Zemi

The Taíno of the Greater Antilles centred their faith on the zemi, which was both an ancestral spirit or deity and the sculpted object that housed it. Zemis were carved from wood, bone and stone, the most characteristic form being a three-pointed stone. Priests called behikes served them, and myths were sung and danced at ceremonies called areítos.

Yúcahu, son of the mother goddess Atabey, gave the cassava harvest. The creator Yaya killed his son Yayael and hung his bones in a gourd, from which fish poured out. The Sun and Moon were said to have come out of the cave of Iguanaboina.

After Columbus arrived in 1492 the cult was driven underground. The Taíno are thought to have hidden or destroyed their zemis to keep them from the Spanish.