Locks in the Americas: Mexica priests, Ciguayos, Cree, and Jamaica

SUMMARYLocks in the Americas: Mexica priests, Ciguayos, Cree, and Jamaica (Nov 6, 2026; user drop: "dreadlocks of the Mayans and Caribbeans"). MEXICA, Record: Bernal Díaz on the priests of Tenochtitlan: "The hair of these priests was very long and so matted that it could not be separated or disentangled," "clotted with blood." The codices (Durán, Tudela, Mendoza) show priests' hair left uncut and matted. Nahuatl papahuaqui, "a priest with tangled hair," and papaitl, "long-haired priest." The Spanish called Mexica priests "papas" from this word. The glyph Papaitl appears as a personal name for men and women (Matrícula de Huexotzinco, 1560). AYITI (Kiskeya), Record: Las Casas wrote that the Ciguayos of the Samaná peninsula "allowed their hair to grow longer, which they adorned with feathers, to the entire length." They fought Columbus's men at Samaná in January 1493, the first armed clash with Europeans in the Americas (Golfo de las Flechas; verify Columbus's journal description of hair tied and netted with parrot feathers). NORTH, Record: a photograph of the Cree chief Pitikwahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker), 1885, with locked hair. JAMAICA (corrected after Tito asked for proof, Nov 6): the claim that Rastas took locks from photos of Ethiopian fighters (1935–36) is OPEN. Wikipedia states it, but the sources checked show no photo or newspaper. The Smithsonian gives two other theories: Hindu sadhus who came to Jamaica as indentured laborers (late 1800s), and the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army ("Mau Mau," 1952), whose fighters wore locks. Scholars (Chevannes, Rastafari: Roots and Ideology, 1994) tie the first Rasta locks to the House of Youth Black Faith in West Kingston (late 1940s–50s). Test: find the Jamaican newspaper photos of 1935–36 (Gleaner archive). Bobo Ashanti founded 1959. Record: captives arriving in the Americas had their heads shaved. MAYA: OPEN, needs deep research (art shows long bound and braided hair; no matted-lock text found yet; check Landa and the Bonampak murals). Pattern: long uncut, matted hair marked priests and fighters in the land before 1492 (Mexica papahuaqui, Ciguayo warriors); the Rastafari took up locks again in the 1930s.