00:00:49.631 --> 00:00:57.097
"By the leather of the goat
all men could become brothers".

00:01:00.822 --> 00:01:07.493
-Dear brothers, we meet in Regla town,
'Itiá Ororó Kande' for us, the 'Abakuás'…

00:01:07.556 --> 00:01:14.088
the place in which one hundred and
eighty years ago it was established

00:01:14.245 --> 00:01:18.447
the first lodge called
'Efik Ebuton' as a symbol

00:01:18.548 --> 00:01:22.208
of the culture of resistance
of our people one.

00:01:22.287 --> 00:01:26.245
-We are not crooks, nor delinquents...

00:01:26.369 --> 00:01:31.311
-We do not steal children nor do
we eat them on December 4th.

00:01:31.657 --> 00:01:34.890
-We are fraternal and cheerful men.

00:01:34.975 --> 00:01:39.807
-We are men who deeply feel our
religion and brotherhood like ours.

00:01:47.511 --> 00:01:53.356
♪ "I had a lot of fun, at a party that
I went to in 'Los Pocitos' of Marianao". ♪

00:01:53.891 --> 00:01:56.575
♪ "And the 'Kiñongos' sang like this"... ♪

00:01:56.928 --> 00:01:59.173
♪ "And the 'Kiñongos' sang like this"… ♪

00:01:59.287 --> 00:02:03.430
♪ "India Obane Sese Nkumbia
Ekue Tiñabó"…. ♪

00:02:04.177 --> 00:02:05.872
♪ "Nkamá"… ♪

00:02:09.407 --> 00:02:11.809
'El Pocito' is a religious neighborhood,

00:02:12.005 --> 00:02:15.360
in its beginnings there
were slave settlements,

00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:18.026
it is something ancestral,

00:02:18.112 --> 00:02:20.734
the African religions here.

00:02:20.848 --> 00:02:24.404
We have religions like
'Palo', 'Santo', 'Ifá',

00:02:24.526 --> 00:02:28.115
but 'Abakuá' is the one
that predominates here.

00:02:29.260 --> 00:02:32.329
A neighborhood feeds on that.

00:02:39.389 --> 00:02:42.612
I did not earn my respect
on my neighborhood

00:02:42.729 --> 00:02:45.991
by playing street games or raising kites.

00:02:46.197 --> 00:02:48.733
While the boys my age
were dancing socially.

00:02:49.085 --> 00:02:52.467
I was in a ceremony in
Cárdenas dancing 'Abakuá'.

00:02:57.463 --> 00:03:03.242
I owe 'Abakuá' my respect
and my harmony in society.

00:03:03.527 --> 00:03:05.844
I earned it through 'Abakuá'.

00:03:06.155 --> 00:03:09.938
I practiced the way the
elders taught me.

00:03:12.734 --> 00:03:19.162
(Abakuá prayer)

00:04:01.004 --> 00:04:04.342
 'NYORÓ' (Mourn)
Funeral Ceremony.

00:04:05.113 --> 00:04:07.014
The 'Abakuás'…

00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:10.808
like so many other actors
of cuban becoming,

00:04:10.902 --> 00:04:14.053
were removed from the
official history of Cuba.

00:04:14.846 --> 00:04:19.900
They were segregated to the marginality,
specially to the diatribe and the stigmatization.

00:04:21.919 --> 00:04:28.580
Many falsehoods and lies

00:04:29.578 --> 00:04:32.820
have been written and
continue to be written.

00:04:34.763 --> 00:04:37.480
THE CRIMINALS OF CUBA.

00:04:37.997 --> 00:04:43.797
I had always heard negative
stories about the 'Abakuás'.

00:04:44.744 --> 00:04:49.910
Crime related stories,
always negative issues.

00:04:50.602 --> 00:04:52.745
Because of the same comments
exist on the street.

00:04:52.926 --> 00:04:55.744
It's a religion of thugs or murderers.

00:05:00.404 --> 00:05:03.866
What prejudices and stereotypes
persist in relation to the Abakuá?

00:05:05.499 --> 00:05:09.748
They forge their manhood by using knifes
or by committing reprehensible crimes.

00:05:09.833 --> 00:05:11.782
They live in a state of perennial war.

00:05:11.844 --> 00:05:13.378
It is synonymous of toughness.

00:05:13.532 --> 00:05:17.698
This bad influence has been
with the 'Abakuá' since its birth.

00:05:18.524 --> 00:05:21.484
This religion in Cuba

00:05:21.572 --> 00:05:25.979
was born under the enslaving
and racist Spanish government.

00:05:26.111 --> 00:05:28.311
They gave them any bad label:

00:05:28.404 --> 00:05:29.874
"This black man is a criminal;

00:05:29.927 --> 00:05:32.559
this black man is
'Abakuá' or a killer".

00:05:32.644 --> 00:05:34.510
WITCHES OR ÑÁÑIGOS.

00:05:35.511 --> 00:05:38.728
 The 'íreme' or 'little devil' of Ñáñigos.

00:05:43.005 --> 00:05:45.721
The term 'Ñáñigo' itself, remember,

00:05:46.001 --> 00:05:49.056
has been marking us
since the colonial era.

00:05:49.522 --> 00:05:54.956
It was a derogatory term used
by the colonizer to refer to 'Abakuá'.

00:05:55.272 --> 00:05:58.773
 ÑAÑIGUISMO IN REGLA TOWN.

00:05:59.068 --> 00:06:02.865
On december 4th, there in
my province, in Guantánamo,

00:06:03.815 --> 00:06:07.109
is the date that the 'Ñáñigos' come out,

00:06:07.309 --> 00:06:11.533
so, the parents accompany
their children to school.

00:06:11.853 --> 00:06:16.400
It's a tradition;
old people's beliefs. Right?

00:06:16.760 --> 00:06:22.171
The 'Ñáñigo' was as if a monster
that captured you, ate you.

00:06:22.371 --> 00:06:25.654
Then the children,
scared, slept in fear.

00:06:25.857 --> 00:06:29.532
They were told that if they didn't sleep,
the 'Ñáñigo' would take them away.

00:06:30.064 --> 00:06:34.504
THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE
OF THE CHILD ORNELIO GARCÍA.

00:06:35.241 --> 00:06:40.961
The word itself has a pejorative,
dark, violent charge,

00:06:41.851 --> 00:06:46.001
of a black man you
have to be careful of.

00:06:48.970 --> 00:06:56.604
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:07:05.934 --> 00:07:09.068
I suspect that 'Ñáñigo'...

00:07:10.023 --> 00:07:12.912
may be Cuban, creole.

00:07:13.062 --> 00:07:17.157
It could be a word
of 'Carabalí' origin.

00:07:18.750 --> 00:07:22.068
For example 'Ñaña',
that is still used,

00:07:22.312 --> 00:07:25.334
and it is in order
to call the 'Íreme'.

00:07:31.738 --> 00:07:35.046
The 'Íreme' is a cuban
folkloric character

00:07:35.134 --> 00:07:40.601
of great importance for
traditional popular culture,

00:07:40.792 --> 00:07:45.338
which has transcended from
the 19th century utill today,

00:07:45.545 --> 00:07:49.951
and has kept all its
costumes, its dances,

00:07:50.692 --> 00:07:55.092
practically the same
as in the 19th century.

00:07:55.736 --> 00:07:59.714
This folkloric character
represents a dead person,

00:07:59.803 --> 00:08:03.384
a spirit, an ancestor
of the 'Abakuá' society,

00:08:03.714 --> 00:08:09.914
and is transplanted from a society
similar to the 'Abakuá' societies of Cuba...

00:08:10.062 --> 00:08:17.871
The so-called 'Ékpè', with similar rituals,
costumes, and among them 'Íreme' himself.

00:08:24.126 --> 00:08:29.455
This character has the main
objective of visiting the 'Abakuá' rites

00:08:29.715 --> 00:08:33.420
to see that all the ceremonies
are being done correctly,

00:08:33.794 --> 00:08:37.061
to clear the way, to
cleanse the 'Abakuás'.

00:08:37.171 --> 00:08:42.037
There is no rite ceremonial
within some groups

00:08:42.239 --> 00:08:45.690
where the actions of
the 'Íremes' are not present.

00:09:04.640 --> 00:09:08.124
The representation of an 'Íreme'
in a playground is incredible,

00:09:08.209 --> 00:09:11.892
the spirituality, the
energy, the respect.

00:09:12.356 --> 00:09:14.408
-Nando...

00:09:14.781 --> 00:09:16.192
-'Yenika'…

00:09:16.619 --> 00:09:20.114
-'Yenika krúkoro, Kaman Yere'...

00:09:22.119 --> 00:09:23.987
-I bring you the sackcloth.

00:09:24.021 --> 00:09:25.882
-What´s up?
-How are you, Brother?

00:09:25.914 --> 00:09:27.569
-I feel like an old man...

00:09:27.593 --> 00:09:28.960
-Look at this…

00:09:28.993 --> 00:09:30.780
-It´s good!
Is this to make the...?

00:09:30.805 --> 00:09:32.008
-Yes, the suit of 'Íreme'.

00:09:32.046 --> 00:09:33.446
-The suit of 'Íreme'...

00:09:41.456 --> 00:09:43.253
-...Ok bro... I understand you.

00:09:44.102 --> 00:09:45.552
-Anywhere.

00:09:45.636 --> 00:09:48.803
-The mess is to fix it
there. Let it stay there.

00:09:51.948 --> 00:09:54.807
The 'Abakuá Íreme'
must be versatile creature.

00:09:54.909 --> 00:09:59.021
An individual who dances
a funeral ceremony,

00:09:59.170 --> 00:10:01.503
a party, who offers a meal,

00:10:01.643 --> 00:10:05.381
who cleans a row of initiates,
who leads a procession.

