Ashé-Diasporan Spirituality in Carlos Wilson's Los Nietos De Felicidad

Ashé-Diasporan Spirituality in Carlos Wilson’s Los nietos de Felicidad Dolores

or individuals of African ancestry, liberty not has been considered inferior to other immigrant Fonly means freedom from physical restraints groups thus preventing them from fully enjoying the such as chains, but also equality, and the freedom political, social, and economic freedom offered to to express traditional spiritual practices. Carlos other immigrant populations. Antillean Blacks have Guillermo Wilson (Cubena) is one of Panama’s first been, and continue to be, systematically despised novelists to integrate elements of Afro-Caribbean even though many of them and their ancestors spirituality in a positive manner to counter negative have dedicated their lives, labor, and resources to attitudes toward African-inspired cultural expression. the development of the economic and cultural His novels, Chombo (1981) and Los nietos de Felicidad foundation of Panama. Cubena’s novels thus play an Dolores (1991), and his numerous collections of short important role in highlighting this overlooked group stories and essays focus on the historical tensions and acknowledging in literature an Afro-Caribbean among the nation’s black communities. His literary cosmovision which will be referred to as Ashé- works look at racism against blacks throughout the Diasporan literary perspective in this study. world, while highlighting injustices waged toward This study will focus on Los nietos de Felicidad Afro-Antilleans in Panama , who have been referred Dolores and the manner in which the work serves to derogatorily as chombos, cocolos, and pichones. In as an example of Ashé-Diasporan literature. The both novels, Cubena projects an aggressive tone first part of this term, ashé (ache), is an invisible against Panama’s Colonial Black population, which -yet palpable- creative energy. Santero Ócha’ni historically has looked down upon their Antillean Lele connects the term with the orishas or saints cohorts. in Santería: “Each orisha is a living, spiritual The word chombo refers to English-speaking personification of limitedaché . (a word that loosely West Indians from Jamaica or Barbados. Cocolo translates into ‘power, grace, and life’). The ache of and pichón historically have been despective terms. an orisha depends on the aspects of Olódumare Cocolo originated in the Dominican Republic and is from which it was spawned” (1-2). Afro-Hispanic used in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean to describe spiritual scholar, Martha Moreno Vega, acknowledges emigrants from St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla to work the creative power of ashé within the Caribbean on the sugar plantations from the 1880s to the 1920s when she writes the following: “The more than (Watson 155). Pichón refers to individuals of Haitian thirteen million Africans who survived the Middle or West Indian ancestry (Watson 155). One of the Passage carried with them the creative impulse that tensions that is most evident in Los nietos and Chombo continues to weave through the aesthetic vision is the antagonism that exists between Panama’s and expressions of African descendants” (46). two populations of African heritage: Antillean and This term will describe literature produced in the Colonial Blacks. The polarization between the two African Diaspora that acknowledges elements of groups is based on perceived differences of ethnicity. West African spirituality and influenced by this The Antillean Black population has traditionally cultural aesthetic. Los nietos de Felicidad Dolores includes been forced to adapt and survive in a country, which African-oriented imagery and rituals to acknowledge historically has opposed their presence and cultural African-influenced traditions thus serving as a form expression. The Antillean immigrant population of cultural resistance. The orishas from the pantheon PALARA | Fall 2017 No. 21 of African saints and the symbol of the tortoise Lewis, Ian Smart, and Sonja Stephenson Watson. establish a connection between the characters and an Cubena is a proud descendant of West Indians African worldview. The novel destroys the myth of and uses the negative treatment of West Indians classical mythology and Western Christianity being to fuel his writing. In The Politics of Race in Panama: the only approach to understand human existence Afro-Hispanic and West Indian Literary Discourses of and life. Los nietos is filled with numerous examples Contention, Watson concludes that there has been a of African myths and it is through griot figures lack of acknowledgement of his work within the that the reader is able to appreciate this cultural nation of Panama because his works destroy the perspective. The central griot, Felicidad Dolores, pays national myth of racial harmony (72). While research homage to African elder tradition by reflecting them has acknowledged African elements within his as the heart of the community/family.1 literature, there has been no in-depth scholarship The novel counters the historical perception of that analyzes the African-inspired spiritual elements African-inspired spirituality being inferior. Cubena within Los nietos de Felicidad Dolores. is following a literary trajectory started decades In an unpublished biography, Cubena explains earlier by the study of Afro-Cuban faith practices how he weaves history into his texts and states his by Cuban anthropologist/ethnographer Fernando objective in the following manner: “Escribo para Ortiz and continued by fellow Cuban scholars such denunciar la actitud, desgraciadamente, internacional as Miguel Barnet, Lydia Cabrera, Alejo Carpentier, de desdén, rechazo y odio que, como un diluvio, Rómulo Lachatañeré, and Nancy Morejón. This inundan, ad nauseam, a los de asendencia africana” tradition of Ashé-Diasporan literature has continued (Unpublished Autobiography 22).2 The author focuses in the works of non-Cuban writers such as Manuel on revealing racist and stereotypical-thinking, which Zapata Olivella, Mayra Santos-Febres, and Quince