THE POWER OF A TAÍNO STORY
Ancient Caribbean myths that Enticed the Spanish on to the American Mainland
© 2023 by Michael Auld
Prior to the time of Jesus the Christ
Storytelling is one of the most powerful art forms of education, and the Caribbean’s Taíno people did it well. This is how they recorded their history. Today we have print, movies, the Internet, and other media to relay our stories. The Taíno used the areito, a performance-based set of historical poetic storytelling to record their myths and to recount their history, both on spiritual and temporal levels. This article is about the repercussions of Taíno storytelling on the Spanish actions in the Americas which had everlasting world impacts.
|Above: Indigenous Map of the Caribbean Territories|
By their actions, one thing Taíno knew about the strangers, was that 15th Century Spanish men were greedy for gold, women, and sexual rejuvenation. Subsequently, Spanish men died in the hundreds in search of Taíno myths in attempts to satisfy their lusts, based on stories which the Indigenous people revealed about their homelands in the “Bagua”, which we today call the Caribbean Sea. The exported Taíno myths began with note-taking by Father Ramón Pané, a Spanish cleric in Kisleya/Ayti Bohio, which the imperialist Spanish had the god-like gaul to rename “Hispaniola”. They thought that discovering human beings into existence was their “Christian right".The island’s very politically advanced Kiskeya/Ayti Bohio Taíno began to escalate attacks on Columbus’ men who had proven themselves liars, gold thieves, and sexual predators against the Taíno women and children. The first Taíno attack on the Spanish seamen, occurred just after Columbus first arrived on the northern shore of the Caribbean’s second largest island of Kiskeya/Ayti Bohio. One of the Admiral’s seaworm-eaten ships sank, and the men on it and all its goods were rescued by kacike (leader} Guacanagari’s local Taíno, whom the Spanish marveled at their honesty. “Not a thimble was stolen,” Columbus had said.
However, the Spanish acted disgracefully towards their Taíno hosts by later demanding more Taíno women and gold, to satisfy their unquenchable lusts. After Columbus had left his stranded men behind at a hastily built fort of La Navidad (i.e. “Christmas") to go to Spain for a return to the island with 17 invading ships, his unruly men were killed by Caonabo, the nearby kacike in a scorched earth attack on La Navidad. Included in the Taíno attack was the first recorded use of fiery pepper bombs, which blinded and disoriented the enemy. Today, the military call this weapon, a crowd-controlling chili or pepper grenade. The Taíno were disgusted at the Spanish depravity in their demands for more and more women and gold. Although La Navidad was located in Kacike Guacanagari’s domain, Caonabo, a Lucyan-born (Bahamian) leader, and the neighboring kacike, had made the attack against La Navidad. Caonabo was married to the famous Anaconda, who after Caonabo’s abduction by Columbus, and his death at sea on the way to Spain, had returned to her brother, Behichio’s domain in Xaragua (in today’s Haiti), where she became its kackie after Behechio’s death. Unfortunately, the beautiful, areito master, Anacaona, was martyred by being hanged. (See etching below).
Governor Nicolas de Ovando had replaced the "incompetent" Christopher Columbus, and devised this method of killing Indigenous leaders in order to take over Taíno territory. The Spanish on the Mainland Central and South America, later used this technique to defeat empires by murdering their leaders, such as Mexica (or Aztec) Emperor Moctezuma II, and the Inca empire’s Emperor Atahualpa. The Spanish ally in the destruction which weakened the Amerindian civilizations, was an introduced a type of unexpected "germ warfare", namely the rapid spread of European diseases such as smallpox, and later typhus from imported rats (later by British ships on the East Coast of North America), which, in total, killed over 100 million Amerindians in the Americas. Enslavement and outright murder further decimated Amerindian populations. European plagues were similar to today’s COVID. The Venezuelan pearl trade, additionally killed many Lucayan conch divers, who were used off Margarita Island of Venezuela to dive relentlessly for pearls. The largest pearl in the world , called “The Orphan” since it was found out of its shell by a Lucayan Taíno conch diver, turned pearl diver. Actor, Richard Burton acquired The Orphan and gave it to Elizabeth Taylor.
|Above: "The Orphan" & Hollywood actress, Elizabeth Taylor.|
Taíno Realization: The Barbaric Spanish
When the disappointed Taíno began attacking the Spanish intruders more frequently, Governor Christopher Columbus sent Father Pané, (who had learned some of the Taíno languages), to live among them to learn more about the “Indios”. From Pané’s writing, we know the following stories.
Above: The author’s life-sized wood/mixed media sculpture, and illustrations of Guahayona in his canoa/canoe.
Above: A silk screenprint by the author, of Guahayona leaves the women on Matinino (Meaning "No Fathers")--18" X 24"
Above: Sister print of Guahayona as he leaves the women on Matinino and goes to its twin Island of Gold, "Guanin". To the Taíno, the glittering feathers of the colibre (hummingbird) represented gold.. -- 18" X 24"
The above images are 18 x 24 inch prints on hand-made paper and are of the Island of Women, and the Island of Gold. The female images are from Borikén (Puerto Rico) and are Taíno images from an ancient ball-court stela of Atabey, the Goddess of Childbirth & fresh waters (She is the virgin mother of Yucahù, God of the yuca/cassava and the Bagua (the Caribbean Sea).
|Above: The author’s mixed media sculptures made from wood, stone, inlaid shell, vines, and goldleaf, (7’ tall).|
Guahayona, who was fascinated by cobos (pink conch shell pearls) then went off to explore other islands after leaving Guanin.
Early Taino impressions of the arriving Spanish
The Kasike, Hatuey, Cuban Hero
Above: Detail of Hatuey
For Him they have killed our parents, brothers, all our people and our neighbors, and deprive us of all our possessions,” he said.
Hatuey, the legendary hero later martyred in Cuba, was the kacike of the province of Guahaba (Gonave), the small island located next to Ayti Bohío or Haiti.
The first recorded meeting between indigenous Americans and Europeans was, however, more amicable. The Caribbean’s “Good” or “Noble” people and Spanish sailors under the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus met on the Bahamian island of Guanahani . The Taíno Encounter occurred on Friday, October 11, 1492. The above speech by Hatuey reflected how relationships had deteriorated between the Taínos and the Conquistadors by 1503. The speech, was reported by the priest Bartholomew de Las Casas, known as the “Defender of the Indians”, whose father had come to the Caribbean with Christopher Columbus on the Second Voyage of 1493. Las Casas was a repentant slaver of the Indios. Before his capture in Cuba, Hatuey had expressed the sentiment held by the indigenous Caribbean people who had observed Spanish insatiable search for guanín or gold.
|Above: Three views of the author's version of Anacaona, -- Carved cherrywood, vines, macaw feathers, cotton, & conch shell. --3' 2" tall X18" wide X 4' 4" deep.|
The misinterpretation of Taíno myths began with Christopher Columbus in his 1492 expedition to the Caribbean. Thereafter, the exaggerations of the stories about free gold and women took on lives of their own. He classified the Taínos as Indios and mistook these indigenous Caribbean people as Indu Island inhabitants off the Indian subcontinent. Columbus had obviously not arrived in India but in the northern territory of the Taíno civilization whose highest estimated population was six million relatively peace-loving people. They lived in a veritable paradise. Columbus marveled at their spectacular health and Ponce de Leon, by his actions, believed that they must have drunk from the fabled Fountain of Eternal Youth.
Before the birth of Christ, some ancestors of the Taínos were members of an Arawakan speaking society of river-going farmers who had left the Orinoco River Basin in South America. They brought with them many mainland myths, technologies, plants, and animals. They traveled over the unpredictable Caribbean Sea to become successful seafaring navigators. These Taíno ancestors intermarried with the earlier island inhabitants who had populated the Caribbean territory during the previous 4,000 years.
Upon the first day of their arrival in the Caribbean, Columbus and his men’s eyes immediately fell upon gold ornaments worn by some Lucayan (Bahamian) Taínos. He lost no time in inquiring about the source of their guanin (14k gold/copper/silver alloy). The Taínos pointed in another direction away from their island and Columbus recorded words from a Taíno epic story that seemed to speak of another very large island of women warriors and gold. The Spanish spent the next 28 years mainly on Caribbean islands. They made their first serious occupation of the continental Americas in 1521 after the 1519 invasion by Hernan Cortéz of the Mexica (Me-shee-ka, or Aztec) of Tenochtitlan (Mexico). During those first 28 years all concrete knowledge (and myths) about Native Americans came from Caribbean ventures. The information came especially from the Taíno and "Island Carib" or Kalinago cultures.
