The capture of the so-called Brave Indian, originated one of the best-known legends of Camagüey. Passed from generation to generation it has reached our days with various interpretations.
Historians such as Jorge Juárez Cano, Tomás Pío Betancourt and Juan Torres Lasqueti echo the fact itself. It is also collected in the book entitled El Camagüey Legendario, of a marked ethnographic character and coordinated by Dr. Ángela Pérez de la Lama.
This text is written from the visions and understandings of adolescents, students of the Institute of Second Education, who with a special look at phenomena, stories and facts, make it their greatest strength and weakness.
On the other hand, it will be Roberto Méndez Martínez in Legends and Traditions of Camagüey, who will reach important conclusions and bring to light details ignored by the previous ones.
Reading between the lines
The legend of the Brave Indian, anchored to reality, it is an expression of a specific context, in this local case. That is why, beyond what is told and said in the different interpretations and versions, elements such as: the fear of the Indian, due to a possible uprising, and the entire mystical universe that surrounds him; through its characterization as a predator – an anthropophagus that steals children to feed on them, eat their hearts and drink their blood – when in truth it fed on the tongues of cattle that he killed with arrows to remove them, or cutting them coldly leaving them alive.
Likewise, he was endowed with enormous strength, unimaginable cruelty and with great talent when using the bow and the arrow.
The romantic definition of captors and murderers as: brave men, fond of that adventure; specifically from their description in El Camagüey Legendario, it is given the connotation of a heroic act and therefore the qualification of heroes, although Lasqueti classifies them as ranchers.
Juárez Cano warns that in the supposed “official version” those brave men would be Don Serapio de Céspedes, Don Agustín Arias and a slave of this.
However, according to Roberto Méndez, the killer would be the captive but he had no participation in the reward, despite the intervention on his favor of the ordinary mayor Santiago Hernández; while Juárez Cano declares that the servant is set free.
On the other hand there is the need for social control. The death of the malefactor not only brought immense joy to all the villagers who decided to immediately begin to ring the bells and celebrate San Juan, after a time without being able to do it; Rather, it became a symbol of social control of the inappropriate elements.
Why Brave Indian?
Although nowadays, the real name or origin of it is yet unknown, certain situations that occurred in the west and center of the island must be taken into account, particularly in San Juan de los Remedios.
According to the local historian and folklorist, Facundo Ramos, already in the early nineteenth century a so-called “Brave Indian” was prowling around the town, a common denominative with which the Indian who rose up against the colonial authorities was known in the center. He was also called a bandit, a maroon, a bandit and it was known that he used the bow, arrows, the pike or harpoon and that he was very agile moving around; in addition to kidnapping little girls and young ladies. These events may have led to mobility and displacement towards the region.
In this way, different questions arise about whether it was a group of Indians that acted, as was well evidenced in Pinar del Río, since it is very difficult to believe that only one could scare an entire jurisdictional capital.
With the exposition of the previous elements, it is understood that the legend of the Brave Indian originated from a true fact and is enriched as a result of idealized foundations of the inhabitants of Puerto Príncipe, fulfilling a function of social efficacy circumscribed to its scope of appearance.
Bibliography
Juárez Cano, Jorge. Apuntes de Camagüey. T.1. Camagüey, Imprenta “El Popular”, 1929.
Méndez Martínez, Roberto. Leyendas y Tradiciones del Camagüey. Camagüey, Editorial Ácana, 2013.
Pérez de la Lama, Ángela. El Camagüey Legendario. Camagüey, Talleres Gráficos, 1960.
Torres Lasqueti, Juan. Colección de datos históricos-geográficos y estadísticos de Puerto del Príncipe y su jurisdicción. La Habana, Imprenta “El Retiro”, 1888.
Other materials provided by the MSc. Pedro Enrique Ramírez.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