has caused descendants of Africa in the Diaspora Duncan to name a few. This form of literature to collectively suffer and inflict pain upon one focuses on the Black experience in the Diaspora another as result of interethnic tensions (Watson and acknowledges spiritual traditions that once 86). When asked about his own literary antecedents were considered shameful and satanic. The novel in an interview with Birmingham-Pokorny, Cubena illustrates the destructive force of prejudice among responds with the name of Joaquín Beleño, individuals of African descent in a nation that indicating that Beleño’s narrow literary perspective favored such tensions as a way to conquer and divide motivated him to write: “Every time I read any of the oppressed. Cubena offers an Ashé-Diasporan his trilogies, I become so angry because of the way perspective that reflects historical events and African- he has portrayed ‘Chombos’ –Afro-Hispanics—in inspired mythology woven together with his own his works” (“Interview” 128). He believed that literary creativity. Panamanian Joaquin Beleño’s novels –Los forzados One of the characteristics that is important in this de Gamboa (Gamboa Road Gang) (1960), Luna Verde novel is the way that it reverses the negative portrayal (1950), and Curundú (1955) fail to present Antillean of West Indians that colored early twentieth-century Blacks in a positive and accurate manner. In a 1998 Panamanian literature and culture. Cubena uses an interview, a more settled Wilson would praise Beleño inversion technique to erode negative stereotypes for his Trilogía canalera (Soley 69). Cubena refutes traditionally associated with West Indians and Beleno’s portrayal by exposing injustices against replaces them with positive qualities traditionally Antillean Blacks by members of the Panamanian associated with the mestizo and Afro-Colonial leadership structure, which have consistently community. The novel is filled with details of Pan- discounted Antillean Blacks. One of the ways that African culture, history, and literature. The setting he acknowledges African identity is by focusing on spans from fifteenth-century Spain, the Middle African-inspired spirituality. Passage, to the late twentieth century. African-influenced spiritual practices have Cubena is a descendant of Jamaicans who came historically been an important agent in social and from Maroon Town Jamaica, St. Kitts, Cuba, and political change throughout the African Diaspora. Grenada. Critics who have studied his works include While the dates may differ among nations, revolts Richard Jackson, Elba Birmingham Porkney, Marvin were planned within communities under a colonial

12 Edison hegemonic system. Frequently, these elements under other skies. (222) united participants and allowed them to fight for their Fanon notes that the native intellectual sees the value freedom, individual rights, and self-determination. Many of documenting past communal memories, both 3 of these leaders have become mythical national figures. good and bad. The native writer is able to establish The slave rebellion that made the greatest impact a base on which to build a foundation that supports in the Caribbean was the revolution mounted by his peers and their cultures. In the third phase, the rebel slaves in the French colony of St. Dominque writer attempts to motivate compatriots into social in 1791. This highly-organized revolt took advantage change through literature. It is during this point that of the turmoil in the colony caused by the revolution the writer produces fighting literature or revolutionary in France that broke out two years earlier. Led by literature. (Fanon, The Wretched 222) It is this form Toussaint L’Ouverture, 500,000 enslaved Blacks of fighting literature that makes Cubena’s novel in St. Dominque defeated the armies of three so revolutionary in reflecting elements of African- major European powers: France, Spain and Britain. influenced spiritual practices. Mackandal and his position as a Houngan in the Vodún Fanon concludes that at times this literature is faith tradition and the use of the drum as a means of produced “just-before-the-battle” and is dominated communication led thousands of slaves to resist their by humor and by allegory. This element of the novel 4 French oppressors in 1791. has been addressed in the article “Humor and Satire: The Haitian Revolution is a vivid example of a Ammunition in Carlos Guillermo Wilson’s Resistance collective group being unified by African–influenced Novel Chombo,” (Edison 2000). Fanon theorizes that spiritual culture. Such spiritual inspiration has this tone is symptomatic of a period of distress and encouraged oppressed people to risk their lives to difficulty, where the native writer experiences death gain freedom despite mechanisms such as the Code and disgust against the injustice that surrounds him/ Noir which was established to control their black her. He notes that while the native writer pushes cultural expression in Public.5 After the success himself and his people forward, at the same time he of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), other mocks the dominant population (222). The novel nations in the Caribbean became conscious of the characterizes the non-Afro-Antillean descended importance of restricting social activities within black population, with disgust, shock, sarcasm, as well as communities. a mocking tone of laughter. To better understand Cubena’s use of literature to promote social how the spiritual elements appear in the novel, it is change corresponds with Frantz Fanon and his important to briefly survey Afro-Caribbean spiritual theory of intellectual development of the native elements. writer in The Wretched of this Earth (1961). In the first Similarities between European and African belief phase, the writer demonstrates his assimilation to the systems aided in the cultural syncretism between values of the “dominant” culture. The next stage is Christianity and African-oriented faith practices described in the following manner: known as orishas in Lucumí culture.6 Even the name In this second phase we find the native