The African Presence in Santo Domingo

Contributions of Black Culture to Dominican Culture

51 Contributions of Black Culture to Dominican Culture I n a society with a significant presence of black cultural elements and an equally important ethnic composition of blacks and mulattos, one mightthinkthatitwouldbeaneasyandacceptabletopictoapproach.68 However, it is not. Dominicans have suffered a slow and gradual process of alienation regarding their ethnocultural identity. The result has been the ideological denial of African culture, and the distortion of the homus cultural that has placed Dominicans back in their historical past. In other words, back to their real cultural being, which has been replaced by a fictitious culturalbeing. Once in the Americas, black Africans had to assume another form of expression—not only emotionally and psychologically, but also culturally. Their social memory constituted the reconstructive pillar of their needs in the new and hostile conditions. The black Africans reinterpreted and re-createdthings,eliminatingwhatwasinappropriatetothecircumstances and to survival. Similarly, Africanness would pervade the new culture in Th e Afr ican Pr esence in S anto Doming o 52 an unavoidable symbiotic manner, despite the hidden traditional proHispanicideology .Thisisanoticeablephenomenonofallcolonialsocieties intheAmericasthatinvolvedslavery,andcannotbedeniedbynonsensical Manichaeism. Thus, it will be the work of scholars (historians, anthropologists, linguists, archaeologists, musicologists, etc.) to determine the degree of ethnocultural involvement of the black component in the formation of these new societies, and specify which of the manifestations of everyday life are assumed, consciously or subconsciously, explicitly or implicitly. Fivecenturiesofcohabitationcannotbeignoredbythescientificdiscourse. African society—and its descendant: the mulatto or creole society—is an objective reality, whose existence is independent of our consciousness. Sofar,thepresenceofAfricanelementsisgenerallyadmittedinatleast two basic features of our culture: religion and music, and its creative and inspirational source. The African element is rhythm and mysticism; it is danceandritual.Theirworldinasingleprincipleintegratesthesacredand the secular, the pain and the joy. The masks worn in sacred burial mock death and hide pain. In the everyday life of the African world there is no contradiction between life and death, between music and religion, between the real world (secular) and the world of the ancestors (sacred). It is, in fact, an unaware mind that does not understand the notion of “capital sin.” Such a society subjectedtothehumiliatingprocessthatslaveryrepresentedcouldnothelp but project its past onto the present and thus create its own psychic space. In the long run, the establishment of what could be called the “American identity”wouldblendwithotherculturalheritages,particularlytheSpanish. Each of our gestures, our food, colors, dances, music—as well as some religious expressions, turns of phrase, names of places, burial rites, crafts, and other objects—bear witness to that past. Contributions to Dominican Culture 53 Evidenceofthatisthepresence/persistenceofblacknessinthosethings in which people routinely partake: food, gestures, form and color of dress, danceandmusic,religiousbeliefs,turnsofphrase,placenames,funeralrites, artisanship, and objects that represent culture in a material way. MAGIC-RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS Magic-religious manifestations reflect the mixture of African-Christian elements, especially in populous urban and rural areas. The explanation for this fusion of beliefs lies in the colonial past, when blacks’ religious practices and rites were prohibited.69 These bans forced blacks to rethink their gods and beliefs. Cultural syncretism is enforced as a reaction to the denial of space and spiritual freedom, as expressed by Jorge Cela: “The AmericanblackacquiresthegesturesofhisnewculturebutretainsAfrican thought....Here-thinksChristianitythroughhisownutilitarianandcollective religion.”70 It is within this exclusion process—governed by ethnocentric ideas— that Dominicans have forged an awareness of their cultural being. As in music, the magic-religious African roots will emerge, making the study of popular religion a point of paramount importance in the research of Dominicancultureasawhole .Amongthediversesetofpractices,“Dominican voodoo”71 is the greatest expression of African culture: • The worshiping of deities (Papa Legba, Metre Silí, Papá Candelo, Anaisa, Pier Danton, Damballah, Baron of the Cemetery, etc.) • Worshipthatisbasicallyfamilial,withoutchurchesoraltars;apractice within the home Th e Afr ican Pr esence in S anto Doming o 54 • The offering of food and other ceremonial goods • Drum-beating in honor of the deities, gods, mysteries, or luases72 • The spiritual possession of a lua or “mystery horse” (person who is “possessed” by deities) • Relationships based on material interest, duties, rights, and punishment between the believer or practitioner and the deities • Belief in ancestors, and ceremonies in their honor • Celebrations to honor the deities (ceremonial food, animal sacrifice, musical rituals, dances, possession, etc.) Thesemanifestationsare,inessence,ofAfricanorigin.Theyareknown primarily in rural and populous urban sectors. Repression or prejudices have never kept the population from a religious practice by which it is deeply influenced. Othermanifestationsofpopularreligiosityhavebeenequallyaffected by a syncretic process. Examples of this are the cofradíasor“brotherhoods” (cabildos, “nations”) known elsewhere in the Americas, although in the beginning the participation of blacks was forbidden for...