00:10:06.587 --> 00:10:12.100
An 'Íreme' must know the language, the
history, because all songs have a meaning;

00:10:12.459 --> 00:10:16.346
and the 'Íreme' has to
understand and know it,

00:10:16.448 --> 00:10:20.422
in order to in good dance,
to dance a real 'Abakuá'.

00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:28.366
'Abakuá' is a cuban institution
with 'Carabalí' roots.

00:10:28.684 --> 00:10:33.866
Who were brought
to Cuba on slave ships

00:10:34.702 --> 00:10:38.663
in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

00:10:40.342 --> 00:10:43.346
In Cuba they formed
'Carabalí' groups,

00:10:44.632 --> 00:10:52.166
and from there they created lodges
for their creole children.

00:10:52.635 --> 00:10:57.346
The 'Abakuá' exists to
this day in many lodges,

00:10:57.722 --> 00:11:01.197
it is a very important
legacy in Cuba.

00:11:01.676 --> 00:11:03.523
'Abakuá'? Well...

00:11:03.689 --> 00:11:06.925
'Abakuá' has several meanings.

00:11:07.058 --> 00:11:09.647
Some say they are one thing
and others say another...

00:11:09.930 --> 00:11:13.324
Remember that this is an oral tradition,
I want to be very clear about this.

00:11:13.476 --> 00:11:18.818
Anyone can have a criterion
about this organization...

00:11:19.103 --> 00:11:21.775
and any oral tradition.

00:11:22.084 --> 00:11:26.300
'Abakuá' is often said but the members
don't know what it means.

00:11:26.402 --> 00:11:30.125
It is society, it is brotherhood...
But they don't know the real meaning.

00:11:30.344 --> 00:11:32.838
'Abak', means first.

00:11:33.092 --> 00:11:36.758
'Abakuá' means the first men.

00:11:40.180 --> 00:11:43.786
'Carabalí' culture is
from the city of Calabar,

00:11:44.127 --> 00:11:46.452
along the Cross River.

00:11:46.649 --> 00:11:50.586
In southeastern Nigeria
and southwestern Cameroon.

00:11:51.751 --> 00:11:56.367
♪ Ékpé chant ♪

00:11:57.109 --> 00:12:00.200
There is a town in
Calabar called 'Abakpá',

00:12:00.576 --> 00:12:04.883
which I think is the
root of the term 'Abakuá'.

00:12:05.265 --> 00:12:08.551
'Abakuá' is called
'Ekoria Nyene Abakuá'.

00:12:09.097 --> 00:12:14.990
In Cuba they say that this group was
founded as 'Abakuá' thanks to a woman.

00:12:17.158 --> 00:12:21.932
But in the language of the 'Abakpás',
they understand that phrase:

00:12:22.282 --> 00:12:26.331
'Ekoria' means forest,
'Nyene' is mother.

00:12:26.701 --> 00:12:29.714
"The forest is the
mother of the 'Abakpás'".

00:12:29.941 --> 00:12:33.526
There are many rites
both in Cuba and in Calabar,

00:12:34.673 --> 00:12:38.093
where they search for the
mystical voice of the leopard

00:12:38.178 --> 00:12:41.743
in the forest to
bring it to the temple.

00:12:41.942 --> 00:12:46.246
Which is the confirmation
of the independence of that town.

00:12:52.153 --> 00:12:58.217
♪ Ékpé chant ♪

00:12:59.689 --> 00:13:05.290
In the Calabar area there are
hundreds and hundreds of communities,

00:13:05.609 --> 00:13:09.730
each one having its
language, its culture,

00:13:09.816 --> 00:13:14.650
but they share 'Ékpè'.
Each community has its variation.

00:13:15.058 --> 00:13:20.967
In other words, 'Bongó Itá',
all the foundations are legitimate,

00:13:21.167 --> 00:13:22.808
the voice is one.

00:13:23.326 --> 00:13:28.689
(Ékpè prayer)

00:13:39.253 --> 00:13:47.109
(Ékpè prayer)

00:13:48.887 --> 00:13:51.991
'Ékpè' means mystical leopard.

00:13:52.224 --> 00:13:54.655
In Cuba, they call it 'Ekue'.

00:13:55.540 --> 00:14:02.534
(Ékpè prayer)

00:14:07.004 --> 00:14:10.054
In Africa 'Ékpè'
is a government,

00:14:10.304 --> 00:14:14.252
it is a rule and they
maintain their own justice.

00:14:15.238 --> 00:14:19.016
In addition, this is seen,
or used to be see in Cuba,

00:14:19.216 --> 00:14:25.041
that 'Abakuá' was a type of government
for a given community,

00:14:25.242 --> 00:14:29.563
which is the legacy of the
'Ékpè' government in Africa.

00:14:29.773 --> 00:14:32.591
(Abakuá prayer)

00:14:33.289 --> 00:14:36.552
It is a religion and at the
same time a brotherhood.

00:14:36.914 --> 00:14:39.664
However, it is religion because
it has gods and spirits.

00:14:39.689 --> 00:14:42.536
'Tacho', 'Natacho', 'Naberetacho'
are three gods of Calabar.

00:14:42.636 --> 00:14:45.452
And 'Abasí is the supreme God.

00:14:45.635 --> 00:14:49.152
In addition, there are the
spirits of 'Tanze' and 'Sikán',

00:14:49.368 --> 00:14:53.502
the ones who started the legend.

00:14:53.716 --> 00:14:57.073
The fish 'Obón Tanze' was
a king reincarnated into a fish,

00:14:57.451 --> 00:15:00.851
who gave the sound,
and 'Sikán' discovered it.

00:15:01.633 --> 00:15:05.285
(Abakuá prayer)

00:15:05.451 --> 00:15:09.535
When 'Ekueñon' prays
what he invokes is the spirits.

00:15:09.995 --> 00:15:14.238
'Tanze', 'Ekue', 'Sikán' are
the spirits summoned in this religion.

00:15:17.156 --> 00:15:20.493
What do we know?
The founding myth of 'Abakuá'.

00:15:20.603 --> 00:15:24.094
The reincarnation of 'Obón Tanze',
a powerful king who would appear

00:15:24.345 --> 00:15:26.770
transformed into a fish.

00:15:26.855 --> 00:15:30.595
That is the legend that has come
to Cuba and that has developed.

00:15:31.354 --> 00:15:38.521
(Abakuá prayer)

00:15:47.028 --> 00:15:52.184
The totemic animals depend of the place,
because there are several.

00:15:52.394 --> 00:15:58.304
Most of them say that is the leopard:
"An animal with eyes of fire,

00:15:58.946 --> 00:16:02.051
the tail is always in motion,

00:16:02.202 --> 00:16:07.985
but the dangerous
are leopard's claws".

00:16:08.345 --> 00:16:10.669
Those claws make mortal wounds!

00:16:11.871 --> 00:16:18.511
♪ Ékpé chant ♪

00:16:18.941 --> 00:16:24.678
The fish is totemic because the
voice of 'Abasí comes through 'Tanze'.

00:16:26.182 --> 00:16:33.934
(Abakuá prayer)

00:16:43.186 --> 00:16:47.051
'Abakuá' comes from
a woman named 'Sikán'.

00:16:47.434 --> 00:16:51.649
But she desecrated the religion
and that's why they sacrificed her.

00:16:53.631 --> 00:17:01.262
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:17:12.555 --> 00:17:17.534
All 'Abakuá' was built with 'Sikán',
with her head, her dress, her teeth,

00:17:17.912 --> 00:17:21.589
even her guts, all
'Abakuá' objects were made.

00:17:22.190 --> 00:17:29.740
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:17:30.121 --> 00:17:36.682
(Abakuá prayer)

00:17:38.334 --> 00:17:40.534
"Yayo e yayo mae".

00:17:40.792 --> 00:17:43.490
Those were the words 'Sikán'
said when they killed her.

00:17:43.579 --> 00:17:46.828
"The 'Abakuá' will always be mine",
that is what she meant.

00:17:47.927 --> 00:17:50.634
In Cuba, women are
not sworn in 'Abakuá'.

00:17:50.767 --> 00:17:54.573
Although there were women in
the 19th and early 20th centuries

00:17:54.879 --> 00:17:57.849
who participated in
'Abakuá' like 'Sikanekue'.

00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:01.650
There was one called Agripina,
who was from 'Abarakó Taibá' lodge,

00:18:01.957 --> 00:18:05.742
who danced in the procession
with a jar on her head.

00:18:06.187 --> 00:18:08.427
I can't tell you if she
was initiated or not,

00:18:08.512 --> 00:18:11.214
but they did let
her into the temple.

00:18:14.478 --> 00:18:17.539
I am initiated into
the 'Yoruba' religion,

00:18:17.899 --> 00:18:21.029
and I am crowned with 'Obbatalá' (Deity).

00:18:24.273 --> 00:18:29.618
Being the first cuban sworn
into 'Ékpè' is an honor for me.

00:18:30.206 --> 00:18:34.943
It is an initiation,
for me, of respect.

00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:41.110
It is a privilege to
belong to this society.

00:18:48.335 --> 00:18:55.835
♪ Ékpé chant ♪

00:18:58.672 --> 00:19:02.160
I swore in Nigeria,
and not in Cuba,

00:19:02.577 --> 00:19:06.049
because in Cuba women
cannot be initiated.

00:19:06.514 --> 00:19:11.131
The first daughter
of a chief, or the wife,

00:19:11.573 --> 00:19:16.864
has the privilege of
belonging to this society.

00:19:17.385 --> 00:19:21.420
Therefore, thanks to my
husband who is 'Obón Ékpè',

00:19:22.176 --> 00:19:27.214
a dignitary of this religion...
I had this possibility.

00:19:29.347 --> 00:19:33.279
The woman cannot enter
the house-temple or 'Fambá'.