is “Santería,” derived from the Spanish word “santo” disturbed; he decides to remember what he is. borrowed from Catholicism, meaning worship of This period of creative work approximately the saints. Santería also adopted the terminology corresponds to the immersion, which we from the Catholic Church institution of compadrazgo, have just described [demonstrating that he making a believer a godchild (ajihado /ajihada) of the has assimilated the values of the dominant primary orisha and spiritual mentor. In this capacity, culture]. But since the native is not a part of the believers are the godchildren of the santero or his people, he only has exterior relations with intermediaries who spiritually protect and guide his people, he is content to recall their life only. them. Traditionally, Catholic and African religions Past happenings of the bygone days of his ch[i] both have employed countless objects and symbols ldhood will be brought up out of the depths of in ceremonial activities. In modern Afro-Caribbean his memory; old legends will be reinterpreted spiritual ceremonies, alongside traditional African in the light of a borrowed estheticism and a symbols, one can find many items representing conception of the world which was discovered Western religious beliefs, such as the iconic

13 PALARA | Fall 2017 No. 21 representations of Catholic saints, the crucifix, and Indians and Panamanians because the former prayers from the Bible. The saints venerated by the vehemently challenge the racial (Hispanic), Roman Catholic Church easily corresponded with linguistic (Spanish), and religious (Catholic) the structure of the pantheonic orishas in Santería. components of Panamanian nationality (2). Many Afro-Cuban deities have a Christian avatar Cubena used artistic license as a way to integrate that bears the name of a Catholic saint. Because of elements of Santería with the West Indian population this transcultural integration, African slaves could as a way to project a unified Afro-Diasporan often continue to practice their own traditional worldview in the novel. The first manner in which practices while appearing to celebrate the religion of the novel topples the traditional perspective toward their masters. Despite parallel similarities, African- Christianity is by presenting specific characters, influenced spiritual practices have been considered mostly Antillean Blacks and their descendants, as backwards, demonic, and heathenish by many, being successful and positive while the Christian including individuals of African ancestry. Many of Colonial Blacks are presented as being dysfunctional, these negative attitudes are unfounded and only mentally unstable, and malevolent. exist as result of racism against all forms of African The novel begins at the J.F.K. International cultural expression. airport (New York City, New York) during a Afro-centric spiritual practices are similar to snowstorm, caused by a nuclear accident. The family Judeo-Christian beliefs through the use of myths to awaits their flight to Panama to witness and celebrate explain great spiritual forces, the origin of humanity. the signing of the Carter-Torrijos Treaty in 1977. African–inspired spirituality plays an important Matriarch Felicidad Dolores and her extended family role in Los nietos by reflecting the ontology of a reminisce about their rich history and share tales community that has been scattered throughout the about acts of racism that have endured as they await Western Hemisphere and maintained contact with the arrival of other members of the family. They powerful African-inspired deities practice, and sacred are further linked as they search for the origin and rituals. Each path of Afro-Caribbean religion has a definition of the mysterious word sodinu. Each time name for its higher forces, such as orishas, ochas, dioses, a new member of the family arrives from different santos, espíritus, mpungas, loas, or mystères. The Santería parts of the Americas, he or she is asked about the Pantheon of Saints consists of seven great deities, meaning of the word. which are known as Las Siete Potencias Africanas. Felicidad Dolores is connected with the Yoruba In Santería: African Magic in Latin America, Migene orisha Yemayá who is considered to be Goddess of González-Wippler offers a list of details associated the sea and mother of humankind. This parallel is with deities such as their areas of specialization, their underscored by making reference to the matriarch attributes, and their Catholic counterparts: Changó and the color blue, the color associated with Yemayá - Santa Bárbara / Eleggúa - Holy Child of Atocha and the ocean. She is described as always wearing / Obatalá - Virgin of Mercy / Oggún - Saint Peter blue: “Más importante aún, la señora Felicidad / Orúnla - Saint Francis of Assisi / Oshún - Virgin Dolores llamaba la atención, sobre todo, porque of Caridad del Cobre / Yemayá - Virgin of Regla siempre lucía ropa azul; todos los martes, a las tres (107-125). Scholars familiar with Afro-Caribbean en punto de la tarde, se bañaba con agua de mar…” spirituality cannot overlook the irony that in the (Wilson, Los nietos 13). Later there is reference to her novel, immigrants from the West Indies would be carrying a blue handkerchief (63) and sitting in a blue connected with elements of Santería, since they have chair (68). Her address in Panama is the fifth of May, traditionally been protestant as result of British the same date in 1914 when El Polvorín occurred. One colonization. These cultural differences and tensions of the most important details of this tragic event was are described by Watson in the following manner: the manner in which it reflects unity and collective While Afro-Hispanics have ‘assimilated,’ older support. A large fire broke out in a building that generations of West Indians have not, and they housed the United States gunpowder reserve. The continue to assert their black consciousness fire claimed the lives of six Panamanian firefighters over their Panamanian nationality. This conflict and serves as an example of the community unifying has strained race relations between West to avert a crisis that could have been much worse if it