In the Caribbean, the Spanish learned of an ancient cautionary story about the Taíno hero Guahayona (“Our Pride”) and his travels to the islands of Matinino (“No Fathers”), and Guanin (“Gold”). In his letter of March 1493 to the monarchs of Spain, Christopher Columbus wrote of a Taíno island of women which he called  Mateunin (a version of the Taíno word Matinino). Matinino lay in the direction of the eastern Caribbean Island that was later named Martinique. On Mateunin "the women acted like men" and were armed with “bows and darts” and “they protect themselves with sheets of copper, of which there is great abundance among them”. Columbus was also told of an island, which he described as larger than Hispaniola “which abounds in gold above all the others.” As early as 1492, the lust for Amerindian gold and women had enhanced the mystique of the Caribbean.
To satisfy his backers who had become increasingly disappointed with the scant quantities of gold found in the Caribbean, Columbus “decided to fill the ships of Antonio de Torres with Indians (Taínos) to be taken back to Spain and sold as slaves.” This turn to force against the Taínos backfired when the first seemingly docile people began sporadic rebellions and attacks on the Spanish forts of Hispaniola. The Taínos had been angered by the cruelty of the Spanish in exchange for their civilized welcome. That same year (1495) Columbus had decided that he should know more about the “Indios” and in early April he had enlisted the help of a priest, Fray Ramon Pané . He directed Pané to live with the Taínos to learn more about them and their strategies since the friar had come to understand one of the Caribbean languages. Pané had come on Columbus’ second voyage and like his fellow clerics, was suspiciously tolerated by the Taínos. He was a skeptic who stayed at kacike (chief) Guarionex's yucayeke (village) in Magua where he recorded the following more detailed portion of the Taíno myth.
He [Guahayona] said to the women, “Leave behind your husbands and let us go to other lands and carry off much gueyo [a green chewing tobacco mixed with salty ashes].
Leave your children and let us take only the herb with us and later we
shall return for them.”
Guahayona, OUR PRIDE, left with all the women and went searching for
He came to Matinino, NO FATHERS, where he soon left the women
behind, and he went off to another region called Guanin.
According to Stevens-Arroyo, Taíno stories employed symbolic thought and were often too subtle for the “literal-minded invaders and the naïveté of the Spanish fueled Old World myths.” When the Spanish heard a Taíno story or local explanation, they assumed that the tale was proof of a European occurrence which had somehow taken place in the Americas. For example, the Taíno’s mythical island of No Fathers or Matinino was proof that the Caribbean was the abode of the Greek Amazons. This Taíno theme about unattached women plus gold played an important role in some notable Spanish expeditions into the Americas. If the sequence of Guahayona's travels to Matinino and Guanin was correct, once Amazons were sighted gold was not far behind.
La CaliforniaHow did myths impact on encouraging early Spanish expeditions to the Americas? The name of the Spanish Pacific coastal territory that became part of the United States in 1850 was derived from a mythological Spanish story. The colorful legend was about an island called “La California” by Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo (1440-1505). The island was described in his Spanish novel as having steep cliffs guarded by griffins, whose human inhabitants were black women warriors and the only metal found there was gold.
Above: A 1937 depiction of Queen Calafia in a part of a mural by Lucile Lloyd, on the California Capitol.
Hernán Cortéz, the ill reputed “conqueror of the Aztecs” who called themselves “Mexica” (Mé-she-ka), is credited with the naming of the territory now called California. It is said that after the conquest of the Aztecs, he later saw the California Mountains from Baja California. Upon seeing the mountains, he called them the “Island of the Calafa” (or the “Island of Queen Calafia”). To him, the distant mountain appeared to be like the mythical island from the most successful printed romantic novel of 16th century Spain. The story about the mythical island of La California was in Las Sergas de Esplandian (the “Adventures of Esplandian”) that was a sequel to Amadis de Gaula. Some sixteenth century Spanish explorers were often romantics who renamed places with terms from European fables. The 1510 published tale of Espalandian’s adventures had elements of the ancient Taíno story of Guahayona’s travels. (These details were possibly copied from data described by Columbus, or the Pané manuscript).
The Adventures of Esplandian
Above: Cover of the Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo's republished(?) 1510 novel of Esplandian, in which La California is described.
The Adventures of Esplandian states:
“Know that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons. They were of strong and hardy bodies of ancient courage, and great force. Their island was the strongest in the world, with its steep cliffs and rock shores. Their arms were of gold, and so was the harness of the wild beasts they tamed to ride, for in the whole island there was no metal but gold.”
The story of La California included griffins that would tear apart men who ventured on Calafia’s Island of black Amazons. Griffins were mythical Greek beasts that had the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. The Greeks believed that griffins were guardians of gold and laid their eggs in nests lined with that precious metal. Additionally, in the story La California was to be found “on the right hand of the Indies”, possibly the location of Matinino (or Martinique) or near the American mainland. The Spanish associated the Caribbean with Atlantis while the Adventures of Esplandian took the hero close to the “Terrestrial Paradise”, a discription of the Caribbean by clerics. Similarly, unable to justify the theological existence of the Americas, some of Columbus’ contemporaries believed that the Caribbean’s nude indigenous people and its earthly beauty were evidence of the Biblical Paradise. Also, according to the logic of that time, gold was the color of the sun and territories closest to the sun (the tropics) had more abundance of that metal. Ironically, despite the myth about the island of La California, the California Gold Rush of 1848-1849 did prove that there was gold in those mountains.
In 1524, Hernán Cortéz was also responsible for sending an alluring myth about California to Emperor Charles V of Spain. The myth originated from a report in Colima by Gonzalo de Sandoval who sent it to Mexico where Hernán Cortéz resided. The report carried to the emperor was that California was indeed an island “rich with pearls and gold and inhabited by women only.” It is not surprising that Cortéz thought of California as an island since the first 12 years of his life in the Americas were spent on the Caribbean islands of Hispaniola and Cuba. Why did Cortéz romantically attach the California myth to these mainland mountains?
Hernán Cortéz was just a lad of around eight years old when Columbus first landed in the Caribbean. His vision of the Americas (the Indies) was based on the fantastic stories, people and goods brought back yearly from the Caribbean to Spain. By 1498 when Cortez was about 14, Fray Ramon Pané had completed his report on Taíno myths and customs in Hispaniola as mandated by Christopher Columbus. In 1506 at age 22, Cortez arrived in Hispaniola (Kiskeya/Ayti Bohio) which was the center of operations for the expanding Spanish American empire. Cortéz was described as a member of the “Generation 1500, many of whom strongly believed the Americas were indeed the islands of their fantasies.”
How did Hernán Cortéz come to read a novel which included a mythical island called “La California”? By 1500 there were about 10 million books in Europe with editions on many subjects. This printing revolution, initiated in 1448 by Johann Gutenberg and his financial partner Joann Fust, gave rise to the popularization of the romance novel. Many Europeans, some who became conquistadors, read the works of Spanish writer Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo who wrote the novel Las Sergas de Espaladian. In addition to reading Mobtalvo, some Europeans were well acquainted with the "works by Sir John Mandeville about men with two heads, Amazons, and the Fountain of Eternal Youth which would revive the fading sexual powers of elderly men, and which even rational people would expect to find in the Americas beyond the next cape."
Other Searches Influenced by the Taíno Origin Myth:
From El Dorado to the Fountain of Youth
Both the search for El Dorado and the European naming of the Amazon River were influenced by the Taíno myth of an island of women (Matinino) and an island of solid gold (Guanin). El Dorado means “gilded man” and is a South American inspired story about an alleged ruler who was so rich that he covered his body with gold dust each day and washed it off each evening in a lake. During the 16th century El Dorado was believed to have originated among the Chibcha of Bogota, Columbia, in South America. Their chief was reputed to have carried out the above-mentioned practice in sacred Lake Guatavita. This sacred ceremony, thought to be associated with the sun, only happened when a new leader was installed.
Above: The author’s illustration of a mythical El Dorado, the City of Gold
El Dorado was a mythical South American location (in Columbia) whose story drove the Spanish explorers on frenetic searches for the place ruled by an Indian (Indio) man reputed to be gilded in gold dust. The Amazon River was named during a search for El Dorado. Las Siete Ciudades Doradas de Cibola, or the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola was based on a combination of an Iberian myth and an embellished Mexican story which cost the enslaved African Moor, Esteban, (Little Stephen) and many Zuni people their lives. Juan Ponce de Leon left Boriken (Puerto Rico) on an expedition to Bimini upon hearing a Taíno myth about rejuvenation which seemed plausible to him. He was mortally wounded in La Florida during his second search for the Fountain of Eternal Youth. These tantalizing 16th century myths and the resulting Spanish quests for gold and women were either based on or coupled with Taíno stories which originated in the Caribbean Islands eons before 1492.
