Usually hearing the term "paleros" brings to our memory an almost reverential respect for one of the strongest religious expressions in Cuba.
A mixture of fear and admiration is directed at those who practice the Palo Monte rule.
City legends can make the bravest's hair stand on end, since they say that they are the ones who communicate with the spirits of the dead and they help them carry out the tasks of religion.
Stories of spirits, apparitions, and strong spells surround the Palo Monte rule.
We must begin by explaining that this religious expression originated in the kingdom of the Congo and other subordinate monarchies of Bantu origin and its adaptation in Cuba is also an element of transculturation, in which other aspects such as the Kimbisa and the La Brillumba, until you reach the Kimbisa of Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje.
What distinguishes the Rule of Palo Monte?
What distinguishes the paleros or practitioners of the Palo Monte rule, is the link with the forces of Nature, whose elements are considered animated by spirits.
The center of the ceremony in this creed is the Nganga, a container where the soul of a dead person is found submitted to the will of the initiate through a beneficial pact for both.
It is the Tata Nganga or Tata Nkisi, who can perform "raying" or initiation ceremonies and thus lead a religious group. To do this, it relies on other minor hierarchies of consecrated persons, such as the Bakofula ayonfombe and the Ngueyo, who together with the rest of the "godchildren" form the House.
Another important element in this religious expression are the graphic symbols of a sacred nature or signatures, which are used to identify the spirits, ancestors and orishas. The devotees of stick mount, indicate that supernatural powers are represented in the signatures and express the relationship with the protective spirit with which the pact has been made.
El Palo Monte and its followers
Their representatives are the so-called paleros, mayomberos or nganguleros, who are governed by a pantheon of deities of fundamentally Bantu origin. "Mpúngos" they are called and they are superior Spirits that equate to the Orishas.
Currently certain practices say that people who want to venture into the Santería must first "scratch on stick”. Thus, the initiation or "Oath" must take place in the forest under a ceiba tree and includes the preparation, the visit to the cemetery, the main Rite, the preparation of the hearing, the possession by the spirit of the dead, the delivery of the "segment ”And the funeral meal.
In conclusion, the stick ruler mount It works basically through the manipulation of the dead and materials from nature inserted into an object called nganga, defined by scholars as a "magic cauldron" that contains, among other things, parts of a dead person, that is to say, a human skeleton. .
Diversity of rites
stick mount It has a diversity of rites and practices that are grouped into 3 ritual trends, called mayombe, briyumba and kimbisa.
The paleros emphasize that the Mayombe branch "works" with very "strong" and "negative" elements, which today is given the popular name of "witchcraft".
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