14 Edison had not been for brave firefighters and civilians. leyes como la Constitución del 41? Los padres The elements of African-influenced spiritual del sacerdote chombo son negros de inmigración culture also appears among the matriarch’s many prohibida porque su lengua materna no es el distinguished adopted grandchildren. Triunfo castellano y seguro que los abuelos del sacerdote Guerrero is a cultured gentleman who bears a chombo le rezaban a Obatalá, Yemayá y Changó. powerful name and is described as being the son of a (Wilson, Los nietos 173). santero or priest in Santería: Lesbiaquiña believes that, because his ancestors Triunfo Guerrero, hijo de santero, comentó que en were not originally from Panama, he is unqualified to cuando a la tormenta era evidente la furia del orixá be a Catholic Church leader. Her reference to three Changó y su esposa Oyá, la orixá africana de las of the major Afro-Caribbean orishas reflects her tempestades. Y, luego, agregó que posiblemente, belief that the cultural practices be an indicator of lo del accidente nuclear era otra travesura del orixá their inferior status. She feels that the Church should Elegguá. No obstante, Triunfo Guerrero hizo move to exclude this sector of the population by hincapié en el hecho de que llegaron al aeropuerto, supporting the Constitution of 1941 that prohibited sin duda alguna, por la mediación de Orula, el orixá the continued immigration and citizenship to non- vigilante de los destinos. (Wilson, Los nietos 27) Spanish speaking immigrants. According to the Constitution, Panamanian citizens were defined The college professor’s knowledge is elevated by as: “Los nacidos bajo jurisdicción de la República, his awareness of the attributes of four of the orishas aunque uno de los padres fuera de inmigración from the Yoruba Pantheon: Changó, the orisha of prohibida, siempre que el otro sea panameño por battle and thunder, Oyá the orisha of storms and nacimiento. Esta disposición no se aplicará cuando el establishing order, Elegguá, powerful orisha that padre que fuere de inmigración prohibida pertenezca controls the door to communication with all other a la raza cuya idioma originario no sea el Castellano” orishas, and Orula, the orisha of divination. (Constitución de la República de Panamá, Panamá 1941).10 Triunfu’s wife Olivia is described as being a Lesbiaquiña’s true fear is that this decision will make santera. When she first arrives to the airport, she is it easier for Panamanians, such as her niece, to marry asked about the word sodinu: “Dudo que esa palabra Antillean Blacks. sea lubumí –con marcado acento cubano dijo Olivia, Later in the novel, Lesbiaquiña Petrablanche de una santera, y como su madre, sacerdotisa de Oko, las Nieves de Monte Monarca Moreno becomes orixá de la agricultura” (Wilson, Los nietos 31). In angry when she discovers that the Vatican has the Pantheon of Saints, orisha Oko works with canonized Afro-Peruvian San Martín de Porres agriculture, fertility and life.7 The fact that these as a Saint. She is so upset that she renounces her individuals are described as being connected with membership of the Catholic Church to become Santería, they are connected to a world that permits Jewish: them to be more spiritually-centered compared to the Catholic Colonial Black characters.8 Yo voy a renunciar mi catolicismo porque cómo es posible que el Vaticano permita que One of the novel’s mis-educated Colonial un chombo sea sacerdote católico. Ya esto es Black comical characters is named Lesbiaquiña el colmo porque no cabe duda que pronto la Petrablanche de las Nieves de Monte Monarca chombada va a exigir que sea obispo. Sí, y para Moreno.9 When this devout Catholic woman learns colmo de males, ahora van a tener a un santo of Ambrosio Lewis’s appointment as the first católico. Yo no quiero ser miembro de una Catholic priest of Afro-Antillean descent in Panama, religión que permite estas barbaridades. Quiero she loses faith in the Catholic Church as well as ser judía desde hoy en adelante, judía. (Wilson, the Pope, and concludes that the latter must be Los nietos 183) possessed by Satan. She feels that Lewis’s ordination is inappropriate because of his Antillean heritage: Ironically, she fails to note that her decision to convert to Judaism would make her part of a La iglesia va de mal en peor. Ahora el Vaticano cultural community that has also faced centuries of permite que un chombo sea sacerdote católico. ¡Ave oppression and discrimination in the world—similar María Purísima! ¿Por qué la iglesia no promulga to Antillean Blacks in Panama.

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The community’s obese mestizo priest named Lesbiaquiña Petrablanche de las Nieves de Monte Padre Montebello is one of the few characters Monarca Moreno and others in the community who who completely agrees with Lesbiaquiña’s attitudes. encourage the fruit vendor and cobbler to fight. Throughout the novel, he repeats a declaration that Felicidad Dolores places herself between the underscores his disdain towards Antillean Blacks and two men and orders her granddaughter to bring Yoruba–inspired orishas: “Si yo fuera Díos, ningún two glasses and she calms their anger by serving negro iría al Cielo y mucho menos ese nieto de them tamarind chicha.12 She fills their glasses with the creyentes africanos en Obatalá, Yemayá y Changó” drink, cleans their faces, and instructs her daughters 11 (Los nietos 199). The Priest believes that the Antillean to place a black tortoise on the blade of each man’s population should not go to heaven because of their machete. Once the two tortoises have been placed faith practices. The priest and Lesbiaquiña share on the blades, the men are no longer motivated to many similar characteristics: Both have an affinity fight; they instead turn to playing a game of domino. for consuming bat meat and are described as being The wife of the Italian bread maker interprets involved in abnormal sexual behaviors by the narrator. the amazing change of events as being witchcraft: Los nietos expresses