Introduction
Palo Mayombe is a Congo-inspired cult, which is one of the variant forms of Reglas de Congo religious cults, widely practiced in Havana, Cuba. It has its origins in the Bantu of Congo in Central Africa and encompasses many Congo religious cults including the Biyumba, Vrillumba, and Regla Conga.
The Bantu/Congo religious practices reflect the sorcery/magical aspects common in many African beliefs, as well as the magical healing practices. The word “Palo” means the branches or sticks obtained from the forest (el monte), which are used in making sacred objects (nganga) for magical spells.
Often, the practitioners of Palo (paleros) use corpses and herbs to cast evil spells when practicing black magic (Verger, 1984, p. 176). Essentially, Palo is a specialized cult involving the dead with emphasis on evil pacts with the dead, normally made at a graveyard, alongside the nganga. A distinctive iron cauldron houses the nganga alongside other ritual objects such as sticks and bones, which give it magical powers.
The practice of involving the dead by the Palo experts makes them mightily feared and regarded as dangerous. In Cuba, the Palo practices are widespread are known to steal corpses for use in the magic ngangas. In the colonial era, the Africans themselves used sorcery to their advantage, as the whites in power considerably feared sorcery.
The Palo uses the same magic rites, which have earned them the name, “the dark side of Santeria” that encompasses all Congo-based cults including the Regla de Ocha (Brown, 2003, p. 117). The presence of Congo in Cuba began since the colonial times in the eighteenth century comprising of majority Reglas de Congo and the Reglas Lacumi.
The Reglas de Congo settled mostly in the eastern Cuba in places such as Guantánamo and Santiago de Cuba. The Congo ritual influence has since spread in most parts of the island characterized by chanting and sacred songs.
Because of the harm the objects of Palo works (obras, trabajos) have, Palo witchcraft is widely feared in Cuba. The Palo witchcraft involves working with the dead and involvement of the dead in their witchcraft practices.
Origins of Palo Mayombe
Palo Mayombe is specifically Congo-inspired different from the West African derived Santo also called Lacumi or Ocha in Havana. Its presence in Cuba can be traced from the Central African slaves in Cuba under the Cuban colonialism. The emergence of Palo dates back to the late seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century, as a cauldron of many Congo-derived cults (Clark, 2005, p. 233).
During this period, the cults had healing rites treating people under the name “ngoma”. Most notable were the Lemba healing society, who prior to spreading to Cuba occupied the banks of Congo River in the early seventeenth century. Due to contact with the Portuguese during the slave trade, the lemba gained entry into the Americas to inspire many religions.
Another Congo-derived sacred society that made passage into Cuba resulting into the birth of the Palo was the Nkita. The Nkita people were among the Congo people who lived at the lower banks of the Congo River in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and they experienced much social disruption resulting from the slave trade.
In the initiation into the Nkita healing society, the Nkita affiliated its members with the ancestors, who they believed possessed the ultimate authority over them (Brown, 2003, p. 120). In Palo, the names “lemba”, “nkita” and “ngoma” are common in their sacred speech.
In1725-1875 as more people from Central Africa arrived in Cuba, they brought many cultures and cultic practices, which were primarily nurtured in Havana (Brown, 2003, p. 118). The lemba and Nkita were among the Central African inspirations that struggled against one another in seeking followers mainly from people burdened by enslavement.
As the slavery and Spanish occupation in Cuba ended in the twentieth century, the two inspirations emerged as the Palo, which in Havana refers to “Regla de Congo” translated as “Kongo Rule” (Bockie, 1993, p. 72). The Regla de Congo or Kong law subsequently formed a “Palo society”, a powerful social society that spreads fear due to its involvement of the dead in its witchcraft practices.
The Palo society comprises of four main branches or “ramas” in Havana. Each of these branches has distinct practices musically, linguistically and ritually compared to another. The branches include “Palo Kimbisa”, “Palo Monte”, “Palo Mayombe” and “Palo Briyumba”. However, in the countryside, and throughout Cuba, the Kongo inspirations take different names and engage in diverse forms of religious practices (Brown, 1998, p. 307).
The “Palo Mayombe” just like the “Palo Briyumba” and “Palo Monte” are Havana-based and proliferates into various communities and practitioners’ temple houses. Palo literally means stick derived from the mango tree or “un palo de mango” (a stick of the mango tree) (Bockie, 1993, p. 82).
The use of “Palo” to mean Kongo-Cuban religious practices reflects the power associated with the Kongo-Cuban magic objects. The branches of powerful trees or the “Palo” make up the “prendas”, which are the objects used for witchcraft for healing or harming others. The sticks (Palo) are symbolic of the sticks used to kindle fires to destroy one’s enemies (Bockie, 1993, p. 87).
The Palo Mayombe Practices and the Dead
Palo Mayombe essentially involves the practice of working with the dead. Its adherents are believed to communicate directly with the dead (Brown, 1998, p. 293). During initiations into the cult, the individuals must possess a “sense of wandering” with the dead spirits in order to understand the prendas and the practice of harming or healing of the Palo Mayombe.
