MYTH

PUERTO RICO DREAMS BEAUTIFUL MYTHS

Taino culture and children's literature

By Rodolfo Lopez

Children books traverse a vast expanse of experience: adventure stories, simple picture books, easy-to-read fables, religious parables, pop-up books whose lessons literally jump off the page at the child. And Puerto Rican children’s books are no different, except that they all come from Puerto Rico and share the concerns of an island culture aware that its neighbors to the North, South, and West are on land and more powerful. Our myths, legends, lullabies, and folk songs share a cultural focus on nature and survival. These stories are often the result of trying to explain the origin of the things. It’s not just about telling an engaging story, but about transmitting the beauty and logic of an entire culture.

But we can’t understand Puerto Rican children’s literature without understanding its genesis in Taino culture, and so, a brief history…

A brief Synthesis of Taino culture

It has been more than 25,000 years since the first nomadic tribes from Siberia arrived through the Behring Strait between Asia and Alaska. As the centuries passed, these nomads grew and evolved into the first civilizations of the Americas, most notably, the Mayan, Aztec, and Inca empires. Other cultures traveled further into South America reaching the Amazon and finally the Antilles, the last areas of the Americas to be populated. And that included an island named “Boriquén,” or present-day Puerto Rico.

According to histories by Pedro Martir de Angleria and Diego Alvarez Chanca the word Taino means friendly peaceful or good. Their political, social, and religious organization were the most evolved among all the Antillean groups. Their artistic works were powerful, using symbolism and figurative abstraction to give voice to their spiritual and mythological beliefs. What’s clear is that there is a deep concern for the health of the community.

Shortly after the arrival of the Spaniards to the Antilles, Tainos society began to disintegrate. Enslavement, diseases, and the brutality of colonial rule pushed them to the point of extinction. Although a great deal of Tainos culture has been lost, there are still the remains of settlements and burial grounds across the Caribbean. Most important, the average Puerto Rican carries a combination of Taino, African, and Spanish DNA. The indigenous genome alone accounts for up to 61% of most Puerto Ricans.

And so, the presence of Taino culture in Puerto Rican children’s books is predicated on the idea of disappearance. You can see this in the mythology around “El Yunque” Puerto Rico National Forest. The stories tell us that the dead wander through the rainforest at night. Once the lost souls arrive at the top of the mountain, there are ponds where a colossal fire bird is waiting to carry them to the afterlife. Clearly, this is a warning for children to not stray away from the village or wander alone at night. These fears are still present in the folk tales that continue to inspire Puerto Rican authors.

Arawak Creation Myth

In Arawak Culture the story of the origin of the world begins with the demiurges. Demiurges were the tribes’ deities and represented the divine, not just creation but also the order of the universe. Yaya, the main deity, has a son named Yayael, who wants to kill him. For his betrayal, he buries his son underground for four moons, places his remains inside a hollow gourd, a “higüero” tree, and hangs it at the entrance of his home. Eventually, Yaya returns to see his son's remains, but when he turns the gourd over, water flows out instead of bones. And the water doesn’t just flow, it’s a flood of water with fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors. This leads to the creation of the sea, and eventually shapes the land. Arawaks hang gourds over the entrances of their homes, a sign of blessing and hope for the rains to return and nourish the crops, as well as for hunters to return with fish for the tribe. It is myths like these that are constantly shaping new and contemporary stories.

Haití Indigenous Creation Myth

In Haiti, Taino culture has a different origin story. The island has many caves, but two in particular are important: “Cacibajagua” known as Cave of Jagua and “Amayauna,” which literally means Cave without Worthless. These caves are the entrance to the entrance and exit to the underworld, where the non-Tainos, spirits with no shape or form, congregate. Interestingly, in some versions they are bats. Like vampires, they roam the night, and also like vampires, sunlight petrifies them. But that’s where the two myths converge, as these spirits turn into various aspects of nature: trees, mockingbirds, etc. After the creation of the world, the leftover creatures leave the caves and the sun transforms them into Tainos. It is important to note the importance of the sun in these myths and how it both destroys outsiders (non-tainos) and creates new members of the tribe. It’s a perfect example of how deeply nature is the key to understanding these stories.

Billy Wellman Book

In Billy Wellman’s book, creation myths such as that of Yúcahu, the god of agriculture, and Cassava and Atabey, the goddess of fresh waters and fertility, illustrate a cosmology where nature is sacred, but not subordinate. Every river, mountain, and animal possess its own spirit, or zemi, and lives in harmony with these forces: it is what maintains the balance of the world.

Through these stories, Wellman reveals that what guides Taíno life is the principle of mutual understanding. Nature provides sustenance, but it also demands care and gratitude in return. This balance ensures physical survival and spiritual well-being. The myths function as moral and ecological guides—teaching that exploitation of the environment leads to imbalance and disharmony, not progress. Wellman says that the “Taino Creation Myth is likely the most well-known of the Taino legends, and there are several ways that the lessons and themes in that tale are still honored today. Environmental stewardship, inspired by the way Atabey created the natural world, is still vital to the Taino belief system.”

Wellman does far more than recount the myths of an ancient Caribbean people. Beneath the stories of gods, spirits, and creation, the book reveals a worldview rooted in deep respect for the earth and its diverse web of life. The stories serve not merely as cultural preservation, but also as a call to reawaken an ancient understanding of balance between humans and the natural world—an understanding that may hold the key to confronting our modern environmental challenges.

Wellman’s interpretations emphasize that the Taíno worldview was not about dominance over nature but coexistence with it. Farming practices, hunting rituals, and community celebrations were designed to respect the cycles of growth, decay, and renewal. This perspective contrasts sharply with modern attitudes that treat the environment as a resource to be used and consumed. Wellman’s retelling of Taíno legends brings forward the idea that living well meant living within the rhythms of nature, not against them.

In the face of today’s climate emergency—rising temperatures, deforestation, ocean pollution, and mass extinction—the Taíno message feels profoundly relevant. Our technological progress has come at the cost of ecological imbalance. Wellman’s book offers an implicit critique of this mindset: that progress without reverence leads to destruction.

The Taino perspective acts as a bridge between ancient wisdom and modern consciousness. It reminds us that mythology is not just about the past—it is a guide for living meaningfully in the present. In the Taíno stories, ecological responsibility is not a political issue, but a spiritual truth. Through the revival of these myths, Taíno Mythology invites young readers to imagine a future that honors the sacredness of the Earth as the Taínos once did—a future where technology and tradition coexist in balance.

©The CCA Arts Review and Rodolfo Lopez