Areíto

Map of the Greater and Lesser Antilles ^[1]

Images of cemis carved from wood, stone, or clay.^[2]

A visual interpretation of an Areito or Areyto ceremony, presumably based on observations or drawings of Spanish colonizers.^[3]

Translation of the caption in image: "A drum that the indians held during their areitos".^[4]

The areíto or areyto was a Taíno word adopted by the Spanish colonizers to describe a type of religious song and dance performed by the Taíno people of the Caribbean. The areíto was a ceremonial act that was believed to narrate and honor the heroic deeds of Taíno ancestors, chiefs, gods, and cemis. Areítos involved lyrics and choreography and were often accompanied by varied instrumentation. They were performed in the central plazas of the villages and were attended by the local community members as well as members of neighboring communities.^[5][6][7]

Taíno people & culture

Artifactual evidence in the Greater and Lesser Antilles indicates the presence of humans for at least 5,000 years prior to Columbus' arrival. Taino culture emerged on the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and likely descended from an intermingling of the Arawak peoples from South America and the archaic peoples who migrated from Mesoamerica and Florida. The Taino were agricultural and lived in communities governed by leaders called caciques. They had no written language, but produced ornate sculptures from stone, wood, and clay that were used in many types of ceremony. Those that resembled gods were called cemis or zemis.^[5]

Cemis & belief systems

Cemi is a Taino word for god, as well as a word that described the sacred objects that represented and embodied gods. These same objects also represented ancestors and were believed to have supernatural powers. Each member of a given Taino community was in possession of one or more cemis, which connoted both political and social as well as spiritual power. They were kept in shrines, and sometimes traded or given as gifts. The caciques were in possession of the most powerful cemis, and sometimes their skulls were preserved and turned into cemis as part of their burial ceremonies. Cemis played an important role in decision making, and caciques sought guidance from cemis when planning one of the first major rebellions against Spanish oppression. Their precise role in areíto ceremony is unknown, although it was observed by the colonizers that the cemis were always often during performances.^[5][7]

Varying descriptions of Areíto

Most of our information about areito comes from the writings of Spanish colonizers.There are several primary accounts describing areíto in the Antilles from the period of early contact. Each account characterizes areíto slightly differently, leading to the terms broad, all encompassing nature. Areíto was a Taino word that the Spanish adopted to describe epic poems, song-dances, ceremonies, festivals, performances, and ritual.

Ramon Pane

Ramón Pane, a missionary who arrived in the new world in 1494 chronicled events in which the Taino recited and singing of epic 'poems' and 'ancient texts' that they 'learn by heart' accompanied by percussive instruments that looked like gourds. Pané drew comparisons between these Taino performances and ceremonies of the Moors, additionally observing that areíto served as a mnemonic device for societal rules and traditions. ^[8][9]

Peter Martyr

Peter Martyr, a royal chronicler writing in the early 1500s who never traveled to the new world but instead gleaned information from discussions with other travelers, focused on areíto's function as a historiographical method. His accounts detail areíto's role in commemorating the great deeds of ancestors in peace, war, and love. He noted how the content of the narrative affected the style of its delivery and emphasized the role of the cacique and his immediate family in the tradition of learning and performing areíto.^[8]

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés served as royal chronicler after Martyr, and traveled to the new world numerous times, observing what he deemed areítos in the Antilles as well as in Nicaragua. Although Oviedo was aware of the distinction between the customs of indigenous peoples of Nicaragua and the Antillles and although he learned a separate word for their performance practices, he used the term areíto to encompass their performances. Oviedo also honed in on the integral role of dance and movement in the areíto of the Taino. Shifting the descriptions of these ceremonies away from 'poem' and towards 'song-dances' Oviedo noted that the songs were accompanied by precise and complex choreography and lead by a 'dance-master' who could be either male or female. Additionally, he distinguished between two types of areíto, one which commemorated historical events and the other which served as entertainment for festivals.^[8]

Bartolomé de las Casas

Bartolomé de las Casas traveled to the new world as a colonist, but once there began writing in defense of the indigenous peoples. He described dancing accompanied by wooden drums and flutes. His definition of areíto was even more inclusive than Oviedo, including many elements of festivals such as drinking, feasting, celebration, and pantomime. ^[8][9]

Examples

Areítos were especially common among the Classic Taíno of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, but they were held in all Taíno areas. There are several accounts of specific Areítos that have been recorded by the chroniclers of the new world. The female cacique Anacaona was one of the early noted composers of areítos.^[10] According to the historical documentation, areítos often featured assemblies of nobles dancing and singing to music played with rattles and drums. The ceremonies invoked elements of Taíno culture and religious practice, including veneration of the zemis and ancestors. Areítos were held in designated spaces, specifically the public plaza or dance ground outside the chief's house. Classic Taíno villages often featured an elaborate dance court, an outdoor area surrounded by earthwork banks and sometimes stone carvings of the zemis.^[11]

See also

• Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean
• Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center

External links

Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes Tibes is a archeological site in the Carribean which has provided a wealth of evidence about indigenous cultures of the region

References

1. Kikos. "WikiCommons".
2. Smithsonian Institution. Board of Regents. (1846). Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
3. Public Domain. Found on wiki commons. Uploaded from Government Museum of Tibes.
4. Serrato, Francisco (1893). Cristóbal Colón: Historia del Descubrimiento de América. Madrid: El Progreso Editorial.
5. Bercht, Fatima; Brodsky, Estrellita (1997). Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art and Culture from the Caribbean. New York, NY: The Monacelli Press. p. 21.
6. Taylor, Diana (2003). The Archive and The Repertoire. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 15.
7. Oliver, José R. (2009). Caciques and Cemí Idols: The Web Spun by Taíno Rulers Between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. pp. 103–4, 107–8, 114–115.
8. Scolieri, P. A. (2013). Dancing the New World: Aztecs, Spaniards, and the Choreography of Conquest. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 24–44.
9. Thompson, Donald (1993). "The "Cronistas de Indias" Revisited: Historical Reports, Archeological Evidence, and Literary and Artistic Traces of Indigenous Music and Dance in the Greater Antilles at the Time of the "Conquista"". Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamerica. Autumn - Winter, 1993: 181–201 – via JSTOR.
10. Dale Olsen, Daniel Sheehy Handbook of Latin American Music, Second Edition 2007- Page 164 "From the descriptions of Arawak musical activities in the writings of the Spanish chroniclers (Cárdenas 1981; Casas 1965; López de Gómara 1965; Pané 1974), we learn that the areyto (also areito)—a celebration that combined poetry, songs.
11. Saunders, Nicholas J. (2005). The Peoples of the Caribbean: An Encyclopedia of Archeology and Traditional Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 16. ISBN 1576077012. Retrieved June 4, 2015.