Meet Guanín

Tau Datiaos! My name is Guanín. I am a Taíno boy. I live here on Borikén. Let me tell you about myself:

• I live with atté (mother) and baba (father) in a bohío (home made of straw).
• My uncle is the cacique of our yucayeque (village). He wears a guanín (just like my name!) around his neck to show he is chief. His special chair is called a dujo.
• I like to blow in my fotuto shell to make a loud sound. I can hear the ocean inside it!
• At night, I go to sleep in my hamaca that hangs from the ceiling.
• My people are fishermen and farmers. The men go out in the ocean in a kanoa (canoe) to catch fish. In the conuco (garden), we grow yuca to make casabe, a bread we like to eat. We grow squash and beans too.
• Sometimes several villages meet together for a great celebration called an areyto. There is singing and dancing and ball games played on the batey court.
• We like to decorate our bodies with designs imprinted from a pintadera stamp made of clay. We also paint our special symbols onto pottery and carve them into rocks.
• Color a picture of Tahite and me!

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