Nsala Malecum all,

It's been quiet as of late on this side of the forum. Where is everyone gone. Anyhow, I wanted to open up this new topic to get some views from y'all. Not too long ago I was speaking with an elder Palero about my pet Boa. He told me that for some the serpant is forbiden and a "atraso" (regression). That was a first for me so I wanted to get the feelings of the paleros here.

I've read that the serpant has always been regarded as a positive symbol by us and even used for trabajos (work). Which also brings to question, what type of work can be done with the serpent other than a despojo (cleansing).

Malekum sala,
Viking

By carire on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 11:04 am: Edit

darle de comer a la enganga si tiene oh si lo quire.......

By Omar Barral (Viking) on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 06:12 am: Edit

Hola Carire,

El Boa es mi mascote (pet). Yo no tengo intension de darsela a la prenda.

Viking

By CARIRE on Monday, March 22, 2004 - 08:22 pm: Edit

PUES PERDON ENTONCES SI LLA TIENES AMOR POR BOA PUES PERDON ES QUE LLO SOY FRIO ....

By Tato on Sunday, May 02, 2004 - 12:05 am: Edit

Nzambi is closely related to the Kongo spirit Simbi, whose form Dambhalah takes when invoked in the Petwo rituals of Haitian Vodou. Simbi is recognized as a magical and powerful water-snake lwa, who is served within Petwo rites. West-Central African nature deities or spirits, called simbi in Ki-Kongo, served the enslaved people of colonial times as spiritual benefactors around which captives of diverse African origins and those born in the colonies focused their communities. These spirits are often believed to reside in bodies of water and associated with aquatic animals. The nature spirits known as bisimbi (plural of simbi) among many Ki-Kongo speakers often take the form of water spirits.

By Tato on Sunday, May 02, 2004 - 12:03 am: Edit

"Four spirits resided in the water beneath the rapids in the Congo River, in the form of four serpents, Kuitikuiti the Waving one, his wife Mboze the Fertile one, and their children Makanga and Mbatilanda. They lived in the Infernal Cauldron, as the white men call it, the maelstrom where the powerful current of the Congo meets the rising tide at every noon. The people say that Kuitikuiti has been seen in many other parts of the river as well.”
(Jan Knappert: Myths and Legends of the Congo)

By Tato on Sunday, May 02, 2004 - 12:02 am: Edit

One account by Moreau de Saint-Méry of a “vaudoux” possession ceremony in Haiti during the pre-Revolutionary period describes a chant used in this ceremony in the Ki-Kongo language and addressed to the Kongo deity “Mbumba” being represented by a snake. The name Dambamba, in the lyrics of the cited bomba, could easily represent a possible combination or fusion of the Dahomean spirit Dan Bada, Dã or Dan, with that of the Kongo spirits, Mbamba or Mbùmba, and associated with the Ki-Kongo term ndamba and the symbolism of “the serpent” as well as that of the ancestors.

By Tato on Sunday, May 02, 2004 - 12:01 am: Edit

MBUMBA is a great snake found in wells; it loves moisture, and is allied to the BOMA. Women are more especially afraid of MBUMBA, and after drawing the fish and water out of a well, they will run away and leave their fish if they discover that MBUMBA has been hidden in it after all. The word means moisture, secret, "to draw up the earth round the roots of a plant" when the smell of the earth is said to impart some secret to women. Nearly connected with MBUMBA is the plain copper bracelet of the NGANGA MBUMBA, and the NLUNGA SONGO. This connects MBUMBA with marriage and smell. (R. E. Dennett)

By Tato on Sunday, May 02, 2004 - 12:01 am: Edit

For the Bântu-Kôngo, Mbùmba Maza (<Boumba Maza in Haiti) is an important n’kisi well known in the past. And as it is suggested by its name, it is an n'kisi of the water. The word maza means ‘water’ (MacGaffey). Among the Bavili of Luango, Mbùmba is part of the Kungu group of spirits, associated with fruitfulness. Mbùmba is also a great snake found in wells and which loves moisture. Mbùmba refers to “mystery”. The idea may also be associated with ripe fruit falling from the trees, bua ‘to fall’.

By Tato on Sunday, May 02, 2004 - 12:00 am: Edit

In the Congo/Bantu area of Mayombe in Central Africa, Mbùmba Loango is the name of an enigmatic and powerful n'kisi (spirit) who hides its true appearance in the form of a great serpent (rainbow python) and lives near the water. In Kongo mythology, Mbùmba, is a very old and powerful healing n'kisi (fetish) or spirit. The etymological meaning of Mbùmba comes from the verb wûmba (bumba), which means to grind, to knead, and to mold clay with the hands as if making a pot (Laman; Mampuya).

By Tato on Saturday, May 01, 2004 - 11:59 pm: Edit

In Ki-Kongo, ndamba is a type of rainbow python or serpent. According to Farris Thompson, the term ndamba puns on the Ki-Kongo word for “to sleep” in “the sense of the ecstatic love-making of two serpents, male and female, who wrap themselves around a palm tree in order to mate”. Among the Kongo, Mbamba is a protective n'kisi or spirit, which guards villages from mishap. For the Bavili of the Loango region, Mbamba is the coronella snake, a green snake measuring from four to eight feet in length, it is also the tiny kernel where all the virtues of the future palm tree exist. The word mbamba is a Vili term meaning ‘old’ or ‘ancient’ (Lehuard 1989).

By Tato Torres on Saturday, May 01, 2004 - 11:57 pm: Edit

In the Congo/Bantu area of Mayombe in Central Africa, Mbùmba Loango is the name of an enigmatic and powerful n'kisi (spirit) who hides its true appearance in the form of a great serpent (rainbow python) and lives near the water. In Kongo mythology, Mbùmba, is a very old and powerful healing n'kisi (fetish) or spirit. The etymological meaning of Mbùmba comes from the verb wûmba (bumba), which means to grind, to knead, and to mold clay with the hands as if making a pot (Laman; Mampuya).