The Palo system in Cuba continues to empha-
size the relationship between the living and the
Dead. In practice, the lines in the Palo ground
designs represent the pulling of spiritual forces
inward to the center while extending outward
toward the four cardinal points of the universe.
The nganga contains the spirit it calls or controls,
along with its cosmogramic signature, indicating
the nganga’s centering force. Here, the nganga may
refer to a spirit n’kisi or to a clay container, gourd,
or sack (jolongoormacuto) or the iron cauldron
(also calledprenda, a pledge to not break taboos)
that contains the spirit. Through the thought-
transmitting nganga cauldron, the “palero”
becomes a medium for the nganga, and, in trance,
utters words he may not understand, but that are
directed by the nganga. In some Palo communities,
practitioners also utilize Kardekian espiritismo
techniques for their dealings with the Dead.
Practice of Palo in the United StatesRemnants of the Bântu-Kôngo religious practices
are most notably seen in the southern part of the
United States, where Africans often fused or
masked the supreme deity Nsâmbi Mpungu with
a Christian god and utilized the healing and pro-
tective minkisi in daily life. The twisted tree root
in particular became a major object associated
with the n’kisi; thus, the “healers with roots”
became known as “root-workers” or “conjurers.”
Other examples of the system can be found in the
Sea Island region of South Carolina, where the
importation of enslaved ethnic groups from
Kôngo-Angôla formed the Kikôngo linguistic pat-
terns known as Gullah Creole. For example, the
termndokorefers to bewitching,n’zambirefers
to God, and Gullahis most likely a shortened
form of “Angola.” Pottery found in the Carolina
low country often contained cosmograms and
ideographic signs.
Throughout the South, the greatest evidence
of the spiritual systems of the Bâkôngo is found
in cemeteries. Often mistaken for decoration, the
personal belongings or last object touched by the
deceased, such as broken pottery and porcelain,
playthings, lighting utensils, food, water, white
chickens, pieces of colored glass, shells, wooden
figures, planted trees, lamps, and containers that
hold water, are not uncommon items on graves
in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Texas,
Mississippi, and the Carolinas. These objects
have the purpose of warding off evil and assist-
ing the Dead in their journey to the other world.
Expressions of ancestors (simbi) such as broken
crockery, bone discs, pieces of quartz, coins, and
twisted roots can also be found in homes. Classic
African American “yard art” is symbolic of the
altar; objects such as pinwheels, bottle trees, and
shiny reflective objects (flash and light are
equally effective weapons against spiritual loss)
can be found in the yards of homes as protec-
tions against evil.Practice of Palo in Other
Parts of the Americas
In the late 1900s, Yoruba and Kôngo-Angolan
people represented the majority of the enslaved
brought to Brazil. Later, the Kikôngo-speaking
groups incorporated the combined religions of
Dahomey and Native America (Amerindian) with
Catholicism and European spiritualism to con-
struct the religious practice of Macumba. In prac-
tice, cruciforms chalked on the floors of shrines,
and the presence of certain medicinal spirits attest
to the Kôngo-Angolan influence. Many Macumba
priests “mark points” (pontos riscados) in the
manner of the Bâkôngo to “center” consecrated
water. The Afro-Brazilian termpontos cantados e
pontos riscados(simultaneous singing and mark-
ing points) provides further evidence of the Kôngo
custom. APonto de segurar, a small charm in a
cloth container, is used to stop a malevolent spirit
or to attract a person to the owner of the
charm.
The practice of Umbanda, first seen in the
mid-1920s in Brazil, spread into Uruguay and
Argentina and arrived in New York with the
migrant population. Also an amalgamation of
Roman Catholic, Yoruba, Bântu-Kôngo, and
Native American practices, the Kôngolese influ-
ence can be seen in the presence of thepretos
velhosor black elders who retained their Kôngo
names. Drawing on ground with white chalk is
also commonly found in this group.
On the island of Haiti, where the primary
African spiritual influence is essentially Dahomian
vodun, n’kisi charms, often wrapped in silk, ances-
tral cotton, or raffia cloth and decorated withPalo 519