Master artisan and amateur archaeologist Daniel Silva presents a reproduction of a cohoba pipe at his home and studio in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
principle undergirds the spiritual dimensions of Taíno resurgence, in subtle and consistent ways. This current ultimately flows back to The Mother herself, Atabey. Afro-Taíno Do- minican writer and storyteller Nasha Holguín describes Atabey as “the great mother of the natural world. She is to whom we owe our sustenance and nourishment. And she is call- ing us back home.” This return home is not just a return to the land, but to the conscious- ness of the land. For Taíno, it is a reconnection to Atabey predicated on culturally specific ways of engagement that are, in some cases inherited, and in others, re-discovered and re- learned, but that all value her in an anciently Caribbean way. These reconnections are not only healing
La Mujer de Caguana (Woman of Caguana) is a pre- Columbian Taíno petroglyph located at the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial Park in Utuado, Puerto Rico. While there are diverse interpretations of the symbol’s meaning, many Taíno today view it as an anthropo- morphic representation of Atabey (Mother Earth consciousness). This symbol of Atabey is becoming increasingly visible and adapted by Caribbean island people, inspiring diverse creative expressions from contemporary art to tattoos.
and enriching for Taíno, but for Atabey as well. Marilyn Balana’ni Díaz explains: “Progress has been going backwards. This planet is dying. We were given the authority to take care…and we have taken over.” The dire consequences of today’s dominant worldviews and economic systems related to the Earth, that Díaz de- scribes as “backwards,” and that are legacies of colonization’s victors, make this reconnection to Atabey not only necessary, but urgent; not only for Taíno, but for everyone.
“Prepárate, mi gente. Algo viene.”
Just as Puerto Rico is rebuilding post- Hurricane Maria through the communal will and ingenuity of locals and their diasporic kin, particularly women, so too are Taíno in the wake of the devastation of their culture and people post-colonization. Domingo Hernán- dez describes the magnitude of this work: “After this generation, if it doesn’t revive, then it will be lost…like it never existed. I think we are…the last gasp for air.” Guabancex reminds us: out of destruction comes new life and bal- ance. Taíno see the “world alive” of Caribbean lands, beings, and ancestors as actively sup- porting their restoration as a people. What- ever becomes of Taíno resurgence moving forward, its survived and rekindled spiritual expressions point to a desired and needed world where: the future is ancestral; the fu- ture is ancient; the future is Atabey.X
Christina Marie González (decolonizing Borikua/Puerto Rican) is a PhD candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, with concentrations in Native American and Indigenous Studies and Museum Studies. She has served as a researcher for the Smithsonian Institution’s Caribbean Indigenous Legacies Project as well as a curatorial assistant and advisor on the exhibition Taíno: Native Heritage and Identity in the Caribbean.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 23
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA M. GONZÁLEZ
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