Palo Mayombe Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Пало - афро-кубинская религиозная традиция, обычно определяемая этнографами как синкретический культ, имеющий конголезские корни, к которым привиты элементы из других
традиций: Сантерии (регла де Оча), спиритизма и католицизма. Особое место в традиции Пало занимает мир священных растений, возглавляемый божеством (мпунгу) по имени Нгурунфинда.
Данная статья посвящена культу Нгурунфинда, а также священным растениям Пало.

Palo is an Afro-Cuban religious tradition defined by ethnographers as a syncretic cult. This tradition has Congolese roots and contains elements from Santeria (Regla de Ocha), Spiritism and Catholicism. The world of sacred plants takes a special place in the Palo tradition. The head of that world is a deity (mpungu) named Ngurunfinda. The article is devoted to the cult of Ngurunfinda and sacred plants of Palo. The Palo tradition, also known as the Rights of Congo (Rega de Congo), was formed in Cuba among the slaves brought from the Central Africa and their descendants. The tradition got its name from the use of
wooden sticks (“palo” means stick in Spanish), branches of various plants which the cult followers (named palero) are place among other objects in their main shrine named Nganga. Usually Nganga is a
vessel filled with different ingredients. Nganga servs as a home for the spirits of the deceased (nfumbi) and simultaneously embodies the spirit-deity (mpungu). Sticks are also used in a variety of religious and
magical ceremonies outside of Ngangi. For example, chips from them are used in compositions for cleaning and therapeutic baths. The liturgical language of Palo (named Bosal) is a mixture of Spanish and
Bantu. There are also words of a Yoruba, another ethnos, brought in by the slaveholders. It gave rise to the Santeria cult (Rega de Och). Adherents of one cult are often simultaneously the adherents of the other. There are symbolic-liturgical correspondences between the deities and spirits of Santeria and Palo. Ngurunfinda in Palo is almost a complete analog of Osain in the Santeria tradition. He is the god of herbal medicine. Practitioners call him the lord of mountains and plants responsible for the connection between man and nature. He is the master of trees, herbs and minerals. All herbalists are usually men.
This is conditioned by the ban on religious and magical work for women during menstruation. This is an ancient Arican taboo. The technology of making the shrine of Ngurunfinda is kept secret. The composition of each shrine of Ngurunfinda varies and depends on the wishes of the spirits. There is no unique recipe. A variety of plants, minerals, parts of animals, insects, oils, human bones and earth from various places are known to be put in a pumpkin or terracotta vessel. Only a limited number of people are believed to have the gift of herbalist a servant of Osain or Ngurunfindy. Therefore, not all Tata Nganga have the initiation into the cult of Ngurunfindy and not all of them are engaged in independent gathering of herbs and other natural ingredients. Many palero prefer to buy materials from authoritative priests of the God of vegetation. All the Palo followers treat nature with great piety. A forest for them is a miraculous temple of spirits. When palero enter a forest, they greet the sacred forces. If they perform any rituals or gather plants, they pour water and rum onto the ground and bring other offerings. They are most often left under the the forest king", the Ceiba tree (Ceiba speciosa). Practitioners never take more than they need. Wnen they
leave they Leaving, they thank Ngurunfinda once again. You cannot throw garbage, trample plants or kill animals. While they collect plants, palero sing conspiratorial and spelling texts. They turn to spirits and
sacred bodies. These texts often remind that the practitioner has already paid; for the acquisition of plants at the entrance to the forest. Plants are gathered usually from 7 am to noon. If the ingredients are needed for destructive spells, the collection takes place in the afternoon or at midnight. Ethnographers and informants suggest various versions of a set of 21 sticks, which are the main Palo tools. Some plants have not yet been identified in the scientific literature. The sticks for the base of Nganga (fundamento de la Nganga) of Sarabanda (the deity of war and metals) are the following: Lamao (not identified), Vencedor (presumably Zanthoxylum pistacifolium), Cocuyo (Paralabatia dictyneura), Ebano carbonero (Maba crassinervis or Maba caribaea or Ebenus caribaea), Moruro (probably Pithecolobium arboreum or Cojoba arborea), Tenge (Poeppigia procera), Palo caja (Allophyllus cominia), Palo Ramón (Trophis racemosa), Raspa lengua (Cassearia hirsuta), Cambia voz (Amyris Balsamifera, Amiris balsamic), Palo rompe hueso (Cassearia sylvestris), Guara (Cupania cubensis), Halahala (not identified), Lelo (not identified), Ceiba (Ceiba pentandra, Ceiba or Cotton Erevo), Jiquí (Pera bumelifolia), Jagüey macho (Ficus membranacea), Yo puedo más que tú (not identified). These and many other plants are used in Palo as ingredients for decoctions and healing baths. Some of them are in the sacred drink chamba, which is used for a variety of purposes. Chamba is used as an offering to the spirits, for purification and healing of people. Chambu is splashed on the Nganga pot, so that it awakens, it consecrates necklaces, amulets and other objects of worship. The potion composition varies, but usually it includes tobacco, cane rum, cocoa butter, cola nut, various peppers, ginger, sea, rain and river water, onion, garlic, gunpowder, blood of sacrificial animals, crushed leaves and stems of various herbs, such as verbena, parsley, cinnamon, basil, river fern and many others. Chamba also contains chips from sticks (palo), previously consecrated in rituals with Nganga. During the making of
the chamba, palero sing spiritual and magical songs and call all the mpungos. Palero use many plants mostly in magical manipulations. These plants are: sacred ficus (Alamo), rain tree (Algarrobo), mukura (Anamu), alligator apple (Baga), malpighia (Bronco), Ceiba, Sporobolus
(Espartillo), river fern (Helecho), Blechnum gibbum (commonly called Silver Lady, Yerba de papagayo in Spanish) and others. Some plants are often included in offerings, dishes for spirits (so-called ebbo in Santeria), for example, almond tree (Almendro) and Gonolobus (Bejuco Guauro). Some plants can be used as offerings, in magical and religious ceremonial works and simply in the kitchen, in cooking: pumpkin (Calabaza), coco, palm (Corojo), hot pepper (Guaguao), guayava (Guayaba), mango, yams (Ñame), garlic (Ajo). Natural disinfectant plants play a special role. They are used for bathing and smoking mixtures. Insecticide plants, such as trichilia (Cabo de hacha) and sabadilla (Cebadilla) are used in everyday life and healing practice. Such plants are sometimes credited not only with the ability to kill harmful insects, but also to eliminate enemies. For this, plants are added to various magical powders and mixtures. A lot of plants in Palo have both medical and magical properties: basil (Albahaca), colubrina (Amargo), Anis, Chiococcus (Bejuco verraco), Santa Maria (Caisimón, Cissampelos glaberima), Bamboo (Cana brava), cassia tubular (Cana fistola), Datura (Chamico) and devil trumpets (Brugmansia), amiris (Cuaba blanka), firewood (Framboyán), geranium (Geranio), bermuda grass (Grama), genipap (Jagua ), Lippia sweet (Orosún), Tabae Guayaquan (Palo Santo), pine (Pino) and many others. There is also special group of plants which are used for magical attacks and are especially popular in Palo ayombe (one of Palo branches). There are poisonous plants among them (for example devil's trumpets or Comocladia dentate), plants containing psychoactive substances (Psychotria known as Moro in Cuba), as well as plants that do not have harmful biochemical properties: Cupressus (Palo de muerto) or Capparis (Diablo). Each is dedicated a certain spirit (mpungu or nkisi). All the plants are managed by the patron of herbalists
and the forest master Ngurunfinda.