The Palo Mayombe craft involves stories, specified songs, and recollections that are held in consciousness and serve as a mode of visceral apprehension of the dead in the body of the living.
Their definition of the dead involves the visceral affirmation felt in the bodies of living and the surrounding world. Thus, the Palo invokes the dead or certain aspects of the dead in all their teaching and crafts. The dead could be a deceased sibling, a parent or unknown number of the dead (Kalunga el muerto) that spread fear to many people (Moore, 1997, p. 30).
The dead make up the word of ancestors that come back to fill the minds of the practitioners with scary imaginations. The practitioners use bones or blood exhumed from graves of the dead that saturates the imaginations of the living and thus attributing to the presence of the dead among the living.
The Cuban-Kongo dead comprise one of the aspects of the Palo’s dead forming an unknown mass of the dead, (“Kulunga el muerto”), which proliferates to form a dominant entity. The aspects of the dead that echo in the minds of the living first arise from the Kalunga before apprehension by the sensing living body (Brown, 1998, p. 327).
The Kalunga el muerto comprise of many dead that could exist forming an indistinguishable mass that spread fear among the living. During the initiation of a new individual into the Palo Mayombe, a Palero priest baptizes the person into the secrets and mysteries of the Palo Mayombe.
A palero priest serves to protect and serve the community. The Palero priest bears the light in the darkness that attracts the blessings of the evil spirits (Brandon, 1991, p. 57). However, in death, God, the Olodumare, extinguishes the Palero priest, who then becomes elevated to a spiritual guide for the darkness.
The Palo Mayombe Initiation Ceremonies
Any individual wishing to join Palo Mayombe must consult a Palero priest who, through the direct contact with the spirit world, will inform the person if he/she can practice Palo Mayombe. Often, rejection occurs because Palo Mayombe may not be part of the person’s destiny or spiritual path. Rejection can also arise of an individual lacks the capacity to handle the responsibilities of the Palo Mayombe as a Palero priest.
The initiation marks the first step in the Palo Mayombe practice and the involvement of the dead in their craft (Cervantes, 1994, p. 119). Upon initiation, an individual enters into the expansive spirit world of the Palo Mayombe. One of the spirits is the Zibranda that means a divine messenger and facilitate direct communication between humankind and the spirits.
The spiritual cauldron for Zibranda spirit contains holy water, human bones from the dead, sticks among others. An individual initiated into Palo Mayombe collects these items at given times, over a seven-day initiation period under the supervision of the Palero priest, to construct a person’s spiritual zibranda.
Another initiation ceremony is the Madre De La Luna, which simply means the “witch of the night” or the goddess of the moon. This initiation ceremony for Madre de la luna occurs in a field at night when there is a full moon. It is prevalent among the Mexican witches.
The individual being initiated receives a knife that contains power for casting love spells. The knife is a source of power for any individual initiated into the mysteries of Madre de la Luna. The spiritual cauldron for Madre de la Luna consists of crystal beads of quartz and a crystal skull (Bueno, 2000, p. 154). For Madre de Agua, another powerful spirit in Palo Mayombe, the initiation ceremony occurs inside a Santeria Sopera.
The Madre de Agua is particularly feared for its power and magic for strong love and money. It also serves as powerful magic in other magical works. The spiritual cauldron for the Madre de Agua comprises of two clear beads, a coral bead, and seven multicolored beads.
In contrast, the La Santisima Piedra Iman spirit primarily serves to attract wealth and money among businesspersons in Latin America. Its spiritual cauldron consists of green and black beads. The Mama Chola spirit is a powerful female spirit for casting spells of fertility and love as one of the practices of Palo Mayombe.
The last ceremony that an individual can be initiated to in Palo Mayombe is the Francisco de loss Siete Rayos translated as “Francisco of the seven rays” (Bueno, 2000, p. 156). It is among the ancient traditional ceremonies of the Palo Mayombe. The secrets and its rules involve a spirit contained in an iron cauldron or a bowl. This spirit rules the four winds among the Palo Mayombe religious practices.
The Power and the Practice of the Ngangas
The sacred objects or ngangas serves to cast magical spells and usually involves communal ritual participation. The participation in the communal nganga rituals may be large especially during initiation ceremonies. The Palo Mayombe healing more often involves attacking the enemy or threatening them while promising prosperity in the lives of the afflicted.
The harming or healing is achieved using prendas that bear the force of spirits of a kalunga el muerta or mass of the dead. The forms of attack often involve an attack by ruinous storms, hunting cats, birds of prey or bulls (Brandon, 1991, p. 59).
The involvement of the dead, (kalunga el muerta), assures the keeper of protection through his/her prenda while taking advantage of the immediacy they have with the dead to attack the “unprotected lives” they target. They travel with the waves of the dead and repeatedly attack the life they want to destroy until it is carried away with the dead.
The Palo Mayombe can make the nganga in various forms with different appearances managed by the paleros. While the rituals of the Palo Mayombe are shrouded with mystery, the nganga reflects the spiritual meanings in the physical world. Although every Palero can keep his or her spirits in ngangas or an outside house, most spirits of Palo Mayombe reside in a special house for the dead (La Casa de Los Muertos).
