Ancestral Flame

Day 1 – The First People of Borikén

When we honor Hispanic Heritage Month, we often hear about language, music, or migration. But for Puerto Ricans, our story begins much earlier — with the Taíno people, the first keepers of Borikén.

The Taíno were not only farmers, fishermen, and artists — they were fire tenders of spirit. They honored the sky gods in the constellations, the sea as a living being, and the caves as the womb of the Earth Mother, Atabey. These caves held petroglyphs and echoes of ceremony, places where the first fires of Borikén were lit.

🔥 The Ancestral Flame is more than a fire for warmth. It is the eternal light of survival. Colonization tried to smother that flame by declaring the Taíno “extinct.” Yet here we are — carrying their fire in our bodies, their words in our mouths (huracán, barbacoa, canoa, hammock), and their rhythms in our bloodlines.

That flame never went out. It shifted, it hid, it adapted, but it did not die.

Today, when Puerto Ricans drum, sing, dance, and light candles at an altar, they are echoing the same flame the Taíno once kindled in caves and communities. Many modern spiritual practices — smoke cleansing, plant medicine, elemental ceremonies — are carried forward from these Caribbean roots. People may call them “New Age,” but they are ancestral codes that never left us.

🌊 The Taíno flame is the fire of Puerto Rico’s survival.🌙 It is the light in every prayer whispered to ancestors.🌺 It is the memory that we are children of Borikén, never erased, only reborn.

As we open this 15-day journey into Taíno spirituality, let this Ancestral Flame guide us. May we remember that what burns in us today was first lit long before us — and it is ours to carry forward.

✨ Their fire is our fire. Their spirit is our survival.

Closing Invitation

💌 I’d love to hear from you — what practices or traditions in your family remind you of this Ancestral Flame? Do you see Taíno echoes in your everyday life?

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