Palo Mayombe

Resumen:

A las religiones afrocubanas les son consubstanciales las ideas del trabajo y la brujería. Las cuales introducen dimensiones del ser humano que de lejos rebasan las relaciones de éste dentro del mundo fenoménico. El trabajo y la brujería abren la puerta a la enfermedad y a la muerte, dramática correlación en la que el sujeto aparece vinculado indisolublemente a una realidad trascendente, a la naturaleza y a la comunidad. La discusión que aquí se presenta emerge desde la experiencia etnográfica y las narrativas de algunos participantes de estos sistemas religiosos en Bogotá, en los que se verá como principales protagonistas a los nfumbi y eggun, como es usualmente referido el muerto o los muertos en dichos sistemas de referencia.

Palabras Claves: trabajo, brujería, muerto, santería, palo monte, espiritismo, Bogotá.



“GET THE DEAD MOVING”: NOTIONS OF WORK IN AFRO-CUBAN RELIGIONS PRACTICED IN BOGOTÁ

Abstract:

In Afro-Cuban religions, the idea of “work” and sorcery are very common. These notions introduce human dimensions relationships in the phenomenological world by far. “work” and sorcery make a path for illness and death, and in this dramatic co-relation, the person appears strongly linked to community, nature and transcendental reality. This article is grounded in the ethnographic experience and subject’s narratives within the Colombian context, specifically in Bogota. The main actors are the dead, and they are usually referred as eggun, nfumbi or spiritual guide in these reference systems.

Key Words: Work, Sorcery, Dead, Santeria, Palo Monte, Spiritism, Bogota.

Reglas de palo, reglas de muerto: reconfiguración de la familia y lo familiar en la práctica calera caleña

Resumen: la presencia del palo monte ha venido cobrando fuerza en la ciudad de Cali (Colombia) desde hace una década. Esta religión afrocubana de inspiración bantú, tiene como uno de sus pilares la relación con el nfumbi (muerto), la cual se da a través del pacto que los practicantes establecen con aquel. En la capital vallecaucana emerge a mediados del primer decenio del 2000, un templo dedicado a la práctica de la regla vriyumba, una de las variantes del palo monte, a partir del cual se va a configurar una singular dinámica marcada por la presencia de familias que participan de este escenario. Los vínculos entre practicantes y entre muertos y vivos que caracterizan a estas religiones en diáspora, sobrepasa el ámbito nacional y se convierten en un dispositivo transformador de la cotidianidad.

Palabras claves: palo monte, religiones afrocubanas, familia, muertos, Cali.

Abstract: This paper focuses on the practice of Palo Monte in Cali; it has acquired great relevance in the last decade in this Colombian city. Palo Monte is a Congo-inspired religion, but it emerged and developed in Cuba. Negotiations with the nfumbi (dead) have a central role in this diasporic religious system. In the fi rst decade of the 21st century, a temple dedicated to the practice of Palo Monte opened its doors in this Colombian city, and a strong family dynamic was generated in this sacred place. Thus, this Afro-Cuban religion is characterized by the complex religious relationships between its practitioners, and the relationships between alive and dead persons. Finally, the discussion suggests that this kind of religious systems can permeate and modify the ritual and the daily life of believers; its infl uences also go beyond national border.

Keywords: Palo Monte. Afro-Cuban religions. Family. Dead. Cali

Resumo: a presença do palo monte tem ganho força na cidade de Cali (Colombia) desde há uma década. Esta religião afro-cubana de inspiração banto, têm como um de seus suportes a relação com o nfumbi (o morto), a qual acontece através da aliança que os praticantes estabelecem com aquele. Na capital vallecaucana emerge pela metade da primeira década do ano de 2000, um templo dedicado à prática da regla vriyumba, uma das variações do palo monte, a partir da qual vai-se configurar uma singular dinâmica marcada pela presença de famílias que participam desse cenário. Os vínculos entre praticantes e entre mortos e vivos que caracterizam a estas religiões em diáspora, transcendem o âmbito nacional e se transformam num dispositivo de mudanças na cotidianidade.

