El Monte
eBook - PDF

El Monte

Notes on the Religions, Magic, and Folklore of the Black and Creole People of Cuba

  1. 688 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

El Monte

Notes on the Religions, Magic, and Folklore of the Black and Creole People of Cuba

About this book

First published in Cuba in 1954 and appearing here in English for the first time, Lydia Cabrera's El Monte is a foundational and iconic study of Afro-Cuban religious and cultural traditions. Drawing on conversations with elderly Afro-Cuban priests who were one or two generations away from the transatlantic slave trade, Cabrera combines ethnography, history, folklore, literature, and botany to provide a panoramic account of the multifaceted influence of Afro-Atlantic cultures in Cuba. Cabrera details the natural and spiritual landscape of the Cuban monte (forest, wilderness) and discusses hundreds of herbs and the constellations of deities, sacred rites, and knowledge that envelop them. The result is a complex spiritual and medicinal architecture of Afro-Cuban cultures. This new edition of what is often referred to as "the Santería bible" includes a new foreword, introduction, and translator notes. As a seminal work in the study of the African diaspora that has profoundly impacted numerous fields, Cabrera's magnum opus is essential for scholars, activists, and religious devotees of Afro-Cuban traditions alike.

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Yes, you can access El Monte by Lydia Cabrera, David Font-Navarrete in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Latin American & Caribbean History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Foreword: The Forest as Moral Document \ John F. Szwed and Robert F. Thompson
  4. Introduction: Loose-Leaf Notes on the Life and Work of Lydia Cabrera \ Isabel Castellanos
  5. Translator’s Notes: Reading El Monte in the Twenty-First Century \ David Font-Navarrete
  6. Acknowledgments \ David Font-Navarrete
  7. Preface
  8. Chapter 1. El Monte
  9. Chapter 2. Bilongo
  10. Chapter 3. Oluwa Ewe: The Owner of El Monte
  11. Chapter 4. The Tribute to the Owner of El Monte
  12. Chapter 5. How to Prepare a Nganga
  13. Chapter 6. The Magical and Medicinal Treasure of Osain and Tata Nfindo
  14. Chapter 7. The Ceiba
  15. Chapter 8. Ukano Bekonsi
  16. Chapter 9. The Royal Palm
  17. Chapter 10. Ukano Mambre
  18. Botanical Encyclopedia
  19. Photographs
  20. References
  21. Index