Yúcahu, was the masculine spirit of fertility in Taíno

Taíno people

The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...

 mythology

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

,. He was one of the supreme deities

Deity

A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....

 or zemís

Zemi

A Zemi or Cemi is a Taíno concept, meaning both a deity, or ancestral spirit, and a sculptural object that houses the spirit. They were also created by neighboring tribes in the Caribbean and northern South America.-Theology:...

 of the Pre-Columbian

Pre-Columbian

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...

 Taíno peoples

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 along with his mother Atabey who was his feminine counterpart. Dominant in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 region at the time of Columbus’ First voyages of Discovery, the peoples associated with Taíno culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

 inhabited the islands of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles

Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...

, and the Lesser Antilles

Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...

 
.

Meaning

"They call him Yúcahu Bagua Maórocoti" is the earliest mention of the zemí taken from the first page of Fray Ramón Pané's Account of the Antiquities of the Indians. As the Taíno did not possess a written language, the name is the phonetic spelling as recorded by the Spanish missionaries, Ramón Pané, and Bartolomé de las Casas

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...

. The three names are thought to represent the Great Spirit's epithets. Yúcahu means spirit or giver of cassava. Bagua has been interpreted as meaning both "the sea" itself and "master of the sea." The name Maórocoti implies that he was conceived without male intervention.







He was also later known as "El Gigante Dormido", or "Sleeping Giant".

Yúcahu was believed to live and have a throne in the mountainous tropical rainforest 'El Yunque', now known as the Caribbean National Forest

Caribbean National Forest

El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Luquillo National Forest, and the Caribbean National Forest, is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. It is the only tropical rain forest in the United States...

. He resided in the same manner of the Greek gods residing in Mount Olympus. El Yunque is a large mountain located at the reserve, that diverts hurricanes from hitting the island. The people said that Yúcahu fought with his brother Huracán

Huracán

Huracan is the hurricane god of Maya mythology.Huracán may also refer to:*ARM Huracán, a Mexican Navy missile boat*Huracán , a Mexican telenovelaIn sports:*Huracán Buceo, Uruguayan football club...

 (or Juracán

Juracán

Juracán is the phonetic name given by the Spanish settlers to the god of chaos and disorder that the Taino Indians in Puerto Rico believed controlled the weather, particularly hurricanes. From this we derive the Spanish word huracán and eventually the English word hurricane...

), the hurricane god, to protect his people.

Yúcahu is also known as the god of agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, as well as the god of peace and tranquility, he represented goodness. This was contrasted greatly by his evil brother and Huracán

Huracán

Huracan is the hurricane god of Maya mythology.Huracán may also refer to:*ARM Huracán, a Mexican Navy missile boat*Huracán , a Mexican telenovelaIn sports:*Huracán Buceo, Uruguayan football club...

. Huracán was responsible for storms, earthquakes and bad crops. He was associated with the more aggressive Caribs.

Yukiyu was also the Taino name for the region where "El Yunque" resides within. Today, it is known as Luquillo.