Abakuá
Sign in to saveAlso known as Abakua, Iremes, Abacuá, Abacua, Ñañiguismo
thumb|right|Photograph of an Ireme dancer
~22 min read
Encyclopedic overview
17 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Organisation and membership
- Beliefs and practices
- Origin story
- Practices
- Music
- Day of the Three Kings
- Language
- History
- Ékpè and the Atlantic slave trade
- Formation and early history
- After the Cuban Revolution
- Reception and influence
- References
- Citations
- Sources
- Further reading
thumb|right|Photograph of an Ireme dancer
Abakuá, also sometimes known as Ñañiguismo, is a Cuban initiatory religious fraternity founded in 1836. The society is open only to men and those initiated take oaths to not reveal the secret teachings and practices of the order. Members are typically known as Abanékues and are divided amongst lodges or chapters called juegos. Abakuá derives largely from the Ékpè society of West Africa, but displays adaptations like the inclusion of Roman Catholic symbolism.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Abakuá” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.