University of Illinois Press American Folklore Society "I Bow My Head to the Ground": The Creation of Bodily Experience in a Cuban American Santería Initiation Author(s): Michael Atwood Mason Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 107, No. 423, Bodylore (Winter, 1994), pp. 23-39 Published by: American Folklore Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/541071 Accessed: 12-10-2015 19:03 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. University of Illinois Press and American Folklore Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of American Folklore. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Mon, 12 Oct 2015 19:03:02 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MICHAEL ATWOOD MASON "I Bow My Head to the Ground": The Creationof Bodily Experiencein a Cuban AmericanSanteria Initiation Although much scholarshipin performance-orientedfolkloristics has focused on ritual, little attentionhas beengiven to the roleof the body in such enactments.In an initiation in the Afro-Cuban religionSanteria, theformal gesturesexecuted by the neophyte'sbody show membershipin and commitmentto the religiouscommu- nity. The meaning of the gestures lies not so much in abstractformulations and conceptsbut in theirperformance within the ritual context.