The Arawak/Taino were polytheists and their gods were called Zemi.

The Zemi controlled carious

functions of the universe, much like Greek gods did, or like later Haitian Voodoo Iwa. However the
Arawak/Taino relgious did not seem to have the particular personalities like the Greek and Hatiain
gods/spirits did.

There were three Types of Religion

Religious worship and obeisance to the Zemi themselves.

Dancing in the village court during special festivals of thanksgiving or petition.

Medicine men or priests, consulting the Zemi for advice and healing. This was done in public ceremonies
with song and dance

People had special dress for the ceremonies that included paint and feathers. From their knees on down
they would be covered in shells.
The shaman which is the medicine man or priests presented the carved figures of the zemi.
The cacique sat on wooden stool, a place of honour. There are many surviving stone carvings of the
cacique on his stool. There was a ceremonial beating of drums.

The Taino induced vomiting with a swallowing stick. This was to purge the body of impurities, both a
literal physical purging and a symbolic spiritual purging. This ceremonial purging and other rites were a
symbolic changing before zemi.

Women served bread (a communion rite), first to zemi, then to the cacique followed by the other people.
The sacred bread was a powerful protector. You can see similarities between this ritual and the Christian
practice of Eucharist.

There was an afterlife where the good would be rewarded. They would meet up with dead relatives and
friends. Since most of the people they would meet in this paradise were women, it is curious to speculate
if it was mainly women who were considered good, or if some other reason accounted for this division of
the sexes in the afterlife.

The zemi, as well as dead caciques, have certain powers over the natural world and must be dealt with.
These various services are ways of acknowledging their power worship and thanksgiving and at the same
time seeking their aid. Because of these powers there are many Arawak/Taino stories which account for
the origins of some experienced phenomena in myth and or magic.

The Arawaks practiced subsistence farming, meaning they grew what they needed to survive and a small
amount of excess for trading. The Arawaks harvested multiple types of crops, with their main one being
cassava. This food required specific treatment because it was poisonous in its natural state. Arawak
hunters did not hunt on a large scale because there were not large animals on the islands in which they
lived. Instead, they would capture smaller animals and birds by trapping them. The Arawaks built two
types of houses. The first, known as bohio, were rectangular structures used primarily for the cacique's
house. These buildings were difficult to construct, so the majority of people lived in caneye houses. These
were round in shape and made by putting wooden posts into the ground in a circle and canes were
woven between them and tied with creepers. The roof was thatched in a conical shape and a hole was
left at the top to allow smoke to escape. The Arawaks practiced trade among the islands of the
Caribbean. They used their canoes to trade cloth, tools, weapons, furniture, tobacco, certain fruits and
gold.