Palo

Patricia E. Canson

The religion known as Palo by practitioners in Cuba, the United States, and parts of the Caribbean is essentially the traditional spiritual system of the Kongo people (Bântu-Kôngo, Bâkôngo). The Bâkôngo are a sub-Saharan people who extend from southern Cameroon, through Angola, Bas-Zaire, and Gabon, to Mozambique. Also included are non-Kôngo groups such as the Teke, Suku, Yaka, and Punu, found in the BâKôngo and Angola regions because of the similarities in language and religious beliefs. The legends of the culture, the commonality of socioreligious practices, and the roots of the language identify the Bântu-Kôngo cultural group as originating from ancient Kernet. Before spreading south in later migrations, they settled in western Africa. Consistent with Kemetic influence throughout Africa, the cosmological underpinning of the Bântu-Kôngo philosophy rests on the relationship between the living and the Dead. Within this union, the soul and mind live on after physical death and manifest ...

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