cultural resistance by its inclusion “Esto es brujería” (Los nietos 151). Aníbal Brown, of rituals that reflect African-influenced traditions. the cobbler’s son, believes that it must be obeá; a Rituals within the novel’s community allows term used in the West Indies to refer to folk magic, believers to achieve what they desire, with the sorcery, and religious practices developed among assistance of the orishas. Felicidad Dolores uses West African slaves, specifically of Igbo origin. (152) a ritual to mediate peace between her feuding Felicidad Dolores’s ritual saves the men’s lives and neighbors. The griot figure lives between the cannot be explained by Western reasoning, therefore Antillean Black character, John Brown, and Colonial it is equated with powers that belong to the world Black character, Juan Moreno. Only the sage is of the orishas. Once seated playing domino, the able to allow the two men to understand that they men discover that they have suffered some of the share more commonalities than differences. As same abuses. Both men are descendants of Africa, Juan Moreno and John Brown’s tensions come symbolized by Felicidad Dolores. to a dramatic show down; their favorite orishas – The inclusion of the tortoise image is very respectively Changó and Ogún –protect each man: significant because of its connection with Pan- Luego, más tarde en la víspera de la Epifanía, African folklore. Los nietos pays homage to the llamó la atención la llegada del vecino zapatero tortoise from popular folk-tales such as The Tortoise seguido por orixa Ogún, con una botella de and the Hare. These didactic tales for children are ron en una mano y en la otra un machete. built upon the crafty tortoise that wins when pitted Pero, mayor fue el asombro cuando cinco against the fast-running and overconfident hare. This minutos después, cuando perros y gatos symbol is of particular importance to Cubena, as it callejeros comenzaron a pelear, entre truenos is one of the images on his personal family crest that y relámpagos, llegó el vecino frutero seguido can be found in the front of the book. He describes por orixa Changó, también con una botella de this animal in the beginning of Los nietos as being aguardiente y un machete. (147-148) analogous to blacks: “La tortuga simboliza el tipo In Yoruba mythology, Ogún and Changó are eternal de carácter que han desarrollado los de ascendencia enemies because of their love for Oyá, Changó’s wife africana durante su odisea por las Américas” (8). (González-Wippler 46). The presence of the spiritual The tortoise, like the population of color in Los forces of these orishas is underscored by the sound nietos, survives because of his wit and perseverance. of thunder and lightning. The tension between the The airport serves as a meeting space for all of the two men is mirrored in the natural world by the descendants of Africa, which are described as “las fighting between dogs and cats in the street beneath gentetortugas” or tortoise people (80). the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning. After a lengthy delay, the plane is about to take Felicidad Dolores attempts to decipher the messages off and the following description offers a glimpse of sent to her by Elegguá, but is unable to understand the manner in which the characters rejoice by giving them because of the loud vulgar comments from thanks to the orishas: “Y, tras los cantos de alabanzas

16 Edison y gracias a Yemayá, Obatalá y Changó, los orixas la limpieza de la habitación que ocupaba la de cabecera de las gentetortugas en el avión que embarazada Felicidad Dolores y, también volaba como un cóndor andino” (Los nietos 80). The al cesar los cantos ceremoniales a Yemayá, proceeding quote reflects the family’s connection Obatalá, Changó y los otros orixas, al nacer las with the orishas and is one of numerous quotes that tres tortugas negras de los huevos cubiertos reveal the image of the tortoise, known as jicotea in con hojas de ceiba, tamarindo y baobab, Lucumí. Throughout the novel, there is reference nacieron simultáneamente las trillizas abrazadas, to the reptile, an animal that connects with African pregonando con entusiasmo, tres veces cada mythology and Pan-African culture. una, la palabra sodinu. (Wilson 113) The tortoise is an important symbol for the In addition to making a parallel between the children of Africa: simultaneous birth of the triplets and the tortoises, Y, luego, al séptimo atardecer, Nana Olodumare it also reflects ritualistic activity led by three elderly invitó a los primeros africanos a poblar feliz y women that prepare for, and assist with, the birth. eternamente las fértiles orillas del río Nilo, dondo The three African women arrive to prepare the body bajo la sombra de un robusto y frondoso baobab after Felicidad Dolores’ numerous deaths caused se encontraban tranquilamente un elefante, by major global events that attack populations of una cabra y una tortuga señal de que ese era el African ancestry. The women sing traditional songs corazón del reino ancestral (Wilson, Los nietos 81). dedicated to three of the major orishas. In this African utopia, five young men plan to The role of oral tradition is acknowledged overthrow the noble leadership and the circle of throughout the novel. Richard Jackson recognizes elders. To counter this conspiracy, the mythical origin this presence and makes a logical assumption that of different languages appears: “Pero, felizmente, identifies the source of this technique: “Cubena la conspiración fraguada por los cinco jóvenes is an effective storyteller, and much of the novel’s malvados frascasó cuando intevino orixa Elegguá, originality derives from the author’s refreshing enviado por el orixa de la Adivinación y Sabiduría: willingness to unreservedly imbue his novel with Orula, confundiendo a los cinco conspiradores a black perspective, one much influenced by the que, extrañamente, empezaron simultáneamente a oral tales that he passes on that were first given comunicarse entre ellos en cinco lenguas, las cuales to him by his old grani (‘abuelita’)” (Jackson, Black ellos mismos no entendían” (Wilson, Los