Palo, also known as Palo Monte and Las Reglas de Congo, is an African diasporic

religion that developed in Cuba. It arose through a process of syncretism between

the traditional Kongo religion of Central Africa, the Roman Catholic form of
Christianity, and Spiritism. Initiates in the religion are termed paleros (male) or
paleras (female).

Palo teaches the existence of a creator deity, Nsambi or Sambia, who is uninvolved
in human affairs. Central to Palo is the nganga or prenda, an iron cauldron into
which human bones, sticks, and other items are placed. This is believed to be
inhabited by the spirit of a dead individual, who becomes the slave of the palero
or palera. The practitioner commands the nganga to do their bidding, typically to
heal but also to cause harm. Those nganga primarily designed for benevolent acts
are baptised; those largely designed for malevolent acts are left unbaptised. The
nganga is "fed" with the blood of sacrificed male animals. Various forms of
divination are employed to determine messages from the spirits.

Palo is divided into multiple traditions, including Mayombe, Briyumba, and Kimbisa,
each with their own approaches to the religion. Palo is most heavily practiced in
eastern Cuba although is found throughout the island and has spread abroad,
including in other parts of the Americas such as Venezuela and the United States.
Many paleros and paleras also practice another Afro-Cuban religion, Santería.
Practitioners have repeatedly clashed with law enforcement for engaging in grave
robbery to procure human bones for their nganga.

Contents
1 Definitions
2 Beliefs
2.1 The Nganga
2.2 Birth and the dead
3 Practices
3.1 Ritual drawings
3.2 Initiation
3.3 Music
3.4 Healing and hexing
3.5 Divination
4 History
5 Sects
6 Demographics
7 Reception
8 References
8.1 Citations
8.2 Sources
9 Further reading
10 External links
Definitions
The name Palo derives from palo, a Spanish term for sticks, referencing the
important role that these items play in the religion's practices.[1] The religion
is often also termed Palo Monte,[2] meaning "spirits embodied in the sticks in the
forest."[3] Another term for the religion is Regla Congo, a reference to its
origins among the traditional Kongo religion of the Bakongo people.[4] Palo is also
sometimes referred to as brujería (witchcraft), both by outsiders and some
practitioners themselves.[5]

Although its origins draw heavily on Kongo religion, Palo also takes influence from
the traditional religions of other African peoples who were brought to Cuba, such
as the Yoruba. These African elements are combined with elements from Roman
Catholicism, and from Spiritism, a French variant of Spiritualism.[6] Reflecting
its African heritage, many practitioners refer to their homeland as Ngola.[3]
Palo is an Afro-Cuban religion.[7] It is one of three major Afro-Cuban religions
present on the island, the other two being Santería, which derives in part from the
Yoruba religion of West Africa, and Abakuá, which has its origins among the secret
male societies practiced among the Efik-Ibibio.[8] Many individuals practice both
Palo and Santería.[9] Generally an individual is initiated into Santería after they
have been initiated into Palo; the reverse is not normally permitted.[10] There are
similarly practitioners of Palo who also practice Spiritism.[11]

Practitioners are usually termed paleros or mayomberos.[12]

Beliefs
The Palo worldview includes a supreme creator divinity, Nsambi or Sambia.[13] In
the religion's mythology, Nsambi is believed responsible for creating the first man
and woman.[14] This entity is regarded as being remote from humanity and thus no
prayers or sacrifices are directed towards it.[14]

Deities play a much less important role in Palo than they do in Santería.[15] In
Palo, the spirits of both ancestors and of the natural world are termed mpungus.
[16] The spirits of the dead are more specifically also called muerto or nfumbi.
[17] Some of these spirits have their own names, among them Nsasi or Sarabanda or
Baluandé.[3] Certain spirits may also have different aspects or manifestations,
which have their specific names too.[3] Practitioners are expected to make
agreements with the spirits of trees and rivers.[18] The scholar Judith Bettelheim
described Palo as being "centered on assistance from ancestors and a relationship
with the earth, one's land, one's home."[18]

The spirits of Palo are generally considered fierce and unruly.[10] The spirit pact
made in Palo is more occasional and intermittent than the relationship that
practitioners of Santería make with their deities, the oricha.[19] Practitioners
who work with both the oricha and the Palo spirits are akin to those practitioners
of Haitian Vodou who conduct rituals for both the Rada and Petwo branches of the
lwa spirits; the oricha, like the Rada, are even-tempered, while the Palo spirits,
like the Petwo, are chaotic and unruly.[10]

