Publisher's Synopsis
This simply written, amply illustrated bilingual book about Classic Taíno ceremonies, myths, rituals, and zemís (spirit guides) is for today's Taíno descendants and those of the future, as well as for anyone with a thirst to know more about the Indigenous people who discovered Christopher Columbus and his men when the Europeans landed on the shores of their Caribbean islands in 1492 The book is not meant to answer all the questions that you may have about the Classic Taíno lifestyles, cultural beliefs, and achievements. Instead, it's to help you and your loved ones learn about some of the basics of Classic Taíno culture, about how they lived and what they believed, and to help you formulate questions that might lead to more research about the Taíno of the past and present.
"Classic Taíno" is used to identify most of the Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles, which include today's islands of Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Republic of Haiti), Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas. For more than 500 years it was believed that all the Indigenous peoples of the Upper Caribbean became extinct between the 1530s and 1550s. Fortunately, their extinction has recently (late 20th century) been proven to be a detestable historical falsehood. Today, thousands of Taíno descendants, who are of mixed Indigenous, European, and African blood lines, are discovering and reclaiming their Taíno ancestry, history, culture, and language, which have been denied them for so long. The author, Lynne A. Guitar, earned simultaneous B.A.s from Michigan State University in Colonial Latin American History and Cultural Anthropology, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in the same fields from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Guitar has lived, worked, and done research for the past 30+ years in the U.S.A., Spain (half a year), Portugal, Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico (for nearly a year), and the Dominican Republic (for more than 20 years). Dr. Guitar is an adopted member of the Indigenous research group known as Higuayagua Taíno of the Caribbean and is a member of several of their councils. Dr. Guitar retired in 2016 and now lives in Central Florida, where she writes both fiction and non-fiction books about the Taíno. Eleven of her books-with this one 12-are currently available on Amazon.com... and there are more to come. Este libro bilingüe, escrito con sencillez y ampliamente ilustrado sobre ceremonias, mitos, rituales y zemís clásicos taínos (guías espirituales) es para los descendientes de los taínos de hoy y los del futuro, así como para cualquier persona con una sed de saber más sobre los pueblos indígenas que descubrieron a Cristóbal Colón y sus hombres cuando los europeos desembarcaron en las costas de sus islas caribeñas en1492. El libro no pretende responder todas las preguntas que puedan tener sobre los taínos clásicos, sus estilos de vida, creencias culturales y logros. En cambio, es para ayudarlo a usted y a sus seres queridos a aprender sobre algunos de los conceptos básicos de la cultura taína clásica, sobre cómo vivían y en qué creían, y para ayudarlo a formular preguntas que podrían conducir a más investigaciones sobre los taínos del pasado y el presente. Usamos "taínos clásicos" para identificar a la mayoría de los pueblos indígenas de las Antillas Mayores, que incluyen las islas actuales de Cuba, La Española (República Dominicana y República de Haití), Puerto Rico, Jamaica, los Turcos. y Caicos y las Bahamas. Durante más de 500 años se creyó que todos los pueblos indígenas del Caribe se extinguieron entre las décadas de 1530 y 1550. Afortunadamente, recientemente (finales del siglo XX) se ha demostrado que su extinción es una falsedad histórica detestable. Hoy en día, miles de descendientes de los taínos, en su mayoría de linajes mixtos indígenas, europeos y africanos, están descubriendo y reclamando su ascendencia, historia, cultura y len