nietos 82). Literature 75). Within the novel the granny figure After being expelled from their home in Africa, keeps the collective cultural memory alive in the they must find a new paradise by the Nile under a mind of the African-descended characters. Felicidad large baobab tree and search for a tortoise under a Dolores serves as a griot figure, which according to tamarind tree. Birmingham-Pokorny enables her to serve as the bridge that unifies the entire history of the African The tortoise becomes the symbol that the cursed race (“La recuperación” 122). children of Africa must find in order to be forgiven by the orishas: “solamente serían perdonados los In the airport scene, Felicidad Dolores uses her que a la cuna ancestral regresaran arrollados delante mastery of storytelling to entertain the youngsters in de sus progenitores, para pedir perdón por la grave the terminal: “Tras breve pausa, llamó a varios niños ofensa a los nobles y sabios abuelos, luego a acariciar para contarles las aventuras de ‘El hermano araña’ y una tortuga negra que se encontraría cerca de un otros cuentos. Luego, sacó a colación su tema favorito: tamarindo a orilla de un río” (83).13 The tortoise Bandelé Cebiano” (Wilson, Los nietos 41). In addition image is combined with three of the orishas at the to entertaining the future generations, her stories birth of Felicidad Dolores’s triplets in the suburbs of provide lessons about their own culture and history. Panama City: Through these intercalated tales, myth is brought to the forefront and shared with the hope that they will Mientras más noche se hacía más llovía, instruct the younger generation and to carry on the purificando a ritmo de tambores el ambiente tradition. As the griot shares her tales in the airport, en los vecindarios de Malambo y Pierdevidas y, only the astute Antillean Blacks are able to benefit precisamente, como habían anunciado las tres from her wealth of oral history. The characters who ancianas africanas poco después de terminar

17 PALARA | Fall 2017 No. 21 best recognize the importance of the matriarch’s tales existence was destroyed when five African youths are the educated and well-traveled family members: attempted to overthrow the elders: No obstante, casi todos los chombos, . . . bajo un robusto y frondoso baobab pichones y cocolos, sobre todo los que habían a orilla del río Nilo… el principio de una viajado y estudiado, admiraban el hecho de que gran maldición vinculada con un ombligo la señora Felicidad Dolores, una analfabeta, de mal agüero y una odisea apocalíptica que supiera ‘tan detalladamente - se comentaba año se complicó a orilla del río Níger bajo un tras año - lo de los nobles faraones nubienses y tamarindo en el corazón de Buruco, de donde las pirámides de Egipto en Africa; los poderosos zarparon los navíos negreros rumbo a tierras reyes africanos en Ghana, Mali y Songhay; los madrastras de felicidad y dolores (Wilson, Los esclavos negros en Sevilla durante la época de nietos 228-229) los Reyes Católicos; las hazañas de los africanos Omolú’s anger against the African youth, exiles en Santo Domingo, Tenochtitlán y Cuzco; el them from this locus amoenus under the protection heroísmo de los caciques cimarrones Yanga, of the baobab tree. The use of the name Orixa Cudjoe, Benkos, Zumbi, Coba, Zabeth, Bayano. Omolú (Babalú-Ayé in Lucumí) acknowledges one (Wilson, Los nietos 24) of the major saints in another African-inspired faith The characters who listen to her tales are able to tradition known as Candomblé in Brazil. piece together events from their ancestral past and After being expelled, the five Africans must locate apply them to their present reality. As a result of a second tranquil paradise under the protection of a hearing these tales, the characters can learn who they tamarind tree described by the elders of the fictitious are and from where they come. town of Nokoró: Another character who serves as a griot is Por fin, después de mucho deambular, Felicidad Dolores’s second child, Guacayarima. madrugadas tras madrugadas, desde el río Niho Guacayarima’s oral tales play an important role in al río Zambeze y, luego, desde el río Congo entertaining and teaching slaves during the Mexican al río Níger, encontramos el lugar indicado Colonial era about the Yoruba creation myth: “Los por el concilio de nobles y sabios abuelos a domingos cuando descansaban los esclavos africanos, orilla de río Níger, donde con gran júbilo nos Guacayarima era muy solicitado también para que establicimos en Buruco. Allí …los animales tocara la marimba y para que narrara lo que sabía de ahora eran más feroces y numerosos leprosos los primeros africanos creados en las cumbres del nos codeaban (Wilson, Los nietos 83). Kilimanjaro” (Wilson, Los nietos 97). For the illiterate In the new town of Buruco, the population has the slaves, storytelling was a way to escape from the potential to gain atonement as newer generations difficulties of their oppressive lives. At the same remember their past. The failure to remember the time, they learn about their shared ancestral past. He past is a cosmic error, which causes the children shares the same tails that he learned from his mother of Buruco to be expelled. This expulsion is to the Felicidad Dolores. Through these tails, the reader Americas as slaves in a foreign land filled with danger becomes the audience and learns about the history as their punishment. They are promised redemption of descendants of slaves. African mythology is used only when they become unified and remember to explain the origin of different ethnic groups. their collective past. The author uses this mythical Mythical tales serve as the novel’s foundation beginning to explain the slave trade. and allows the work to link the living characters Within the novel, the origin of different races with their ancestors. Throughout the novel, there is based on West African mythology. The narrator are intercalated references to Africa’s past. For explains that the mighty creator Olodumare caused example, an unidentified narrator makes reference the evil rebel leader Kwafufo to lose his black to the heights of Kilimanjaro, the legendary location pigment as a punishment for his leadership in the where the children of the Olodumare were first attack against the leaders in the town of Nokoró. created. Within this environment, reminiscent of the This creation of the white race appears in the first Biblical Garden of Eden, the population lived in a chapter as Elsa reveals the myth to those present: safe and harmonious existence. This point of perfect