Seven Golden Cities of Cibola (Las Siete Ciudades de Cibola) was a 1530 Myth embellished with the Taíno Origin Story. It was a myth that caused the Conquistadors to traverse the American continents from Peru to Nebraska in a frenzied search for gold. According to Dr. Adrian Bustamante, the encounter of both the gold rich Aztec empire by Hernán Cortéz and the plunder of the wealthy Inca metropolis by Francisco Pizarro proved that cities of gold did exist in the Americas. The origin of the story of the Seven Cities had two sources, one in Europe and the other in Mexico.
This story also overlapped with the Taíno myth of Matinino and Guanin. The first segment of the tale began with a European legend. Antonio Stevens-Arroyo stated that the legend started with  “seven refugee Portuguese bishops who had fled [along with their congregations] with golden church ornaments from the Iberian Peninsula in previous centuries in order to escape the coming of the Moors.” By the 16th century the story of the seven bishops became the Las Siete Ciudades de Cibola or the “The Seven Cities of Gold”.
The Mexican based part of the tale of the Seven Cities of Cibola came from an enslaved Mexican Indian, called Tejo by the Spaniards. In 1530 Nuno de Guzman, President of New Spain (Mexico), owned Tejo, by whom he was told the story of the northern location of a place where his father, a trader, had brought back  “a large amount of gold and silver. ” Tejo, when he was young, had accompanied his father once or twice on trips to the location where  “he had seen seven very large towns (which he compared to Mexico and its environs) which had streets of silver workers.” Nuno de Guzman mounted an unsuccessful expedition with “nearly 400 Spaniards and 20,000 friendly Indians of New Spain” (or Mexico) to find the Seven Cities. Instead of being able to locate the Seven Cities, Guzman established the town of Culiacan. After Guzman's return from the expedition Tejo died without revealing the precise location of the Seven Cities.
In 1536 Cabeza de Vaca, three other Spaniards and Esteban (Stephen), or Estavanico (Little Steven),, an enslaved African Moor, arrived in Culiacan, Mexico after an ill fated 1527-28 Narvaez expedition to Florida. They were the sole survivors of the Narvaez expedition. They gave an  “extended account of some powerful villages, four and five stories high, of which they had heard a great deal in countries they had crossed.” This account of their overland survival trek from Florida to Mexico seemed to corroborate the earlier story of the Seven Cities. Esteban (who was able to diplomatically pave the way with the Indians) was then sent with Friar Marcos de Niza and two other friars, on the search for the Seven Cities. Esteban, with an escort of 60 Indians, arduously forged north ahead of the friars into the territory of the Zuni people of New Mexico. His entourage also included “many pretty women and turquoise” that some local Indians had given him. There Esteban met his death at the Zuni pueblo of Hawikuh after demanding more women and turquoise from his new hosts. The rattle that he wore, on which an owl was depicted, may have contributed to his death. An owl may have been construed as a harbinger of death.
Not having even entered the Zuni pueblo, and fearing for their own lives, Marcos de Niza and the other two friars hastily retreated to Culiacan where they painted vivid accounts of “treasures”. It is from these friars' accounts that a more embellished version of the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola was given. The new version of the Seven Cities included segments of earlier myths  “about the South Sea and islands [Taíno?] and other riches”. News of the Seven Cities quickly spread, even from the pulpit, and an armed force of conquest was brought together. The 27 year old Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was sent out by his friend the viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) to find Cibola. The large, highly financed expedition cost millions of dollars. Coronado’s expedition was attacked at Hawikuh in 1540. Many Zuni were killed; however, the Spanish found no treasures.
The AmazonPrimed with the Taíno reference to an Island of Women called Matinino the Spanish explorers in the Americas literally searched for these Amazons and actually found them. Beginning his journey in February of 1541, Francisco de Orellana, the first non-Amerindian to accidentally traverse the second longest river in the world, thought that he had found Amazons. Orellana named this South American river for the women warriors who attacked his desperate party of hungry survivors. Orellana, who had arrived in the Caribbean in 1527, joined the Gonzalo Pizarro expedition to find precious metals and the “Land of Cinnamon”. Orellana was sent on the adventure from Peru by Francisco Pizarro, the “Conqueror of the Inca”. His job was to secure the services of 23 men and horses. The expedition started with 4000 Amerindians and over 200 Spaniards. While trying to scale mountains the expedition floundered when 3000 Amerindians and 140 of the Spanish died or deserted the venture.
Being shot at with arrows by Amerindian women was not an unusual occurrence for the conquistadors. The first of many recorded events of this kind happened off the coast of St Croix in the Virgin Islands on Columbus’ 2nd voyage of 1493. (See above). Three accounts stated that an arrow was shot by a Carib (actually, a Kalinago) woman with such force and dexterity that it penetrated a Spanish wooden shield, embedding itself three inches into the chest of the attacking seaman. He, of course, died a few days later from the arrow’s curare poison.
Orellana, upon his return to Spain, told exaggerated stories at court about the Amazon adventure. He obtained financing for a return trip of exploration of the Amazon River where he was attacked. Poison arrows killed seventeen of his men. In November of 1546 he either died of illness and a broken heart or drowned when his boat capsized. His wife remarried and moved off to live in Panama.
Another Taíno Myth
Above: (L) A 1546 painting by Lucas Crannich the Elder of The Eternal Fountain of Youth whose story has been around for thousands of years.
Above A 19th Century German artist’s painting of Ponce de Leon and the Florida fountain.— Wikipedia.
Juan Ponce de Leon believed a story about a Taíno “island” called Bimini. Bimini was the Taíno name for their territory on North America's Florida peninsula. There, he thought, old men would be turned sexually young again by drinking the waters of a spring. Ponce de Leon believed that the Bahamas was the location of Sir John Mandeville's published tale of the fabled Fountain of Eternal Youth. He first set off from Boriken (Puerto Rico) on a private expedition to search for a mythical Taíno site which seemed to confirm the existence of the European's fabled source of a 15th century form of Viagra.
The Ponce de Leon expedition traveled on to the nearby peninsula, which he thought was also a Bahama Island, and named it La Florida.This was because his expedition arrived on the mainland during the week of Easter or Pascua florida (season of flowers). According to Dr. Jose Barreiro, author of The Indian Chronicles, the American location of the Fountain of Youth was another Spanish misinterpretation of a complicated Taíno reference. The Taíno connotation in their myth about "Life of the Spring Waters" alluded to the rejuvenation of their expanding civilization which was moving further north island by island into Bimini (Florida). In 1521 Ponce de Leon again sailed for La Florida where he tried to set up a Spanish colony between today's Fort Myers and Tampa. During a skirmish with the indigenous Calusa, whom the Spanish disrespected, he was mortally shot with an arrow. Taken back to Cuba he died there of his wounds.
Taino ContributionsDuring the second half of the 2nd Millennium AD, Europe, Africa, and Asia benefited from both Caribbean myths and products. In addition to pearls (the largest, named “The Orphan” (above), and gold, Caribbean medicines, woods, plants, and technologies became an integral part of Old World cultures and cuisines. For example, the Szechuan province of China adopted the Taíno aji or “chili” peppers. The same can be said about Hungarian “paprika”. Tropical Africa and Asian subsistence were enhanced by the Taíno yuca or cassava. Taíno maisi from which the word maize is derived continue to fatten European cattle. The Taíno and Island Carib cultures were conduits for faunal products, some of which originated in Central and South America. In Europe the existence of the Taíno and their myths spawned fanciful stories of a “new” world and began debates about the “Noble Savage.” William Shakespeare, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Daniel Defoe, and other writers based some of their works on the Taíno and Island Carib mystique. Today the descendants of these island cultures live in the Caribbean, North American and European cities as Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Haitians, Jamaicans, Cubans, and Virgin Islanders. If one is of Kalinago (a.k.a. Carib) it would be from Dominica, Martinique, and other islands of the Eastern Caribbean. Interestingly, only the Kalinago of Dominica has an inbroken line of chiefs and a reservation called “The Carib Reserve”, where chiefs and a council are elected every four years.
The Contemporary Taíno Impact
|Above: A Key to the above Taino Creation Story composition.|
 The Taíno name for Cuba was Cubanakan. Although called Arawaks in the English speaking Caribbean the people who met Columbus in 1492 called themselves Taíno. Taíno means the Good or Noble People.
 Guanahani means “Island of the Iguana”.
 Guanin was 14k gold alloy and like a silver nose ring seen in Cuba was probably imported by the Taínos from mainland South or Central America. Caona was the name for pure gold. --The Early Spanish Main, Carl Orwin Sauer, p. 24.
