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Name: Brittney Hudson Date: January 10, 2013 Territory: Jamaica School: Merl Grove High School Year: 2014 Centre #: 100076 Candidate #: 100076-1239

This is a final draft for history students to use as a guide in their studies of historical figures.

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beenie man
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65 views14 pages

Name: Brittney Hudson Date: January 10, 2013 Territory: Jamaica School: Merl Grove High School Year: 2014 Centre #: 100076 Candidate #: 100076-1239

This is a final draft for history students to use as a guide in their studies of historical figures.

Uploaded by

beenie man
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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You are on page 1/ 14

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 Mayans and Tainos.

The researcher have learnt to express her own point of view and have
developed more knowledge and understanding in the topic.

Introduction
The aspects that will be examined in this topic is the religion, culture,
Beliefs, customs and practices of the Tainos and the Mayans in the preColombian period. This study will demonstrate the substantial similarities
and differences between the Mayans and Tainos society.

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

In the pre- Colombian period the Tainos and Mayans had their similarities and
differences. There are some similarities between the Tainos and the Mayans. The
Mayans and Tainos had a Polytheistic belief system, this meant that they
worshipped many Gods. They both believed in animal, food and human sacrifices.
The Tainos and Mayans placed significance on communicating with their dead
ancestors and believe that they were useful in the prediction of the future. The
Mayans and Tainos 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 Mayans and Tainos were great architects, they built tremendous
pyramids and they had calendars. The Mayans 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
Tainos 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 Tainos were afraid that the world would end on this
day. They performed the New Fire Ceremony on this day. Its purpose was to
4

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.

There are a lot of differences between the Mayans and the Tainos. 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 Itzamn, 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 Tainos 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".
Mayans heredity leader was Halach Uinic but the Tainos heredity
leader or religious leader was the Cacique. Mayans 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 Tainos had a Matrineal
6

and Patriarchal leading, the Cacique and chiefs passed down their
leadership to the mothers/ sisters 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 Tainos didnt. Tainos 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 Mayans were
located Central America. In Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Belize.
Mayans could accommodate up to thirty thousand people while the Tainos
could only hold three thousand. They spoke different languages. The Tainos
spoke the language Nahuatl and some of the languages that the Mayans spoke
7
was Madrid and Dresden. The Mayas practiced surplus farming, which meant
that they planted more than they needed and saved the rest. The Tainos
practiced subsistence farming which meant that they grew just enough crops to

fill their immediate needs. The Tainos were nomadic, they changed there
settlements regularly and the Mayans stayed at their location for a long period
of time. The Mayans existed before the Tainos people.

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.

Table of content
Contents

Pages

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Rationale

Collection of Data

4-8

Conclusion

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

Mayans practicing blood sacrifice.


10

Tainos main crop, cassava.


Taino zemi

Caguana Ceremonial ball court (batos),


outlined with stones.

11

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.

12

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.

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