Palavras-chave: Palo monte. Religiões afro-cubanas. Família. Mortos. Cali

In Cuba, amongst many Afro-Cuban religions, there is the Palo de Monte religion, also known as Regla Conga. This religious-and-therapeutic, Bantu-influenced practice is now a widespread practice in Bogotá, Colombia, where it recreates certain elements taken from other religious experiences such as the Regla de Ocha and spiritualism. The scenario presented in this essay is based upon ethnographic research and narrative analysis, and it intends to explain how when people experience extreme situations which undermine their ontological certainty, they start to redress the existential order by starting a specific ceremonial path which involves Palo de Monte. The focus is upon a Palo de Monte ceremony which took part in Bogotá, Colombia. The occasion was the visit of a Mexican-Colombian medical doctor who traveled from México City to seek a healing cure to a trabajo (sorcery) which was placed upon her by a former lover.
Key Words: Bogotá, Palo Monte, religious-and-therapeutic itineraries, health-illness.


Resumen

El palo monte, también conocido como regla conga, es otra de las religiones afrocubanas que junto con la santería se encuentra ampliamente difundida en Cuba. De influencia bantú, esta práctica terapéutica-religiosa se instala en el escenario bogotano y se recrea con elementos de otras experiencias tales como la regla de ocha y el espiritismo practicados en la capital colombiana. El escenario que acá emerge se esboza a partir de la experiencia etnográfica y el análisis de narrativas, con los que se busca dar cuenta de cómo, cuando los sujetos atraviesan por situaciones límites que amenazan su seguridad ontológica, inician una carrera itinerante para restablecer el orden perdido. Precisamente, en Bogotá tuvo lugar una ceremonia que se realizó siguiendo algunos de los lineamientos del palo monte. Dicha ocasión social se configuró a raíz de la visita de una médica colombo-mexicana quien se había trasladado desde el D.F., de Ciudad de México, con el fin de enfrentar una situación de malestar que, derivada de un trabajo que su antiguo compañero sentimental le hiciera, estaba afectando su cotidianidad.

Palabras Claves: Bogotá, palo monte, itinerarios religiosos-terapéuticos, salud-enfermedad.

This paper compares anthropomorphic power-figures from the Vodun and Kongo cultural areas. Vodun is practised along the Guinea Coast of West Africa (especially in Benin and Togo) whereas the Kongo religion is native to the west coast of Central Africa (especially the two Republics of the Congo and northwest Angola). First, overlaps in belief and praxis between the Vodun and Kongo religions are highlighted. Second, similarities are identified in the design and significance of anthropomorphic Vodun power-figures, especially Fon bocio and Ewe bo/vodu/tro(n), and their Kongo counterparts – minkisi, and especially minkondi, which are better known in the West as “nail fetishes.” The disturbing appearance of the figurines, the ritual operation of features such as pegs/padlocks, nails/blades, bonds/sutures and magical/medicinal material (Kongo bilongo) are treated in detail. Activation and appeasement by sacrificial blood, alcoholic drink and coloured dyes are also considered. The analysis ends with a broad intercultural comparison which ranges from ancient Egyptian belief to the art of Polish surrealist Zdzisław Beksiński, encompassing en route the zār cult and the Polynesian tiki. Overall, the study finds that the Vodun bocio/bo/vodu/tro(n) has much in common with the Kongo nkisi nkondi, the two sharing notable similarities in purpose, construction and operation. One difference, however, is that large Kongo minkondi used to serve as archival repositories of a community’s oaths, treaties and petitions, a commemorative role seemingly not shared by Vodun power-figures.

Resumen: este artículo se enfoca en la dinámica religiosa que han tenido el palo monte y la santería, religiones de origen cubano, en la ciudad de Medellín, Colombia. Se toma como base el trabajo de campo que se realizó en esa metrópoli y se señalan, según sea el caso, algunos contrastes con las urbes de Bogotá y Cali. El argumento señala las transformaciones y tensiones características de estas religiones de la diáspora y sus practicantes, en sus subsecuentes reacomodamientos en contextos geográficos y socioculturales distintos a su lugar de origen. Las problemáticas que deben afrontar los practicantes de estos sistemas religiosos de inspiración afro van desde la estigmatización sociocultural, como resultado de la escogencia religiosa, hasta dificultades relacionadas con lo legal y la libertad de cultos.

Palabras clave: religiones de inspiración afro, libertad de cultos, tensiones socioculturales, Colombia.

