Some of the most spectacular Yombe pieces are the nkisi nkonde figures described below. They also carve masks and drums to be used in initiation ceremonies. Everyday objects such as combs, staffs, and fly whisks were often carved with figures as a display of wealth and power.
HISTORY
Yombe history indicates a southward migration of the Mbenza clan from present day Gabon sometime before the 15th century. Oral and written accounts connect them with the historical Mayomba Kingdom, which flourished in the 16th century. During the 16th and 17th centuries migrations of Manyanga and then Bwende peoples arrived in the area. Both groups eventually assimilated into Yombe communities. The Kongo and Solongo expansions at the end of the 17th century forced the Yombe to withdraw from the banks of the Congo River. Although European contact was limited until the end of the 19th century, depictions of Portuguese people in Yombe art reflect 16th century Portuguese styles, indicating a moderate degree of European influence in this region at quite an early date.
ECONOMY
Due to the thick forests surrounding Yombe territory the land must be cleared through slash and burn techniques before crops can be planted. The land is usually cleared by men, leaving the task of farming to the women. Plantains, manioc, maize, beans, peanuts, and yams are among the primary crops grown. These are primarily used for local consumption, but surplus is also sold in regional markets to obtain cash. Goats, pigs, chickens, and dogs are also raised. Fishing on the Congo River and its surrounding tributaries provides an important source of dietary protein. Men are also responsible for hunting, weaving, carving, smithing, and smelting. Women create clay pots for domestic use.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS
Primary Yombe social divisions are based on membership in one of nine clans. All clans trace their heritage to Mbaangala who had nine daughters whose names are the same as the clan that each founded. Yombe peoples more readily affiliate with fellow clan members, and each clan has its own set of social and moral rules. Historically the Yombe recognized a supreme chief, but today there are instead localized land chiefs who act as supreme judges and maintain a great deal of religious power. Descent is traced matrilinealy and each clan has a mfumu makanda (supreme leader), who is elected by his fellow clan members based on his wealth and oratory skills.
RELIGION
Ngoma Bunzi is the Yombe supreme deity. He resides in Yulu, a place which is off-limits to people. He is never contacted directly. Instead, appeals are made through Nzambi a Tsi (earth spirits) and Simbi (river spirits). Shrines were also erected to remember important ancestors, and chiefs were accorded sacred powers. The waganga (healers) could be solicited to perform cures, to provide protection from harm, to bring good fortune, or on occasion to avenge harm done by a witch. The medicine of the waganga was closely tied to nkisi bundles. Larger nkisi nkonde figures were used for oath taking on the village level. Nails and similar pointed objects were driven into the figure to seal a pact between two or more individuals. Diviners commonly used hallucinogenic drugs to facilitate their communication with the spirit world.
Sala Maleko everyone, It has been a while since I have posted on this blog and for whatever intent purposes I was not really feeling the community at large. Nowadays you have a lot of newcomers mixing and matching religious concepts and cultural appropriation when it comes to Palo Mayombe. There is a large misconception of Mpungu/Mpungos that in mainstream now has become ever popular. See Mayombe which is centralized in The Mountains of Vuelta Abajo( Pinar del Rio or what alot of people call La tierra nani). Were a formulated group from different Yombe people from different tribes that were from the regions in Yombe. But Mayombe as a group coming from africa as you can see were different ethnic identities from 9 regions with a maternal connection. Women in mayombe concept are influential in our understanding. Eventually they represented themselves first as Malongo. I will not give you the full title as people would want to lay claim on our Nso’s history. Then throughout the years it became mayombe. Offsets of different practices and houses formed and eventually spreadout through Cuba.
When Colombus landed in October 28 of 1492 in the Northeast side of Cuba currently Oriente and all other regions his conquest led those Natives to run into refuge in the western part of present day Pinar del Rio. Heavy armor and horses could not make it up to those mountains with giant thickets of grass and trees. So much of the land was cultivated and by the Ciboney and Tainos.
