When talking about Baracoa, you can't miss mentioning tetí. A little fish that is a rare mystery of this town. And it is also the most appreciated dish in the region. When you talk about tetí, you talk about a little magic of a unique poetic that accompanies it.
A uniqueness from Baracoa?
The tetí is a little fish known by our ancestors. The largest specimens measure up to six and a half centimeters long and nine to ten millimeters wide. To talk about the tetí it is necessary to mention the belief that this tiny fish is unique to this region of Cuba. That makes it part of the wild charm of this tropical and diverse landscape. When talking about it, it must be done from the legend, taking into account the myth it represents for the Baracoesos from remote times.
From deep within the sea, the shoal of fish rises up through the river mouths, especially on the mighty Toa, Duaba and Miel rivers. Then, this unique fish-eel, which seems to come from García Marquez´s Macondo, travels against the freshwater current.
It goes upriver from its unknown origin, jumping nonstop on the surface, stirring the waters. The animals fight against the current and go directly to the fishing nets. By capturing it, Baracoa´s fishermen do nothing but perpetuate a secular tradition.
The abundance of tetí
This natural spectacle takes place during the influx of the waning moon, especially in the months of July, August, September and October. With the brightness of the moon, the shoal is a compact mass. It resembles a gigantic silver snake, which is only interrupted in the bends of the river.
"The abundance" of teti, is the way people call the arrival of the curious litter in these places. The villagers of this town, the first one in Cuba, anxiously await this event, a transcendental moment amidst the everyday life of the town. The tetí recalls the times of the beginning of Cuba and also the ungrateful moments, when the baracoeso demonym was sentenced to death in the times of independence.
The course of the "arrival" and capture of the tetí is quite a rite. Men, women and children come to the call of the waters. When the waning moon arrives, the tetí fishers and their companions are already settled in the tibaracón, building improvised ranches that will be their shelter during the harvest days.
At night son and guaracha can be heard, accompanied with a lot of brandy. The tetí run also catches the fishermen. Throughout life, they are captured by the spell of the long waiting nights on the river.
When the shoal arrives, two or more people begin the work. Each of them takes the ends of a fine mesh that stretches beneath the surface of the water, agitated with the small fish that jump nonstop. The capture is not so difficult and men only need a net to catch it. There is no need of a rod and a string, nothing like that. When the mass is there, they extended the net and that´s it.
The ritual is complemented by men with torches to light the catchers. These are the "mechoneros". Their presence is necessary in the middle of the night.
The light of their torches breaks the darkness to make it possible for fishermen to catch their prey. Men pass from one place in the river to another, looking for their loot. This rite runs until dawn, while the atmosphere is impregnated with a unique seafood smell.
The tetí is a mystery. It is a tiny, very mystical and clever fish. It disappears quickly from the waters and slips away, no one knows where. It jumps on the surface and can only be seen when it is about to disappear from sight. It is easier to catch when the water comes down from the mountains to the rivers. Despite what is believed in Baracoa, where they say that tetí is a uniqueness, the truth is that the two species that are known by that name: Sicydium plumieri and Sicydium punctatum, are also found in the rivers that flow into the Caribbean Sea in Venezuela, Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Martinique and Puerto Rico. In the latter country they call it zetí.
The tetí is a fresh water species, it lays its eggs in the rivers, but these are taken by the sea current. There they hatch and the little fish goes back up the river, where they become adults.
The mass looks like a cluster of bright stripes in the water. At that moment, they catch it with a jofaina (spacious container) made of yagua (fiber from the royal palm). The tetí fishers have dedicated to this since small, they catch the shoal with their jofaina.
When you name the tetí, you´re naming party, celebration, a ceremony. Tetí for the people of Baracoa means joy, party and abundant food.
The cry of the tetí fisher
The locals say that the tetí is delicious. Miffed, sprinkled with oil, fried, dried in rice or prepared in many other ways. Nothing compares to the taste of the little fish. The drunk, moon and tetí fishermen return to their homes loaded with the precious delicacy at dawn. Thus the old custom is maintained. Then it needs to be prepared and the flavors of the multiple ingredients with which seafood can be cooked will be combined. Coconut milk, onions, lemon, tomatoes, flour, chili peppers, rice. So goes an old saying of the firstborn village: “there is no tetí without waning moon. There is no Baracoa without tetí".
When the capture is taken to the streets of the city, the cry of the tetí sellers begins to be heard, with its unmistakable popular grace, it is only possible to hear it in Baracoa: "Here is Tetí, fresh tetí ...!"
Source: Radio Guantanamo
Translation: RadioBaracoa