FAQ

I have a question? It is alright to have about 5 prendas in a closet of an apt and to add the other side a room for Orisha.  I think it is wrong because the prendas should be out of the house or apt. Please if any elder can explain the pros & cons.  thank you.

There's a mambo that says:

"Patico florido dime adios, adonde vive mi nganga vivo yo"

I see nothing wrong with having a prenda inside the home. My prendas are something great and beautiful to me, they bring everything that is positive to my life and the lives of my godchildren and they remove whatever is not. People have a huge misconception of Palo. Palo is religion and religion is used to HELP people.

Traditionally nkisis were kept outside the house, in the woods, at the foot of a Palm, Ceiba tree etc. The practices that we know of today as "Palo" have evolved even in Cuba as the Congos who practiced went from being cimarrones (runaway slaves) to practicing in Cabildos and Sugar Estates to moving to the big cities like Havana. That's ok, Palo is adaptive by its nature. Although those adaptations and changes take place at a very slow pace. I can't argue that Palo is practiced best by putting the nkisi on the ground, exposing it to natural elements, doing its ceremonies with the stars, the moon, the sun etc. However, that doesn't mean its impossible not to have an nkisi in a 22nd fl. apartment. It's better to go to nfinda (the woods) and cut the nkunia (sticks) and nkandia (plants\leaves) we use with licensia of Gurufinda, doing the proper ceremony for each one, cutting them at the proper time of day etc. but we still buy them at a botanica (although in my lineage we consecrate the sticks etc. we buy with a special ceremony). Point is, does it work? Yes it does.

Is there such thing as an initiation ceremony called "jubilacion" where initiation is done without cutting the person?

Mbele mbele nazako quien te corta?
Yo cambia mbele con mpemba....

There has been a lot of controversy regarding "jubilacion", especially on the internet.

Palo Monte is as much a Cuban invention as is jubilacion. This doesn't make either of the two illegitimate. There are 2 things that are of importance. First is licenisa which is permission that is granted from the ancestors. From my informants, historically jubilacion began occuring during the era of the Cuban war of independence. The ceremony gives the person a pact with the nkisi of the lineage. However this type of pact isn't the same as a regular Tata or Yaya. For beginners the individual can't initiate others or build anything. The initiation is more for their protection than anything else. The second thing of importance is nsila. If they don't have path to be initiated it doesn't matter if you cut, scratch or take off a limb, initiation won't do anything for the person.

The fact that jubilacion has become the common way to initiate Oloshas is a point that I disagree with. I have seen several Oloshas that have undergone the entire ceremony and their lives have vastly improved since their initiation.

A friend of mine, who has yet to be crowned, has 2 madrina's that want her. One of them is also involved with Palo (the one who wants to help me) and the other is not. Would it be more beneficial for her to choose the one who involved with Palo? Also, how is it that there is a separation of knowledge within Santeria of Palo? Personally, I must admit that I do not know too much, however I can see how it could work "hand in hand", for lack of a better terminology?

The first thing that your friend should take into consideration is that if she chooses one godparent in one tradition she has every right to choose another godparent in a seperate tradition.  The second thing that your friend should take into consideration is that she is under no obligation to be initiated into both traditions. Many in the U.S. are led to believe that if one is initiated in Palo one MUST be initiated in Ocha. This is a lie. There is nothing in the way of spirituality that is not readily available in Palo that there is in Ocha. Most initiates of Palo that I have met in this country who want to learn about Palo have the same complaint, that their godparent "doesn't want to teach them" and that they concentrate more on Ocha than they do on Palo. The truth of the matter is that most godparents do not have much to teach their godchildren when it comes to Palo. This is due to several reasons. First of all the assumption that because there are many Santeros in the United States who are knowledgeable and willing to teach Lukumi traditions therefore the same holds true to Palo is a falsehood. The fact that there are hundreds if not thousands of books and published articles about Lukumi religious tradition and now there are even seminars one can attend on both the concepts and practice means that information on Ocha is more readily available. The same does not and will not ever hold true for Palo. 

My godfather passed away several years ago. I am initiated, are there books that I can buy that could teach me how to practice?

In stark contrast to La Regla Lukumi, the Palo Monte tradition has been guided very little by manuals (libretas). While some notebooks or other loosely assembled written materials containing esoteric African vocabulary or other Palero jargon are available, and over the years I have accumulated an extensive library of these "libretas", these written sources are, without exceptions, poorly organized, cumbersome to consult, and rarely used. 

I was told by a Babalawo I should stay away from Palo because it's evil and works with "dark" spirits and is a lower form of spirituality. Is this true?