 When the Spanish finally captured Hatuey they tied him to a stake. Before they executed him, a priest asked Hatuey if he wanted to convert to Christianity so that he may go to Heaven. “Are there Christians in Heaven?” Hatuey asked. “Yes” the priest said. “Then I don’t want to go there”, Hatuey said. So, they burned him. Hatuey is a folk hero in Cuba.
 Sauer, p. 51
 Anacaona had done the same with the previous governor Bartholomew Columbus when she had presented him with a gift of fourteen elaborately carved dujos (ceremonial stools) of highly polished black hardwood. The dujos, sent back to Spain were highly praised there by Peter Martyr. The “thrones” were from her warehouse stocked with dishes, basins, bowls, and other containers, and were the prized product of Taíno workshops on Guahaba (Gonave).
 The Taíno believed that Guahayona was the first shaman who also introduced the sacred cojiba (tobacco, Nicotania tabacum).
 Caribal(es) is the source of the word “cannibal”.
 As is true today, “black” is a loose term that could also mean “not white”, as in England where Indians and Chinese are loosely lumped in the same color category as Africans and West Indians. (See: Califia on Wikipedia’s website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Califa
 Paewonsky, Michael. Conquest of Eden 1493-1515, p.22-23. Columbus thought that Martinique was the fabled island of Mateunin.
 Etimología de California, http://etimologias.dechile.net/?California
 Chronology of California History, http://www.walika.com/sr/cal-c0000hron.htm, p. 1.
 Pane, Fray Ramon. translated by Griswold, Susan C. Account of the Antiquities of the Indians,
 Grabbe, J.Orlin. Internet and the Death of News Monopoly, p. 1
 Castaneda, Pedro de, of Najara. The Journey of Coronado, p.1 http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/wpages/wpgs610/corona2.htm
 Ibid. p.2
 Ibid., p.3
 The pulpit would have been a likely place for the spread of this myth since the gold, from the original Iberian story of the fleeing bishops, belonged to the church.
 In 1492, cinnamon was a prized spice that the Spanish imported from the East Indies. This Turkish embargoed East Indian spice was one of the items that sparked Columbus’ search for a sea route to the Indies. Gonzalo Pizarro and Orellana mistakenly thought that cinnamon could be found in the Americas.
 Orellana and the Amazons, Athena Review, p. 2, http:www.athenapub./orellan1.htm
 Michael Paiewonsky, Conquest of Eden, p. 42-51


- Differentiate between the social actor, the motivated agent, and the autobiographical author
- Identify the core differences between individualistic cultures and collectivist cultures
- Differentiate between upward and downward social comparison and the impact each has on our self-esteem
- Define the Frog Pond Effect and the Dunning-Kruger effect
The ancient Greeks seemed to realize that the self is inherently —it reflects back on itself. In the disarmingly simple idea made famous by the great psychologist William James (1892/1963), the self is what happens when “I” reflects back upon “Me.” The self is both the I and the Me—it is the knower, and it is what the knower knows when the knower reflects upon itself. When you look back at yourself, what do you see? When you look inside, what do you find? Moreover, when you try to change your self in some way, what is it that you are trying to change? The philosopher Charles Taylor (1989) describes the self as a reflexive project. In modern life, Taylor agues, we often try to manage, discipline, refine, improve, or develop the self. We work on our selves, as we might work on any other interesting project. But what exactly is it that we work on?Imagine for a moment that you have decided to improve yourself. You might, say, go on a diet to improve your appearance. Or you might decide to be nicer to your mother, in order to improve that important social role. Or maybe the problem is at work—you need to find a better job or go back to school to prepare for a different career. Perhaps you just need to work harder. Or get organized. Or recommit yourself to religion. Or maybe the key is to begin thinking about your whole life story in a completely different way, in a way that you hope will bring you more happiness, fulfillment, peace, or excitement.Although there are many different ways you might reflect upon and try to improve the self, it turns out that many, if not most, of them fall roughly into three broad psychological categories (McAdams & Cox, 2010). The I may encounter the Me as (a) a social actor, (b) a motivated agent, or (c) an autobiographical author.
The Social Actor
For human beings, the sense of the self as a social actor begins to emerge around the age of 18 months. Numerous studies have shown that by the time they reach their second birthday most toddlers recognize themselves in mirrors and other reflecting devices (Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979; Rochat, 2003). What they see is an embodied actor who moves through space and time. Many children begin to use words such as “me” and “mine” in the second year of life, suggesting that the I now has linguistic labels that can be applied reflexively to itself: I call myself “me.” Around the same time, children also begin to express social emotions such as embarrassment, shame, guilt, and pride (Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007). These emotions tell the social actor how well he or she is performing in the group. When I do things that win the approval of others, I feel proud of myself. When I fail in the presence of others, I may feel embarrassment or shame. When I violate a social rule, I may experience guilt, which may motivate me to make amends.
Many of the classic psychological theories of human selfhood point to the second year of life as a key developmental period. For example, Freud (1923/1961) and his followers in the psychoanalytic tradition traced the emergence of an autonomous back to the second year. Freud used the term “ego” (in German das Ich, which also translates into “the I”) to refer to an executive self in the personality. Erikson (1963) argued that experiences of trust and interpersonal attachment in the first year of life help to consolidate the autonomy of the ego in the second. Coming from a more sociological perspective, Mead (1934) suggested that the I comes to know the Me through reflection, which may begin quite literally with mirrors but later involves the reflected appraisals of others. I come to know who I am as a social actor, Mead argued, by noting how other people in my social world react to my performances. In the development of the self as a social actor, other people function like mirrors—they reflect who I am back to me.
Research has shown that when young children begin to make attributions about themselves, they start simple (Harter, 2006). At age 4, Jessica knows that she has dark hair, knows that she lives in a white house, and describes herself to others in terms of simple behavioral traits. She may say that she is “nice,” or “helpful,” or that she is “a good girl most of the time.” By the time, she hits fifth grade (age 10), Jessica sees herself in more complex ways, attributing traits to the self such as “honest,” “moody,” “outgoing,” “shy,” “hard-working,” “smart,” “good at math but not gym class,” or “nice except when I am around my annoying brother.” By late childhood and early adolescence, the personality traits that people attribute to themselves, as well as those attributed to them by others, tend to correlate with each other in ways that conform to a well-established taxonomy of five broad trait domains, repeatedly derived in studies of adult personality and often called the : (1) extraversion, (2) neuroticism, (3) agreeableness, (4) conscientiousness, and (5) openness to experience (Roberts, Wood, & Caspi, 2008). By late childhood, moreover, self-conceptions will likely also include important social roles: “I am a good student,” “I am the oldest daughter,” or “I am a good friend to Sarah.”
Traits and roles, and variations on these notions, are the main currency of the (McAdams & Cox, 2010). Trait terms capture perceived consistencies in social performance. They convey what I reflexively perceive to be my overall acting style, based in part on how I think others see me as an actor in many different social situations. Roles capture the quality, as I perceive it, of important structured relationships in my life. Taken together, traits and roles make up the main features of my , as I apprehend it in my own mind (Hogan, 1982).
If you have ever tried hard to change yourself, you may have taken aim at your social reputation, targeting your central traits or your social roles. Maybe you woke up one day and decided that you must become a more optimistic and emotionally upbeat person. Taking into consideration the reflected appraisals of others, you realized that even your friends seem to avoid you because you bring them down. In addition, it feels bad to feel so bad all the time: Wouldn’t it be better to feel good, to have more energy and hope? In the language of traits, you have decided to “work on” your “neuroticism.” Or maybe instead, your problem is the trait of “conscientiousness”: You are undisciplined and don’t work hard enough, so you resolve to make changes in that area. Self-improvement efforts such as these—aimed at changing one’s traits to become a more effective social actor—are sometimes successful, but they are very hard—kind of like dieting. Research suggests that broad traits tend to be stubborn, resistant to change, even with the aid of psychotherapy. However, people often have more success working directly on their social roles. To become a more effective social actor, you may want to take aim at the important roles you play in life. What can I do to become a better son or daughter? How can I find new and meaningful roles to perform at work, or in my family, or among my friends, or in my church and community? By doing concrete things that enrich your performances in important social roles, you may begin to see yourself in a new light, and others will notice the change, too. Social actors hold the potential to transform their performances across the human life course. Each time you walk out on stage, you have a chance to start anew.
The Motivated Agent
Whether we are talking literally about the theatrical stage or more figuratively, as I do in this module, about the everyday social environment for human behavior, observers can never fully know what is in the actor’s head, no matter how closely they watch. We can see actors act, but we cannot know for sure what they want or what they value, unless they tell us straightaway. As a social actor, a person may come across as friendly and compassionate, or cynical and mean-spirited, but in neither case can we infer their motivations from their traits or their roles. What does the friendly person want? What is the cynical father trying to achieve? Many broad psychological theories of the self prioritize the motivational qualities of human behavior—the inner needs, wants, desires, goals, values, plans, programs, fears, and aversions that seem to give behavior its direction and purpose (Bandura, 1989; Deci & Ryan, 1991; Markus & Nurius, 1986). These kinds of theories explicitly conceive of the self as a motivated agent.
