Customer Reviews

Reglas de Congo/ Palo Monte Mayombe (Coleccibon del Chicherekbu En El Exilio) (Spanish Edition)

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Lydia Cabrera is consider one of the foremost scholars on afro-carribean religions and rightfully so. As an initiated priest of Palo Mayombe I highly recommend this book as a source of information for any interested in the religion.

As an initiated priest of Palo, I can say that it depends on what house you are in whether you think this book, or any other book by Lydia Cabrera, is all that good or not. This one does have some interesting material, as do all her books. But it has plenty that is not universally agreed upon, and it has absolutely nothing at all to say about the deeper, and most important secrets of Palo. Palo is not a standardized tradition. What you know and what you do depends on what house you are coming from. The houses are secret societies. You can't expect to learn anything without being in a house. It's as simple as that. No good Palero is going to make the secrets public. By their very nature, that would be insane. Not that I am showing disrespect to Lydia Cabrera. Her books are more or less good. I like some parts of her "La Regla Kimbisa." But a word of caution to you who want to dabble with African magic: there is a lot that will never be put into writing. Dabbling, when you don't know what you are dealing with, and especially in Palo, is a very fool hardy and dangerous thing to do. You don't know what you don't know. A lot of the older Paleros question what got into Lydia Cabrera to write what she did. Palo is closed to the uninitiated.

Very good book, long read, however worth the read. You need time to understand the rules of el congo. Good book.

Cabrera's works are widely regarded as classics and essentials in the academic study of the Afrocuban religions. This book surely contains valuable, fascinating information about Palo Monte, but unfortunately over half of the book has almost nothing to do with the religion.

If you buy this book, and you buy it because you are interested in Palo Monte, then you can start reading at page 121 and will not miss anything. If you start on page 121, you will find that the study focuses mainly on the Nganga; its interaction with its owner, how it is constructed, how it is taken care of, and how it can be used for both good and bad. Little to no time is spent on identifying the gods and spirits (muertos) of Palo, describing the nature of these spirits, the phenomenon of possession, or what a religious ceremony is actually like (say, from beginning to end). The book contains a decent number of short transcriptions of songs and prayers (mambos) and sometimes discusses their significance. The book is not heavy on specific ritual details, sticking instead to general descriptions of certain aspects of the religion. A large part of the book is direct quotes of Afrocubans, often very old, recounting old stories, personal experiences, the stories told by others remembered from their younger years, opinions and the like. In this way Cabrera allows Palo Monte in its current and historical forms to be told by people who practiced or know intimately someone who practiced the religion.

The major flaw of this book is that over half the book is not very academic and not about Palo Monte; it is mostly propaganda. Cabrera exhaustively defends the Spanish slave system as more humane than that of other imperial countries, at times coming suspiciously close to promoting the "Happy Slave" fallacy (this is the main topic of the first 121 pages). On page 98, Cabrera quotes a US traveler's account of his visit to Havana in 1859 and, in defense of her country, proceeds to personally attack the traveler, for being a Puritan, and attack his country, the US. Cabrera indulges in quite vicious attacks on the US (especially in pages 116 - 119), which is ironic considering she lived safely and luxuriously in exile there. She also writes glowingly of the wealthy white Cuban aristocracy - how generous they were, how non-racist they were, etc. - staunchly defending the gross inequalities of pre-1959 Cuba, even declaring that "asking for charity was not a bad profession" (p. 114). And, of course, Cabrera bitterly and extensively attacks Castro and Communist Cuba, saturating the book with petty remarks insults toward the regime. Indeed, Cabrera inserts her childish slander, her poor understanding of politics, and historical fantasy of pre-1959 Cuba throughout the book, so that even if you read the little of the book that actually has to do with Palo, you cannot avoid reading her irrelevant opinions.

It is important to note that these criticisms are not politically motivated, but are rather due to frustration from expecting this to be a book ONLY about Palo Monte. To be clear: the major flaw in this book has NOT to do with the veracity of Cabrera's version of history or the soundness of her political opinions. The flaw is that these opinions and depictions were at all included in this book. They are simply irrelevant. (Even if the boundaries of what qualifies as the 'context' in which the Afrocuban religion Palo Monte lives in Cuba are taken to be as broad as possible, surely it should not comprise of over fifty percent of the material.)

I bought this book hoping for an extensive study of Palo Monte. Instead, I got over 121 pages of propaganda and less that 90 pages of information about the religion for which the book is named.

Para quien aun conoce poco de la Regla de Palo o quien quiere saber como funciona. Despues de una lectura profunda, se dara cuenta que la Regla de Palo o el Mayombe es autodidacta y el poder de la magia depende de la relacion entre el palero y el nfumbe.
Util, necesario.