Any spiritual guide cannot keep the spirits because they are so powerful and fierce (Brandon, 1991, p. 64). Traditionally, the dark spirits are kept in a given house or under lock and key. Within the closet or room, access to other people is limited, lit only with a burning candle always. The La Casa de Los Muertos is stocked with elixirs of a magical nature for the spirits.
The Production of Munansos in Palo Mayombe
In Palo Mayombe practices, the munanso signifies a crucial space or room that houses the nganga. It can also mean the group membership in communal initiation ceremonies. In particular, the communal participation involves the palero, the mayombero or the ngangulero spiritual leaders depending on the nature of the ceremony or activities.
The craft for Palo Mayombe involves a gradual process of ritual implementation by the practitioners (Monroe 2004). The spiritual leaders or mayombero or paleros possess plenty of knowledge gained through years of interaction with the dead and other religious members. The paleros and ahijados (children) form their own munanso resulting into a religious family of palo at a given locality.
Thus, the “munanso” represents a religious sect that consists of the members at a given locality. However, it can sometimes extend to include the participation of the whole community nationally or internationally.
Initiates to nganguleros or munanso comprise of the padrino (father), ahijados (children) and the madrina (mother) forming a socio-religious organization. It is in these circles that the Palo Mayombe practices revolve with the minanso providing the channels of interaction in the Palo Mayombe practice.
Teaching of the Palo Mayombe beliefs, rituals and religious language occurs within the ranks of the munanso (religious group). The padrina and the madrina undertake the initiation ceremonies of new individuals or ahijados into the munanso as they lead by example (Verger, 1984, p. 179).
The responsibilities and the benefits of the group identify and determine the position of the group and its members in the community. Thus, a munanso comprises of families of practitioners that have distinctive ritual ceremonies, beliefs and songs.
In a common munanso ceremony, different practitioners play different roles including singing, playing drums or supplying religious elixirs including rum and tobacco. Sometimes during munanso ceremonies, the attendees give a small contribution in the form of pesos or human labor in the animal sacrifices and food preparations in readiness for the initiation ceremony (Clark, 2005, p. 231).
Although most palero services are non-commercial, non-initiates seeking the services or adverse from a powerful palero usually pay a small fee or give some given goods or services. An older initiate enjoys a higher status and is accorded much respect from the other group members who, as years pass, become tatangangas (nganga owners).
There are those who participate in various tasks such as singing or drumming and develop exceptional relationships with the paleros. Thus, the participation of an individual in the ritual ceremonies is noteworthy as it provides a platform for social expression and religious ranking of a munanso.
There are different levels in the ranking of a munanso, and each has distinct roles and functions (Bueno, 2000, p. 157). The position held by an individual depends on the roles and status during initiation and other operations. The Palo Mayombe initiation accords an individual access to the protection and guidance by munanso members, as well as, participation in ceremonies.
The learning of the ritual languages occurs through song and dance during the religious ceremonies (Conrad, 1983, p. 342). However, the initiate’s religious affiliations or family determines the learning of the ritual languages.
The ritual languages are extremely significant as the lack of knowledge of these languages limit an individual’s access into munanso ceremonies. In addition, participation in the ritual activities requires use of religious songs or mambos, which reinforces the use of the ritual language.
The Palo Mayombe is a participatory religion, where each munanso member participates in ritual activities, ritual songs and various tasks during initiation ceremonies. Although it is a participatory religion, few members are destined to undertake prominent roles (Conrad, 1983, p. 346) Learning is essential in knowledge transfer and requires healthy relationships between the palores, the ahijados and the padrino/madrina.
These relationships provide the means through which the Palo Mayombe practices are learned organized and replicated in each mananso. The number of the ahijados in each munanso is different led by religious leaders who instruct them, and in the process, they build a social network. Normally, a munanso in Palo Mayombe consists of family members and a few intimate friends.
The predecessors or the godfathers pass on distinctive Munanso’s practices from one generation to the next, which form the precise foundation of religious identity. Though munansos are largely distinct, some munansos bear similarities and common histories of beliefs and practices.
Often, multiple interactions involving people from different munansos represents the solidarity in Palo Mayombe (Cervantes, 1994, p. 127). However, sometimes the paleros possess multiple religious identities such as catholic and santero, which illustrates the multiple religiosities of the Afro-Cuban people and cultures.
Conclusion
The Palo Mayombe is one of the many variants of Congo-inspired religious cults otherwise known as Reglas de Congo. The Reglas de Kongo or the Kongo law refers to the Palo society that comprise of the Palo Mayombe. The Palo Mayombe practices, most distinctively, involve working or wondering with the dead or dead spirits (kalunga el muerto).
Their initiation ceremonies conducted by a palero or a spiritual priest are also distinctive and various items are required for constructing cauldrons or “ngangas” for healing or harming. The dead spirits are housed in a “munanso”, which also signifies a religious society comprising of palero and aihijados. In Palo Mayombe, the magic and casting of spells for healing or harming others involve communication with the dead or dead spirits.
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