Free Hurricane Dancers by Margarita Engle

HISTORICAL NOTE
    Characters and Events
    This book is a fictional account of historical events that were variously recorded by early chroniclers as having taken place in 1509 or 1510. Quebrado is an invented character. The others are historical figures, but I have imagined numerous details.
    During the Age of Exploration, an estimated one of every seven vessels that left Europe sank or was wrecked by storms.
    In the early years of the Spanish conquest, horsemanship was forbidden to natives of the Americas, who were only allowed to ride donkeys. Indians who defied the ban became some of the world’s finest horsemen. The speed offered by horses allowed some to reach mountain hideouts, where they had a chance of survival.
    Bernardino de Talavera was an impoverished conquistador who had worked all the Indians on his land grant to death. To avoid debtors’ prison, he stole a ship and became the first pirate of the Caribbean Sea.
    Alonso de Ojeda (also spelled Hojeda) arrived in the New World on the second voyage of Columbus in 1493. Ojeda led the brutal conquest of Hispaniola, and became notorious for his cruelty. He was one of the first Europeans to capture Indians and sell them as slaves. He led an expedition to South America that included Amerigo Vespucci, for whom the Americas are named. As governor of Venezuela, Ojeda was wounded by a poisoned arrow. Desperate for help, he accepted a ride from Talavera, who took him prisoner. The pirate and his hostage were shipwrecked together off the south coast of Cuba. After encounters with Indians and an ordeal in the swamps, they reached Jamaica in a canoe. Talavera was hanged for piracy, and Ojeda settled in Santo Domingo. According to legend, Ojeda ended his days as a mad pauper who asked to be buried under the doorway of a monastery, so that all who entered would step on his bones.
    Caucubú was the daughter of a Ciboney (also spelled Siboney) chieftain. When she fell in love with a fisherman called Naridó, her father disapproved. She hid in a cave to avoid an arranged marriage.
    Some of the caves of Trinidad de Cuba are now nightclubs for modern salsa dancers. In La Cueva Maravillosa (The Cave of Marvels) there is a fountain honoring Caucubú, who is said to grant wishes. People claim that on moonlit nights she can be seen near the mouth of the cavern, surrounded by fruit and flowers as she waits for Naridó.
    Culture and Language
    Cuba’s Taíno and Ciboney Indians spoke closely related dialects, performed ceremonial round dances, and shared a belief in spirits of the forest, sea, and sky. Peace between neighboring tribal groups was maintained through diplomatic marriages, a ritual precursor of soccer, and name trading, a practice that gave enemies a fresh start.
    Many English words have Taíno roots. Examples include barbecue, barracuda, canoe, cassava, guava, hammock, hurricane, iguana, manatee, papaya, savannah, and tobacco . Spanish words with Taíno origins include ají (chile pepper), guacamayo (macaw), maíz (corn), maní (peanuts), maracas (rattles), and yuca (manioc). Cuba’s distinctive variety of Spanish is even more widely enriched by Taíno terms, such as bohío (thatched house), cocuyo (firefly), guagua (transportation), guajiro (farmer), guateque (feast), and manigua (jungle).
    Columbus gave Cuba the Spanish name Juana. Later attempts to give the largest Caribbean island a colonial name included Fernandina, Santiago, and Ave María. Only the original Taíno name has survived into modern times. One speculative translation is cu (friend) combined with ba (big). Other indigenous place names include Bahamas, Borinquén (Puerto Rico), Guantánamo, Haiti, Havana, Jamaica, and Quisqueya (the Dominican Republic).
    Literature
    For five centuries, the love story of Caucubú and Naridó has been told and retold by Cuban authors, with various endings and different interpretations of the young couple’s names. My translations