Puerto Rico has a rich culture whose origins can be traced back to Taino Indian, Spanish and West African roots. While we may know much about our Spanish and African roots, many of us know little about our native Taino Heritage.
In his Year 2000 National Science Foundation research, Juan Carlos Martinez Cruzado, Professor of Genetics at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, found that 61 percent of all Puerto Ricans carry Amerindian mitochondrial DNA from their maternal lines. For this reason, it is important that we learn more about the traditions and history of the Taino legacy that is a part of our fabric.
We would like to thank Cacike Cacibaopil (Piedra Sagrado del Espiritu), aka Martin Veguilla, of the Concilio Taino Guatu-Ma-cu A Boriken who is taking PRFDance Director Ana Mari-á "Tekina-eirú" Maynard on a journey back to her Primera Raiz, her first root. Ana Mari-á is a blood descendant of the native Tainos of Boriken. In February 2007, she returned to Puerto Rico to begin studying with the Cacike and his people in what she thought would be an education of Taino petrogliphs and ancient artifacts. She was in for a surprise that would forever change her life. In March 2007, she danced in her first Areyto where she received her Taina name Tekina-eirú (maestra dulce/sweet teacher), an "efecto de Dios" (from God) Martin explained. Her name was consagrada in a beautiful Naming Ceremony in March 2008 in the mountains of her Ancestors, San Lorenzo. In April 2008, this education was brought to her Cultural Center in Austin with with the arrival of the Cacike and his people for a week-long Workshop Series in Taino Traditions that educated our cultural center students, company and teachers.
Ana Mari-á continues to dedicate her life to the preservation and teaching of all of Boriken's cultural traditions. With the reclaiming of her Taino heritage, Tekina-eirú is enjoying the discovery of the many things about herself that now make sense in the context of her Taino heritage. However, the most beautiful thing she feels a connection to is the Tainos' deep spirituality in every aspect of life. Ana Mari-á started on this adventure not knowing really what she would discover, and what she discovered was the same God who has been a visibly-active and constant presence in her life all along.
Martin Veguilla, Cacike Cacibaopil, is Chief of the Concilio Taino Guatu-Ma-cu A Boriken
which Ana Mari-á is a proud member of.