To be an agent is to act with direction and purpose, to move forward into the future in pursuit of self-chosen and valued goals. In a sense, human beings are agents even as infants, for babies can surely act in goal-directed ways. By age 1 year, moreover, infants show a strong preference for observing and imitating the goal-directed, intentional behavior of others, rather than random behaviors (Woodward, 2009). Still, it is one thing to act in goal-directed ways; it is quite another for the I to know itself (the Me) as an intentional and purposeful force who moves forward in life in pursuit of self-chosen goals, values, and other desired end states. In order to do so, the person must first realize that people indeed have desires and goals in their minds and that these inner desires and goals motivate (initiate, energize, put into motion) their behavior. According to a strong line of research in developmental psychology, attaining this kind of understanding means acquiring a (Wellman, 1993), which occurs for most children by the age of 4. Once a child understands that other people’s behavior is often motivated by inner desires and goals, it is a small step to apprehend the self in similar terms.
Building on theory of mind and other cognitive and social developments, children begin to construct the self as a motivated agent in the elementary school years, layered over their still-developing sense of themselves as social actors. Theory and research on what developmental psychologists call converge to suggest that children become more planful, intentional, and systematic in their pursuit of valued goals during this time (Sameroff & Haith, 1996). Schooling reinforces the shift in that teachers and curricula place increasing demands on students to work hard, adhere to schedules, focus on goals, and achieve success in particular, well-defined task domains. Their relative success in achieving their most cherished goals, furthermore, goes a long way in determining children’s (Robins, Tracy, & Trzesniewski, 2008). Motivated agents feel good about themselves to the extent they believe that they are making good progress in achieving their goals and advancing their most important values.
Goals and values become even more important for the self in adolescence, as teenagers begin to confront what Erikson (1963) famously termed the developmental challenge of . For adolescents and young adults, establishing a psychologically efficacious identity involves exploring different options with respect to life goals, values, vocations, and intimate relationships and eventually committing to a motivational and ideological agenda for adult life—an integrated and realistic sense of what I want and value in life and how I plan to achieve it (Kroger & Marcia, 2011). Committing oneself to an integrated suite of life goals and values is perhaps the greatest achievement for the . Establishing an adult identity has implications, as well, for how a person moves through life as a social actor, entailing new role commitments and, perhaps, a changing understanding of one’s basic dispositional traits. According to Erikson, however, identity achievement is always provisional, for adults continue to work on their identities as they move into midlife and beyond, often relinquishing old goals in favor of new ones, investing themselves in new projects and making new plans, exploring new relationships, and shifting their priorities in response to changing life circumstances (Freund & Riediger, 2006; Josselson, 1996).
There is a sense whereby any time you try to change yourself, you are assuming the role of a motivated agent. After all, to strive to change something is inherently what an agent does. However, what particular feature of selfhood you try to change may correspond to your self as actor, agent, or author, or some combination. When you try to change your traits or roles, you take aim at the social actor. By contrast, when you try to change your values or life goals, you are focusing on yourself as a motivated agent. Adolescence and young adulthood are periods in the human life course when many of us focus attention on our values and life goals. Perhaps you grew up as a traditional Catholic, but now in college you believe that the values inculcated in your childhood no longer function so well for you. You no longer believe in the central tenets of the Catholic Church, say, and are now working to replace your old values with new ones. Or maybe you still want to be Catholic, but you feel that your new take on faith requires a different kind of personal ideology. In the realm of the motivated agent, moreover, changing values can influence life goals. If your new value system prioritizes alleviating the suffering of others, you may decide to pursue a degree in social work, or to become a public interest lawyer, or to live a simpler life that prioritizes people over material wealth. A great deal of the identity work we do in adolescence and young adulthood is about values and goals, as we strive to articulate a personal vision or dream for what we hope to accomplish in the future.
The Autobiographical Author
Even as continues to develop a sense of as both a social actor and a motivated agent, a third standpoint for selfhood gradually emerges in the adolescent and early-adult years. The third perspective is a response to Erikson’s (1963) challenge of identity. According to Erikson, developing an identity involves more than the exploration of and commitment to life goals and values (the self as motivated agent), and more than committing to new roles and re-evaluating old traits (the self as social actor). It also involves achieving a sense of temporal continuity in life—a reflexive understanding of how I have come to be the person I am becoming, or put differently, how my past self has developed into my present self, and how my present self will, in turn, develop into an envisioned future self. In his analysis of identity formation in the life of the 15th-century Protestant reformer Martin Luther, Erikson (1958) describes the culmination of a young adult’s search for identity in this way:
“To be adult means among other things to see one’s own life in continuous perspective, both in retrospect and prospect. By accepting some definition of who he is, usually on the basis of a function in an economy, a place in the sequence of generations, and a status in the structure of society, the adult is able to selectively reconstruct his past in such a way that, step for step, it seems to have planned him, or better, he seems to have planned it. In this sense, psychologically we do choose our parents, our family history, and the history of our kings, heroes, and gods. By making them our own, we maneuver ourselves into the inner position of proprietors, of creators.”
— (Erikson, 1958, pp. 111–112; emphasis added).
In this rich passage, Erikson intimates that the development of a mature identity in young adulthood involves the I’s ability to construct a retrospective and prospective story about the Me (McAdams, 1985). In their efforts to find a meaningful identity for life, young men and women begin “to selectively reconstruct” their past, as Erikson wrote, and imagine their future to create an integrative life story, or what psychologists today often call a . A narrative identity is an internalized and evolving story of the self that reconstructs the past and anticipates the future in such a way as to provide a person’s life with some degree of unity, meaning, and purpose over time (McAdams, 2008; McLean, Pasupathi, & Pals, 2007). The self typically becomes an autobiographical author in the early-adult years, a way of being that is layered over the motivated agent, which is layered over the social actor. In order to provide life with the sense of temporal continuity and deep meaning that Erikson believed identity should confer, we must author a personalized life story that integrates our understanding of who we once were, who we are today, and who we may become in the future. The story helps to explain, for the author and for the author’s world, why the social actor does what it does and why the motivated agent wants what it wants, and how the person as a whole has developed over time, from the past’s reconstructed beginning to the future’s imagined ending.
By the time they are 5 or 6 years of age, children can tell well-formed stories about personal events in their lives (Fivush, 2011). By the end of childhood, they usually have a good sense of what a typical biography contains and how it is sequenced, from birth to death (Thomsen & Bernsten, 2008). But it is not until adolescence, research shows, that human beings express advanced storytelling skills and what psychologists call (Habermas & Bluck, 2000; McLean & Fournier, 2008). In autobiographical reasoning, a narrator is able to derive substantive conclusions about the self from analyzing his or her own personal experiences. Adolescents may develop the ability to string together events into causal chains and inductively derive general themes about life from a sequence of chapters and scenes (Habermas & de Silveira, 2008). For example, a 16-year-old may be able to explain to herself and to others how childhood experiences in her family have shaped her vocation in life. Her parents were divorced when she was 5 years old, the teenager recalls, and this caused a great deal of stress in her family. Her mother often seemed anxious and depressed, but she (the now-teenager when she was a little girl—the story’s protagonist) often tried to cheer her mother up, and her efforts seemed to work. In more recent years, the teenager notes that her friends often come to her with their boyfriend problems. She seems to be very adept at giving advice about love and relationships, which stems, the teenager now believes, from her early experiences with her mother. Carrying this causal narrative forward, the teenager now thinks that she would like to be a marriage counselor when she grows up.
Unlike children, then, adolescents can tell a full and convincing story about an entire human life, or at least a prominent line of causation within a full life, explaining continuity and change in the story’s protagonist over time. Once the cognitive skills are in place, young people seek interpersonal opportunities to share and refine their developing sense of themselves as storytellers (the I) who tell stories about themselves (the Me). Adolescents and young adults author a narrative sense of the self by telling stories about their experiences to other people, monitoring the feedback they receive from the tellings, editing their stories in light of the feedback, gaining new experiences and telling stories about those, and on and on, as selves create stories that, in turn, create new selves (McLean et al., 2007). Gradually, in fits and starts, through conversation and introspection, the I develops a convincing and coherent narrative about the Me.
