Cuban Folk-Lore

Cuban Folk-Lore
L. ROY TERWILLIGER
HAVANA AVISADOR COMERCIAL PRINTING HOUSE 30, AMARGURA ST. 1908


Nowhere will one find such a mass of superstitious customs practiced, as in Cuba; especially among the black and mestizos , and even the educated whites, while not admitting their belief in witchcraft have a wholesome fear of the Brujo or witch doctor.
It is probable that most of these queer practices were introduced by the blacks who brought their strange beliefs from Africa. The belief in the Evil Spirit was doubtless the result of their early contact with the aboriginal Cubans, who worshipped the devil.
Ñañiguismo is a form of superstition in which Catholicism and witchcraft are mingled in bewildering confusion.
The society of Ñáñigos was first introduced in Cuba in 1836 by a cabildo of the Carabalí nation; many conjectures as to its origin have been put forward, but it is most probable that a priest or Chief of the African institution called Ñanguitua , was brought to Cuba as a slave and here resumed his official character among his enslaved countrymen.