00:19:33.637 --> 00:19:39.114
Her initiation, or her oath,
is outside at the patio.

00:19:41.787 --> 00:19:46.169
The expected requirements
are to be a good daughter,

00:19:46.538 --> 00:19:50.775
a good woman, mother, sister

00:19:51.193 --> 00:19:56.197
with responsible and
respectful conduct to follow.

00:20:00.879 --> 00:20:03.656
In 1820, captain Burrel of the Liverpool
ship 'Haywood' received an 'Ékpè' tittle,

00:20:03.718 --> 00:20:06.663
which enabled him to collect the
debts owed to him by the natives.

00:20:06.869 --> 00:20:10.117
It is not uncommon
in Calabar to initiate foreigners.

00:20:11.026 --> 00:20:15.602
Many have been
initiated since the 1700s.

00:20:17.393 --> 00:20:23.155
Important traders from England,
in order to do business in Calabar,

00:20:23.504 --> 00:20:26.548
were obliged to take the oath.

00:20:27.239 --> 00:20:33.785
In 2004, Ivor Miller was
initiated as 'Ábànékpè'

00:20:34.020 --> 00:20:42.775
in 'Èfé Ékpè Éyò Émà' lodge
at 'Ékórétònkó' community.

00:20:44.058 --> 00:20:48.063
In my case, they initiated me
but didn't teach me much.

00:20:48.871 --> 00:20:54.223
It is an apprenticeship,
a slow learning process.

00:20:54.376 --> 00:20:59.120
If you are a good son,
a good father, discreet,

00:20:59.235 --> 00:21:03.690
you may continue learning, if not,
you are separated.

00:21:04.114 --> 00:21:10.573
Because knowledge in Africa,
just like Cuba, is kept in silence.

00:21:10.890 --> 00:21:15.390
In 2004, Ivor L.Miller,
obtained the tittle of 'Isún-Mbàkàrà'.

00:21:15.687 --> 00:21:24.005
He became dignitary
of his lodge.

00:21:24.986 --> 00:21:32.154
(Ékpè prayer)

00:21:48.078 --> 00:21:52.163
The introduction into
America of enslaved Africans

00:21:52.271 --> 00:21:56.518
extended from the
16th to the 19th century.

00:21:57.215 --> 00:22:04.648
Approximately 12 million human
beings suffered the horrors of slavery.

00:22:05.354 --> 00:22:07.514
The movement of enslaved men

00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:11.293
through the Atlantic trade
during the construction of America...

00:22:12.365 --> 00:22:15.640
it is quite complicated because
there was already slavery in Africa.

00:22:15.725 --> 00:22:20.729
Slavery is not only a work of whites
but also of the own Africans.

00:22:21.487 --> 00:22:25.276
There are many
stories that show how

00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:30.055
there were entire families
dedicated to the slave trade,

00:22:30.304 --> 00:22:33.413
that is, for sale to Europeans.

00:22:33.774 --> 00:22:37.620
Many slaves were
captured in inter-tribal wars,

00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:41.241
some in the African hinterlands,

00:22:41.442 --> 00:22:46.524
and journeyed for months
on foot to reach the docks.

00:22:46.842 --> 00:22:51.846
The Europeans did not
chase and hunt persons.

00:22:52.228 --> 00:22:57.829
Those who dominated the area politically
were the members of the 'Ékpè' societies.

00:22:58.360 --> 00:23:03.604
The members of this society, which
is the base of cuban 'Abakuá' at that time,

00:23:04.278 --> 00:23:07.506
had to be consulted,
they were the politicians.

00:23:07.625 --> 00:23:10.887
They were the ones who were in charge,
of course, they had the power,

00:23:10.923 --> 00:23:13.091
to capture the people to be sold.

00:23:13.569 --> 00:23:22.725
Around 30 ethnic groups from Calabar
came to Cuba through the slave trade.

00:23:23.168 --> 00:23:27.675
What were the main points of
union between these humans beings?

00:23:27.926 --> 00:23:31.887
Slaves and free men
from those ethnic groups.

00:23:31.972 --> 00:23:33.802
These were the 'Cabildos',

00:23:33.887 --> 00:23:35.714
especially in the government

00:23:35.768 --> 00:23:38.834
of Bishop Morell de Santa
Cruz, in the 18th century;

00:23:38.899 --> 00:23:47.170
they met outside the walls
of Havana, or other key cities.

00:23:47.507 --> 00:23:49.434
And what were those meetings?

00:23:49.621 --> 00:23:54.625
Those meetings were
to relive their songs,

00:23:54.793 --> 00:23:59.798
their dances, speech
and their tribal organization.

00:24:01.685 --> 00:24:04.310
In the town councils,
the so-called 'Nation Cabildos'.

00:24:05.394 --> 00:24:10.039
Very strict groups in wich
the Spanish colonial government

00:24:10.274 --> 00:24:14.639
prevented the participation of blacks
born in Cuba in 'Nation Cabildos'.

00:24:15.103 --> 00:24:19.648
Creole blacks were not
allowed to create councils.

00:24:19.962 --> 00:24:23.503
It was precisely in these councils
where culture was preserved,

00:24:25.226 --> 00:24:27.737
practiced,

00:24:28.080 --> 00:24:33.084
and it could spread
generationally to the present day.

00:24:33.982 --> 00:24:41.435
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:24:42.484 --> 00:24:48.956
Furthermore, the religions
transferred from Africa to Cuba

00:24:49.274 --> 00:24:56.515
have been modified,
absorbing the religiosity of this country,

00:24:57.652 --> 00:25:02.131
they embraced
religious syncretism.

00:25:05.542 --> 00:25:08.455
Andrés Petit was a very
interesting character.

00:25:08.878 --> 00:25:12.624
A mulatto with excellent
relations with the curia,

00:25:13.113 --> 00:25:16.346
with the Cuban Catholic world,

00:25:16.431 --> 00:25:19.506
to the extent that he was a
tertiary of the Dominican order.

00:25:19.591 --> 00:25:22.743
It has been said that he was a Franciscan
but he was undoubtedly a Dominican.

00:25:22.891 --> 00:25:25.230
Who had his convent
in Guanabacoa.

00:25:25.315 --> 00:25:31.865
An austere order that embraced
poverty in addition to celibacy.

00:25:32.590 --> 00:25:38.576
Petit was celibate, he was not
known to have a wife or children.

00:25:40.686 --> 00:25:42.747
The truth is that he
made an impact.

00:25:42.898 --> 00:25:45.778
He inserted Christ into our religion,
which was not there before.

00:25:45.993 --> 00:25:48.694
Because the bishop
of Havana told him:

00:25:48.841 --> 00:25:51.561
"If you put Christ there, you
will have no problem with us".

00:25:51.693 --> 00:25:56.786
"Because if you adore Christ, you
are Catholic, and you believe in God".

00:25:57.714 --> 00:25:59.954
And that's what he did it.

00:26:04.289 --> 00:26:07.573
He earned the title of
'Isué' of 'Bakokó Efó' lodge.

00:26:07.713 --> 00:26:12.708
He also became
important and respected

00:26:12.876 --> 00:26:16.215
by priests and by
the people in general,

00:26:16.300 --> 00:26:19.857
because they saw
him as a holy man.

00:26:33.587 --> 00:26:37.578
From colonial times to the present day,

00:26:37.699 --> 00:26:42.404
the  Abakuá lodges have veiled their Catholic saints.

00:27:13.649 --> 00:27:17.856
I consider that the 'Abakuá'
society has always been marginal.

00:27:18.165 --> 00:27:22.956
Its marginality has made it different
from what happened in Africa.

00:27:23.245 --> 00:27:29.021
Its linguistic components
and social functions are different.

00:27:29.111 --> 00:27:32.285
They were dignitaries in
their nations, but not in Cuba.

00:27:32.516 --> 00:27:36.297
They arrived as enslaved
persons, surviving i a reality

00:27:36.408 --> 00:27:40.018
far removed from economic,
political and social power.

00:27:40.167 --> 00:27:43.453
Interestingly, at the foundation
of the 'Abakuá' society in Cuba,

00:27:43.538 --> 00:27:47.767
it is this people who had their organization
in their 'Cabildo', these Africans,

00:27:47.792 --> 00:27:53.757
did not want to mix their children
with the 'Cabildo' activities.

00:27:54.029 --> 00:27:55.815
Instead, they gave
them new foundations,

00:27:55.922 --> 00:27:58.442
so that they organized
themselves in other ways.

00:28:02.224 --> 00:28:08.781
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:28:10.786 --> 00:28:13.415
It was only on January 6th
that the slaves took oportunity

00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:17.824
to hold their rites and
create new lodges too.

00:28:18.843 --> 00:28:23.536
They held ceremonies
secretly, hidden…

00:28:24.760 --> 00:28:30.431
Since 'Abakuá' was born
it has been clandestine,

00:28:30.694 --> 00:28:32.316
prohibited,

00:28:33.113 --> 00:28:35.464
even persecuted.

00:28:35.624 --> 00:28:39.373
This condition of secrecy
is perfectly explicable.

00:28:39.741 --> 00:28:45.057
The 'Abakuá' maintained their status
discreetly, they knew each other.

00:28:45.580 --> 00:28:50.374
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:28:50.779 --> 00:28:57.503
There is an 'Abakuá' story, unwritten
but present in oral tradition,

00:28:57.854 --> 00:29:01.897
which is how the history of
Africans has been preserved in Cuba.

00:29:02.009 --> 00:29:04.503
According to this tradition,

00:29:04.970 --> 00:29:10.607
'Efik Ebuton' was the first
'Abakuá' lodge founded in Cuba.

00:29:15.074 --> 00:29:18.605
It founded in Regla town,
first members of 'Efik Ebuton'

00:29:18.813 --> 00:29:24.373
were slaves from Belen zone,
and therefore called 'Belenistas'.

