Are you a good witch or a bad witch?~ Segregation in Native American Spirituality

Posted on December 20, 2009 by Nanu

With the recent deaths occurring in an Arizona sweat lodge, three so far, many Indigenous Americans are rabidly repeating the mantras “That’s what you get when you mess with things you have no right to mess with”, “Non-natives have no right to participate, let alone conduct sacred native ceremonies” and “The spirits are clearly expressing [...]

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Van Sertima’s Mummies or The Fruits of Careless Research…

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Nanu

…Reply to a Critic
Recently, I received a response to the book review I posted on Ivan Van Sertima’s, They Came Before Columbus.  This person was very passionate about defending the Afrocentric version of alternative history and emailed me an excerpt from his later book, Early America Revisited, in which Van Sertima replies to his critics: [...]

Filed under: Afrocentrism, All My Relations, American Indian, Book review, Growing up, Indigenous, Mitakuye Oyasin, Native American, Personal Growth, Taino, The Good Red Road, Walking in Beauty | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Nostalgia Taína

Posted on June 28, 2009 by Nanu

I was thinking about Taíno identity and politics and my mind started to wander to my childhood…
I grew up traveling the boricua pow wow trail and I remember…

Filed under: All My Relations, American Indian, Childhood, Family, Going Home, Life, Mitakuye Oyasin, Native American, Personal Growth, Taino, The Creative Life, The Good Red Road, Walking in Beauty | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

A “Voice of Authority”… Part Deux

Posted on June 24, 2009 by Nanu

Although at the present moment we have no Authority on the Taino language, let’s pretend we do.  Imagine  we have a group of people who are recognized as the Authority on the Taino language by a great majority of the Taino people and organizations.  And that this Authority has created the ultimate Taino Dictionary…

Filed under: All My Relations, American Indian, Growing up, Indigenous, Life, Mitakuye Oyasin, Native American, Personal Growth, Taino, Taino Language, Tau, The Creative Life, The Good Red Road, Walking in Beauty | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Seeking a leader; the need for a “Voice of Authority” for our dead language

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Nanu

Wisegeek.com states “A dead language is a language which is no longer learned as a native language.“  Wikipedia says that a dead language has no competent speakers and that an extinct language is one that has no speakers at all, be that by language replacement or language evolution.  Examples of these are Modern English having [...]

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Why not the Chamorro? A possible peer in Taino cultural revival….

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Nanu

The  discussion I was participating in on the UCTP forum regarding the Taino language, inspired me to further research other indigenous peoples who may be like us;  folks struggling with their own individual decolonization while trying to help heal that of  their people, reviving the culture and those things that are important to it, making [...]

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When is abusive behavior acceptable?

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Nanu

These questions have been running around my head for a couple of weeks now… I had to put them out there. Just thoughts to ponder…
Is the good that a person does reason enough to accept abuse and disrespect from them?
Does the fact that a person chooses to sacrifice and give so much of his/her time [...]

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“Tau” as religious infiltration?

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Nanu

The thought of “Tau” being a religious corruption was a very interesting element added to the “Tau” discussion…
Some folks believe that “tau” is of christian origin because of the tau cross used by the Franciscan monks,  as a mark of those who accept Christ as their savior, and maybe even the mark painted in lamb’s [...]

Filed under: All My Relations, American Indian, Growing up, Life, Mitakuye Oyasin, Native American, Personal Growth, Spirituality, Taino, Taino Language, Tau, The Good Red Road, Walking in Beauty | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Who’s example can we follow? Are the Maori a good choice?

Posted on May 2, 2009 by Nanu

In a recent discussion on the UCTP forum regarding the matter of the Taino language, it’s development and evolution came up.  The particular word being discussed was “Tau” which has been used for several years now as a greeting among Taino online.   No one seems to know where the word came from, nor how [...]

Filed under: All My Relations, American Indian, Growing up, Life, Mitakuye Oyasin, Native American, Taino, Taino Language, Tau, The Good Red Road, Walking in Beauty | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Some thoughts on the word “Tau”

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Nanu

There has been an uproar in the Taino community recently with regards to the word “tau” being used as a greeting.  Apparently this word has not been found in any of the resources we have for Taino language, nor has it been found in any of our cousin languages… those that have been looked through, [...]

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