The long wind on the coast is warm and humid, and the Caribbean islands are lush and green. On the seaside outside the Taino village, a long boat with a novel style was docked, and warriors from the kingdom stepped out wearing armor and holding spears. From the dome-shaped huts, Taino villagers walked out carrying food and drinks with happy faces. Under Shengri and Haitian, distant tribes met, like brothers they had not seen for many years, only warm and sincere welcome.
Soon, tins of tobacco were lit and the aroma filled the air. Young Taíno men and women gathered around with curiosity, looking at the tribesmen coming ashore one after another in the lake.
Huitu Puap, carrying a copper ax and a spear on his back, stepped out of the boat vigilantly. He held the copper ax at his waist and first looked at the men in the village.
"Ah! Lord God, why are you so tall? You are also wearing strange clothes."
Tylenol men are generally tall, but simple and gentle in appearance. They all have shoulder-length short hair, with black stripes like cat whiskers painted on the sides of their faces, and around their necks are white necklaces made of shells, white stones, pearls and fine bones. Some men even wear several necklaces with strange patterns engraved on them, which should be related to gods. As for their clothes, most of them have bare upper bodies, with shorter crotch cloths tied around their lower bodies, and their broad soles are bare.
"Such an outfit seems to lack cotton and is not very wealthy!"
Puap squinted his eyes and moved his gaze, landing on the men's empty hands. Most men's hands only have calluses on their knuckles and palms from using daggers and small tools. Only the fishermen who stepped off the canoes carried long harpoons with thick cocoon marks at the tiger's mouth. As for the thick thumbs that appear only after using bows and arrows for a long time, they are almost non-existent among people.
"Huh? Witness the Lord God! How come these Tainos, one or two, have never held a spear or fired a hunting bow? They also have simple faces, and they look like they have never seen blood or killed anyone. Looks docile."
The dust warrior Puap observed carefully for a while and curled his lips. He finally used his own method to confirm that these tall Taino people living on the island did not pose any threat of combat or any malicious traps. These Tylenol men are generally 1.78 meters tall, a head taller than him. But at this moment, these people fell into his eyes, just like a herd of harmless deer in the eyes of a gray wolf.
"Ha! Without weapons, you can't kill. What a waste of such a tall and burly figure!"
Puap shook his head slightly and moved his eyes to look at the women around him. Within a moment, the gray earth warrior's eyes seemed to be attracted by a magnet, and he exclaimed in surprise.
"Ah this? Is this too much? Tsk tsk!"
The Taino women in the village save more cloth than the men. Only older and married women have a short crotch cloth to block the view of outsiders. Unmarried girls are all natural, like deer, waiting to be chased and explored by hunters. What's even more special is that Taíno women will use white tree paint to draw bright and abstract patterns on the front and back of their lower abdomen, like mysterious temptations.
"Hiss! Two sharp points are tilted upward, and one is straight downward, connecting three key points of this symbol?"
Puap's eyes widened as he looked at the most beautiful Taino girl. On the girl's wheat-colored lower abdomen, there is a mysterious three-pointed symbol, which is like the "Y" shape of a tree branch. Inexplicably, he felt that such symbols were very familiar, so he kept looking at them for a long time.
…
"Ahem! Old Pu, stop looking! The village chief asked us to go to his dome hut to talk."
Chihuaco turned his head and patted Lao Pu hard on the shoulder. Puap trembled, licked his lips, and followed the old militiamen into the leader's hut with a high dome.
Such a large hut can only accommodate thirty or forty people. Most of the kingdom's warriors stayed outside. The enthusiastic Taíno villagers presented soft cassava cakes and fermented and slightly sweet cassava juice. Smiles gradually appeared on the cold faces of the kingdom's warriors. The fleet had insufficient food, and after rowing for a long time, they were indeed hungry.
"Hey, another Y-shaped symbol? Is this a wood carving of a god?"
Puap looked into the leader's hut and saw no decent weapons, only many tall wooden carvings. The two top wood carvings are engraved with the moon and water, the sun and mud. This seems to symbolize the two most important gods, and that the moon is still in front of the sun. The wood carvings that follow are carved with white tree paint, with hills and cassava at the bottom. Later on, there were various patterns on the woodcuts, including hurricanes, snake lizards, dogs and trees, and some abstract people.
