Palo (religion)
An initiatory religion practised by paleros (male) and paleras (female), Palo is organised through small autonomous groups called munanso congo, each led by a tata (father) or yayi (mother).
Although teaching the existence of a creator divinity, commonly called Nsambi, Palo regards this entity as being uninvolved in human affairs and instead focuses its attention on the spirits of the dead.
The religion took its distinct form around the late 19th or early 20th century, about the same time that Yoruba religious traditions merged with Catholic and Spiritist ideas in Cuba to produce Santería.
[41] The anthropologist Todd Ramón Ochoa, an initiate of Palo Briyumba, describes Nsambi as "the power in matter that pushes back against human manipulation and imposes itself against a person's will".
[7] Among the most prominent of these mpungu, at least in Havana, are Lucero, Sarabanda, Siete Rayos, Ma' Kalunga, Mama Chola, Centella Ndoki, and Tiembla Tierra.
[47] The mpungus of nature are deemed to live in rivers and the sea,[44] as well as in trees,[50] with uncultivated areas of forest regarded as being especially potent locations of spiritual power.
[65] Palo teaches that the individual comprises both a physical body and a spirit termed the sombra ("shade"), which are connected via a cordón de plata ("silver cord").
[74] A key role in Palo is played by a spirit-vessel called the nganga,[19] a term which in Central Africa referred not to an object but to a man who oversaw religious rituals.
[77] The minkisi are Bakongo ritual objects believed to possess an indwelling spirit and are the basis of the Palo nganga tradition,[79] the latter being a "uniquely Cuban" development.
[122] Other material added can include animal remains, feathers, shells, plants, gemstones, coins, razorblades, knives, padlocks, horseshoes, railway spikes, blood, wax, aguardiente liquor, wine, quicksilver, and spices.
[137] According to Palo tradition, an initiate should exhume the bones from a graveyard themselves, although in urban areas this is often impractical and practitioners instead obtain them through black market agreements with the groundskeepers and administrators responsible for maintaining cemeteries.
[141] After being removed from their grave, the bones of the nfumbe may undergo attempts to "cool" and settle them,[142] being aspirated with white wine and aguardiente and fumigated with cigar smoke.
[68] According to Ochoa, the religion maintains that "speed, strength, and clever decisiveness" are positive traits for practitioners,[193] while also exulting the values of "revolt, risk and change".
[198] While women can hold the religion's most senior positions,[199] most praise houses in Havana are run by men,[200] and an attitude of machismo is common among Palo groups.
[201] Ochoa thought that Palo could be described as patriarchal,[202] and the scholar of religion Mary Ann Clark encountered many women who deemed the community of practitioners to be too masculinist.
[219] An individual seeking initiation into a praise house is usually someone who has previously consulted a palero or palera to request their aid, for instance in the area of health, love, property, or money, or in the fear that they have been bewitched.
[229] However, some of the designs commonly found in firmas, such as that of the sun circling the Earth and of a horizon line dividing the worlds, are probably borrowed from traditional Kongo cosmology.
[257] A typical dance style used in Palo involves the dancer being slightly bent at the waist, swinging their arms and kicking their legs back at the knee.
[264] Prior to the initiatory ritual, the initiate will be washed in agua ngongoro, water mixed with various herbs, in a procedure called the limpieza; this is done to "cool" them.
[265] The initiate will then be brought into the ritual space blindfolded and wearing white;[266] trousers may be rolled up to the knees, a towel over the shoulders, and a bandana on the head.
[102] Palo's practitioners often claim their rituals will immediately remedy a problem,[169] and thus clients regularly approach a palero or palera when they want a rapid solution to an issue.
[293] Another healing procedure involves creating resguardos, charms that may incorporate tiny pieces of nfumbe, shavings from the palo sticks, earth from a grave and anthill, kimbansa grass, and animal body parts.
[295] A Palo practitioner may also turn to the cambio de vida, or life switch, whereby the illness of the terminal patient is transmitted to another, usually a non-human animal but sometimes a doll or a human being, thus saving the client.
[302] If techniques like the limpieza or resguardos fail to deal with a client's problems, a Palo practitioner will often adopt more aggressive methods to assist the afflicted person.
[294] They will use divination to identify who it is that has cursed their client;[303] they may then obtain traces of that alleged perpetrator's blood, sweat, or soil that they have walked over, so as to ritually manipulate them.
[305] Often housed inside a jar or bottle,[306] these concoctions contain soils and powders,[307] as well as dried toads, lizards, insects, spiders, human hair, or fish bones.
[343] References to the case passed down in Palo songs through subsequent generations,[344] with later scholarly assessments suggesting that the accusations relied on "trumped up charges, rumour masquerading as evidence, racism and public hysteria".
[379] Describing the situation in the 2000s, Ochoa noted that there were "hundreds if not more" Palo praise houses active in Cuba,[68] and in 2015 Kerestetzi commented that the religion is "widespread" on the island.
[162] Palo has also become associated with criminal practice, in part due to the illegal nature of obtaining buried human remains;[385] in Cuba, a conviction for grave desecration can result in a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
Remigio Herrera, the last surviving African-born babalawo, or priest of Ifá, was for instance buried in an unidentified grave to prevent paleros/paleras digging his corpse up for incorporation in their nganga.
