First of all, let me just apologize. I normally post 3 or 4 times a week and last week I really did kind of mess up. I only posted once. It was a Mythology Monday which is my favorite kind of post, so in my opinion that makes it just a little bit better, but not enough. Last week was college time, and I was finishing up my finals. And my girlfriend graduated with her undergraduate degree and the weekend was filled with celebrations and preparations for our move to our summer apartments. BUT I am back now. And back to semi-regular posting. Tomorrow is the day before move-in day, and I am currently prepping myself for that, which is fun, BUT I do intend to get back to regularly posting. And by regularly I mean more than once a week. Preferably, I’d like to post 4 or 5 times a week, but you know… real life gets in the way. Anyways, onto Mythology Monday!

Let’s chat about the Taino people! The Taino are/were indigenous people from (among many other places) the same place as my parents: Puerto Rico! They inhabited a wide range of land and sea, and were one of the Indigenous groups living in Puerto Rico at the time of Columbus’s arrival, the group which inhabited Puerto Rico (and Hispaniola) is known as the “Classic” Taino (this might be due to the language spoken by those people being considered “Taino Proper” by some). Some state that the Taino are currently extinct (this is largely contested), but various groups of Caribbean Indigenous people in places like Puerto Rico are establishing a new form of Taino identity. This post will talk about myths and monsters from Puerto Rico, and not just the Taino people. If you want to share sources about the Taino, and want me to write more specifically about them let me know!

One myth from Puerto Rico is the tale of the Hummingbird. This myth prominently features two Indigenous peoples (a male and a female) and their love for each for other. Sadly they love doesn’t seem meant to be, because by coincidence, the man is a member of an enemy Indigenous tribe, and when the father of the daughter discovers the son of his enemy (tribe, not specific individual) romancing his daughter he shuts down the budding love, or tries too by preparing to marry off his daughter to someone from their tribe. The daughter beseeches her god to step in and find a way to help her. Her god’s idea is to turn the girl into a flower. The young man is left unaware of this, and waits for her until the ruler of the moon informs him of what had happened while he was gone. He begs the moon ruler to do something about it and they respond by transforming him into a bird. So he commences a search for his love. According to one version of the myth I found online he has yet to discover the location of his love. It also stated that his wings made noise which people liked and that’s how the bird became known as a hummingbird.

This is another short post, but if you want to read about the Taino and their… revival and how people dispute the idea that they went extinct (I have no opinion of this because I don’t know enough about it to speak about it and I don’t know how else to word the movement by those who identify as Taino, given that some believe the group went extinct. I will be learning and reading about this and talking about it at length in the future. If you have sources to recommend please do so in the comments section!) click here, and here. If you want to read about Puerto Rican myths, click here and here. If you want some material on Tainos in general here is some, and here.

I am in the process of reading historical materials about Latin America and Spain, and I want to add those to my writings in the future. Now that summer is here I can truly focus on improving the quality of my writing. If you want to assist me in doing so, check out my Patreon page! Let me know what you think of my summary of a popular myth from Puerto Rico! I will be talking in the future about the Taino people, and about things related to Puerto Rico so I hope that that excites you. If you want to see me cover something specific, let me know!