Belief System and Rituals
The Palo belief system rests on two main pillars:
- 1. The veneration of the spirits of the ancestors.
- 2. The belief in natural ("earth") powers.
Natural objects, and particularly sticks, are thought to be infused with powers, often linked to the powers of spirits. These objects are known as "nganga" and are the ritual focus of Palo's magical rites and religious practice.
A certain number of spirits called Kimpungulu (singular: Mpungu) inhabit the Nkisi (sacred objects, also spelled Inquice, Inquise, and Enkisi). Kimpungulu are well known in name and deed, and are venerated as gods. They are powerful entities, but they are ranked below the High God Zambi or Nzambi.
The main practice of Palo focuses upon the religious receptacle or altar known as a Nganga or Prenda. This is a consecrated vessel filled with sacred earth, sticks (palos), human remains, bones and other items. Each Nganga is dedicated to a specific spiritual Nkisi. This religious vessel is also inhabited by a muerto or spirit of the dead (almost never the direct ancestor of the object's owner), also referred to as "Nfumbe", who acts as a guide for all religious activities which are performed with the Nganga.
Various divination methods are used in Palo. One, Chamalongos uses shells or disks of various materials, often coconut shells. A more traditional method, Vititi Mensú, is a form of envisioning or scrying, using a sanctified animal horn capped with a mirror.
There are many Ramas that have developed through the ages such as Brillumba - This rama has separated into branches such as Siete Brillumba Congo. The branch born when seven Tata's from Brillumba combined their ngangas to create an Nsasi Ndoki. This rama has grown through the years and is well known today.
Read more about this topic: Palo (religion)
Famous quotes containing the words belief, system and/or rituals:
“Still, it will sometimes strike a scientific man that the philosophers have been less intent on finding out what the facts are, than on inquiring what belief is most in harmony with their system.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“We are now going through a period of demolition. In morals, in social life, in politics, in medicine, and in religion there is a universal upturning of foundations. But the day of reconstruction seems to be looming, and now the grand question is: Are there any sure and universal principles that will evolve a harmonious system in which we shall all agree?”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)
“We rarely quote nowadays to appeal to authority ... though we quote sometimes to display our sapience and erudition. Some authors we quote against. Some we quote not at all, offering them our scrupulous avoidance, and so make them part of our “white mythology.” Other authors we constantly invoke, chanting their names in cerebral rituals of propitiation or ancestor worship.”
—Ihab Hassan (b. 1925)