Contemporary research on the emphasizes the strong effect of culture on narrative identity (Hammack, 2008). Culture provides a menu of favored plot lines, themes, and character types for the construction of self-defining life stories. Autobiographical authors sample selectively from the cultural menu, appropriating ideas that seem to resonate well with their own life experiences. As such, life stories reflect the culture, wherein they are situated as much as they reflect the authorial efforts of the autobiographical I.
As one example of the tight link between culture and narrative identity, McAdams (2013) and others (e.g., Kleinfeld, 2012) have highlighted the prominence of in American culture. Epitomized in such iconic cultural ideals as the American dream, Horatio Alger stories, and narratives of Christian atonement, redemptive stories track the move from suffering to an enhanced status or state, while scripting the development of a chosen protagonist who journeys forth into a dangerous and unredeemed world (McAdams, 2013). Hollywood movies often celebrate redemptive quests. Americans are exposed to similar narrative messages in self-help books, 12-step programs, Sunday sermons, and in the rhetoric of political campaigns. Over the past two decades, the world’s most influential spokesperson for the power of redemption in human lives may be Oprah Winfrey, who tells her own story of overcoming childhood adversity while encouraging others, through her media outlets and philanthropy, to tell similar kinds of stories for their own lives (McAdams, 2013). Research has demonstrated that American adults who enjoy high levels of mental health and civic engagement tend to construct their lives as narratives of redemption, tracking the move from sin to salvation, rags to riches, oppression to liberation, or sickness/abuse to health/recovery (McAdams, Diamond, de St. Aubin, & Mansfield, 1997; McAdams, Reynolds, Lewis, Patten, & Bowman, 2001; Walker & Frimer, 2007). In American society, these kinds of stories are often seen to be inspirational.
At the same time, McAdams (2011, 2013) has pointed to shortcomings and limitations in the redemptive stories that many Americans tell, which mirror cultural biases and stereotypes in American culture and heritage. McAdams has argued that redemptive stories support happiness and societal engagement for some Americans, but the same stories can encourage moral righteousness and a naïve expectation that suffering will always be redeemed. For better and sometimes for worse, Americans seem to love stories of personal redemption and often aim to assimilate their autobiographical memories and aspirations to a redemptive form. Nonetheless, these same stories may not work so well in cultures that espouse different values and narrative ideals (Hammack, 2008). It is important to remember that every culture offers its own storehouse of favored narrative forms. It is also essential to know that no single narrative form captures all that is good (or bad) about a culture. In American society, the redemptive narrative is but one of many different kinds of stories that people commonly employ to make sense of their lives.
What is your story? What kind of a narrative are you working on? As you look to the past and imagine the future, what threads of continuity, change, and meaning do you discern? For many people, the most dramatic and fulfilling efforts to change the self happen when the I works hard, as an autobiographical author, to construct and, ultimately, to tell a new story about the Me. Storytelling may be the most powerful form of self-transformation that human beings have ever invented. Changing one’s life story is at the heart of many forms of psychotherapy and counseling, as well as religious conversions, vocational epiphanies, and other dramatic transformations of the self that people often celebrate as turning points in their lives (Adler, 2012). Storytelling is often at the heart of the little changes, too, minor edits in the self that we make as we move through daily life, as we live and experience life, and as we later tell it to ourselves and to others.
For human beings, selves begin as social actors, but they eventually become motivated agents and autobiographical authors, too. The I first sees itself as an embodied actor in social space; with development, however, it comes to appreciate itself also as a forward-looking source of self-determined goals and values, and later yet, as a storyteller of personal experience, oriented to the reconstructed past and the imagined future. To “know thyself” in mature adulthood, then, is to do three things: (a) to apprehend and to perform with social approval my self-ascribed traits and roles, (b) to pursue with vigor and (ideally) success my most valued goals and plans, and (c) to construct a story about life that conveys, with vividness and cultural resonance, how I became the person I am becoming, integrating my past as I remember it, my present as I am experiencing it, and my future as I hope it to be.


1500s Hassan Germania
the warmth of the fire
The sparks quickly rose and snapped above the head of the last night watchman as he stirred the fire while the dawn announced a new day. The flame lighting up the morning alarmed some of the people who were sleeping on the ground nearby, but the guard quickly assured them that he was still there on watch. The man had stood alone against the dark all night, protecting not only his family but his tribe and his community as well, armed with only the fire.
His tribe had given him the name of Knauss (ka-now-ss), which means “the haughty person.” (Birth – Dudelsheim, Germany to Death – Hessen, Germany unknown dates, 9th great-grandfather.)
“the haughty person”
His people were known as the Chatti, which means anger or hate, so they became known as the haters or the angry. During the early years of the 16th century, the tribe became part of an anti-Roman and anti-Papal movement that eventually led to the “Lutheran Revolt.” Resistance to the Church erupted in the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire. All the people were involved, both the upper and lower classes, including all the Chatti tribes. The followers came to be known as Protestants because of their “protest against the Church.” This movement was the beginning of the religious movement known as the “Reformation.” The Chatti had revolted against their oppressors and thus earned their name.
Martin Luther preaching while a boy nails the Ninety-Five Theses
Centuries later, after having first met them, the English bestowed an Old English (Anglo-Saxon) expression on these people. They called them the Hatar, meaning “people of destruction.” The Chatti men, or the Hessi, lived on the edges of the forest. Later, they became known as the Hessians.
people of peace and quiet
Despite their tribal reputation, they were a people of peace, unassuming, but conscientious in their line of toil. Nearly all of them tilled the soil, but some followed other manual pursuits, for instance, most of the younger men did the hunting and fishing.
nearly all of them tilled the soil
They cared little about social advancement but were content with clearing land to farm. However, to survive in these times, every man, woman, and child had to be a jack-of-all-trades. Everyone worked in the fields and gathered wild foods like nuts, berries, edible root plants, and this took up most of their time during the daylight hours. Still, many activities also took place around a fire at night, like mending clothes and fixing tools, while they told each other stories.
Knauss had demonstrated to the tribe that he was very skilled in self-preservation. He always was upfront, leading the community when it was time to make a move. Either for safety from the weather and the elements. Or to seek protection from the local lords and their influence over their enemies. So many different men of power tried to express control over the common man that it was next to impossible for anyone to know who you could trust or count on. Knauss displayed an instinct about survival, and especially a high awareness of his surroundings.
But Knauss is mostly remembered for his stories at the evening campfire. There, his true talents blossomed in the light of the late-night flames. Night after night, he held the tribe captive by the warmth of the fire as he breathed life into his heroic stories of their past. He created a sense of security, a feeling of fellowship, and a connection with their history.
the Chatti men
There were many stories about bravery and courage. The poems and songs told how they promoted their heroic men to power, and how they obeyed those whom they had promoted. The men kept in their ranks but always took advantage of their opportunities.
The Chatti tribe was strengthened through the stories Knauss told that linked the present with their past and future. It was a nurturing act, connecting both the listener and storyteller. The tribe bestowed great veneration upon Knauss for his ability to tell a good tale. Knauss knew all the current tales, and he was able to compose verses at a moment’s notice.
the castanets, dulcimer, harp and lute
It was easy for Knauss’ young son, Peter Lee Knauss (1546 to 1602, 8th great grand-father), to remember the stories that his father had told by the campfire about the Chatti men and their tribe. Knauss also played many instruments, including the Dulcimer, Harp, Lute, and he always had in his pocket a handmade flute that he performed while walking. Peter also had one, and they often played together.
Peter Lee Knauss was born here 1546
The stories taught the younger men how to be leaders and always check their impulses. Fortune was regarded as doubtful, but courage as unfailing. They were encouraged to push out during the day gradually and entrench themselves by night.
story time around the fire
Knauss told the story about Krampus, the “half-goat, half-demon,” who, during the Christmas season, punished children who had misbehaved. This story was the opposite character of Saint Nicholas, who rewarded the well-behaved children with gifts.
Peter had a favourite story he liked to hear, and he often requested it. It was one of the earliest German folktales, the story of Hildebrand and Hadubrand, two warriors that met and prepared for combat. Knauss always began “The Song of Hildebrand,” like this as he sang:
“I heard tell
That two warriors, Hildebrand and Hadubrand,
Met in single combat, between two armies.
The warriors, father, and son,
Prepared their armor,
Made ready their battle garments,
Girded on their swords over their ring mail
When they rode to battle.”
song of Hildebrand
Knauss went on to tell a tragic story. It was about a father and son that failed to recognize each other on the battlefield.
“The two warriors met on a battlefield,
And they were the champions of their two armies.”
He stood tall and walked slowly, around the backs of his listeners around the fire-circle as he kept on speaking.
“Now the older man, Hildebrand,
Asked for the identity of his opponent
And where did he come from.”