The Nganga

A Cuban Palo nganga on display in a museum

A key role in Palo is played by a vessel, sometimes a clay pot or gourd,[3] at
other times an iron pot or cauldron, the calderos,[20] which is often wrapped
tightly in heavy chains.[17] This is the nganga,[12] a term which in Central Africa
referred to a man who oversaw religious rituals.[3] It is also known as the prenda,
a Spanish term meaning "treasure" or "jewel."[21] It is alternatively sometimes
called el brujo ("the sorcerer"),[15] or the cazuela,[3] while a small, portable
version is termed the nkuto.[22] The terms prenda and nganga designate not only the
vessel but also the spirit believed to inhabit it.[23] The choice of nganga vessel
can be determined depending on mpungu.[18] The nganga is deemed to be alive,[15]
and is regarded as the source of the Palo practitioner's supernatural power.[24]
The practitioners are termed the perros (dogs) or criados (servants) of the nganga.
[25]

The contents of the nganga are termed the fundamento.[26] A key ingredient in these
are sticks, termed palos, which are selected from specific trees.[24] The choice of
tree selected indicates the sect of Palo involved.[24] Human bones will also
typically be included,[27] if possible including a skull, termed the kiyumba.[28]
If bones of a deceased person are unavailable then soil from a dead individual's
grave may suffice.[17] Other material added can include animal bones, shells,
plants, gemstones, coins, razorblades, knives, padlocks, blood, wax, aguardiente
liquor, wine, quicksilver, and spices.[29] Soil from various locations is added,
including from a graveyard, hospital, prison, and a market, as may water from a
river or the sea.[30] Often the quantity of material will spill out from the
cauldron itself and be arranged around it, sometimes taking up a whole room.[31]
The mix of items produces a strong, putrid odour and attracts insects.[30]

In Palo, it is believed that the spirit of the dead individual resides in the
nganga.[15] This becomes a slave of the owner,[10] making the relationship between
the palera/palero and their spirit quite different from the reciprocal relationship
that the santera/santero has with their oricha.[10] The spirit will then protect
the palero or palera,[24] and carries out the commands of their owner or their
owner's clients;[32] its services are termed trabajos.[17] They rule over other
spirits, of animals and plants, that are also included in the nganga.[24] Specific
animal parts added are believe to enhance the skills of the nganga; a bat's
skeleton for instance might be seen as giving the nganga the ability to fly through
the night to conduct errands.[30]

The nganga can both heal and harm.[33] Those nganga intended for use to good ends
undergo a baptism ceremony and are termed cristiana (Christian). Those intended for
malevolent ends are left unbaptised and are termed judía (Jewish).[34] The latter
are used for trabajos malignos, or harmful work.[35] The boundaries between the two
types of nganga are not always wholly fixed, because the baptised nganga can still
be used for harmful work on rare occasions. [35] The medical anthropologist Johann
Wedel noted that most of the paleros/paleras he encountered during the 1990s
claimed that unbaptised ngangas were very uncommon by then.[35]

A human skull and bones displayed in the Museo de Orishas in Havana. Human material
remains are included in the nganga of Palo
The nganga is kept in a domestic sanctum, the munanso,[17] typically formed in a
cellar or a shed in the practitioner's backyard.[36] When an individual practices
both Palo and Santería, they typically keep the spirit vessels of the respective
traditions separate, in different rooms.[10] The nganga is "fed" with blood from
sacrificed male animals;[15] this is poured into the cauldron.[30] Species used for
that purpose include dogs, pigs, goats, and cockerels.[15] This helps to maintain
the nganga's power and vitality and ensures ongoing reciprocity with the
practitioner.[17] On at least one occasion, the palero/palera will give the nganga
some of their own blood.[31] Offerings of food and tobacco are also placed before
it.[30]