00:29:27.713 --> 00:29:32.735
I assure up that 12
years earlier, in 1824

00:29:32.918 --> 00:29:36.218
there were already at least
four 'Abakuá' lodges in Havana.

00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:43.618
There are records of
'Abakuá' in the 19th century,

00:29:44.627 --> 00:29:47.818
but it must have existed
since the 18th century.

00:29:48.029 --> 00:29:51.281
Because in Havana city was
fortuned that kings came as slaves,

00:29:51.338 --> 00:29:56.551
who had their lodges in Calabar,
and they founded the 'Abakuá' in Cuba.

00:29:56.664 --> 00:29:59.014
Later on 'Abakuá' was taken
to Matanzas province.

00:29:59.086 --> 00:30:02.432
Because Matanzas and
Cárdenas are a product of Havana.

00:30:02.889 --> 00:30:05.318
Members of 'Biabanga Muñón'
lodge arrived Matanzas province

00:30:05.343 --> 00:30:08.001
and they founded 'Uriabón Efí',
the oldest lodge we have.

00:30:08.130 --> 00:30:12.523
Since then, we have continued
this religion brought by black Africans,

00:30:12.687 --> 00:30:17.132
who came as slaves, but carried
their knowledge in their minds.

00:30:18.286 --> 00:30:25.218
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:30:26.954 --> 00:30:31.204
The farthest they arrived was Cienfuegos
province, but it disappeared there.

00:30:31.638 --> 00:30:35.429
The 'Carabalí' ethnics were localized
in Santiago de Cuba province too;

00:30:35.674 --> 00:30:40.689
but where all these ethnic
groups managed to come together,

00:30:40.868 --> 00:30:44.773
fundamentally, was in
Havana, Matanzas and Cárdenas.

00:30:44.927 --> 00:30:50.954
These were seaports from which
tobacco and sugar were exported.

00:30:52.398 --> 00:30:57.233
Being strong men, they
worked as stevedores.

00:30:58.388 --> 00:31:01.009
And that's  where they
bought their freedom,

00:31:01.126 --> 00:31:04.189
remember that many
enslaved bought their freedom.

00:31:06.668 --> 00:31:10.251
They did this in a
commendable way:

00:31:10.591 --> 00:31:16.511
The first men to be released
worked to obtain the funds

00:31:16.783 --> 00:31:20.274
to free other members
of their ethnic groups.

00:31:21.620 --> 00:31:25.989
the 'Abakuás' worked in all the
commercial warehouses of Havana city,

00:31:26.107 --> 00:31:30.142
Matanzas city, Regla,
Guanabacoa and San Miguel.

00:31:30.590 --> 00:31:34.610
This tradition is maintained
by familiarity...

00:31:34.709 --> 00:31:36.303
by sociability and brotherhood.

00:31:36.388 --> 00:31:38.773
You met an unemployed
'Okobio' and you told him:

00:31:38.881 --> 00:31:42.170
"Come on, I'm going to give you a job".
That's how it was.

00:31:42.255 --> 00:31:45.480
'OKOBIO'
Brother of Religion

00:32:05.247 --> 00:32:09.587
I like being 'Abakuá' because
there is a fellowship in this religion;

00:32:10.170 --> 00:32:14.295
I breathe that unity, respect.

00:32:14.464 --> 00:32:19.141
Knowing that you have
brothers who can be counted on,

00:32:19.354 --> 00:32:21.757
for good and bad moments.

00:32:26.361 --> 00:32:30.398
It is a satisfaction,
even if they are not blood brothers.

00:32:30.966 --> 00:32:35.378
We are ritual brothers
and for me that counts a lot.

00:32:43.170 --> 00:32:47.740
'Abakuá' is a phenomenon with
a dual nature: mutualistic-religious.

00:32:47.940 --> 00:32:49.629
Why?

00:32:49.834 --> 00:32:57.484
Because the religious is not an end
in itself, but the means to fraternity,

00:32:57.873 --> 00:33:00.615
which is ultimately
what is pursued.

00:33:01.869 --> 00:33:05.531
To be an 'Abakuá' you must be
a good father, a good son...

00:33:05.616 --> 00:33:10.651
The only thing 'Abakuá' demands of you
is that you pay the lodge dues.

00:33:12.658 --> 00:33:15.148
We have a mutual aid pension.

00:33:16.814 --> 00:33:20.539
A sick member receive money for
his medicines, for anything needed.

00:33:20.675 --> 00:33:25.842
When a member dies, we must attend to him,
to send him flowers and watch over him.

00:33:29.774 --> 00:33:34.122
To belong to this religion, you
have to feel it and love it.

00:33:35.370 --> 00:33:39.626
There are persons who come
to hide behind this religion.

00:33:41.163 --> 00:33:48.670
(Abakuá prayer)

00:34:13.293 --> 00:34:18.886
Andrés Petit made it
possible for 'Abakuá' to survive;

00:34:20.605 --> 00:34:24.029
his great vision was
to initiate the whites.

00:34:24.247 --> 00:34:26.807
He knew that if the whites men
did not enter the 'Abakuá',

00:34:26.892 --> 00:34:29.335
the Spaniards
would shut it down.

00:34:30.625 --> 00:34:37.146
But Petit if we look
at him from another way.

00:34:38.190 --> 00:34:43.615
He also introduced a big conflict
into the 'Abakuá' universe.

00:34:44.472 --> 00:34:49.305
He initiated the first white men in
his own Lodge. That is undeniable.

00:34:49.611 --> 00:34:54.011
The first transmissions to create the
'Akanarán Efó Okobio Mukarará' lodge

00:34:54.381 --> 00:34:59.453
were done in December 24th, 1857,

00:34:59.513 --> 00:35:02.756
but the first ceremony
was not made until 1863.

00:35:02.894 --> 00:35:08.339
In other words, he spent six years
searching for the men he needed.

00:35:08.457 --> 00:35:12.188
Men who had farms,
slaves, noble titles.

00:35:12.426 --> 00:35:15.565
The first white lodges
were formed with educated men.

00:35:15.701 --> 00:35:17.900
White men paid 30 ounces
of gold to get the secret.

00:35:17.966 --> 00:35:21.950
'Bakokó Efó' lodge was suspended from their
duties and punished for having sold the secret.

00:35:22.035 --> 00:35:23.786
Petit got,

00:35:23.942 --> 00:35:29.998
even before Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
united blacks and whites in the 1868 war.

00:35:30.103 --> 00:35:37.997
Petit united blacks, whites, Filipinos,
mulattos within the 'Abakuá' society.

00:35:38.132 --> 00:35:40.098
That cost blood!

00:35:40.286 --> 00:35:43.393
There were bloody confrontations
between whites and blacks.

00:35:43.656 --> 00:35:45.562
Now we say: "There are
black and white together",

00:35:45.587 --> 00:35:47.650
but this process did
not start with embraces.

00:35:47.675 --> 00:35:49.522
It started with stabbing.

00:35:49.701 --> 00:35:53.155
Because the blacks, of course,
did not want the whites

00:35:53.323 --> 00:35:57.686
to have a share in what they had created
for their own defense.

00:35:57.823 --> 00:36:01.798
Remember that whites
were slave owners,

00:36:02.630 --> 00:36:05.365
whites were the ruling class.

00:36:05.603 --> 00:36:09.984
Here race and class are very
mixed since Cuba became Cuba.

00:36:13.889 --> 00:36:19.040
I have researched the police
records of the colonial time,

00:36:19.841 --> 00:36:24.952
and before the introduction of whites

00:36:25.287 --> 00:36:26.985
into the 'Abakuá' brotherhood

00:36:27.186 --> 00:36:31.744
there were no notable
conflicts among the lodges,

00:36:31.895 --> 00:36:37.126
because they initially were
formed by black men.

00:36:38.382 --> 00:36:42.963
Currently there are lodges
that still do not sworn whites...

00:36:43.125 --> 00:36:45.767
'Ekereguá Momí' is one,
'Erón Entati' is another.

00:36:45.852 --> 00:36:48.602
The lodges of whites started
to sworn black men.

00:36:48.627 --> 00:36:50.759
The only white lodge that
did not initiate black men

00:36:50.785 --> 00:36:52.580
was 'Obane Sese Kondo',
from Matanzas.

00:36:52.658 --> 00:36:55.671
Here in Matanzas the
only existing one lodge

00:36:55.718 --> 00:36:58.212
that never had whites
is 'Bakokó Efó' lodge,

00:36:58.278 --> 00:37:01.775
which was an all-black society,
children of the Virgin of Charity.

00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:04.462
In the other lodges they were mixed,
except in 'Obane Sese Kondo'...

00:37:04.572 --> 00:37:06.212
All its members
still are whites.

00:37:06.259 --> 00:37:08.548
What was Petit's mistake?

00:37:08.680 --> 00:37:12.624
To authorize, and promote

00:37:12.842 --> 00:37:16.860
the creation of an
exclusively white lodge.

00:37:17.078 --> 00:37:19.971
By stimulating this,
he generated

00:37:20.107 --> 00:37:25.050
a dynamic of conflicts
that eventually came out.

00:37:25.216 --> 00:37:27.986
Manuel Platanal killed another Ñáñigo.

00:37:28.071 --> 00:37:32.024
Abel Martínez Brito
was killed by others Ñáñigos.

00:37:32.180 --> 00:37:36.352
The bloody fights between the 'Umorice' and
'Efí Embomoró' lodges... weapons of all kinds.

00:37:36.446 --> 00:37:38.739
In 1879, 14 individuals were
convicted for having killed a guard...

00:37:38.764 --> 00:37:40.789
2 revolver shots and 1 stab.