Mayelewó: Underground Practices of Afro-Inspired Religions in Medellin, Colombia

Abstract: This article focuses on the religious dynamics that Palo Monte and Santería, religions of Cuban origin, have had in the city of Medellin, Colombia. This article is based on fieldwork in this city, while providing information on certain contrasting aspects in the cities of Bogota and Cali. The discussion points out the characteristic transformations and tensions of these religions in the Diaspora and their practices, in their subsequent readjustment to geographic and sociocultural contexts different from their place of origin. The problems of those who practice these Afroinspired religious systems range from sociocultural stigmatization stemming from their religious choice, to difficulties related to the law and religious freedom.

Keywords: Afro-inspired religions; religious freedom; sociocultural tensions; Colombia

Recent forensic anthropological research has identified biocultural and taphonomic patterns resulting from the use of human remains in the ritual practices of the Afro-Cuban religious system known as Palo.  In this paper, we summarize the cultural, religious, and anthropological concepts underlying the medicolegal analysis of Afro-Cuban ritual assemblages containing human remains.  We present observational and material cultural data to extend and clarify previously published biocultural and taphonomic signatures used to differentiate Afro-Cuban assemblages.  Finally, we outline recommendations for the medicolegal analysis of these ritual assemblages of human remains and material culture.  We provide background on the sourcing of ritual human remains, recommendations for criminal investigations, and guidelines for the safe and ethical handling of these unique assemblages–including cases in which they have been contaminated with elemental mercury.

As a technology for the production of historicized spirit forms, espiritismo continually forges its own cosmology from the raw materials of a Cuban syncretistic imagination, with permutations of figures such as the " Congo " and the " Indio " bringing its more visible agencies to the forefront. These yield extensive material forms—dolls, statues, photographs , altars, vessels, and consumables. In this article I ask whether understandings of the " substance " of spirits are tied to, or yield, concepts of the self, and vice-versa. Are selves " deeper, " more connected to the " beyond, " if the spirits are anonymouss Are they " flatter " and more material, the more aesthetically personalized they become? In order to answer these questions I explore two ethnographic contexts divided by ontological assumptions as well as by practitioners. The first is a " scientific " spiritist society, and the second is made up of individuals who worship Chinese spirits from their extended families. Each context exemplifies an extreme of personalization and distance.

This study explores Afro-Caribbean religious traditions as they strive to be accepted and respected as world religions.  The study focuses on three broadly based traditions found throughout the Caribbean, the Americas, and the world: the Òrìşà traditions, Vodun traditions of the Lwa, and Palo Mayombe traditions of the Nkisi.  This qualitative study uses diagnostic framing as its theoretical approach to understanding how the practitioners perceive factors that inhibit world religion status.  Using content analysis, this study categories written statements gathered from 71 respondents to an open-ended set of interrogatories and found that there were five meta-categories that respondents across religions agreed upon that inhibit their religions universal acknowledgement. The data supports the need for further investigations.

Anthropologists encounter what are commonly called “Santería skulls” in United States cities with large populations of Caribbean immigrants. These human skulls are frequently found within cauldrons, stained with wax, soil, or animal blood, and associated with mercury, beads, sticks, and faunal remains. To interpret these assemblages, anthropologists should consider them within the African diaspora cultural and religious contexts in which they were created and deposited. These contexts include not only the belief system of Ocha (Santería) but also the less well-known Palo. These Afro-Cuban religious formations can result in different material cultural signatures, and the patterns exhibited by the so-called Santería skulls are more consistent with Palo than Ocha. Informed by data from Florida forensic anthropology cases (n = 42), we synthesize a regional biocultural and taphonomic signature of related Palo practices. This study informs both anthropological investigations, and the cultural treatment of these extraordinary assemblages. There is, in reality, no such thing as a Santería skull, but it is only by incorporating diverse data that anthropologists can reach this conclusion.

Este libro es como una de esas composiciones musicales donde se discurre un tema a través de contrapuntos en diferentes tonos. Se conforma de ensayos ocioantropológicos sobre la identidad religiosa del cubano y las dinámicas del campo religioso en Cuba desde los años noventa del siglo pasado hasta la contemporaneidad. La figura del encantamiento guía una sintética exploración de la emergencia de las identidades religiosas y de las experiencias de lealtades y adhesiones a sistemas religiosos que han ganado en centralidad y notoriedad pública al nutrir certezas de cohesión, ampliar sus territorialidades, posicionarse socialmente e intercambiar legitimidades con el campo de la política. Evidencia las astucias cubanas para actualizar legados culturales y resolver, escapar, crear, resistir y liberarse de sus demonios en medio de peleas por la dignidad y conjuros re-encantadores de los vínculos sociales.

