The Tainos Part II: We are Tainos

Cassava, tobacco, bammy, hammock, cotton-tree canoes and jerked meat are some of the things our Taino ancestors have left us. But, what about their DNA? Were the Tainos all killed as the history books say?

It is a fact that the Taino population in Jamaica dropped significantly in less than 50 years after the Europeans arrived. But, it is also a fact that many who lived in the interior and those who fled to join them survived for years, undisturbed.

They were later joined by the Africans who fled enslavement, and, of course, interbreeding took place between the Tainos and the Africans and, to a certain extent, the Europeans. Now, it is turning out that there are people of Taino ancestry who are alive and well in this country, especially in the south Manchester, St Elizabeth region.

The plains and coastlines of south Manchester and St Elizabeth are known to be places where Tainos had lived. Artefacts, rock carvings and paintings have been found in the region. Southfield, Blunthers, Flagaman, Pedro Cross, Pedro Plain, Junction, Bull Savanna, Ballards Valley and Treasure Beach are some of the districts in the region. And recently The Gleaner was brought to a spot near Bull Savanna where there are several pieces of clay pipes and utensils.

The Gleaner was first alerted to the notion that Taino people are living in the region in 2014 when Dr Eric Neeganagwedgin made the disclcosure at the Charles Town International Maroon Conference in Portland. As one of the people leading the way to take the Jamaican Tainos out of the shadows of history she gave an emotional presentation of a paper called My Taino Nation: Identity, Indigeneity, Resurgence and Self-determination.

Dr Neeganagwedgin, who identifies herself as 100 per cent Taino and African, was brought up in the Pedro Plain/Treasure Beach area, and attended Hampton School, where a teacher once told a class that the Tainos were all dead. And there she was in the class. She said she had always known that she is Taino because of her features, family stories, and blood memories.

“Tainos are alive and well throughout Jamaica – Just that many people do not know … The Government knows that we exist, and I know that The Government knows that there are Taino people in St Elizabeth,” she said.

Dr Neeganagwedgin introduced The Gleaner to her mother, Olive Moxam-Dennis, who was born in Blunthers, St Elizabeth. Moxam-Dennis said she is from a family of Tainos. Some of her siblings embrace their heritage, others are nonchalant about it, refusing to identify with it. She spoke about it publicly for the first time with The Gleaner. Her daughter is the guiding force behind her acceptance of self. She said there are more fair-skin people in hers and surrounding districts who are possibly Tainos.

The region is a very interesting genealogical region where European, African and Taino blood had merged giving the people a distinct look. A visit to Ballards Valley and Green Olive district in Bull Savannah in St Elizabeth in early 2016 was most revealing. People with features that are very different from regular Jamaicans are concentrated there.

They are of various skin shades from black to very light. Some have a sloping forehead, but common to all was their shiny, curly or straight, black hair. Some, with whom The Gleaner spoke made it clear that they are not East Indians. They called themselves Indian or Arawak.

When The Gleaner revisited the area recently people were sticking to their claim. One man, Raslin Gordon, whom The Gleaner spoke with two years ago, said his “Arawak” family is originally from Ballards Valley.  He has a ruddy, almost bronze complexion, and there are stories about what he can do with his “tough”, sloping forehead.

Sonia Francis,  another person from Green Olive district, said her Taino blood is from her mother, and that she is the embodiment of the Jamaica motto, Out of many, One people.  Out of many races has come this fair-skinned, brown-eye, curly-hair woman.

Outside of St Elizabeth there are other Jamaicans who are laying claim to their Taino heritage. The Gleaner spoke with a few of them, including archeologist Lesley-Gail Atkinson and certified meditation teacher and holistic health practitioner Kalaan Nibonri, born Robert Pairman.

Atkinson identifies with her Taino cultural heritage through her maternal Maroon ancestors from Charles Town, in Portland. “Although there is a strong possibility that I do have genetic ties with the indigenous Taino, I have chosen to honour the cultural connection,” she said.

She, whose Taino name is Boianani (Sweet water flower), has been researching the Tainos and promoting Taino heritage for over 20 years, and told The Gleaner that she sees her “career as a celebration” of her “Taino ancestry and personal activism”.  “To me, my Taino name is a form of acceptance,” she also said.

Nibonri, traces his Taino lineage to his great-grandfather, who, it is said, called himself a ‘Maroon Coolie’ (Taino), and possibly to his great-grandmother.

“I am part of the Taino resurgence and work with other Tainos throughout the Caribbean and the United States to resurrect our language, stories and culture through learning all the parts of whom I am. It has helped me to navigate life in a wholistic way and to embrace my birthright,” Kalaan Nibonri said.

There are several Taino observances, such as full moon, equinoxes, soltices, in which Nibonri and others participate. He works closely with St Andrew-based Sankofie, an enity that “organises and host Taino-focussed activities”. Another such entity is the Taino Heritage Park/Camp in St Mary, “Jamaica’s first interactive Taino Village”.