For various reasons Orisha traditions have outgrown the impression that Palo has had on Cuban culture in the U.S. although Congo derived people went to Cuba in greater numbers.  An important fact to consider when we hear remarks like this is that the Lukumi religious tradition is a hegemonic one. It imposed authority over other religious systems and created a spiritual hierarchy for their practitioners. At the bottom of this imaginary hierarchy is Palo. Over generations this has caused an enormous problem for Congo derived traditions.  For generations those who seek initiation into Palo and Lukumi traditions have been limited to initiation and consecration of objects in the Palo traditions without any insightful understanding of Palo. To further add to this epidemic most have adapted Lukumi customs to Palo that are unsuitable. For instance, Lukumi tradition is one of the few in the world that would allow a priest to be consecrated as one without any training whatsoever and shortly after consecration have a congregation to lead. This works well within the Lukumi framework because of the role that the Oriate and Babalawo play. It should be noted that the reason for Lukumi hierarchy and structure is based on socio-economic conditions of the past and Lukumi is the only Orisha tradition that abides by it (not even Haitian Vodoun abides by this structure). In Africa one is not considered an elder or even a priest until one has gained a certain amount of knowledge and training. While this structure works within Lukumi traditions it has its problems within Palo and the current complaints of Palo initiates show that it has only worked to further the loss of knowledge among adherents. Branches of Palo that follow more traditional structures do not abide by this hierarchy and it is unimaginable among them that a Palo initiate that is one, two, three, four or even five yrs. old has godchildren. Basically the godfather or godmother in Palo, the Tata Butako or Tata Ndibilongo Tuyembere, should be the Congo equivalent of an Oriate.

In the United States it seems that the foundations of Palo were brought by Lukumi priests who had been cross initiated into Palo, had little training in the Congo derived tradition and had to replace what they didn’t know with Lukumi traditions. With time the formal instruction that was supposed to take place between Tata and ahijado was lost. As a result those seeking initiation into Palo are quickly convinced that initiation is sufficient, no training is required, and more focus should be placed on Lukumi tradition. This chain of events has led several generations of Palo initiates to become ignorant of the completeness of their traditions.

Many initiates have been indoctrinated into the belief that Palo is only to be used for witchcraft. However, in abiding by this belief those same practitioners denounce an entire religious tradition and condemn themselves. There are priests of Palo which only use it to do harm but just because there are people who do not live up to the highest spiritual principles of any faith does not invalidate that faiths claim to spiritual elevation. There are priests in every tradition who use their position to do harm.

My godfather told me I must be initiated into Palo because I am a child of Eleggua (or Ogun, or Ochosi). I don't like Palo and I do not want to be initiated into it. Do I really have to go through the whole initiation process?

No. The following 3 points are myths:

•   Palo is a replacement of a lost system of ancestor veneration within their tradition.

•   Initiates of certain Orishas (Elegba, Ogun and Ochosi) must undergo initiation in Palo.

•   Divination systems within Lukumi traditions can mandate that a person MUST be initiated in Palo.

There is plenty of evidence to refute all 3 of these claims especially that there is an apparent “need” to have Lukumi adherents initiated in Palo to fill in the void left by the lack of knowledge of the Egun societies in Africa. This must be a relatively new concept among Lukumi and Palo practitioners and was spawned by cross initiations that took place in the 20th century. Prior to this there were very strong cultural barriers to cross initiation. According to Dr. Eoghan C. Ballard, cross initiation is in fact an anomaly culturally speaking, both in the Caribbean and beyond.

In the 19th Century, and actually well into the twentieth, the hostilities between the African ethnicities were sufficient to keep intermarriage to a minimum and hence cross initiation. The original cases of cross initiation, and this appeared to hold true fairly universally until at least around WWII (with a very few examples of exception) were justified by supposed demands (by parents - not by any spiritual entities) that the children of mixed ethnicity marriages be brought into the cult of the parents. In many cases however, there was violent opposition on the part of a parent to cross initiation. Felipe Villamil  tells of how he was raised, and he notes that he was initiated in Palo by his father's intervention on the way home from the hospital as a new born. He and his brothers, he notes, were not allowed to make Saint while his father lived.

I have a friend who's godparents messed them up and they want to leave munanso (palo house) and they are not sure what to do. What should they do?

In the case of your friend I suggest he\she finds another Palo house, one that he\she trusts, so that he\she has the protection of that house. What the requirements are to join depends on the individual as well as the house but there is always a type of "juramento" that takes place in order to make the pact with the spirits of the house.

Can a woman perform initiations?

No. A woman cannot perform initiations, have licensia (authority) with any mbele (knife). To do so is a new age invention, not a legitimate practice. Women CANNOT receive male nkisi such as Zarabanda, Siete Rayos etc. This interferes with a woman's menstrual cycle as well with her ability to maintain companionship (husband etc.). Women can receive female nkisi only until they are post menopausal. Women cannot construct nkisi either. This is another popular new age invention.

I have heard that Mayombe is real or pure Congo tradition that isn't "watered down" and that syncretic traditions such as Santo Cristo Buen Viaje are less authentic. Is this true?

While the Mayombero claims the most conservative methods and many claim to be the oldest existing rama there is no evidence of this. E.C.Ballad states, "In many traditions, the older forms tend to be more absorbant while the "purer" forms represent revisionist and revivalist tendencies, or at least a self-conscious backward glance. Each rama has it's own origins which differ slightly and yet all recognize the others as essentially the same religious tradition, with the possible exception of some lines of Kimbisa SCBV. That of course, is another story." Furthermore I encourage you to read about Congo history. You will find that many aspects of lineages that use Catholic iconography most probably arrived to Cuba this way.

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