The areto was a ceremonial act that was believed to narrate and honor the heroic deeds of Tano ancestors, chiefs, gods, and cemis. Indigenous patrilineal heritage, on the other hand, is much less present today than the matrilineal counterpart. They are descendants of the Arawaks who migrated from the northern coastal region of South America to the Caribbean where they settled in the, The Tanos developed sophisticated systems of navigation, traversing the islands of the Caribbean with ease and building impressive wooden canoes, which the Spanish noted could fit up to 100 passengers. Many images often had babies being carried with ropes tied around them. https://indigenouscaribbean.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/davidcampos.pdf The Taino wordzavanawas adopted into post-classical Latin in 1516 aszauanaand into Spanish in 1519 asavana(nowsabana). Conquistadores:spanish word for conquerors. What was important to them, and what had to be in the center of their village, shifted through time. They also find fire, cassava, and, Yucah - associated with fertility of males and fertility of Yucca (, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, https://www.themorgan.org/collection/Histoire-Naturelle-des-Indes/56, "Tano - Native Heritage and Identity in the Caribbean", "How Ancient DNA Can Help Recast Colonial History", Aventura Cientfica: Arqueologa en las Cabezas de San Juan (1/3).

taino word for water