00:37:40.933 --> 00:37:42.990
There were even
meetings to prevent

00:37:43.075 --> 00:37:45.470
the whites from entering
the ceremonies of blacks,

00:37:45.625 --> 00:37:48.580
and the blacks did not go
to the ceremonies of whites.

00:37:48.833 --> 00:37:51.538
The neighborhoods were
called 'Embarcaderos'.

00:37:51.690 --> 00:37:54.523
Anyone who trespassed
the borders was killed.

00:37:54.653 --> 00:37:58.449
"Friendship aside and
the Ñáñigo separated".

00:38:00.394 --> 00:38:09.446
'Abakuá' activities have traditionally
been located within set boundaries.

00:38:17.835 --> 00:38:22.880
How is it possible that, even today,
in the space where I live but

00:38:23.064 --> 00:38:28.627
with nothing but a wall between
them and us, there could be a symbolic,

00:38:28.908 --> 00:38:33.158
mystical, musical universe,
unknown to non-initiates?

00:38:33.309 --> 00:38:37.175
Therefore, I discovered
the real African roots,

00:38:37.277 --> 00:38:43.523
when I saw the men officiating without shoes
and shirts, with their pants rolled up.

00:38:43.608 --> 00:38:49.077
The ceremonies have a peculiar scent
of smoke mixed with incense,

00:38:49.162 --> 00:38:54.967
blended with rum and sweat.
This is another dimension of beauty.

00:39:05.863 --> 00:39:08.491
The 'Abakuá' rituals are still held
outside of the cities since

00:39:08.651 --> 00:39:12.312
the Law of 'Good Government and
Neighbor' over 100 years ago,

00:39:12.397 --> 00:39:19.217
when religious and mutualist ceremonies
were prohibited within the walls of Havana,

00:39:19.302 --> 00:39:22.120
they were sent to the
periphery, where they remain.

00:39:22.850 --> 00:39:27.620
Every man from that colonial
times, black or white,

00:39:28.237 --> 00:39:31.559
who lived on the margins,
in these outlying neighborhoods,

00:39:32.499 --> 00:39:38.645
the norm of conduct was
toughness, robbery, assault.

00:39:39.582 --> 00:39:45.433
Many times that it is attributed
as characteristics of being tough,

00:39:45.706 --> 00:39:50.129
they are not characteristics
of the 'Abakuá',

00:39:50.356 --> 00:39:56.799
but are the generalized characteristics,
built by 'Ambiente' (Social phenomenon),

00:39:56.864 --> 00:40:02.311
where for individual to maintain
a prestige and stay in its place,

00:40:03.126 --> 00:40:08.381
it had to take an attitude that
made it be different from the others.

00:40:09.470 --> 00:40:15.346
STREET CREWS:  'Los Negros Curros', 'The Amalians',
'The Tacos from the sidewalk of Louvre',

00:40:15.431 --> 00:40:20.148
STREET CREWS: 'The Mayorquines from Italy',
'The powder magazines'…

00:40:20.975 --> 00:40:25.320
Imagine the 'Abakuá'
interacting

00:40:25.489 --> 00:40:31.458
among delinquents in
Havana and Matanzas cities,

00:40:32.740 --> 00:40:35.180
sometimes there are
many problems in 'Ambiente'

00:40:35.218 --> 00:40:37.601
that can only be
resolved with blood share.

00:40:37.626 --> 00:40:41.149
This reality has
marked the 'Abakuá'.

00:40:41.853 --> 00:40:44.703
♪ It is the entire reality
was within a small space. ♪

00:40:45.095 --> 00:40:49.494
♪ There is poverty,
sadness, guns and lowlifes. ♪

00:40:50.014 --> 00:40:53.458
♪ People who awake in the
morning and have nothing, ♪

00:40:53.567 --> 00:40:56.246
♪ live in a hurry and speak
while lowering their gaze. ♪

00:40:56.498 --> 00:40:59.667
♪ Shantytown, hamlets, ghettos. ♪

00:40:59.899 --> 00:41:03.247
♪ All this time carrying the
weight of the wheel of life. ♪

00:41:03.332 --> 00:41:06.747
♪ Unforgettable moments,
smiles, stray bullets, ♪

00:41:06.832 --> 00:41:08.897
♪ and earning respect with your fists. ♪

00:41:08.995 --> 00:41:13.613
♪ This is my temple.
I am like this because I was born here. ♪

00:41:13.698 --> 00:41:17.013
♪ With all this I grew up,
seeing what I saw. ♪

00:41:17.098 --> 00:41:19.943
♪ And I'm still here because
it's my neighborhood. ♪

00:41:20.028 --> 00:41:24.498
♪ My memories, my stories..
This I tell you. ♪

00:41:35.614 --> 00:41:38.531
Since he was a child, Yonathan
always liked that religion

00:41:38.616 --> 00:41:43.041
because his father, grandfather,
and uncles are 'Abakuás'.

00:41:43.491 --> 00:41:48.496
This religion was always
around his house and he liked it.

00:41:48.628 --> 00:41:51.460
If he wants to be
religious in 'Abakuá',

00:41:51.545 --> 00:41:54.018
let him do it
because he likes it.

00:41:54.544 --> 00:41:56.765
I am not against that...

00:41:56.870 --> 00:41:59.351
We learned to do
all things 'Abakuá'

00:41:59.436 --> 00:42:03.628
because we were born and
raised next to the temples,

00:42:03.775 --> 00:42:06.412
and every time there was a ceremony
we were always there.

00:42:06.508 --> 00:42:09.057
We are always playing
drums, or dancing.

00:42:09.082 --> 00:42:14.227
We watch the ceremonies and play roles
in our own games as if we were grown-up.

00:42:14.632 --> 00:42:20.695
We know how to play drums, to dance, to
draw symbols, and to speak the language.

00:42:21.547 --> 00:42:25.864
Today, most initiates
believe 'Abakuá' to be violent.

00:42:26.301 --> 00:42:29.197
It is a religion.

00:42:29.531 --> 00:42:34.772
If I were initiated,
I would not approach it as a tough person.

00:42:34.934 --> 00:42:38.140
We do not think that to be
a man you must be 'Abakuá',

00:42:38.244 --> 00:42:40.774
however, to be 'Abakuá'
you must be a man.

00:42:40.859 --> 00:42:43.568
In my family exist no one
member of this religion.

00:42:43.675 --> 00:42:45.484
Well, Adonis wants to be 'Abakuá'

00:42:45.569 --> 00:42:49.599
but as long as I exist he will never
be 'Abakuá' because I will not allow it.

00:42:49.793 --> 00:42:52.341
Because I do not want
to bury my children...

00:42:52.444 --> 00:42:54.699
I want my children to
be the ones to bury me.

00:42:55.704 --> 00:43:01.457
♪ Abakuá music ♪

00:43:02.172 --> 00:43:05.478
'Abakuá' will be kept
alive by the children.

00:43:05.784 --> 00:43:12.493
Here, a boy meets his friends in a closed
circle, the themes are totally 'Abakuá'.

00:43:13.961 --> 00:43:17.570
They do not master
Spanish (Subject) at school.

00:43:17.678 --> 00:43:21.987
However they speak 'Carabalí',
which is our language. Very difficult,

00:43:22.072 --> 00:43:25.734
and they master it perfectly.
A child who loves 'Abakuá'

00:43:25.819 --> 00:43:28.573
will keep it alive forever.

00:43:30.227 --> 00:43:34.018
These boys are an inspiration.
I have always liked to instruct them,

00:43:34.103 --> 00:43:37.904
not only in the religion, but to guide
them in how to be a good 'Abakuá'.

00:43:37.989 --> 00:43:42.056
To respect others, do not
steal, love one's family, study,

00:43:42.331 --> 00:43:46.007
because men are what
make this religion great.

00:43:47.150 --> 00:43:50.316
From birth children
are ears the drums.

00:43:50.541 --> 00:43:54.165
The child, from inside the
womb is listening the drums.

00:43:54.250 --> 00:43:57.068
When he is born he sees
them, they catch his attention.

00:43:57.153 --> 00:44:01.122
They live in such marginality

00:44:01.292 --> 00:44:05.247
that it is not easy to rescue
these youth with values.

00:44:05.381 --> 00:44:07.066
It is very difficult.

00:44:07.228 --> 00:44:09.605
Many of them do not go
to school, it is incredible,

00:44:09.690 --> 00:44:12.089
with the approval of the parents.

00:44:12.213 --> 00:44:14.266
And they like 'Abakuá'.
What would you do?

00:44:14.267 --> 00:44:18.280
♪ Rap music ♪

00:44:35.830 --> 00:44:38.695
♪ …there in your neighborhood,
while in mine the trouble increases. ♪

00:44:38.731 --> 00:44:41.064
♪ Fights, challenges, has the most. ♪

00:44:41.129 --> 00:44:44.081
♪ Merchants, police officer,
delinquents since they were children ♪

00:44:44.166 --> 00:44:46.683
♪ who without reaching
the river shed blood in cold blood. ♪

00:44:46.784 --> 00:44:49.022
♪ There is courage and
there is cowardice, logical, ♪

00:44:49.107 --> 00:44:51.806
♪ 50 percent is toughness,
the rest is falsehood. ♪

00:44:51.891 --> 00:44:54.991
♪ It's usual to take drugs,
to stab, to kill, to steal, ♪

00:44:55.144 --> 00:44:58.817
♪ but despite so much underdevelopment
we do not all act the same. ♪

00:45:00.023 --> 00:45:01.657
Go figure!

00:45:01.850 --> 00:45:04.654
'Ambiente' is a phenomenon
very difficult to explain.

00:45:04.739 --> 00:45:09.308
It is a thing that you live;
the environment where one develops,

00:45:09.542 --> 00:45:12.929
from the moment you wake up
till the moment you go to sleep.

