Talking Taino: Caribbean Natural History from a Native Perspective

9. In the Beginning, God Created Fish (2004)

9 In the Beginning, God Created Fish There was a man called Yaya, SPIRIT OF SPIRITS And no one knew his name. His son was named Yayael [which means] “Son of Yaya.” This Yayael was banished for wanting to kill his father. Thus he was banished for four months. Afterwards his father killed him, put his bones in a gourd, And hung it from the roof of his house Where it hung for some time. It came to pass that one day, desiring to see his son, Yaya said to his wife, “I want to see our son Yayael.” This made her happy, and taking down the gourd, she turned It over to see the bones of their son. From it gushed forth many fishes, big and small. Seeing that these bones had been turned into fishes, They decided to eat them. —Ramón Pané, 1496; translated by Antonio Stevens-Arroyo (1988) Fishes were a symbol of life and nourishment in Taíno mythology. They were the most important animal food to the Taínos. Oviedo noted that the Taíno caught “fish that range in size from those smaller than sardines to those so large that two pairs of oxen are necessary to draw them in a cart.” Hernández Aquino (1977), in his dictionary of Taíno words, listed the Taíno’s favorite fishes as “guabina and dajado (freshwater fishes), robalo and pargo (groupers and snappers), sabalo (tarpons), and moharra (porgies).” Freshwater fishes are common in archaeological sites in the Greater Antilles, especially at village sites in the interior. Reef fish such as snappers and groupers are found in all coastal sites. These quality fishes were often traded into interior locations. Adult tarpons are not common in West Indian sites, although juveniles are often identified. Porgies are found in small numbers, but were never a staple of the diet. 54 / Chapter 9 There are five families of fishes that are dietary staples throughout the Lucayan Islands—parrotfish, grunts, groupers, snappers, and jacks. Hernández Aquino lists names for twenty individual species from just these five families (see appendix 1). Many of theTaíno names were later incorporated into the modern scientific names, which help to make the identification of these species possible. Robalo and pargo, which are very common in archaeological sites, have the most recorded Taíno names. Several of the species on this list begin with the designation gua, including two TAÍNO WORD TRANSLATION Grouper Family: Robalo Grouper Liza Large grouper Bonasí Black grouper Guajil Yellowfin grouper Guaseta/Guasa Sea bass/grouper Snapper Family: Pargo Snapper or red snapper Cachuco Queen snapper Cají Schoolmaster Jocú Dog snapper Muniama Cardinal snapper Sesí Blackfin snapper Other Fishes: Guaymen Yellow jack Guabina Bigmouth sleeper (freshwater) Guacamaya Rainbow parrotfish Buyón (“esteemed”) “Striped parrotfish”; probably stoplight parrotfish Cachicata Grunt Moharra (Mojarra) Striped mojarra; sea bream; porgy Bajonao Jolthead porgy In the Beginning, God Created Fish / 55 species of groupers, the rainbow parrotfish, freshwater sleepers, and the yellow jack. Rainbow parrotfish is the largest member of the parrotfish family. The word pargo is the general term for snappers as well as the word for one specific species, red snapper. There also are many recorded individual names for fish in the snapper family. Oviedo noted that the Taíno fished for “broad sardines with red tails . . . which are excellent food and among the best fish found there.” This may be a reference to red snapper; however, red snapper is a deep-water fish that is uncommon in archaeological sites. Another broad fish with a red tail is the mahogany snapper, which schools over shallow reefs and would have been one of the more easily captured of the snapper species. Of the species on the list from Hernández Aquino, schoolmasters are the most common in archaeological sites. The queen snapper seems an unlikely candidate for cachuco, since they are caught only below one hundred meters (328 feet). Although the Taínos did fish sometimes in open, deeper waters, the archaeological sites in the Lucayan Islands do not contain evidence of this, probably due to the abundance of fishes on the vast shallow banks. The queen snapper is a fork-tail snapper like the yellowtail. So cachuco may have referred to yellowtails, which are common in shallower waters. The muniama was identified as a cardinal snapper, another deep-water species. The two types of fishes found most often in...