Palo Mayombe as it is informally known by the masses, is an Afro-Cuban tradition that is heavily centered around spirits and ancestors. The real name of the tradition is Nkisi Malongo and it is commonly nicknamed “Palo” by practicing members. This tradition was born from slavery in Cuba, in which several slaves from different tribes in what was known as the Kongo region were brought to Cuba and they evolved their ancient shamanistic traditions in order to deal with the new world and the problems that came with it.
In this new world, they found an ever growing need to go beyond shamanistic needs of their people. They found the need to evolve into spiritual warriors the like of which the world never knew before. Complete and relentless spiritual warfare was necessary in order to free them of their colonized state. These slaves then began falsely submitting to what they understood to be the Christian god “Muklisto” or Christ, in order to buy them time to organize and plan how they would preserve their traditions.
These efforts were largely successful and they came up with plans that involved disguising their traditions as their version of worship of this Christ, but in their own way. This was accomplished by making several changes to the shamanistic ways of their traditions. The first change being that they no longer used Nkisi statues because they were believed to be false idols and could not be worshiped without consequences. They started creating other sacred objects, inside of pots instead. These pots had to pass the Christian test… So they would include a cross to prove that these are not false idols or demons.
These pots came to be known as Nganga, the materialization of mysteries and shamanistic wisdom, the embodied of might and force of an Mpungu God. These changes were not the only ones. Due to how slavery completely shattered the idea of lineages and bloodlines, it was impossible to keep the tradition closed based on bloodline or lineage. There needed to be a change in which the tradition could survive and rescue lost tribes, but not based on blood… Based on worthiness to be a warrior in the name of Nzambi and the Kimpungulu. This is where the idea of Munanzo was born.
Munanzo is a house of spiritual veneration to spirits, ancestors and gods alike. These houses were originally structured in such a way where all members of the house were treated like family in every aspect. With these strong familial bonds, the once lost tribes of Africa that were susceptible to separation and slavery, were reborn as spiritual tribes. Spiritual Tribes that were resilient to separation and slavery of all sorts. Tribes that would be immortalized due to their lineage not being in the members, but in the sacred objects the members used. Regardless of their societal standing, what their gender is, or even where they come from, if a person were initiated into a proper Munanzo, they could directly interact with the mysteries and energies of shamanism left behind by the slaves, with the responsibility of preserving their traditions.
While our history is beautifully rich our spiritual beliefs in spirits are vibrant and excellent too.