00:45:12.981 --> 00:45:15.061
♪ …the price is high and the
disrespects are charged... ♪

00:45:15.087 --> 00:45:17.626
♪ This is the neighborhood; it contains
a slogan that is no diminishing: ♪

00:45:17.659 --> 00:45:21.269
♪ "If there are loose tigers,
the rabbits do not enter the jungle". ♪

00:45:32.694 --> 00:45:37.123
Marginality is transmitted
from generation to generation.

00:45:37.669 --> 00:45:41.620
Inherited from the
poor neighborhoods.

00:45:41.727 --> 00:45:47.731
From the tenement, from the barracks,
from slave heritage, from black heritage.

00:45:48.986 --> 00:45:58.436
This helps us to understand where 'Abakuá'
socialized in the early 19th century,

00:45:58.724 --> 00:46:02.471
in ignored and excluded areas.

00:46:07.979 --> 00:46:14.782
If you also add the entire
imaginary constructed

00:46:15.122 --> 00:46:18.020
around the 'Abakuá',

00:46:18.233 --> 00:46:21.137
and then you find that 'Abakuá'

00:46:21.340 --> 00:46:25.403
is marginal neighborhood,
it is violence and it is 'Ambiente'.

00:46:29.065 --> 00:46:37.261
From there, it created a point of view,
very convenient the power that time,

00:46:37.700 --> 00:46:40.855
That black people and everything
that had to do with them,

00:46:40.940 --> 00:46:43.957
represented backwardness,
underdevelopment,

00:46:43.989 --> 00:46:50.005
criminality... It was something
that had to be eliminated,

00:46:50.139 --> 00:46:52.985
or at least kept at a distance.

00:46:58.702 --> 00:47:01.341
Although we are
in the 21st century,

00:47:01.426 --> 00:47:05.923
our society has a very strong inheritance
of all these postulates.

00:47:07.607 --> 00:47:11.597
In addition, within these,
there is the issue of relating

00:47:11.724 --> 00:47:16.059
the blacks and the 'Abakuá'
with crime.

00:47:16.187 --> 00:47:21.422
These situations are sometimes
consciously or unconsciously

00:47:21.531 --> 00:47:25.290
reproduced in
our own daily lives.

00:47:25.769 --> 00:47:29.032
THE DEVIL IN THE STREET.

00:47:29.596 --> 00:47:33.991
Since the 19th century,
the 'Abakuá' was persecuted,

00:47:34.376 --> 00:47:39.664
they intended to extirpate it, and
'Abakuá' assumed survival strategies

00:47:39.953 --> 00:47:44.080
that allowed it to be
reborn like the Phoenix bird.

00:47:44.335 --> 00:47:49.236
The police crashed in when they knew
there was a clandestine 'Ñáñigos' rite.

00:47:49.321 --> 00:47:52.910
That happened in the neighborhoods
of 'Colón', 'Jesús María' and 'Atarés'.

00:47:52.998 --> 00:47:55.544
In 'Pogolotti', too this happened
during the Republic.

00:47:55.641 --> 00:47:59.943
When the police officers interrupt a
ritual of 'Ñáñigos'  makes prove their worth too.

00:48:00.006 --> 00:48:04.184
Of course, police officer had a gun and
an official authorization, is right?

00:48:04.967 --> 00:48:07.601
But the 'Abakuá' had
to die defending his religion.

00:48:07.734 --> 00:48:11.015
Hence whoever was not
willing to die defending

00:48:11.100 --> 00:48:13.657
the religion should not
become an 'Abakuá' member.

00:48:13.753 --> 00:48:15.742
Ñáñigos taken to the Havana jail

00:48:15.887 --> 00:48:18.617
That is the fear they have
always had of 'Abakuá',

00:48:18.702 --> 00:48:23.303
because this is the only religion
of African origin that had temples,

00:48:23.389 --> 00:48:26.689
and met in their territories.

00:48:29.550 --> 00:48:35.088
When analyzing the 13 main
titles of the 'Abakuás',

00:48:35.773 --> 00:48:40.929
they are military titles,
and represent a hierarchy.

00:48:41.839 --> 00:48:44.251
In the time of Cuban
Independence war

00:48:44.384 --> 00:48:48.986
all 'Abakuás' were imprisoned and sent
to 'Ceuta', 'Chafarina' and 'Fernando Poo' jails.

00:48:56.860 --> 00:48:58.908
No government has been
able to handle the 'Abakuá'.

00:48:59.007 --> 00:49:01.236
Several governments
have wanted to eliminate it.

00:49:01.261 --> 00:49:02.811
Menocal wanted to finish it off,

00:49:02.876 --> 00:49:05.637
Machado wanted to end
the 'Abakuá' but both failed.

00:49:05.722 --> 00:49:12.750
There were even presidents
whose flyers were in 'Abakuá' language.

00:49:13.707 --> 00:49:17.435
Because they wanted
to have the 'Abakuá' votes,

00:49:17.557 --> 00:49:21.844
and they said:
"vote for so and so" but in 'Abakuá' jargon.

00:49:22.763 --> 00:49:28.127
'Abakuá' had its public aspects,

00:49:28.789 --> 00:49:34.106
and its underground realities.

00:49:34.780 --> 00:49:37.623
Later with the Revolution
in 1959 there were tensions

00:49:37.719 --> 00:49:40.873
because they did not fit into
the patterns of the 'New Man'.

00:49:42.568 --> 00:49:45.146
COMMAND, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF!

00:49:55.796 --> 00:49:59.733
In 1963 I was completing a
military mission in Jejenes,

00:49:59.964 --> 00:50:02.608
and when I returned,
an officer told me:

00:50:02.718 --> 00:50:04.781
-"Juango, you're a party member!"

00:50:04.823 --> 00:50:06.100
-"A Party Member?"
-"Yes sir".

00:50:06.125 --> 00:50:08.172
-"But who said that?"
-"Fidel".

00:50:08.219 --> 00:50:11.865
-"Well, if Fidel says that everyone
has to be militant, so I am".

00:50:13.241 --> 00:50:16.938
-"What I am going to do?
If the Commander-in-Chief says so"...

00:50:17.817 --> 00:50:20.656
So, when he call me
to ask some information...

00:50:20.823 --> 00:50:23.547
if I practice religious beliefs.
and I answered him:

00:50:23.639 --> 00:50:25.862
-"I am 'Abakuá' and
I am initiated in 'Yoruba';

00:50:25.887 --> 00:50:27.363
also, I am 'Mokongo'"ť.

00:50:27.388 --> 00:50:30.003
He said me:
-"There is a contradiction in your person,

00:50:30.028 --> 00:50:35.080
because in Cuba you must
be a Marxist-Leninist, etc"ť...

00:50:35.105 --> 00:50:38.110
And after of many other
things that he explained me.

00:50:38.155 --> 00:50:42.923
And he said me:
-"Let´s do a deep analysis on you,

00:50:42.948 --> 00:50:46.369
and you must go to a political school
and quit your religion".

00:50:46.407 --> 00:50:48.384
I told him:
-"I am not quit my religion".

00:50:48.470 --> 00:50:50.994
-"The principles come first".

00:50:51.088 --> 00:50:54.689
-"I maintain an attitude consistent with
both the Revolution and my religion".

00:50:54.783 --> 00:50:58.880
-"If that is so, I will be
a communist without ID,

00:50:59.168 --> 00:51:02.193
but I am not going to
give up on 'Abakuá'".

00:51:02.301 --> 00:51:06.614
Because I have my own criteria:
"That whoever betrays one thing,

00:51:06.699 --> 00:51:09.662
tomorrow can also
betray the other".

00:51:15.840 --> 00:51:21.904
From 1967 to 1976,

00:51:21.989 --> 00:51:24.372
for nearly 10 years.

00:51:24.490 --> 00:51:30.755
The authorities prohibited
the initiation of new members.

00:51:30.966 --> 00:51:35.059
They allowed 'Baroko' ceremonies;
it means to elevate those already

00:51:35.106 --> 00:51:39.461
initiated into
positions of hierarchy,

00:51:39.938 --> 00:51:46.160
as well as funeral ceremonies,
and meetings.

00:51:47.176 --> 00:51:50.127
But initiation ceremonies for
new members were prohibited.

00:51:50.298 --> 00:51:53.737
Nevertheless, no 'Abakuá' ever
turned against the Revolution,

00:51:53.971 --> 00:51:58.353
but quite the opposite, we were faithful,
we endured, those times.

00:52:09.025 --> 00:52:12.279
Well, that was a
crucial decade for us.

00:52:12.788 --> 00:52:16.494
Because we don't
like to have mourning.

00:52:17.387 --> 00:52:23.005
We like to go and celebrate
our religion and live that moment.

00:52:24.288 --> 00:52:27.053
There was a law,
and it had to be followed.

00:52:27.108 --> 00:52:29.030
You couldn´t break that law...

00:52:31.869 --> 00:52:35.552
Not only in 'Abakuá',
but also in 'Santeria'.

00:52:35.637 --> 00:52:38.580
It was forbidden to initiate
children to the 'Yoruba' religion.

00:52:38.786 --> 00:52:42.307
It was banned, for you as a worker
have an religious bracelet.

00:52:42.803 --> 00:52:46.385
Religions were forbidden,
as well as meetings.

00:52:46.727 --> 00:52:49.969
The state had a law
called 'Illegal Reunion',

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:51.998
which said that
unauthorized meetings

00:52:52.092 --> 00:52:54.999
of more than five people
would result in prison.

00:52:55.049 --> 00:52:58.198
I felt persecuted,
I tell you honestly.

00:52:58.251 --> 00:53:00.954
Some lodges held secret rituals.

00:53:01.175 --> 00:53:05.242
In the colonial times, in Havana,
when a lodge was born,

00:53:05.327 --> 00:53:07.932
the Spanish authorities did not
give permission for a ceremony,

00:53:08.017 --> 00:53:10.005
'Abakuá' met in
secrecy in 'Encerrona',

00:53:10.090 --> 00:53:13.629
One person here, other one there, and a guard
at each of the four corners. You understand?