The making of a nganga is a complex procedure.[24] Its components must take place
at specific times during the day and month.[24] A Palo practitioner would travel to
a graveyard at night. There, they would focus on a specific grave and seek to
communicate with the spirit of the dead person buried there, typically through
divination.[37] They then determine to create a trata (pact) with the spirit,
whereby the latter agrees to become the servant of the practitioner. Once they
believe that they have the consent of the spirit, the palero/palera will dig up the
bones of the deceased, or at least collect soil from their grave, and take it back
home. There, they perform rituals to install this spirit inside their nganga.[17]
When a new nganga is created, it is described as having been "born" from a "mother"
nganga.[15] The practitioner enters a pact with the spirit of the nganga in a
ritual involving them contacting the latter using divination and trance.[24] For a
time the nganga is then buried, either in a cemetery or a monte area of nature,
before being recovered.[24] When a practitioner dies, their nganga may be
dissembled if it is believed that the inhabiting nfumbi refuses to serve anyone
else and instead wishes to be set free.[38]

Palo teaches that menstruating women should be kept away from the nganga, for their
presence would weaken it.[15] It is also explained that the nganga's thirst for
blood would cause the woman to bleed excessively, causing her harm.[15]
Birth and the dead
Palo teaches that the individual comprises both a physical body and a spirit termed
the sombra ("shade").[14] In Palo belief, these are connected via a cordón de plata
("silver cord").[14] In Cuba, the Bakongo notion of the spirit "shadow" has merged
with the Spiritist notion of the perisperm, a spirit-vapor surrounding the human
body.[14]

The dead, referred to as the egun, play a prominent role in Palo.[11] It is held
that ancestors can contact and assist the living,[10] with paleros/paleras
venerating the souls of their ancestors.[14]

Practices

Baba Raúl Cañizares, an American priest of both Santería and Palo photographed with
his ritual paraphernalia, including a nganga
The negative rumours that often circulate about Palo means that it is rarely
practised openly.[15] The practices of Palo are often secretive.[25] Groups
practice their rituals in a building termed a casa-templo (house-temple).[22]
Practitioners sometimes seek to protect the casa-temple by placing small packets,
termed makutos (sing. nkuto), at each corner of the block around the building;
these packets contain dirt from four corners and material from the nganga.[22]

The language used in ritual actions derives heavily from the Ki-Kongo language,[3]
while the phrase that practitioners greet one another with is nsala malekum.[22]
They also acknowledge each other with a special handshake in which their right
thumbs are locked together and the palms meet.[22] Priests of Palo are called the
Tata Nganga ("father nganga") or the Mama Nganga ("mother nganga").[25]

Ritual drawings
Drawings called firmas play an important role in Palo ritual.[22] These are deemed
to be caminos ("roads"),[22] for they facilitate contact between the worlds,[39]
allowing the mpungu to enter the ceremonial space.[22] The firmas are akin to the
vèvè employed in Haitian Vodou and the anaforuana used by Abakua members.[40]

The designs of the firmas often incorporate ideas from traditional Kongo cosmology,
including references the sun circling the Earth and the horizon line, regarded as
the division between Heaven and Earth.[41] There are many different designs; some
are specific to the mpungu it is intended to invoke, others are specific to a
particular casa-templo or to an individual practitioner themselves.[22] Before a
ceremony, the firmas are drawn around the room.[22] The creation of these drawings
are accompanied by chants called mambos.[39] Gunpowder piles at specific points of
the firma is then lit, with the explosion deemed to attract the attentions of the
mpungu.[42]

Multiples of seven are considered sacred in Palo.[43]

Initiation
The first level of initiation into Palo is termed ngueyo; the highest is tata.[41]
When the final stage of initiation is done, a practitioner gets their own nganga.
[18]

Prior to the initiatory rituals, the initiate will be washed in water mixed with
various terms, a procedure called the limpieza or omiero.[22] After the bath, the
initiate will be clothed in items that reflect their status as a practitioner of
Palo: trousers rolled up to the knees, a towel over the shoulders, and a bandana on
the head. The torso and feet are left unclothed.[43] At initiation, the name of the
initiate's guiding spirit is revealed, along with the ingredients that will be
needed for their nganga.[41] Initiation into Palo involves a series of rituals
called rayamientos (markings).[44] These involve cuts being made on the body of the
initiate,[14] into which parts of the nganga's contents will be rubbed.[31]

Music
Music in Palo practices begins with wooden percussion instruments followed by
drums. Examples are the catá, guaguá, and the ngoma, or conga. The cowbell, hoe,
and plow are used as metallic instruments.[45]

Palo has been a means of transmitting the ritmas congos and influencias bantu,
forms of Cuban drumming.[46]