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.
- Cover
- Contents
- Foreword: The Forest as Moral Document \ John F. Szwed and Robert F. Thompson
- Introduction: Loose-Leaf Notes on the Life and Work of Lydia Cabrera \ Isabel Castellanos
- Translator’s Notes: Reading El Monte in the Twenty-First Century \ David Font-Navarrete
- Acknowledgments \ David Font-Navarrete
- Preface
- Chapter 1. El Monte
- Chapter 2. Bilongo
- Chapter 3. Oluwa Ewe: The Owner of El Monte
- Chapter 4. The Tribute to the Owner of El Monte
- Chapter 5. How to Prepare a Nganga
- Chapter 6. The Magical and Medicinal Treasure of Osain and Tata Nfindo
- Chapter 7. The Ceiba
- Chapter 8. Ukano Bekonsi
- Chapter 9. The Royal Palm
- Chapter 10. Ukano Mambre
- Botanical Encyclopedia
- Photographs
- References
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- Y
- Z
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