Yamaye (Ya- Spirit ,Ma-Big/Great,Ye- Coast )
Taino (Tai – from Ita meaning blood or relative, no – arawakan languages pluralizing suffix thus interpreted as Relatives, currently used to identify Group of Caribbean First Nations Peoples)
Iukaieke ( alternative spelling yukayeke – Tribe or community)
Guani (alternative spelling Wani – Taino name for a type of Humming Bird, also means our Posession)
Iukaieke Yamaye Guani (Tribe of Jamaican Humming bird or alternatively Jamaica Our posession / responsibility ).
We are a family and community whose membership consists of Yamaye Taino and Kuba Taino descendants , Yenkunkun pikibo (jamaican maroons) as well as their spouses.
AIM:
• To preserve Yamaye taino traditional knowledge and culture
• To educate the public on Taino retention and practices in Yamayeka
• To protect Yamaye sacred spaces and reawaken ancestral energy through ceremony
• To connect with other indigenous groups and Tainos to foster cultural exchange to share what we have retained and learn from others.
• To be the voice of the Yamaye people of the Island
• To connect the Yamaye descendants in Jamaica and the Diaspora.
• To protect this Island and the planet
• To create sustainable living options for Yamaye descendants / Maroons and the wider
population
• To develope camaraderie among tribal members
• To create space to nourish and educate Yamaye Taino Descendants and Maroons
In the 24th generation our people will rise again in consciousness and responsibility to Atabey (Earth
Mother) and all life. – Aura Surey Taino Prophecy
MEMBERSHIP / ENROLLMENT
Members are determined by:
Ancestral consultation
Endorsement from member of tribal council /maroon elder/ colonel
MABRIKA - WELCOME
MABRIKA - WELCOME
This is the home of the Yamaye Taino, the descendants of the first peoples of Jamaica which
we call by its indigenous name yamaye (spelt on the back of the jamaican $500 dollar bill
as iamaica)
Message from Kasike
Message from Kasike
Usa Kasi dayukunu, Nibonrix Kaiman Diri, Kasike Yukayeke Yamaye Guani Daka. Ikonye wakia yaka
wamun woperito huma wailino. Wahiyuba uaku wataino, dayukayeke akia wahayono.
Good day my people, my name is Nibonrix Kaiman you can call me Kalaan, I am the Chief of The
Jamaican Hummingbird Taino people. Today we are here for our ancestors and our children. We will talk
about our relatives, my community and Our Ancestors.
Our people are from Yamayeka today pronounced Jamaica, located in the Greater Antilles.
We had the misfortune of not 1 but 2 colonizers, the Spanish followed by the British.
Due to the fact that the Spanish did not find much Gold here their aim was to settle on our island
making it home, our people mostly were some of the first cowboys in the new world overseeing pigs,
cattle, chicken.
The term Cimarron as we have been taught was first coined by our ancestors referring to the animals that
would escape like an arrow from a bow into the mountains never to return, the original term was Simara or
Simarabo in lokono, this in turn gave birth overtime to the term maroon for previously enslaved people that
escaped plantations and started free communities in the mountains.
Our people survived as the first maroons, these were communities made of Indigenous people and African people who
came enslaved by the Spanish, later to be joined by massive number of Africans that escaped from the British.
Outside of the mountains we know the Spanish did not bring women and some had children with our Yamaye Inarunu,
most of their descendants would remain in fishing villages that today still hold ancestral retention, for us these
communities were protected and taught to assimilate to avoid issues from the British, our second wave of colonizers.
The British had an agenda to sway the people, for the enemy of my enemy is my friend so a campaign took place to erase
our existence and blame it on the Spanish, to our ancestors hiding in plain sight this lie would benefit their young ones
who could claim to be mulatto or white and further hide from the exotic Indian trade.
Fast forwarding to 2019 after several generations of youth being taught, they are extinct, those in the
mountains and those in the coastal villages a small group of individuals dispersed among the island and diaspora had
already been speaking towards our existence and honouring ancestral ways. This culminated in my Investiture ceremony
as Kasike after receiving the necessary ceremonies and blessings of our Islands council of elders.
We can share with our relatives of Borike that Kasike Yamayeka Arasibo was a Yamaye Kasike that was sent to Boriken with 200-
300 of his people to look for Gold, the city of Arecibo is named after him for that is where he established his Yukayeke and when he
was baptised he was named Francisco Jamaica Arasibo maintaining aspects of his original name.
We look forward to reconnecting with the descendants of Arasibo in Arecibo today,
and our other relatives, when the British came many went to
Cuba and found their way to Kiskeya as well.
Today I speak to the ancestral blood coursing through our veins, those who are
awake it is time to act, to speak, to move, our ancestors have been hungry for far too
long. May we remember our Great Chiefs and resurrect our ancestral ceremonies, this
gathering for our people is an opportunity to share and hear our stories.
- Yamaye Taino Cave Art
Today there is a call to return to our ancestral ways, to hear the sound of the guamo and speak as the
Ceminu instructs. Today we replace History with HERstory and OURstories.
We are children of Yuca, of the Cemi, people of the Casabe.
Today we share the principle of Kasabiya which is the spirit of Casabe.
In our ways to prepare Kasabe was communal work everyone was involved form
young to old, male and female and today that principle represents communal work.
May we move forward embodying Kasabiya, respecting our diversity.
Yamaye Yucahu Cemi
Archaeological
History, Memory, and
Heritage at the White
Marl Site,
CentralVillage, St
Catherine Parish,
Jamaica
“How can we preserve our culture and maintain our
future? That's the first question we all need to ask
ourselves.” : Colonel Marcia Douglas
April 9, 1976 - Oct 16, 2024
Yamaye Guani Council Honors our sister and esteemed
leader of the Charlestown Maroons Colonel Marcia
Douglas we know you are dancing with the Legends,