Entre usuarios y creyentes: itinerarios bogotanos dentro de las religiones afrocubanas

Resumen: el artículo examina la recomposición y dinámica de los sistemas religiosos afrocubanos en Bogotá (Colombia), y los itinerarios de practicantes y personas que se acercan a estos otros sistemas de referencia. Lo que se hará evidente con estas religiones de la diáspora en la capital colombiana, es el mayor posicionamiento del complejo ocha-ifá (santería-ifá) en relación con otros sistemas como el espiritismo cruzao y el palo monte. Aunque el escenario de análisis es Bogotá, se aludirá a otras ciudades del país con el fin de contrastar algunos aspectos relevantes, los cuales ponen de manifiesto que la práctica religiosa trasciende la escena religiosa e incide en cada uno de los espacios de la cotidianidad de sus practicantes.

Palabras clave: sistemas religiosos afrocubanos, religiones de la diáspora, creyentes, itinerarios religiosos, Bogotá.

Between Users and Believers: Itineraries People from Bogota within Afro-Cuban Religions

Abstract: This paper focuses on recomposition and dynamic of Afro-Cuban religious system in Bogotá (Colombia), and the itineraries of the believers and people who approach to these reference systems. In addition, the analysis of these diasporic religions in the Colombian capital will show that Santeria-Ifa is more relevant than other religions such as Palo Monte or the Espiritismo Cruzao. The main analysis is done in Bogota; however, it will be compared for better understanding within other Colombian cities. Finally, the text claims that religious practice extends beyond the ritual scene, as a result, it permeates and modifies the daily life of the practitioners.

Keywords: Afro-Cuban Religious Systems, Diasporic Religions, Believers, Religious Itineraries, Bogotá.

Abstract

The article discusses the cult of spiritual dolls which is an integral part of Cuban spiritism. It describes ceremonies of making a Mama Francisca doll, explains its place in the spiritual pantheon, and its connection to religious and magical traditions of Palo and Ocha. Drawing on my own field research and an array of ethnographic data, I argue that spiritual dolls play an important part in preserving the ethnic-cultural memory in the context of ethnic and religious diversity in Cuba. I further examine
connections between spiritual and magical practices of peoples from Central Africa and Afro-Сubans. The tradition of espiritismo cruzado itself may be seen as the bridge between different religious traditions existing in the island.

Аннотация.

Статья посвящена такому важному элементу кубинского спиритизма, как культ
спиритических кукол. В ней приводится церемония, в ходе которой создается кукла Мама Франсиска, объясняется ее место в спиритическом пантеоне, ее связь с религиозно-магическими традициями оча и пало. На основании полевых исследований и этнографических данных делается вывод о значении спиритических кукол для сохранения этнокультурной памяти в условиях этнического и религиозного разнообразия Кубы. Также прослеживаются связи в духовно-магических практиках народов Центральной Африки и афро-кубинцев. Сама же рассматриваемая традиция спиритизм крусадо предстает мостом между бытующими на острове религиозными направлениями.

This article is for ALL traditions and I'm writing it to clear up some misconceptions and encourage all branches of Ifa and Orisha to consider what my Lucumi Ile in Havana is doing and to move toward something similar. The reason is simple transparency and logic. Historically titles are given when the a'che (ase, ashe axe) is paid for. I am not a fan of this because this is like giving a doctor or lawyer title to a student before they complete their studies. However the reality is it is highly unlikely any campaign is going to change this, so we are not going to waste our collective breathes. The reason that this was originally done is because in ancient times in Yorubaland transportation and communication were limited. Members of a village or city stayed in that city their entire lives, thus there was constant supervision with any given trade or apprenticeship including priesthood. Whatever branch we examine, there are increasing problems with training and credibility. People buy titles and then they are gone. This happens in the Nigerian branches, Cuban Lucumi and Santeria, Brazilian Candomble, Macumba, any of the Congo traditions, in fact it happens in just about any spirituality, no matter where it is from. We are not even addressing malicious people buying titles; we're speaking to those who are pure in their desires. Of course even with those pure of heart and good character (iwa pele) we find some who are corrupted over time. These start selling services they are neither trained nor qualified to sell. Credible and respected ile and ocha houses are beginning to finally realize our culture is under attack and we must respond.

