El Monte

First published in Cuba in 1954 and appearing here in English for the first time Lydia Cabrera's <i>El Monte</i> is a foundational and iconic study of Afro-Cuban religious and cultural traditions. Drawing on conversations with elderly Afro-Cuban priests who were one or two generations away from the transatlantic slave trade Cabrera combines ethnography history folklore literature and botany to provide a panoramic account of the multifaceted influence of Afro-Atlantic cultures in Cuba. Cabrera details the natural and spiritual landscape of the Cuban <i>monte</i> (forest wilderness) and discusses hundreds of herbs and the constellations of deities sacred rites and knowledge that envelop them. The result is a complex spiritual and medicinal architecture of Afro-Cuban cultures. This new edition of what is often referred to as the Santería bible includes a new foreword introduction and translator notes. As a seminal work in the study of the African diaspora that has profoundly impacted numerous fields Cabrera's magnum opus is essential for scholars activists and religious devotees of Afro-Cuban traditions alike.