposed) we can overlook important parts of our cultural roots. There are too few, I think, who understand and give credit to the very first Jamaicans who have bequeathed to us much of what we today call "Jamaican culture". Too many act as if Jamaican history begins with the arrival of Columbus in 1494, or worse, with the capture of Jamaica by the English in 1655. Since this is Heritage Week, I thought I would highlight some of what we have inherited from the Taino people.
When I was in school they were called "Arawaks" by the history books; indeed that is what the Europeans called them. But they called themselves "Tainos", and so out of respect that is what we must call them. The language they spoke was called "Arawak", and that might explain why they were given that name.
And one of the first things that the Tainos have bequeathed us is words from their language which we still use today. First let us mention the names of places which today still bear their Arawakan names, either in their original form or modified by the un-trained European ear.
NAME PRESERVED
The very name of our country is a Taino word; the Spaniards named Jamaica "Santa Gloria", but no doubt because of the persistence of the Tainos, the original name has been preserved. That is no mean feat! "Jamo" in Arawakan means "country", and "Jaco" is "water"; hence Jamaica might mean "Land of Springs", which it certainly was in the early days. About 100 rivers dried up during the 20th century so we are certainly much less so today.
The Spaniards kept the name Guanaboa for that fertile vale in what is now northern St. Catherine, and we have retained it. The word could be derived from "Guanabana" which means "soursop", or it could mean "House of Gold" ("boa" means house). Liguanea is also the Taino name for that big plain in southern St. Andrew; the word is derived from "iguana", and those lizards were once in abundance there before our ancestors ate them off.
The river beside which the Junction Road runs was called "Guayguata" by the Tainos (which means "deep river"), and the Spaniards corrupted it to "Agua Alta" (high water); its present English name ("Wagwater") is a corruption of that, and suggests a meandering course. This is a great example of how place names can be modified by conquering peoples whose ears and tongues are not so good at repeating the sounds they hear.
"Mammee Bay" in St. Ann is a corruption of the original Arawakan place name "Maima". Other Taino place names like Anaya, Guatibacoa, Guiacanes, Maymon and Yama have been replaced by Spanish or English names.
The Tainos have given Jamaica and the world much in the way of language and culture. The most well known are "tobacco" and "hammock". Smoking caught on in Europe and the Americas after the Tainos were observed doing it, and hammocks, which originated here, and now found world-wide. The word "iguana" is Arawakan, and those lizards were a Taino delicacy. The word "calabash" is Taino. Common Jamaican foods which have Taino origins (both the words and the food) are cassava (bammy), yampi, cocoa, callaloo, mammee (apple), guinep and guava.
FISHING TECHNOLOGY
Most of what are considered Jamaican fishing culture and traditions come straight from Taino culture. The word "canoe" is an Arawakan word, as is the word "Ceiba", still used today to refer to the cotton trees from which dugout canoes are made. The Antil-lean "Z" Trap (or fishpot) is a Taino invention, although in modern times the use of mesh wire has replaced the thatch weave. The Caribs used the "Arrowhead Trap", and the Tainos doubled the design to make a "Z". Africans learned fishing technology and methods from the Tainos, and those have been handed down to today's Jamaicans.
Some historians believe that, contrary to received wisdom, some Tainos persisted into the English period, intermarrying with the Maroons. This would explain the strong Taino cultural retentions which have persisted to the present day.
In recognition of the importance of the Tainos in our cultural heritage, two of these first Jamaicans are depicted on Jamaica's Coat-of-Arms, along with the crocodile and the pineapple, all of which were already here when the first Europeans arrived. That makes them more Jamaican than most of us.
EUROPEAN AND
AFRICAN CULTURES
I think it is important for us Jamaicans to be in touch with all our cultural roots so that we will build up a rounded appreciation of what it means to be Jamaican. We are more than a mix of European and African cultures. Those of us (like myself) who are big fans of callaloo and bammy (very thin, please! I get mine straight from St. Elizabeth), washed down with guava juice and hot chocolate (grated, please; not from a tin) can revel in our Taino cultural heritage. Even if we have no Taino blood running through our veins, we can still live the culture of that valiant people who struggled against the hegemony of the invading Europeans, and lost.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development NGO.