El objetivo de este escrito está delimitado a poner en práctica el método de investigación de Afroindoamérica en un contexto urbano, el cual intenta reconocer la presencia o influencia de las poblaciones africanas en Nuestra América, a partir del seguimiento de diferentes adolescentes, y algunos de sus familiares, en el nivel educativo medio superior, que saben o son seguidores de la religión Yoruba y Palo Mayombe en el oriente del Estado de México. Se presentan algunos testimonios recabados en el ámbito escolar que dan cuenta cómo jovencitas, principalmente, viven o investigaron desde la asignatura de antropología social la relación con la santería o los paleros, ya por ser practicantes de dicha religión o bien por identificar en su entorno a personas que la practican.
Palabras clave: santería, educación media superior, Afroindoamérica

Статья посвящена феномену чуда на Кубе. Прослеживая историко-культурные особенности развития Кубы, автор развивает идею о транскультурации чуда и анализирует, как афрогенные традиции, такие как сантерия, пало монте и другие, обогатились европейско-христианскими и индейскими элементами, приспособив их к своим космологиям и своим магическим практикам. Особое внимание уделяется роли духов-трикстеров, в особенности Эшу, а также колдовству, связанному с опасными, демоническими силами. Статья основана на полевых материалах, собранных автором на Кубе в 2013 и 2019 гг. с помощью неформальных интервью и включенного наблюдения.

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of a miracle in Cuba. The author traces the historical and cultural features of the development of Cuba and develops an idea of the transculturation of the miracle. He analyzes how Afro-genic traditions such as Santeria, Palo Monte and others were enriched with European-Christian and Indian elements, adapting them to their cosmologies and magical practices. Special attention is paid to the role of the trickster spirits, especially Eshu, as well as witchcraft with the help of dangerous, demonic forces. The article is based on the field material collected by the author in Cuba in 2013 and 2019 through informal interviews and participant observation.

Статья посвящена одержимости и жертвоприношениям в афрогенных традициях, главным образом в пало монте и сантерии. В ней также уделено внимание обрядам и феноменологии вуду и креольского спиритизма. Жертвоприношения и практики
одержимости (инкорпорации духа) рассматриваются в контексте реципрокной субъективации людей и духов, что позволяет обнаружить общую для обоих направлений сакральной деятельности логику обмена. Как жертвоприношения, так и се-
ансы одержимости взаимно одаривают и усиливают духов и участников культа. Бытие людей связывается с развитием духов мертвых и регламентируется через практики одержимости, обустройство ритуальных ассамбляжей и их усиление
субстанциями жертвенных животных. Интерпретируя одержимость через понятия телесности (воплощенности), становления, интенсивности и ассамбляжа, автор обрисовывает постструктуралистские рубежи афрогенной сакральности, намечая пути сближения с концепциями перспективизма и проблемные места на этих путях.

The article tackles the spiritual possession and sacrifices in Afrogenic traditions, mainly in Palo Monte and Santeria. It also examines the rites and phenomenology of Voodoo and the Creole spiritualism. I consider possession practices (the incorporation of the spirit) and sacrifices in the context of the reciprocal subjectivity of people and spirits in order to locate the sacred logic of exchange unifying both types of activity. Sacrifices and possession rituals bestow and empower spirits and worshipers mutually. The existence of people is associated with the development of spirits of the dead and regulated through the possession practice, the arrangement of ritual assemblies and their strengthening with the substances of sacrificial animals. By interpreting the logic of possession through the notions of embodiment, becoming, intension, and assemblage, I outline the post-structural frontiers of the Afrogenic sacredness and draft the ways of convergence with concepts of perspectivism and some problems related to these approaches.

A las religiones afrocubanas les son consubstanciales las ideas del trabajo y la brujeria. Estas ideas introducen dimensiones del ser humano que de lejos rebasan las relaciones de este dentro del mundo fenomenico. El trabajo y la brujeria abren la puerta a la enfermedad y a la muerte, dramatica correlacion en la que el sujeto aparece vinculado indisolublemente a una realidad trascendente, a la naturaleza y a la comunidad. La discusion que aqui se presenta emerge desde la experiencia etnografica y las narrativas de algunos participantes de estos sistemas religiosos en Bogota, en los que se vera como principales protagonistas a los nfumbi y eggun , como usualmente se designa al muerto o los muertos en dichos sistemas de referencia.