Times of the Islands Winter 2020/21

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and all through the house (caneye in Taíno) . . . At the archaeological site identified as La Navidad (En Bas Saline [EBS]) named for the modern Haitian town, there is evidence for house walls constructed of wattleand-daub (a network of interwoven sticks covered with mud or clay). The Taínos built tall, circular to oval houses with large wooden support posts and walls made of smaller sticks. The Caneyes had high-pitched roofs made of palm thatch, with an opening at the top to allow smoke to escape. The Spanish chronicler Bartolomé de las Casas described these houses as large enough to accommodate 40 to 60 people. Guacanagarí, the village chief (cacique) at la Navidad, gave Columbus two houses for his men, and promised more if needed. not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The common house mouse (Mus musculus) was introduced to the Caribbean Islands from Europe, so no mice were stirring in Taíno caneyes. In fact, mice have never been identified in any archaeological deposits. It is possible that they did stowaway on Columbus’ vessels, based on solid evidence that a larger rodent arrived this day. The study of animal bones from La Navidad (EBS) identified the first appearance of Old World black rat (Rattus rattus). This introduced species was so common that its bones were present in two-thirds of the archaeological excavation samples. Our colleague Kathy Deagan (Florida Museum of Natural History) described these as “the first rats to abandon a sinking ship in the Americas.” A common element of Christmas celebrations in Medieval Europe was sacrificing a wild boar. Pig bones have been recovered at EBS, although they did not find a pig skull with an apple in its mouth. The presence of rat and pig bones at archaeological sites throughout the Americas mark the beginning of the post-Columbian era. Rat bones also were found at site MC-32 on Middle Caicos which shows that Lucayans were living here after Europeans arrived. Lucayan sites were repeatedly abandoned and reoccupied so the bones provide important evidence of the timing of their last occupation. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care ... Columbus was a man of his times so we need to turn back to the 16th century. Gift giving was a Christmas tradition in Medieval Europe. Although instead of presents for children, royalty expected gifts from their subjects (read “tribute”). And gifts were not always exchanged on Christmas Day. Giving gifts was far more common on New Year’s Day. On December 30, after seating him on a dais of palmwood, Guacanagarí removed the “crown” from his head and placed on Columbus’s. The crown was probably made of brightly colored bird feathers, as is still the practice among Indigenous societies in Amazonia. In return, Columbus presented Guacanagarí with a necklace of fine agates and beautiful stones, a large silver ring, a cape made of fine red cloth, and colored high-laced shoes (and stockings?). in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there. We have reached the limit of the torture we can impose on Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Maybe we could find a way to tie in reindeer if we worked in circumpolar regions, but this is the tropics. Yet in the same way we look to the night sky to catch a glimpse of Santa and his sleigh, on that Christmas Eve the view from Guacanagarí’s village offered a similar vista. Dominating the night sky at its zenith on the celestial equator was the Orion constellation. Among the brightest stars in the night sky—Rigel, Bellatrix, Betelgeuse and Saiph—frame Orion’s belt (known today in Puerto Rico as “Los Tres Reyes Magos,” the three wise men or Magi). Orion is identified as the one-legged man in Indigenous South American mythology and as the hunter in modern astrology. His transit of the night sky marks the passing of seasons between vernal to autumnal equinoxes. During archaeological research at the MC-6 site on the south coast of Middle Caicos, Dr. Shaun Sullivan demonstrated that stone alignments on the site were aligned to chart the summer solstice and the rising and setting of Orion’s brightest stars. Bill Keegan has asserted that the entire site is an on-the-ground representation of the constellation. All manner of seasonal events (rainy and dry weather, hurricanes, even fishing) could be predicted by reading the night sky. Christmas in Medieval Europe was celebrated for 12 days, as reflected even today in song. Christmas lasted from the feast of the Nativity (first noted as December 25 on a Roman calendar from the fourth century) to the Feast of the Epiphany (the coming of the Magi on January 6). So how did Columbus spend the holiday season? In the days leading up to Christmas, Columbus entered the Mar de Santo Thomás on the eponymous feast day. He was effusive in his praise, claiming first that the bay could hold “all the ships in Christendom” and 20 www.timespub.tc
During archaeological research at the MC-6 site on Middle Caicos, Dr. Shaun Sullivan demonstrated that stone alignments on the site were aligned to chart the summer solstice and the rising and setting of Orion’s brightest stars. Bill Keegan has asserted that the entire site is an on-the-ground representation of the constellation. All manner of seasonal events could be predicted by reading the night sky. ISTOCK.COM
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