Mama Nganga

The Palo Monte or Palo Mayombe is a religious cult of Bantu origin introduced in Cuba by African slaves brought by the Spanish to work in sugar plantations and other crops. Padre Nganga means man and Madre Nganga or Yaya means woman who know the rules and oral traditions and officiate as priests in charge of a house also known as Munanso.

From the sixteenth to the seventeenth century thousands of slaves worked and settled in the central region of the island, mostly in the area of Matanzas. There in 1765 the town of Cimarrones was founded, and became famous for its population of black slaves who practiced miracle cures and all sorts of witch craft. Ña Filomena and Ña Secundina were brought from their native Congo to work as slaves at the Santa Amalia Mill, of Cimarrones, in 1853. They were two most famous Madres Ngangas.

But Nganga or Prenda is also the consecrated recipient or iron pot containing bones, grass and soil.