Carnival and Ñáñiguismo
Carnival and Ñáñiguismo
Poetic Syncretism in Alejo Carpentier's “Juego santo”
The focus of this chapter—“Carnival and Ñáñiguismo: Poetic Syncretism in Alejo Carpentier's ‘Juego santo’”—is a little-studied poem by one of the earliest literary proponents of Afrocubanismo. This chapter begins with a brief exploration of Carpentier's decisive role as a founder of this artistic and cultural movement, but the focus is on the poem itself and, more specifically, its relationship to and evocation of Afro-Cuban carnival traditions. The chapter demonstrates how—in an act of poetic syncretism—Alejo Carpentier melds two public spectacles that had long been associated with Ñáñiguismo, or the Abakuá secret society: semi-public, sacred processions that were performed as part of ñáñigo initiation ceremonies, and carnivalesque “comparsas ñáñigas,” which first emerged during nineteenth-century Día de Reyes celebrations, and then eventually became integrated into traditional carnival festivities.
Keywords: Carnival, Ñáñiguismo, Alejo Carpentier, Juego santo, Afrocubanismo, cultural movement, Afro-Cuban carnival traditions
Florida Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .