7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 7: Hurricane

Today is the 15th of September, traditionally the day that has seen the most hurricanes throughout history. This word doesn't need further introduction.

Hurricane

Like the manatee, described in the previous post, Columbus and the other Spaniards had never seen anything like a hurricane. In fact, they missed seeing a hurricane on their first voyage to the New World where they enjoyed near perfect weather. However, on their second and third voyages to the New World, strong hurricanes hit. In fact, the new settlement, Isabella, that Columbus had recently established was completely wiped out. Needless to say, these Caribbean hurricanes made a lasting impression.

Because they had never seen any weather pattern like a hurricane before, they adopted the Taino word for it and spelled it phonetically as, "hurakan." Of course the anglicized version of this is "hurricane." The Taino word hurakan was used not only to describe the actual weather event but also the path of destruction it left in its wake like downed trees and other devastated landscape. I like this concept and tend to think of hurricanes this way too. In the Arawakan tradition, the Taino called their storm God hurakan and both feared and revered him.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season

Hurricane season in the Dominican Republic and in the rest of the Caribbean begins in June and ends in November. Historically, September is the most active month followed by August. The peak of the season usually falls somewhere between late August and early September. However, you should remember that some of the deadliest Category 4 and Category 5 hurricanes have manifested themselves earlier in the season. In other words, it is impossible to predict for certain when the biggest hurricanes of the season will hit.

Storms on our excursions

Tropical storms can be predicted and when there is a risk we don't go out. However thunder storms and heavy shpwers can develop rapidly in the Caribbean. We sometimes get caught by a short heavy storm and have to rev the motors of the speedboats to escape. Have a look at the pic from Loes, make in 2012. To keep up to date about storms check our hurricane watch page.