There are two low wooden benches surrounding the wooden carvings of gods. The elder Taino village chief sat down on the wooden bench at the top. There is also a Y-shaped symbol on the wooden bench, which is the name of the village chief and the tribe, "Yukamu". The chief of Yukamu personally lit a brazier filled with sacred smoke, then looked at Chihuaco and pointed to the wooden bench beside him. The old militiaman did not refuse, and at the invitation of the village chief, he sat on the wooden bench of the distinguished guests.
Everyone else was sitting on the floor, including more than a dozen older Tylenol men. Huitu Puap also sat beside the old men, watching them take out leather drums and wooden flutes, beat and play them, and sing ancient songs to welcome guests.
"Dong dong dong! The sun and the moon both walked out of the caves of the holy mountain and rose high into the sky!
Boom, boom, boom! The pure ancestors also walked out of the cave and scattered on the islands everywhere!
Boom, boom, boom! When we stood on the beach and saw the boats coming from the distance, we knew: 'Ah! Those are brothers coming from afar'"
The old songs sounded, accompanied by the low drums, intermittently, as if they were telling ancient stories, or the origin of the Taíno people.
Chihuaco's expression suddenly became serious, and his old waist straightened up. Because he knew that such songs were not only sung for the guests, but also to inform the gods and ancestors, and to obtain testimony and blessings.
"Dong dong dong! Atabeyra, the mother goddess of the moon, turned the moon into the sun, shining on the people on the island and the people sailing on the boat.
Boom, boom, boom! The white god Yucahu, the soul born from cassava, brings food to us across seas and mountains.
Boom, boom, boom! Guabancex, the storm goddess, controls the sea and waves, making people see each other and making them disappear.
Boom, boom, boom! The divine ancestor Maquetaurie Guayaba, in the form of a dog, guards the dead and determines our afterlife.”
The Moon Goddess, the Cassava God, the Storm Goddess, and the Death Ancestor. These four gods are the ones that the Taíno people pray to most often in their daily lives.
…
Chihuaco listened attentively. He couldn't understand the language in these songs, but he could feel the peaceful and solemn atmosphere and the full emotions of the singers. Among those emotions are reverence and admiration, calm remembrance, and beautiful expectations and yearnings.
"The Tainos are really a kind people. They don't seem to have sacrifices and killings, and they don't have such bloody rituals."
The old militiaman recalled the scenes inside and outside the leader's hut, and indeed he did not see the red altar, which is the most common among Mexica and Mayan tribes. He turned his head and wanted to ask the translator Kuba, but he saw that Kuba was already singing the songs of his ancestors, with tears in his eyes.
"Dong dong dong!. All things are spiritual, and people are also spiritual. We incarnate all things, and all things incarnate us.
Boom, boom, boom! Dead souls go deep underground. They will become bats to inhabit, and then reincarnate from bats into all things.
Boom, boom, boom! The gods and divine ancestors are in the sky, looking at us who are short-lived. We are the root system of the tree, and our souls are connected as one under the earth.
Boom, boom, boom! Cassava shoots sprout and cassava produces tubers. When flowers bloom, they will fall, and when there is life, there will be death.”
This is a song that has been passed down by the Taino people for thousands of years, and it also inherits the tribal spirit and understanding of the world and people. The herbalism of the islanders is very ignorant, and the life span of the Taíno people is usually not very long. They live together in villages, have no complex social structure, and are generally pure in mind. They believe in the afterlife and reincarnation, and are much more open-minded about life and death.
The sacred smoke lingers in the hut, and the leather drum beats in people's hearts. The old song spread outside the house and attracted the villagers to sing harmoniously, like a prayer that looked down upon life and death, but also like a tranquility that was uncontested by the world.
"Dong dong dong, guests from far away! Flowers welcome butterflies, cassava welcomes birds. We welcome you to our village!"
"Let our roots be connected, let our fruits grow, let us share the divine smoke, let us drink water together. Until the moon comes, until the tribe grows long!"