00:53:13.654 --> 00:53:18.161
When the Spanish guard came,
they would alert, and the action paused.

00:53:18.291 --> 00:53:20.429
A secret rite is 'Encerrona'.

00:53:21.205 --> 00:53:23.599
With regard to the 'Encerronas',
as far as I know,

00:53:23.789 --> 00:53:27.475
there were no secret rites
in those years of prohibition.

00:53:27.774 --> 00:53:29.980
And the 'Ñáñigos' are
experts in doing that,

00:53:30.137 --> 00:53:32.446
the 'Ñáñigos', the
'Santeros' and the 'Paleros'.

00:53:32.531 --> 00:53:35.118
When celebrating a
girl's 15th birthday,

00:53:35.186 --> 00:53:39.226
in the back room, there was a
hidden ritual... and nobody finds out.

00:53:39.272 --> 00:53:41.163
I participated in
many 'Encerronas'.

00:53:41.202 --> 00:53:44.708
I am Fernando Arias 'Nasakó'
of 'Obane Sese Kondo' lodge;

00:53:44.849 --> 00:53:47.535
because this was not a crime
or treason, on the contrary,

00:53:47.910 --> 00:53:52.209
because we never let the
vivacity of the 'Abakuá' religion die.

00:53:52.426 --> 00:53:54.964
Few Lodges did that...

00:53:55.123 --> 00:53:59.097
because the 'Abakuás' did
not want the police

00:53:59.187 --> 00:54:02.752
to come and take
away their ritual objects.

00:54:03.019 --> 00:54:06.936
If the police raid you in
a place without permits,

00:54:07.125 --> 00:54:09.881
they want to confiscate the attributes,
which is a serious problem.

00:54:10.043 --> 00:54:12.660
The arguments of the
authorities at that time were,

00:54:12.845 --> 00:54:18.008
on the one hand, that there were violent
situations in the religious ceremonies,

00:54:18.033 --> 00:54:22.369
sometimes bloody,
which was not a lie;

00:54:22.604 --> 00:54:27.608
and on the other hand,
the so-called 10 million harvest

00:54:27.817 --> 00:54:31.365
was in the making and
the entire national effort

00:54:31.450 --> 00:54:35.274
was put into obtaining
10 million tons of sugar, in 1970.

00:54:51.045 --> 00:54:54.788
FIGHTING FOR 10 MILLION.

00:54:55.368 --> 00:54:59.253
DECISIVE BATTLE.

00:54:59.882 --> 00:55:01.965
WELCOME BE THE SHAME.

00:55:02.082 --> 00:55:07.075
Then came the so-called 'Gray Five Year'
period of the early 1970s.

00:55:07.298 --> 00:55:09.890
The First Congress of
Education and Culture of 1971.

00:55:09.984 --> 00:55:13.618
In the notes of that Congress
in the final resolution,

00:55:13.818 --> 00:55:17.129
when it comes to youth
violence, it says that one

00:55:17.251 --> 00:55:22.807
of the factors provoking
delinquency in young people

00:55:23.036 --> 00:55:25.624
is precisely the
religions of African origin,

00:55:25.709 --> 00:55:28.476
fundamentally of
the 'Ñáñigos' or 'Abakuás'.

00:55:28.626 --> 00:55:33.749
With regard to obscurantist and counterrevolutionary sects.
Unmask and combat them.

00:55:33.961 --> 00:55:37.294
The unspoken intent
was extermination.

00:55:37.367 --> 00:55:43.836
If no one is initiated, and you only
mourn for the deceased, it is all over.

00:55:44.246 --> 00:55:51.764
Abakuá funeral ceremony.

00:56:09.984 --> 00:56:12.747
And that was the intention:

00:56:12.832 --> 00:56:15.865
We ended up prohibiting
new members from entering.

00:56:16.062 --> 00:56:22.094
But in 1976 the socialist constitution
proclaimed the freedom of worship.

00:56:22.205 --> 00:56:24.243
The Constitution said
one thing but in life

00:56:24.328 --> 00:56:26.866
another thing happened,
just like today, right?

00:56:26.951 --> 00:56:30.006
The Constitution and the laws go one way
and life goes another...

00:56:30.239 --> 00:56:33.916
Then in 1976 we
decided to do it.

00:56:34.391 --> 00:56:40.273
The 'Itiá Mukandá' lodge had
a funeral ceremony in Jacomino.

00:56:40.576 --> 00:56:44.829
We were talking about the right to
held our rituals, and we said:

00:56:44.896 --> 00:56:48.663
-"Let´s do our ritual without
permission, to hell and whatever!"ť...

00:56:48.664 --> 00:56:49.664
--"Let´s do our ritual without
permission, to hell and whatever!"ť...

00:56:50.100 --> 00:56:51.967
On February 24th, 1976.
'Itiá Mukandá' lodge

00:56:52.063 --> 00:56:54.081
initiated a new member
called 'El Mejicano'.

00:56:54.348 --> 00:56:57.053
And then the second lodge
to made its Ceremony was...

00:56:57.449 --> 00:57:00.697
'Abakuá Okobio
Endure', in Guanabacoa.

00:57:01.051 --> 00:57:05.300
But that time we went
to the police station...

00:57:05.606 --> 00:57:09.319
not to ask for permission but to inform
that we are going to held our rite.

00:57:09.391 --> 00:57:11.371
And the police did not show up.

00:57:11.409 --> 00:57:13.847
Several lodges made the same,
and nothing happened.

00:57:13.872 --> 00:57:15.984
The only way was to just do it.

00:57:16.848 --> 00:57:21.481
Until October of 1976,
made 10 initiation ceremonies,

00:57:21.566 --> 00:57:26.769
and 127 new members were consecrated.

00:57:43.849 --> 00:57:50.865
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:58:07.902 --> 00:58:12.628
(Abakuá prayer)

00:58:13.294 --> 00:58:15.867
'Abakuá' does not make men.

00:58:16.734 --> 00:58:18.368
It doesn't...

00:58:18.891 --> 00:58:22.997
You arrive at 'Abakuá' when
you already have that condition.

00:58:24.953 --> 00:58:28.034
A condition that is supposed to be
investigated, analyzed, evaluated.

00:58:28.119 --> 00:58:31.872
From the cradle to the moment,
before I can give him entrance.

00:58:32.068 --> 00:58:33.900
♪ Abakuá chant ♪

00:58:34.787 --> 00:58:36.340
And what is manhood?

00:58:36.773 --> 00:58:40.102
Well, I would say it is the most difficult
challenge of the human being. No?

00:58:40.267 --> 00:58:44.020
Because man is one who is
capable of loving the neighbor.

00:58:44.822 --> 00:58:48.714
Man is who is capable
to sacrifice for others.

00:58:48.799 --> 00:58:52.204
Man is one who is
capable of founding a family

00:58:52.228 --> 00:58:55.632
and give it everything
that family may need.

00:58:56.168 --> 00:58:59.655
Man is capable of loving the
family of where he was originated.

00:59:00.144 --> 00:59:03.288
Man is one capable of bravely
facing a difficult situation,

00:59:03.366 --> 00:59:05.486
and that it can be aggressive

00:59:05.646 --> 00:59:07.706
with the necessary
courage, even,

00:59:07.845 --> 00:59:10.024
not repel it with aggression;

00:59:10.141 --> 00:59:13.930
because of the place and the
circumstances of where he is.

00:59:14.709 --> 00:59:19.209
(Angry yelling voices)

00:59:20.392 --> 00:59:23.159
-This is 'Abakuá', man, this is 'Abakuá'...

00:59:23.581 --> 00:59:26.687
For example, there are
young people who misinterpret.

00:59:26.772 --> 00:59:30.801
They think that 'Abakuá' is for shooting,
killing, threatening to kill someone.

00:59:30.886 --> 00:59:33.029
That one must go to prison.
This is false.

00:59:33.114 --> 00:59:35.118
Because there is no
religious education.

00:59:35.473 --> 00:59:38.211
There are very few of us
who have a religious education.

00:59:38.338 --> 00:59:39.490
The elders...

00:59:39.539 --> 00:59:42.694
Because these youth boast:
"I'm so and so" and that's enough

00:59:42.963 --> 00:59:45.592
Nothing worries them. They do not respect.

00:59:45.677 --> 00:59:50.103
But for me to solve a problem among men,
I don't have to wait for the ceremonial day.

00:59:50.241 --> 00:59:55.671
There is violent brawls,
especially the young people

00:59:55.814 --> 00:59:59.716
that have problems that have
nothing to do with the ceremony.

00:59:59.942 --> 01:00:02.965
They are problems brought
to the ritual from the street.

01:00:03.050 --> 01:00:06.756
Men who see each other every day
on the street, in the bars, on the bus,

01:00:06.841 --> 01:00:09.920
and are enemies, so the day
they see each other in the ceremony

01:00:10.005 --> 01:00:11.872
is the day they want to fight.

01:00:11.957 --> 01:00:15.038
Do you know what sacrifices we make?
And the money we spend?

01:00:15.123 --> 01:00:17.920
Just so that I can
come to spoil that party.

01:00:18.599 --> 01:00:23.003
Solve your problems outside,
it's better that way.

01:00:24.137 --> 01:00:27.067
And any manly attitude
of personal strength

01:00:27.152 --> 01:00:30.762
demonstrated there becomes
well known in 'Ambiente',

01:00:30.847 --> 01:00:34.995
that gives you a certain name,
it gives you a certain diploma,

01:00:35.080 --> 01:00:39.149
in the world of marginal
cuban tough guys.

01:00:39.234 --> 01:00:41.935
This is very complicated,
but that is where the issue is.

