{"id":13144,"date":"2016-06-06T14:40:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-06T14:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=13144"},"modified":"2016-06-06T14:41:45","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T14:41:45","slug":"13144","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/13144\/","title":{"rendered":"The Goddess of Storms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life and Island Times – June 6 2016<\/p>\n

The Goddess of Storms<\/p>\n

\"060616-1-storms\"
\nTaino depiction of Guabancex: the Goddess of Storms<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guabancex was a goddess of the native Tainos of the Caribbean islands long before Columbus arrived and Spanish colonization began. She was known as the \u201cone whose fury destroys everything.” Taino idols depicting her revealed a deep understanding of the weather mechanics of her storms\u2019 destructive forces with their spiraling wind patterns.<\/p>\n

Jurac\u00e1n was the Taino word for her storms, which the Spanish transliterated into hurac\u00e1n. Shakespeare even appropriated the word in King Lear, which he defined as \u201cthe dreadful spout which shipmen do the hurricano call, constringed in mass by the almighty sun.”<\/p>\n

According to Ta\u00edno mythology, Guabancex was entrusted to Aumatex, the ruler of a mystical land. This granted him the title of “Cacique (chief) of the Wind;” but, with this boon came the responsibility of repeatedly appeasing the goddess throughout his reign. Furthermore, due to the importance of the wind for travel between islands and the need of good weather for successful crops, other caciques would offer her part of their food.<\/p>\n

Given Guabancex’s volatile temper, these efforts often failed. When they did, she would leave Aumatex\u2019s domain enraged with the intent of bringing destruction to all in her path, unleashing the jurac\u00e1nes. She would begin by interrupting the balance established by Boinayel and Marohu, the deities of rain and drought. By rotating her arms in a spiral, Guabancex would pick the water of the ocean and land, placing it under the command of the goddess of torrential downpours who violently forced it back over the Ta\u00edno settlements destroying their homes and crops. She would threaten the other deities in an attempt to have them join the chaos.<\/p>\n

Despite the National Hurricane Center\u2019s prediction of a normal Atlantic Ocean storm season, it appears that a hungry and angry Guabancex is off the reservation. 2016 already has three named storms on the books.<\/p>\n

Taino mythology provided no known way to appease this destructive goddess when she was on a rampage. We all better have plans A, B and C ready for implementation. For you island newbies that means you had better decide now if you are a leaver or stayer and plan accordingly.<\/p>\n

\"060616-2-storms\"
\n2003\u2019s Jurac\u00e1n Isabel (image courtesy of Mike Trenchard,<\/strong>
\n Earth Sciences & Image Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, W and Marlow celebrated their Sunday afternoon at Schooner Wharf listening to Michael McCloud singing Hurricane Blow:<\/p>\n

Another hurricane season just comes along
\nAnother pretty good reason to make another song
\nAnother little celebration for a woman and a man
\nStill living on the island and it\u2019s still dry land<\/p>\n

Whoa, hurricane winds don\u2019t you blow
\nKeep the water in the ocean so my house don\u2019t float
\nWhoa, people don\u2019t know
\nIt\u2019s been about year since the hurricane blow<\/p>\n

We got the sunburned babes laying on the beach
\nWe got big ole lobsters, just outta my reach
\nLiving is easy down here in the sun
\nBut it goes away if a hurricane come<\/p>\n

Whoa, hurricane winds don\u2019t you blow
\nKeep the water in the ocean so my house don\u2019t float
\nWhoa, the people don\u2019t know
\nGot nothing to fear \u2018cept a hurricane blow<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been living on this island for a mighty long time
\nIt\u2019s slow, it\u2019s simple, and l like just fine
\nThe old people say I gotta be ready to go
\nI ain\u2019t afraid of nothing \u2018cept a hurricane blow<\/p>\n

Whoa, big wind don\u2019t you blow
\nKeep the water in the ocean so my house don\u2019t float
\nWhoa, the people don\u2019t know
\nGot nothing to fear \u2018cept a hurricane blow<\/p>\n

So I saved a lotta money, just to buy myself a boat
\nAnd I scammed a buncha money, just to make it stay afloat
\nThere\u2019s lotta things it needs, so I ran out and got \u2018em
\nWhen the hurricane comes, she\u2019ll be sitting on the bottom<\/p>\n

Another hurricane season just comes along
\nAnother pretty good reason to make another song
\nAnother little celebration for a woman and a man
\nStill living on the island and it\u2019s still dry land<\/p>\n

Whoa, big wind don\u2019t you blow
\nKeep the water in the ocean so my house don\u2019t float
\nWhoa, the people don\u2019t know
\nGot nothing to fear \u2018cept a hurricane blow<\/p>\n

Ain\u2019t nothing to fear \u2018cept a hurricane blow
\nI got nothing to fear \u2018cept a hurricane blow<\/p>\n

\"060616-3-storms\"
\nTropical Storm Colin heading Marlow\u2019s way (images courtesy of NASA)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2016 From My Isle Seat\/Michael McCloud<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life and Island Times – June 6 2016 The Goddess of Storms Taino depiction of Guabancex: the Goddess of Storms Guabancex was a goddess of the native Tainos of the Caribbean islands long before Columbus arrived and Spanish colonization began. She was known as the \u201cone whose fury destroys everything.” Taino idols depicting her revealed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-island-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13152,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13144\/revisions\/13152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}