Cabildos were institutions that made possible the conservation of the idiosyncrasy, religion and culture of the African nations in Cuba.
By the 18th century, these spaces of cultural autonomy and support began to worry slaves' white masters.
Articles of the 1792 Bando de Buen Gobierno y Policia address the necessity of controlling the cabildos and their members.
There was a revival in their number in the mid-19th century, when they were no longer limited to slaves but welcomed free Afro-Cubans of all walks of life.
In 1884, the Cuban government outlawed the Epiphany, a celebration cabildos practiced for more than a century on 6 January, which included parading as comparsas down the streets of Havana.
Slaves were differentiated by their white owners according to their place of origin, with a variety of different names that identified distinct ethnicities from Africa.