01:00:41.998 --> 01:00:44.788
How are you going to go to a
ceremony with a razor on top?

01:00:44.828 --> 01:00:48.094
To a ritual is going to
be shared, to see a brother,

01:00:48.179 --> 01:00:54.198
to have a beer, to sing music, to dance,
to initiate a man that you know him,

01:00:55.369 --> 01:00:59.053
to meet members of other lodges.
That is going to a ceremony.

01:00:59.155 --> 01:01:01.598
Cleanse the image of the 'Abakuá'

01:01:01.683 --> 01:01:03.590
for the wider society.

01:01:03.677 --> 01:01:07.974
Arrive to your lodges and
share this message. Let´s better…

01:01:08.059 --> 01:01:09.859
We will improve, please.

01:01:12.877 --> 01:01:16.758
How do we face? The members
have to raise awareness.

01:01:16.972 --> 01:01:21.985
So, we perform a rite to have a joyful time,
to be within your environment, right?

01:01:22.451 --> 01:01:25.596
And then any boy comes to the
ceremony and creates any problem.

01:01:25.731 --> 01:01:28.986
So, the police must be there.

01:01:29.474 --> 01:01:32.025
From the onset, we
provide security to

01:01:32.110 --> 01:01:36.547
'Abakuá' ceremonies so
there is no bloodshed.

01:01:36.757 --> 01:01:42.339
In the street environment it is
considered a religion of criminals.

01:01:46.183 --> 01:01:52.737
I have raised this in our meetings,
to gradually remove the police.

01:01:52.921 --> 01:01:56.068
We have made
ceremonies without police.

01:01:56.236 --> 01:01:58.998
In all the parties, the
same in the 'Abakuá'

01:01:59.083 --> 01:02:01.423
as in a wedding or in
a girl´s 15th birthday,

01:02:01.508 --> 01:02:04.990
there are persons who drink too
much and have a misbehavior.

01:02:05.075 --> 01:02:08.710
We come here to have fun.
We don't come to fight.

01:02:09.863 --> 01:02:14.079
In addition, we don't carry any kind
of weapons. I don't carry any either...

01:02:14.530 --> 01:02:17.764
In the end, it is up to us
to take care it ourselves.

01:02:18.965 --> 01:02:23.015
Because in Matanzas there are no
police officers in the rites.

01:02:23.149 --> 01:02:27.275
The ceremony is secured by
the lodge members themselves.

01:02:27.426 --> 01:02:38.004
(Abakuá prayer)

01:02:47.238 --> 01:02:52.837
We sacrifice a lot to gather the money,
and then we share all.

01:02:53.055 --> 01:02:55.306
But we do not allow
anyone from outside

01:02:55.391 --> 01:02:58.056
to spoil our party because
we have our idiosyncrasy.

01:02:58.193 --> 01:03:02.802
They are another
kind of religious men.

01:03:03.069 --> 01:03:06.002
They are cordial, welcoming.

01:03:06.187 --> 01:03:09.032
Someone go to Matanzas and
they receive it with fervor,

01:03:09.117 --> 01:03:11.749
love and respect.

01:03:12.240 --> 01:03:15.439
Here in Havana
the 'Abakuá' is ruder.

01:03:16.590 --> 01:03:19.223
How many deaths from
shooting around here?

01:03:19.308 --> 01:03:23.673
They wait to act violently
when they find themselves in a crowd.

01:03:23.758 --> 01:03:28.408
This is also because of the place
where we live, which lends itself to this.

01:03:28.611 --> 01:03:31.592
Where was he killed? Rigth in the corner.
With a knife this big.

01:03:31.677 --> 01:03:34.786
-They stabbed him in the corner
the day of the vespers.

01:03:35.014 --> 01:03:36.790
-Yes, but he was not dead.

01:03:36.875 --> 01:03:39.497
-Yes, but he died, he died later.

01:03:39.685 --> 01:03:41.314
In the park they shoot
each other to dead.

01:03:41.414 --> 01:03:43.239
That park has a huge
record of dead people.

01:03:43.324 --> 01:03:46.744
-Here, right here where we are.

01:03:47.175 --> 01:03:49.396
-There was a party here.

01:03:49.481 --> 01:03:51.562
-There was an activity.

01:03:51.960 --> 01:03:55.671
-Coincidentally that day
they danced 'Abakuá'.

01:03:56.268 --> 01:03:59.515
-And then they started singing
and that's when the fight started.

01:03:59.685 --> 01:04:00.719
-And they killed him.

01:04:00.904 --> 01:04:03.462
Violence is always the result

01:04:03.564 --> 01:04:10.600
of the social and economic conditions
that determine it.

01:04:11.055 --> 01:04:14.629
Always linked to
poverty and misery.

01:04:15.097 --> 01:04:20.187
The social base that nourishes
the 'Abakuá' brotherhood

01:04:20.272 --> 01:04:23.923
is precisely in what I call
'The bottom of the cauldron',

01:04:24.008 --> 01:04:27.758
those from the humblest
strata of the cuban population,

01:04:27.843 --> 01:04:30.833
where violence is learned daily.

01:04:30.988 --> 01:04:33.266
There are times when
it is even necessary.

01:04:33.351 --> 01:04:35.854
If you are not violent,
or you are not able

01:04:35.997 --> 01:04:38.907
to respond to violence
with more violence,

01:04:38.995 --> 01:04:42.808
it is difficult to survive,
from childhood.

01:04:46.145 --> 01:04:55.444
It's not surprising that historically,
the majority of the members of the lodges

01:04:55.702 --> 01:05:00.850
were like that, violent young
people, poorly prepared.

01:05:05.656 --> 01:05:09.802
On the other hand, an
'Abakuá' cannot be a coward.

01:05:10.318 --> 01:05:14.130
Do not confuse bravery
with being a tough guy.

01:05:15.318 --> 01:05:18.734
'Abakuá' or not,
our society has become violent.

01:05:19.316 --> 01:05:24.205
I do not think that the 'Abakuá' in Cuba
are leading the way in violence.

01:05:24.376 --> 01:05:27.227
This is also a local fraternity.

01:05:27.444 --> 01:05:29.814
That only exists in Cuba.

01:05:29.918 --> 01:05:33.596
And in Cuba it is located
in only two provinces.

01:05:34.425 --> 01:05:38.701
Currently there has been a great
deterioration within the cuban society

01:05:38.803 --> 01:05:43.589
With the loss of many ethic values,
and the lack of education.

01:05:43.674 --> 01:05:47.406
The misinterpretation
of what manhood is.

01:05:56.904 --> 01:05:59.554
In many violent episodes,

01:05:59.654 --> 01:06:02.583
the aggressor or participants

01:06:02.668 --> 01:06:05.350
in these violent activities

01:06:05.483 --> 01:06:08.970
claim to be 'Abakuá' society,
but they are not.

01:06:09.150 --> 01:06:14.872
and think that being 'Abakuá'

01:06:15.391 --> 01:06:20.155
is a way to intimidate others.

01:06:20.435 --> 01:06:21.710
That is wrong.

01:06:21.795 --> 01:06:24.743
I still don't consider
myself an 'Abakuá' yet.

01:06:24.828 --> 01:06:29.833
I am a member of the lodge
that I represent, which is 'Efori Komó'

01:06:30.014 --> 01:06:33.681
a collective of men.
I will become 'Abakuá' the day I die.

01:06:34.248 --> 01:06:37.741
The elders taught me that.
"You are 'Abakuá' after you die".

01:06:38.234 --> 01:06:42.653
May to say: "Zambo was a great
'Abakuá' or he was a shameless one"ť.

01:06:42.763 --> 01:06:44.451
Rigth?

01:06:44.542 --> 01:06:49.661
'Abakuá' has a set of values for us
to understand and achieve.

01:06:50.603 --> 01:06:56.861
The elders taught us that we can only
fully comprehend this after we depart.

01:06:58.704 --> 01:07:02.081
Only others may tell how
far we have come by being

01:07:02.166 --> 01:07:05.763
a good friend, a good man,
a good son or a good brother,

01:07:05.848 --> 01:07:08.961
because this is not title
that can be achieved in life.

01:07:09.046 --> 01:07:11.161
Because life tests us every day.

01:07:14.407 --> 01:07:20.340
For my children to grown up in a
better world than the one I found.

01:07:20.558 --> 01:07:26.239
To a lush tree... My brother.

01:07:26.439 --> 01:07:31.722
To a great friend, and better man.

01:07:31.835 --> 01:07:40.368
To the memory of:

01:07:40.518 --> 01:07:47.571
Remains investigating the 'Abakuá Secret Society'.
His work has expanded knowledge about it.

01:07:47.851 --> 01:07:54.439
He has founded the magazine 'Calabar Mgbé' to
strengthen the ties between Cuba and Calabar.

01:07:54.670 --> 01:08:00.648
Continues with the learning
of the 'Ékpè' culture.

01:08:00.926 --> 01:08:06.219
Since 2014, she has not returned to Calabar, although
she maintains contact with members of her lodge.

01:08:06.304 --> 01:08:11.606
In 2019 was initiated at the 'Efí Awarañongo Ntombe' lodge,
keeping the family tradition.

01:08:11.766 --> 01:08:16.230
In 2020 he got the title of 'Ekueñon'
at the 'Itiá Mogó Efó' lodge.

01:08:16.534 --> 01:08:21.397
In 2020 was initiated as 'Abanekue'
at the 'Efí Akabatón Obane' lodge.

01:08:22.148 --> 01:08:27.235
He swore even if his
mother didn't like his choice.

01:08:27.462 --> 01:08:32.260
He is one of the most important assets
at the 'Isún Efó Sankobio' lodge.

01:08:32.607 --> 01:08:39.792
He is a member of the 'Akokán' community project.
His goal is to help the 'Abakuá' of his neighborhood.