Quebec Act Of 1774
Quebec Act Of 1774
During the time of slavery in Cuba, religion was extremely important and respected; the intelligent individuals where thought to be the people who followed a particular faith. However because it was a way of living the religions had difficulty understanding and valuing each other’s beliefs. There were three main battling religions; Congo, Lucumi and Catholicism each religion had different views that clashed with the other religions. Because of this argumentative environment social divisions were created between the slaves. Each social class refused to accept the other religion as being valuable or valid.
The two African religions faced the majority of the problems. They were polar opposites and therefore had difficulty understanding each other’s beliefs. The Congo’s were the more important of the two religions in the Barracoons and they believed in witchcraft. Their witchcraft was quite specific using a strict set of rules. For the men to cast a spell; ngangas, they had to be out in the sun as it gave them intelligence and strength, the women were different in they used the moon for strength and intelligence. The ngangas’ were the secrets used to created the hexe. If a slave following this religion had a particular dislike for another individual, he or she would follow the individual and gather the dirt walked upon and by sun down the individual would be dead, “ When they had a problem with some person, they followed that person along any path and gathered up the dirt they walked on. They saved it and put it in a nganga or in a secret little corner. As the sun went down, the life of the person would leave him. And at sunset the person was quite dead.” Because of this practice Congos were believed to be murderers, yet there intentions were socially acceptable because they only killed those who where harmful.
Another principle this group had was “ the soul was witchcraft one had on the inside” , the person was deemed to have either a good or bad soul and that in turn determined how they lived.
The death procedure the Congo’s had was full of rituals; one must not be afraid to die and if one did die the others were sworn from crying and had to sing without the beat of drums. The process of...