Knauss revealed that Hadubrand did not know his father. Because Hildebrand had fled eastward, leaving behind a wife and small child, Hadubrand believed his father to be dead.
Knauss acted out each character’s part and continued,
acting out a story
“Hildebrand told him that he would never fight
Such a close kinsman and offered him gold arm- rings
That he had received as a gift from the Lord of the Huns.”
Everyone in the tribe recognized this as a reference to Attila the Hun. Knauss whispered when he told the listeners,
Attila the Hun
“This was Hildebrand’s way of trying to show
That he was his father.”
Knauss became quite angry as he said,
“Hadubrand rejected the arm-ring
Then he accused Hildebrand of trying to trick him.
He told him once again that his father was dead.”
Knauss took a little pause before he continued,
“Hildebrand told Hadubrand that his good armor
Showed he had never been in combat,
But Hadubrand accepted his fate,
Feeling that it would be cowardly to refuse battle.
Hadubrand challenged Hildebrand to win his armor.”
“Hildebrand’s shield bore paintings
Of the warriors, he had killed in battle.”
Jumping around, Knauss fought an imaginary war with himself, playing both sides.
“The two warriors threw spears at each other.
Then they closed in for combat
And fought until their shields were destroyed.”
Now at this point, Knauss would take the storyline in different directions. The listeners were always ready to hear which way he would take it this time. Each time Peter listened to his father tell this story, the ending was different.
Sometimes, he would not finish the story at all and leave the listener hanging on until the next night for his ending to the tale. The flexibility of oral storytelling allowed Knauss to mold the story according to the needs of the audience, and he took full advantage of this each time he told it.
Sometimes Knauss would end the story abruptly by saying,
“Then Hildebrand had no choice
But to kill his son after the dishonourable act
Of standing against him in battle.
This was an act of treachery.”
the dishonorable act
Or he might have a different ending like,
“Hildebrand spared his son’s life
And took him in his arms.”
Knauss made the point,
“How could a father and son
Fail to know each other when they meet?”
He took a long look at everyone right in the eye and told them,
“Families have to stay close-knit,
Like a fine woollen blanket that holds together,
Even when treated roughly.”
Knauss was a huge man of the tribe, but he became a little child, full of laughter around the children. His personality added to the characters in the story. He enhanced each tale with the addition of anything he could pick up and use as a visual tool for a specific action.
His listeners were physically close together, often seated in a circle, while he was telling the story. The people became not only psychically close, but they developed a connection to each other through this communal tradition.
His listeners experienced the creative process taking place in their presence. They felt like part of that creative process, and Knauss held a personal bond with all of them. Each time Knauss told these stories, he was passing on the oral history that reminded the tribe who they were. He knew some young person listening to him would pick up the torch when he was ready to pass it on and become the next generation’s voice from the past.
Oral storytelling has been around as long as human language. It originated from simple chants that people sang as they worked at daily tasks like grinding corn or sharpening tools. Storytellers combined stories, poetry, music, and dance to entertain their listeners.
working at daily tasks
Traveling storytellers were called troubadours or minstrels, and they would learn various regions’ stories, while also gathering news to bring back to their villages. Their stories told the history of a culture that was handed down from generation to generation. They became historians for their communities, and the exchanging of stories was the way that news spread across the land.
The storytellers created myths to explain what they saw happening in nature, and they assigned superhuman qualities to ordinary people, creating the first superheroes.
Early one morning, as fog covered the valley floor, Knauss stepped out of the lush green hills of Hassan, Germania, with Peter, and cautiously surveyed the countryside below. The mist began to disperse with the hint of a light breeze. And the birds were announcing their presence in the treetops. They could hear the scampering of small animals all around them, as the forest came alive.
early morning European sunrise
He paused for a moment, then went down on one knee and put his arm around his young son saying to him, “every day brings us new and unknown opportunities and dangers. You have to be able to recognize which one you are dealing with at any moment, my son.”
Knauss leaned his ear toward the birds above their heads and listened, “they are announcing to the rest of the forest that it is safe for them to start their day.” He said, “all the life in the forest live and die for the betterment of all. And that is the same foundation for the success of our tribe.”
He was very uneasy about entering this valley, which he had intentionally avoided many times before. This luscious green valley held a dark truth known to everyone who travelled through there. This valley was a mass Roman cemetery: all that was left of three legions of Roman soldiers that were destroyed by the Germanic tribes several years earlier.
battle of the Teutoburg Forest, 9 AD
The disaster was a tremendous blow to Rome’s plans for expansion into Germania: something from which they never entirely recovered. The Roman’s stay was short-lived. General Germanicus massacred them at the start of his invasion of northern Germany, and an area of 50 miles of Roman territory was laid waste. Much of this land became occupied by the Chatti and their Hessian descendants like Knauss and Peter.
Map – battle of the Teutoburg forest
The gravesite was so massive that people were continuously digging through the ruins to find bits of metal they used for making tools. Doing so, they would uncover the gruesome ways that the men had died. Some of the bodies were well preserved. Even the leather sandals that they wore were admired as a more advanced form of footwear than the Germans were currently wearing on their feet.
three legions of Roman soldiers that were destroyed by the Germania tribes
It was not only the massive Roman ruins in stone that were left as a reminder that a more magnificent civilization had come before them, but the graves of their past were very present in the fields from which they cultivated a meagre living. They used the land that was already cleared. These early farmers were the first untrained archaeologists to document and pass on what had happened in their homeland.
old world German map
To the tribe, Knauss’s son was known as Peter Lee, because of the lesions left on his face after having survived the smallpox epidemic that had passed through his village. Peter Lee’s mother had died in childbirth. She was infected with smallpox, which she had passed on to Peter Lee. So, unfortunately, Peter Lee carried on his face the reminder of his mother’s infection and what had probably helped contribute to her death.
Peter Lee admired and took after his father, who was the best fisherman in the tribe. He knew where all the deep dark water was in all the local streams. He knew the secret of only fishing upstream to catch the German Brown trout from the cold water. Peter Lee’s father had instilled in him the love of fishing, and the satisfaction of providing for his family.
Peter Lee’s father also told him the stories of Jesus and the fisherman. Knauss had seen the inside of the great local cathedrals and admired the frescoes on the walls. He understood the story of Jesus dividing the fishes and the loaves between the people. The idea of a free meal was almost beyond people’s concept at that time.
feeding the five thousand
Peter Lee’s father was very concerned with being able to earn money to give to the Church for the “Jubilee Indulgence,” to help get Peter Lee’s mother out of purgatory. The Church had taught Peter Lee’s family that his mother was a sinner, and that was why she had contracted smallpox. She could only be saved from going to hell if someone paid her way out.
The sale of indulgences was abuse that had crept into the Catholic Church during the late 15th century and was a spark of the Lutheran Revolt. At first, the intent was to defray the cost of the Crusades. But later, the sale of indulgences was used to replenish the Papal treasury. This practice popularly epitomized Church corruption. The notion of paying money to receive Church forgiveness did not strike the average person as wrong. This “Jubilee Indulgence,” to redeem a dead loved one, had the Pope’s authorization and financed the construction of St. Peter Lee’s Cathedral in Rome, known as the Vatican.
the German text reads, “In the authority of all the saints, and in compassion towards you,
I absolve you from all sins and misdeeds, and remit all punishment for ten days.”
Because the Archbishop of Mainz (a town in Germany not far from where Peter Lee and Knauss resided) had massive debts, the Church decided to sell the Jubilee Indulgence in his area. The proceeds were split between the Archbishop and the bank to whom he owed money, and the Pope himself. To make matters worse, the Dominican Friar launched an advertising campaign that included the slogan, “As soon as a coin in coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs.” This little rhyme is what Knauss had heard all his life.
16th century Indulgence chest
There was a road that led down the hill winding through the valley, but it was not always safe to travel on this path. It was well-known that travellers could be waylaid by someone jumping out at them from behind a tree as their backs were turned to them, providing little defence. It was not uncommon to see an old corpse from one of these attacks, left behind alongside the road, as one travelled through this land.
Knauss now figured that it was late enough in the day that it may be a little safer venturing down the path that led into the valley below. But it wasn’t long before he and Peter Lee could hear the clatter of approaching hooves and the rattle and squeak of wagon wheels. They knew who was coming. There was only one group of people that had this form of transportation, the wealthy elite. Maybe somebody from the clergy, or even royalty, about to pass by. Quickly, he encouraged Peter Lee to step back into the brush until the travellers had passed.
three in a wagon
As the coach bounded down the trail, the peace and quiet of the forest were interrupted. It was as if all present were attentive to the new arrivals in the woods. The coach became visible coming through the brush.