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¿Acaso no se dan cuenta de su vergonzoso descendientes asquerosos de Canaan, malditos por origen? Pues, por la carencia de melanina en el mismo Noé, a quienes era justo conquistar en su piel es palpable que son descendientes de la Buena Guerra para esclavizarlos como castigo por demente e incestuosa prole albina del malvado la dominación mulsumana en España” (Wilson, Kwafufo, el que por irrespeto a los ancianos, Los nietos 109). The novel makes reference to the como maldición, perdió la bella negrura de su belief that Noah’s curse on his son Ham and his piel desde tiempos remotos allá en Nokoró, el descendants was the cause of the inferior role antiguo pueblo africano a orillas del río Níger of the individual of African heritage. Religious que fundó la familia Onítefo. (Los nietos 56) interpretation is one of the most common ways to This myth demonstrates how the novel reverses the attack other groups that are seen as inferior. concept of blackness by offering a mythical version As the novel ends, the mystery of the word that sees whiteness as a punishment. This mythical sodinu is revealed when one of Felicidad Dolores’s explanation counters the biblical interpretations grandsons, Policarpio Reid writes a letter to his that have concluded that black ethnicity was a daughter and explains the following: “...la clave de punishment by the Judeo-Christian God against Ham la palabra esa que te intriga, pues escribe la palabra for looking upon his father’s nakedness: en letras de molde negro y colócate delante de un And Noah began to be a man of the soil, and espejo y mira la palabra en el espejo y lee lo escrito he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine, de izquierda a derecha. Esa es la clave de nuestra and became drunk and lay uncovered in his salvación” (Wilson, Los nietos 230). The concept of tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw unity among all the children of Felicidad Dolores, in the nakedness of his father and told his two the African Diaspora, will lead to a strong sense of brothers outside. Them Shem and Japheth took community and collective progress. a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and This study has attempted to focus on the manner walked backward and covered the nakedness of that Los nietos de Felicidad Dolores highlights an African- their father. Their faces were turned backward, inspired aesthetic by way of African myths and orishas. and they did not see their father’s nakedness. The novel also presents images that are important When Noah awoke from his wine and knew within the Caribbean. The word jicotea (tortoise) what his youngest son had done to him he said, serves as a metaphor of the descendants of Africa ‘Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall throughout the Diaspora. Los nietos also serves as a he be to his brothers.’ He also said ‘Blessed be literary weapon to reveal complex issues that face the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan individuals of African ancestry in the Americas. The be his servant. May God shall enlarge Japheth, work has a structural form that is consistent with and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let African-influenced values and aesthetic. The matriarch Canaan be his servant (Genesis 9:20–27). Felicidad Dolores is described as the spiritual mother The following passages from the book of Genesis of enslaved African peoples. The Antillean community have been used by biblical scholars to justify the is presented as being intimately connected with enslavement of Africans by Europeans. According to African-centered faith practices. historian Drake such interpretations come from the Los nietos de Felicidad Dolores serves as an example of Babylonian Talmud and the Midrash, collections of Ashé-Diasporan literature. The inclusion of elements Biblical interpretations based on legends and myths of non-Western tropes and images allow the novel to (2-76). It is this logic that has historically justified project a magical world. Cubena’s inclusion of these whites’ negative treatment of blacks. elements makes him one of many revolutionary writers In the novel, when the narrator describes the that use their literature to reclaim African-influenced adventures of Guacayarima and his voyage to the spiritual culture. Cubena is one of numerous Americas, a European priest who baptizes the Caribbean writers such as Alejo Carpentier, Manuael surviving slaves aboard the ship uses Aristotilian Zapata Olivella, Quince Duncan, Nicolás Guillén, and philosophy and the biblical myth to explain the Nancy Morejón who have used their creative talent slaves’ resistance to baptism: “Además, consideraba to present the historical, cultural and spiritual realities a todos los africanos pecadores polígamos y that reflect this Panamanian form of Ashé-Diasporan

