Muerte, muertos y “llanto” palero

This paper describes some of the ceremonies that make up the ritual cycles surrounding the death of palo monte priests. They are known as llanto (moaning) and I will focus on the ethnography of two of these llantos—that of a palera who was also a spiritist and a santera (2007) and that of another pa...

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Main Author: Ana Stela de Almeida Cunha
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative 2013-07-01
Series:Ateliers d'Anthropologie
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/9413
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author Ana Stela de Almeida Cunha
author_facet Ana Stela de Almeida Cunha
author_sort Ana Stela de Almeida Cunha
collection DOAJ
description This paper describes some of the ceremonies that make up the ritual cycles surrounding the death of palo monte priests. They are known as llanto (moaning) and I will focus on the ethnography of two of these llantos—that of a palera who was also a spiritist and a santera (2007) and that of another palero who was also affiliated with other Cuban religious practices (2009). The death of a priest of palo (and more broadly of a practitioner of any Afro-Cuban religion) is always a chance to observe his involvement in a specific practice, as well as his possible trajectories in other Afro-Cuban religions. During funerals, the multiple religious identities of a deceased person become particularly visible, as they converge and interact through rituals. Since they draw attention to the whole initiatory and religious network to which the deceased person belonged, funerals are key moments for understanding Cuban religious diversity and the creative and sometimes innovative relationships that develop between different ‘traditions’, according to an individual’s conceptions and nieds. The paper offers a detailed description of the funeral ceremonies of palo monte and also highlights religious plurality, the delicate hierarchies that this implies, the transition from one practice to another—reflecting the lives of deceased paleros—as well as the dynamics of creativity at work. As emphasized by Bruner (1993) or Hallam and Ingold (2007), these dynamics stem from a process of natural development, under constant construction, in the lives of religious people and ‘believers’.
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spelling doaj-art-2215d89fae394912ab53dd2aaebc43042025-01-30T13:41:58ZfraLaboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie ComparativeAteliers d'Anthropologie2117-38692013-07-013810.4000/ateliers.9413Muerte, muertos y “llanto” paleroAna Stela de Almeida CunhaThis paper describes some of the ceremonies that make up the ritual cycles surrounding the death of palo monte priests. They are known as llanto (moaning) and I will focus on the ethnography of two of these llantos—that of a palera who was also a spiritist and a santera (2007) and that of another palero who was also affiliated with other Cuban religious practices (2009). The death of a priest of palo (and more broadly of a practitioner of any Afro-Cuban religion) is always a chance to observe his involvement in a specific practice, as well as his possible trajectories in other Afro-Cuban religions. During funerals, the multiple religious identities of a deceased person become particularly visible, as they converge and interact through rituals. Since they draw attention to the whole initiatory and religious network to which the deceased person belonged, funerals are key moments for understanding Cuban religious diversity and the creative and sometimes innovative relationships that develop between different ‘traditions’, according to an individual’s conceptions and nieds. The paper offers a detailed description of the funeral ceremonies of palo monte and also highlights religious plurality, the delicate hierarchies that this implies, the transition from one practice to another—reflecting the lives of deceased paleros—as well as the dynamics of creativity at work. As emphasized by Bruner (1993) or Hallam and Ingold (2007), these dynamics stem from a process of natural development, under constant construction, in the lives of religious people and ‘believers’.https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/9413Afro-Cuban religionspalo montefuneralscreativitythe deadreligious plurality
spellingShingle Ana Stela de Almeida Cunha
Muerte, muertos y “llanto” palero
Ateliers d'Anthropologie
Afro-Cuban religions
palo monte
funerals
creativity
the dead
religious plurality
title Muerte, muertos y “llanto” palero
title_full Muerte, muertos y “llanto” palero
title_fullStr Muerte, muertos y “llanto” palero
title_full_unstemmed Muerte, muertos y “llanto” palero
title_short Muerte, muertos y “llanto” palero
title_sort muerte muertos y llanto palero
topic Afro-Cuban religions
palo monte
funerals
creativity
the dead
religious plurality
url https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/9413
work_keys_str_mv AT anasteladealmeidacunha muertemuertosyllantopalero