#cimarrons

[negreabsolut]

Atac a un galió, per Howard Pyle. Iŀlustració per a l'obra El llibre dels pirates de Howard Pyle: Ficció, realitat i fantasia sobre els bucaners i els cimarrons dels dominis espanyols. Pintura a l'oli; 1905.

[bogsleep]

[3upadventures]

Green Mountain Trail Run (Hike?)

Green Mountain Trail Run (Hike?)

I’ve been working my tail off but last week, I didn’t work until early evening so Sprocket and I headed out to savor summer a little bit. It was warm but not near as warm as it’s been this past week so we headed to the Stealey Mountain Trail to do some exploring. The start of the trail was pretty flat so I made a bit of an impulsive decision to start running. Less than a mile from the car, the…

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[diasporadash]

My trip to Palenque de San Basilio. About an hour and change ride from Cartagena. I had a lot of trouble from Colombians on how to go about getting to this maroontown. Everytime I asked someone "how do I get to San Basilio?" they asked "Oh, why do you want to go there?" "It's dangerous" NEWSFLASH The perception most people have is that the whole country of Colombia is dangerous PLUS crime is non-existent in San Basilio. It's a very small town, everyone knows everyone and the only reason I am led to believe people wanted to steer me away from it is that it is an African-descended town. 

Palenqueros were very warm and welcoming and the town holds SO MUCH history. Founded by Benkos Bioho an enslaved African who fled, "taking with him his wife, three other men and three other women. He also encouraged an additional 22 slaves, owned by Juan de Palacios, to rebel and flee with them. The group of 30 headed out into the swamps and camped near the village of Tolú -- around 50 miles away.

From there, Bioho organized the group into a guerrilla type movement, and for five years the group launched attacks on Spanish interests. The Governor of Cartagena tried everything to stop the group, but found it impossible to do so. Finally, in 1605, the Governor signed a peace treaty with the group and gave them a small section of territory -- what is today San Basilio de Palenque -- where they could establish themselves as free people."

More info: 

This place, known as San Basilio de Palenque, is famous for its symbol, the palenqueras, dark-skinned women who, dressed in multicolored dresses and swaying their hips, walk while they balance bowls of fresh fruit on their heads.

The palenqueras are the image representing the difficult, complicated history of their ancestors. They symbolize the struggles of the black cimarrones - slaves who courageously escaped from their owners in search of a better future.

The palenqueras preserve the African traditions brought by the slaves who disembarked on these regions of the South American continent during the Spanish Conquesti. Soon after, in colonial times, palenques began to appear on the mountains. These were settlements of rebellious cimarrones. The term “palenque” turned into a symbol of freedom because anyone who became a member of one was automatically free. 

The palenqueros live by the norms of the social organization inherited from their African ancestors: the ma-kuagro, according to which every society is divided into age groups to allow the division of labor, the protection of the territory, and the preservation of traditions based on honesty, solidarity, and a collective spirit.

Another form of social organization in San Basilio de Palenque is the junta, a committee of sorts that is formed for a specific purpose - an illness, for example – and disappears once its purpose has been fulfilled.

The Palenque language is a Creole language based on Spanish lexicon, but with the morpho-syntactical characteristics of the African continent’s autochthonous languages, especially Bantu. Researchers have also detected that the Palenquero lexicon includes words from the Kikongo and Kimbundolanguages.

This type of Creole language originated as a response to difficulties in communication between Europeans and the various representatives of different linguistic families who arrived in South America.

[SOURCES: http://www.colombia.travel/en/international-tourist/sightseeing-what-to-do/recommended-tourist-attractions-special-reports/san-basilio-de-palenque, http://raisingcolombiankids.blogspot.com/2010/05/benkos-bioho-and-cimarrones.html]

[rosasparkz-blog]

late night drives airing out..

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