Borrowed from afrocuba web all rights reserved. This is for informational purposes only and the blogger lays no claim to the information utilized only for educational purposes www.afrocubaweb.com
| 1513 | The first record of slavery in Cuba. Landowner Amador de Lares gets permission to bring four African slaves from Hispaniola. |
| 1514 | Pánfilo de Narváez establishes the city of Havana, named after a local chief, San Cristóbal de Habana. |
| 1517- 1726 | More kidnapped Africans arrive. The first larger group of slaves (300) arrive in Cuba in 1520. |
| 1519 | The first Catholic mass is celebrated in Havana, under a Ceiba tree. |
| 1520 | Seven years after the first small group of African slaves were kidnapped into Cuba, the first large group of African slaves, 300 total, are brought to work the gold mines. |
| 1526 | Cedula real (royal writ) establishing the right for a slave to purchase their own freedom. |
| 1533 | First documented slave uprising: four slaves from the Jobabo mines fight to their death with Spanish soldiers. To reduce colonists’ fears, their heads are removed and put on display in Bayamo. |
| 1538 | French pirates, with the help of rebel slaves, burn the city of Havana. There are six Christian towns in Cuba at this time: Santiago (80 houses), Havana (between 70 – 80 homes), Baracoa, Puerto Príncipe, Santi Spíritus, and Bayamo with 30-40 homes each. |
| 1550 | The Spanish crown allows a wealthy merchant group to import Africans to Cuba. |
| 1557 | Havana City Council issues a decree prohibiting African-owned taverns or inns and forbids them to sell tobacco or wine. The punishment: fifty lashes with a whip. |
| 1568 | First cabildo in Cuba, Cabildo Shango in Havana |
| 1586 | A royal decree regulating tobacco sales specifies that the penalties are doubled if the law-breaker is a negro. In addition, the negro receives 200 lashes in public. |
| 1600 | 18 sugar mills (ingenias) around Havana, none have more than 26 slaves. |
| 1607 | Havana becomes capital of Cuba, replacing Santiago de Cuba. |
| 1682 | Second Catholic Diocesian Synode in Santiago de Cuba: blacks and mulatos and metis forbidden from entering any Church orders. Blacks are not allowed asylum in Churches nor can they sing funeral masses. |
| 1687 | Papal Synode orders Cuban priests to adjust African beliefs to the Catholic faith |
| 1708 | The Spanish crown issues a decree allowing slaves to purchase their freedom. Those who do so are known as cortados. |
From 1500’s to early 1700’s you have slaves imported from Haiti via Brazil into cuba. A lot of the escaped Maroons or Cimarron made it into those mountains with there understanding of the cultural concepts and so in turn Palo Mayombe was born. You are going to hear that Palo Mayombe came from Africa and it did not Nkisi worship and the concept came from this migration into the new world but not Palo Mayombe. The concept of Palo is born in cuba and had been unadulterated for at least 300 years. Before you start seeing the practice of Orisha/Nkisi mixes. Now the identity of Mpungos and the concept of a Pantheon was assimilated from an Orisha concept which also landed in the island of cuba. Before that ngangas like Maria Batalla, Gallo Ronco, Ngo la Habana, and other Ngangas that are born in the island of cuba had no conceptual identity of what we have now as an Mpungo which is a bastardized form of using the word Mpungu for energy.
I feel that sometimes I am repeating myself but the reason why is because you have priests out there with kongo concepts and orisha based philosophy will tell you that I am making it up. Guess what a lot of scholars have spoken on this in great detail. I am just doing an oversight so peeople can truly inform themselves and stop listening to idiots who want to be Youtube famous selling pipe dreams to people.
Palo Mayombe is a marriage of native plants and african concepts of spirituality and with native practices as well that are now being under attack by unscrupulous people who claim our religion as soverano(sovereign) to what is supposed to be truly practiced.
Study and inform yourself and do not be led like sheep to the slaughter. The more you know the better informed and better prepared you are to embark in a cultural and spiritual journey.
Sambia to all….. Be blessed and be Safe……. Tata Musitu.
https://africa.uima.uiowa.edu/peoples/show/Yombe
http://www.afrocubaweb.com/history/History.htm
An overview of Yombe people and afrocuba web all rights reserved by the authors