Atabey is an ancestral mother of the

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

, one of two supreme ancestral spirits in

Taíno mythology Taíno mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Taíno in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and the Greater Antilles. The Island Arawak-speaking Taino recorded their mythology in communal sacred performances called areitos which a ...

. She was worshipped as a

zemi A zemi or cemi (Taíno: ɛmi was a deity or ancestral spirit, and a sculptural object housing the spirit, among the Taíno people of the Caribbean.Bercht et al, 23 Cemi’no or Zemi’no is a plural word for the spirits. Theology Taíno ...

, which is an embodiment of nature and ancestral spirit, (not to be confused with a goddess, how she is commonly referred to in colonial terms to replace Taíno verbiage and culture) of fresh water and fertility; she is the female entity who represents the Spirit of all horizontal water, lakes, streams, the sea, and the marine tides. This spirit was one of the most important for the native tribes that inhabited the Caribbean islands of the

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

, mostly in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

(Borikén),

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, and

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. Atabey or Atabeira defines prime matter and all that is tangible or material and has several manifestations. One is the aforementioned nurturing maternal figure. Another is Caguana: the spirit of love. The last is Guabancex (also known as Gua Ban Ceh): the violent, Wild Mother of storms, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Alternate names for Atabey are Iermaoakar, Apito, and Sumaiko. Taíno women prayed to Atabey to ensure safe childbirth.

Mythology

Atabey conceived twin sons without intercourse. The best known is Yúcahu because he is the principal Taíno god who rules over the fertility of

Yuca ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although a perennia ...

(cassava). She is also married to Yaya and had her first child, Yayael, who they later kill for trying to kill Yaya.

In popular culture

Atabey's symbology (and her

avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

Guabancex) is one of the fundamental thematic foundations of the historical thriller ''Los hijos de la Diosa Huracán'', by Daína Chaviano (Grijalbo-Random House, 2019). In this novel, this deity is a key character and subject in developing and solving the mysteries of the plot. Atabey, Guabancex with her helpers Guatabá, Cuastriquie, and Juracán (embodiment of the hurricane) are repeatedly evoked in a novel by the Cuban-american writer Frederick A. de Armas. In ''Sinfonía salvaje'' (Madrid: Verbum, 2019) the hurricane represents the changes brought about in 1959 by the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. Apito (an alternative name for Atabey) is a thematic deity in the fictional series Dungeon Crawler Carl. In the series Apito rules over the other gods along with her consort Taranis. She is also called the Oak Mother and is the caretaker for the All Tree.

References

{{reflist Taíno mythology Goddesses of the indigenous peoples of North America Water goddesses Fertility goddesses Creator goddesses Mother goddesses Earth goddesses