19 PALARA | Fall 2017 No. 21 literature to spark social change as posited by Frantz ---. The Wretched of this Earth. New York: Grove Fanon. Weidenfeld, 1963. Print. Cubena redefines the Antillean Black population, Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: which traditionally has been denigrated in Panama. Continuum, 1997. Print. This is a wretched revelation in light of the significant González-Wippler. Santería: African Magic in Latin contributions they have made in creating the nation’s America. New York: Julian Press, 1973. Print. infrastructure. Despite decades of legal and social ---. Santería the Religion. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1994. attempts to control and eradicate West Indian identity, Print. elements of this population survived in the collective memory of Africans and their descendants in the Jackson, Richard L. Black Literature and Humanism in twenty-first century. Latin America. University of Georgia Press, 2008. Print. Ócha’ni Lele. The Secrets of Afro-Cuban Divination: How Dr. Thomas Wayne Edison to Cast the Diloggun the Oracle of the Orishas. University of Louisville Destiny Books, 2000. Print. Olmos, Margarite Fernández. Sacred Possessions: Vodou, Bibliography Santería, Obeah, and the Caribbean. Rutgers University Press, 1997. Print. 1941. Constitución de la República de Panamá. Panamá. Soley, Laverne M. Seals. “Entrevista con Carlos Print. Guillermo ‘Cubena’ Wilson.” Afro-Hispanic Review 17.2 (1998): 67-69. Print. Arroyo, Justo. 1995. Race Relations in Panama. In African Presence in the Americas, ed. Carlos Vega, Marta Moreno. “The Ancestral Sacred Moore. New Jersey: Africa World Press. Print. Creative Impulse of Africa and the African Diaspora: Ase, the Nexus of the Black Birmingham-Pokorny, Elba and Elba Doris. Global Aesthetic.” Lenox Avenue: A Journal of “Interview with Dr. Carlos Guillermo Interarts Inquiry 5 (1999): 45-57. Print. Wilson.” Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura 6.2 (1991): 127-33. Print. Watson, Sonja Stephenson. The Politics of Race in Panama: Afro-Hispanic and West Indian Literary ---. “La recuperación del pasado histórico y la Discourses of Contention. Gainesville, Florida: reafirmación de la identidad Afro-Panameño University Press of Florida, 2014. Print. en Los nietos de Felicidad Dolores.” Denouncement and Reaffirmation of The Afro-Hispanic Identity Wilson, Carlos Guillermo. Chombo. Colección in Carlos Guillermo Wilson’s Works, ed. Elba Caniquil. Miami: Ediciones Universales, Birmingham-Pokorny:129-137. Miami: 1981. Ediciones Universal, 1993. Print. ---. Los nietos de Felicidad Dolores. Miami: Ediciones Brandon, George. Santeria from Africa to the New World: Universal, 1991. Print. The Dead Sell Memories. Bloomington 1993: ---. “The Role of Afro-Latino Writer and the Indiana UP, 1993. Print. Quincentenary (1492-1992).” Afro-Hispanic Cabrera, Lydia. El monte, igbo finda, ewe ori.Havana: Review 10.3 (1991): 67-71. Print. Burgay y Cía, 1954. Print. ---. “Unpublished autobiography.” 1994. Print. Drake, St. Clair. Black Folks Here and There. Diasporic Woodson, Carter G. The Mis-Education of the Negro. Africa Press, 2014. Trenton: African World P, 1990. Print. Edison, Thomas Wayne. “Humor and Satire: Wynter, Sylvia. “We Must Learn to Sit Down Ammunition in Carlos Guillermo Wilson’s together and talk a Little Culture.” Jamaica Resistance Novel Chombo,” College Language Journal 2.4 (1968): 21-32. Print. Association Journal 43.4 (2000): 494-511. Print. Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1967. Print.

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Endnotes 6 Lucumí is the term used to describe a transcultural spiritual practice that emerged when distinct African 1 The griot is a member of a hereditary caste among practices combined with elements of Christianity in the peoples of western Africa whose function is Cuba. to keep an oral history of the tribe or village and 7 Oko is often depicted as a hard-working farmer to entertain with stories, poems, songs, dances, who wears a straw hat and plows the earth with a etc.. These respected individuals are historians, team of oxen. storytellers, poets and/or musicians. 8 The writer uses contrived names to reflect the 2 When I started my research on Cubena’s work, I nature of the characters in Chombo. established contact with him and he sent me a thirty- 9 This term is borrowed from Carter G. Woodson’s three page document that provides information The Mis-education of the Negro (1933). The mis- about himself, his family and their connection with educated Negro has internalized negative attitudes the construction of the canal. He also explains why toward fellow Blacks. Therefore, they play no role in he writes. improving the situation for the race as a whole. 3 In Cuba, one well-known rebel leader was Carlota 10 The Constitution of 1941 made such an impact on (????-1844). She was one of three leaders who the lives of Antilleans that reference to it, especially organized a slave revolt at the Triumvirato sugar Law 13, appears more than a dozen times on the mill in Mantanzas, Cuba by using the drum to following pages (58,70,127,129,130,131,132,133,157, communicate. There are other vivid examples of 158,162,168,170,173,176,205,206). resistance activities being led by spiritual leaders in other parts of the Americas: Zumbi in Brazil 11 This statement is repeated on pages 174 and 175. (1655–1695); Jamaica’s major leaders include Cudjoe 12 In Panama, this drink is like a fruit drink. In some (1680–1744), Nanny (1685 – circa 1755), and Tacky regions it is fermented. (????-????). One of Mexico’s most famous rebel leaders was Yangá (circa 1545- circa 1631), and in 13 The tortoise image found under the tamarind the early United States with leaders such as Harriet tree appears repeatedly throughout the novel on the Tubman (1820-1913). All these resistance leaders following pages 56,81,23,41,81,82,83,93,95,128,131,1 used elements of spirituality to unify the oppressed 34,147,193, 202,226,228. to achieve dramatic social change. Tacky led Ashanti slaves in an event that would be known as Tacky’s War or Tacky’s Rebellion. Tacky sought to legitimize his position by securing the services of an Obeah- man as a magio-religious co-leader charged with supplying the rebellious slaves with a potion that would make them invulnerable in battle. The defiant slaves came to believe that Tacky could catch any bullet aimed at him and fire it back at the enemy (Olmos, 8). 4 Vodún is a sister religion of Santería being made up of the mixture of Dahomey spiritual practices that were practiced by the Ewe people of southern Ghana and southern and central Togo, the Mina and the Fon people of southern and central Togo and southern and central Benin. 5 King Louis XIV, of France, implemented the Code Noir or the Black Code in Haiti in 1685 for the regulation of the slave trade to restrict activities of slaves.