A mighty and magnificent steed was doing his best, keeping up with the crack of the whip by the driver. Dust rolled out from underneath the spinning wheels and trailed behind the carriage like puffs of smoke. The coach was open at the top, and you could see that behind the driver were seated three passengers, all of whom seemed to be enjoying the very bumpy and dusty ride. It was the passengers who were encouraging the driver to go faster.
As they approached, both Peter Lee and Knauss could identify that one of the passengers was a Friar, dressed in a long robe that tied at the waist with a cord. He was a traveling preacher who worked for the Church. They were very poor and lived a simple and humble life. Friars were sent on critical religious missions. He wore beads around his neck, with a small cross. It bounced up and down with the rhythm of the bumps in the road. He was laughing with great excitement, and his jolliness was contagious. The two men watching from the bushes shared a giggle between them. A man and a lady sat in the carriage with their back towards the driver. Their faces only came into view after they had passed.
Medieval Priest, Friar, or Monk
They both could tell by the passengers’ clean faces and clothing that they were successful in life. The lady was humbly dressed, but her clothing was all clean. Peter Lee and Knauss could see that her hair had been combed and styled: pinned-up in some way. She was not dressed like the women in Peter Lee’s tribe, yet it was not the clothing that brought her to his attention: it was how clean the two of them were.
a medieval woman
As the coach passed, the man by happenstance looked directly into the bushes and saw Peter Lee’s eyes gazing back at him. Immediately he cried to the driver, “Whoa! Stop here, my good man.” The driver pulled back on the reins, and the coach slid to a stop just before crossing the Roman stone bridge that arched over the stream.
old Roman bridge
The man calmly stepped out of the coach and tried to encourage the two men to come forth unto him. By this time, the lady and the Friar had also exited the coach. They were equally encouraging them to join their company. The healthy and safe thing to do would be to avoid any contact with strangers, but found in the company of a Friar, Peter Lee and Knauss felt safe enough to approach them.
The man took a blanket from the carriage, spread it on the ground, and invited the two of them to join them in “table fellowship.” The lady opened the basket and took out a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and a glass cup. Peter Lee’s eyes were fascinated with the cup; he had only seen cups and bowls made of wood or clay. You could see the lady’s hand and fingers right through this cup, and he was amazed. The lady took the bottle of wine and filled the cup, then set it beside the bread on the blanket.
their first communion
The man introduced himself, “Good day to you brothers, my name is Johann (yo-han): feel free to call me Hans, and this is my wife, Elisabeth. I am the eldest of six children born to my father, Martin, and my mother, Katharina. We travel in the company of this good Friar.” He spoke how his father had died nine years earlier in 1546, the same year Peter Lee was born. And now he was carrying on his father’s work by traveling preaching to the people.
Martin Luther and family
Johann motioned once again for the men to join them. He encouraged them to feel safe, “We mean you no harm, come join us in a communal meal.”
As Elisabeth set the table, Johann said, “I was twenty years old when father died in 1546.” Johann told the two men he had a letter from him that he would like to share with them.
Neither Knauss nor Peter Lee could read. There were only a few signs or letters they could recognize, but they were always eager and ready to listen to anyone that could. Johann had their complete attention, and he knew it, so he took advantage of this time to witness to them.
Johann pulled a letter from a pouch he kept in his shirt. It was a well-worn document that had obviously been removed from that pouch and read many times before. Knauss and Peter Lee recognized that this letter received special care as Johann unfolded it. Everyone became still and reverent waiting for Johann to read, he began, “Grace and peace in Christ”!
Johann skipped over the personal stuff in the letter and got right to a story that his father Martin had written. Johann said that his father wrote him this, “I know a pretty, lovely, pleasant garden, where many children go. They wear golden coats and gather sweet apples, pears, cherries, and plums from under the trees. They sing, jump, and are merry. They also have pretty little horses with golden bridles and silver saddles. I asked the owner of the garden: ‘Whose children are these?’ He said: ‘These are the children who like to pray, study, and be pious.'”
medieval story of a garden
Then Martin said: “My dear sir, I also have a son, his name is Johann. Might he not come into the garden, too, so that he might also eat such lovely apples and pears, ride such fine horses, and play with these children?”
Then the owner of the garden answered him: “If he likes to pray, study, and be pious, then he, too, may enter the garden.”
Martin went on to tell his son in the letter that, “All who come will also get whistles and drums, lutes, and all kinds of stringed instruments. They will also dance and shoot with small crossbows.”
Then the owner showed Martin a lovely lawn, all ready for dancing, where golden whistles and drums and fine silver crossbows hung. But it was still early, so the children hadn’t eaten yet.
Martin said to the owner, “Ah, dear sir, I must hurry off and write all this to my dear son Johann so that he will be sure to study diligently, pray well, and be pious, so that he too may come into this garden.”
The owner said to him, “Yes, he may also enter this garden. Now, go and write to him thus.”
a view into heaven
Johann did not have to look at the letter any longer. He knew from memory what words were written in the text. His voice was soft and gentle as he spoke his father’s words, “My dear son, make sure to study God’s word and pray. Witness to all that cross your path, so that they may study and pray, too. That way, all will get into the garden together. May you be herewith commended to God. Your dear father, Martin Luther.”
Johann respectfully re-folded and gently put the document back into the pouch and safely tucked it into his shirt.
Then Johann took the bread and broke it into pieces and shared it with all of them, including the driver of the coach. He said a small prayer, “Our precious heavenly Father, we know to be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess. I know whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really, your God. Now bless us this day. Amen.”
the Lord’s supper
Johann told them that the bread represented the breaking of Jesus’ body at the cross, and His blood was shed on our behalf. “He bore our sins, and through His sacrifice, we have complete redemption and total deliverance from the works of Satan.”
Then again, after a small prayer, he took the cup and shared it amongst them, saying, “This is my blood, do this in remembrance of me.”
Peter Lee was not too sure about any meal that didn’t make him full, but he did understand the special meaning of what the man and lady had shared with them. He felt the holiness of the moment.
Johann finished saying, “As new creations in Christ Jesus, we realize our freedom had been bought and paid for. We are forgiven of our sins. We are redeemed, and we give thanks for it all in the name of Jesus.”
Knauss asked the question, “How can you have such faith in someone you cannot see.”
Johann answered him, saying, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times. I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my guide.” He went on further to answer him, “The Bible is alive: it speaks to me. It has feet, and it runs after me. It has hands, and it lays hold of me. For, He is the man to whom it all applies, every bit of it. If you want to interpret it well and confidently, set Christ before you. Ask Him to open your eyes to see His will for you.”
Then the Friar began to speak, “To find Christ in such poverty, and what his swaddling clothes and manger signify, are explained this way: His poverty teaches how we should find him in our neighbors, the lowliest and the most needy; His swaddling clothes are the holy scriptures. Christ alone may stand before us.”
He told them that Martin Luther, Johann’s father, was the leader of the Protestant Reformation. He taught that “Salvation and, subsequently, eternal life is not earned by good deeds. But, he said, we received it only as a free, gift of God’s grace through the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ as Redeemer from sin.”
the first Christmas
All this time, Peter Lee was thinking to himself, “When you don’t know what to say just listen, and let somebody else do the talking,” so he listened to these two men of God.
The message they spoke about was a deep well of inspiration to Peter Lee. He was receiving the living water of the Gospel, his thirst was great, and his satisfaction was full. He now had personal knowledge of the truth in Christ.
The Friar stood up and proclaimed, “Luther’s theology challenged the authority and office of the Pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge from God.” Then the Friar let them know he was not happy, “The Church is not only responsible for what they say, but also for what they do not say. The truth has been kept from the common man. And I consider all the baptized Christians to be of a holy priesthood.”
The Protestant Reformation
Joining the Friar, Johann rose to his feet and looked upward toward the sky. Watching the clouds roll by, he described the Christian irony: “A Christian man is the freest Lord of all, and subject to none. A Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.”
The Friar went on to say, “Those who identify with these, and all of Luther’s wider teachings, call themselves Lutherans. Luther humbly insisted on using the terms Christian or evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who profess Christ.” He continued, “We are the body of Christ. The Church is not the building, but the people who built it.”
This was the first time that Peter Lee or Knauss had ever heard the word “Christian.”
The Friar re-explained to them and tried to reassure Knauss that indulgences are not necessary. “He has already paid the full price of salvation for all,” he told him.
Even so, Peter Lee’s father was far more zealous for the tradition of his ancestors. That’s why Knauss continued to cling to his belief in indulgences.
Some of what the Friar told them was above his head, and only much later in life did Peter Lee understand the spiritual significance of that moment. Peter Lee was aware that these holy people were not as arrogant as some of the other clergy that he saw in the past. The man and woman were not afraid to give Peter Lee and his father a hug as they departed.