Nana, Also known as Nana Buruku She is the wise grandmother, the strength and the ancestral knowledge in the Yoruba religion, syncretized in Cuba, with the Virgen del Camino, both deities are Cuban identity symbols.
Nana Buruku She is an Orisha and is credited with powerful spirituality, as she governs the springs of water, the mouths of rivers, swamps and lagoons.
It is also a mediator between life and death. And is that Nana it is a powerful ancient force that goes mostly in the head of the believer.
She is prior to the arrival of Oduduwa to Ilé Ifé and it is said that its food is the spirit of the beings. Its attributes are a knife made of wild cane, a majá coiled around the jar, a metal stomach and the Ibirí (a bouquet of palm leaves or straw from the coast curved with ornaments).
Syncretism and Afro-Cuban culture, the Virgin and the Orisha
As part of the process of transculturation always present in the Cuban identity, the Orishas are syncretized with the Catholic saints.
And it is that, since the arrival of the slaves to the new world, the colonialists prohibited them from practicing their religion, but they continued to show their devotion to their deities through the images of the Catholic religion.
And so Naná Burukú, the Orisha grandmother, is syncretized with one of the symbolic virgins of the Cuban people, the Holy Virgin of the Way, a Marian devotion from Spain.
It is said that the saint is seen as the patron saint of the region of León, in Spain and is regarded for her wise and fair decisions. People pray to her for comfort and job improvements.
The Vatican appointed the Virgin of the Way Patron of the Region of León since 1914 and there is even a Basilica in honor of the Virgin, which belongs to the Dominican order.
Cubans have their own Virgen del Camino
In Cuba, the Virgin of the Way It is a symbol of Havana, seen in a sculpture by the artist Rita Longa that exists since 1948 surrounded by enigmas.
The mystery of its construction points from a tribute in remembrance to the Spaniards of León who resided in the Cuban capital, to the tribute to a wooden virgin who survived a fire.
But Cubans revere her regardless of the secrets that surround her, as a benevolent mother and prophet of good ways and excellent opportunities.
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