Name: Brittney Hudson

Date: January 10, 2013

Territory: Jamaica

School: Merl

Grove High School

Year: 2014

Centre #: 100076

Candidate #: 100076-1239

Rationale

Initially the researcher selected this theme “The Indigenous People and

the Europeans” because I thought that this theme will be much of an

easier task and a question was structured. From this investigation the

researcher learnt about the similarities and differences relating to the

religion, culture, beliefs and customs of the Mayan’s and Taino’s.

The researcher have learnt to express her own point of view and have

developed more knowledge and understanding in the topic.

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Introduction

The aspects that will be examined in this topic is the religion, culture,

Beliefs, customs and practices of the Taino’s and the Mayans in the pre-

Colombian period. This study will demonstrate the substantial similarities

and differences between the Mayan’s and Taino’s society.

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Were there many similarities and differences, among the Maya and Taino in the pre-Colombian period?

In the pre- Colombian period the Taino’s and Mayan’s had their similarities and

differences. There are some similarities between the Taino’s and the Mayan’s. The

Mayan’s and Taino’s had a Polytheistic belief system, this meant that they

worshipped many Gods. They both believed in animal, food and human sacrifices.

The Taino’s and Mayan’s placed significance on communicating with their dead

ancestors and believe that they were useful in the prediction of the future. The

Mayan’s and Taino’s lived in extended family group. They worshipped everyday

and are guided by the priest or priestess. The men and older boys did most of the

farm work including hunting and fishing while the women cooked, weaved, carefor

the home and the children.

The Mayan’s and Taino’s were great architects, they built tremendous

pyramids and they had calendars. The Mayan’s made a calendar system which was

accurate as the one we use today but was divided differently. The calendar was

called the haab, it was used to discern the lucky days from the unlucky ones. The

Taino’s used the same calendar and they used another calendar used for tracking

religious ceremonies and festivals. Every fifty-two years the two calendars would

start on the same day. The Taino’s were afraid that the world would end on this

day. They performed the New Fire Ceremony on this day. Its purpose was to

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please the Gods so that they would allow the people to exist for another fifty-two year cycle.

Evidence of Taino cultural characteristics which were obviously borrowed

from the Mayas include the well-documented head-elongation custom. The Taino

and Mayan mothers would strap wooden boards to their babies’ heads to create an

elongated shape and a flattened forehead in order to create them more ‘beautiful

and make their head more resistant to a hit. They encouraged body

paintings with bright colours , jewelry made of gold and precious metals for both

men and women. They used litters to carry head chiefs, hirearchic stratification of

society uncharacteristic to the ancestral South American Arawaks, the Taino ball

game of Batos which closely parallels the Maya ball game of Pok a Pok, and much

more.

The Taino ancestors realized that the wisdom of the Mayas was in harmony

with the equally profound spirituality that they themselves possessed and so the

two people traded and adopted aspects of each other's spirituality and mystical

belief just like they did with foods and other cultural exchange.

Since the 1960's Beike Bo Sobaoko Koromo was inspired by his father to develop

a deep respect and admiration for the wisdom of the Mayas, their spiritual

mathematics, their magical calendar and their enlightened astronomy.

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There are a lot of differences between the Mayan’s and the Taino’s. They

had different Gods. One of the most important Mayan God that was

connected with agriculture was Yum Kax, the God of Corn, other Gods for

instances Itzamná, the Giver of Food and Light, Chac ,the God of Rain,

Kukulcan, the Wind God, Pipil the Sun God were also connected. Yum

Cimil , God of Death and Ruler of the Underworld. The Taino’s Gods are

Huitzilopochtli, the God of War, Tlaloc the God of Rain and Quetzalcoatl

was the god of life and wind. His name means "feathered serpent".

Tezcatlipoca was a powerful god associated with many things including

magic, the night, and the earth. His name meant "smoking mirror".

Chicomecoatl was the goddess of agriculture, nourishment, and corn. Her

name meant "seven snakes".

Mayan’s heredity leader was Halach Uinic but the Taino’s heredity

leader or religious leader was the Cacique. Mayan’s believed that having a

Patrilineal and Patriarchal leading would be more effective. The Hierarchy

in which one family is higher than another and in turn the patriarch in that

family is more significant than the others while the Taino’s had a Matrineal

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and Patriarchal leading, the Cacique and chiefs passed down their

leadership to the mother’s/ sister’s side of family and preferably an

appointed son.

The religious aspect of society was structured and significant. Priests were appointed not only through their religious commitment but also thought their literacy level. That indicated the importance that Mayan civilizations placed on

literacy where as the Taino’s didn’t. Taino’s established their villages deep

inland near to rivers where they would be better protected from coastal attacks

from unfriendly tribes, and near to rivers where they gained fertile soil, a fresh

water source and means of fishing. This was not the case with the Maya as they

were located on mainland territory and had a structured army for defense. The

Tainos were located mostly in he Greater Antilles and the Mayan’s were

located Central America. In Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Belize.

Mayans could accommodate up to thirty thousand people while the Taino’s

could only hold three thousand. They spoke different languages. The Taino’s

spoke the language Nahuatl and some of the languages that the Mayans spoke

7was Madrid and Dresden. The Mayas practiced surplus farming, which meant

that they planted more than they needed and saved the rest. The Taino’s

practiced subsistence farming which meant that they grew just enough crops to

fill their immediate needs. The Taino’s were nomadic, they changed there

settlements regularly and the Mayans stayed at their location for a long period

of time. The Mayan’s existed before the Taino’s people.

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Conclusion

From this topic it can be concluded that there are similarities and

differences of the Maya and Taino people in the pre-Colombian period, some

similarities did exist between the two societies but the vast number of

differences far surpassed them. However, a direct effect of the development

stages of the two societies was made. They both included there religion, culture

recreation, architecture and infrastructure, family life and arts and crafts.

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Table of content

Contents Pages Acknowledgement 1

Introduction 2

Rationale 3

Collection of Data 4-8

Conclusion 9

Appendices 10-11

Bibliography 12

Appendices

The Madrid Codex ( Mayan text)

A Mayan Calendar

Mayan hieroglyphics carved in a temple

at Palenque, Mexico.

A Mayan pyramid

Mayan’s practicing blood sacrifice.

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Taino’s main crop, cassava.

Taino zemi

Caguana Ceremonial ball court (batos),

outlined with stones.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

Norman, A. (1968). The People Who Came Book 1: 1st Edition. Harlow “et al”: Longman Group UK Limited.

Claypole ,W & Robottom, J.(2001). Caribbean Story: 3rd Edition. Harlow “et al”: Pearson Education Limited.

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Acknowledgement

First and foremost the researcher would like to thank God for giving

her the strength and resources needed to complete this School Based

Assessment, the researcher would like to express appreciation to her

teacher Mrs. Leveridge-Rose for assisting her so that she could meet the

expectations of the SBA, I thank my family and friends for moral

support.