Kidnappings in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, are commonplace. But recently, another, rather exotic type of crime has been added to them. On the main metropolitan churchyard, graves are being robbed every now and then. Moreover, the graveyard marauders are concerned not only with the valuable things of the dead, but the dead themselves, or rather, what is left of them - bones.
How much is the skull?
One day, the descendants of General Joaquin Kreslo, who ruled Venezuela in the last decade of the 19th century, came to visit the grave of their venerable ancestor. And what? Their horror and indignation can be understood: the gates leading to the family plot were broken open, the coffins of the general and his descendants were opened, the bones were stolen …
On one of the holidays, a resident of Caracas Milvia Santos came to the grave of her mother and found it dug up. The coffin was opened, and the corpse was without a skull …
The main tool of graveyard thieves is scrap. For them they open both crypts and coffins. Because today the bones of the dead - especially the noble and famous - are in great demand. In December 2009 alone, more than five hundred coffins were opened and plundered at the main cemetery of Caracas, Cementerio del Sur. Since then, the situation has not changed much.
And all because the African religion is gaining strength in Venezuela. And the main thing in her rituals and rituals is the bones of the dead. Especially the skulls and thighs. They cost the most: for a skull you will be given about $ 2,000, for a thigh - up to $ 400.
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A terrible "fell"
Palo, or the Rules of the Congo, is a group of religious beliefs that are associated with the worship of the dead and stronger black magic than the voodoo religion. The religion developed fell in Cuba and the Dominican Republic among the African slaves brought there, mainly from the Bantu people living in Central Africa.
Today, this religion has survived in its most traditional form in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. And curiously, in the latter, most paleros (followers of the religion have fallen) have white skin. Three main branches fell in: Mayomba, Briyumba and Kimbis. In Brazil, Palo Umbanda and Palo Quimbanda are practiced. In Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas, there is palo cumin; in Haiti, there is a palo-like voodoo variety called macaya.
Swords and bones
Palo is based on two ideas: worship of the spirits of ancestors and belief in the forces of nature. These two ideas symbolize the bones of the dead, containing the spiritual energy of the dead, and "natural" objects - primarily sticks, which are endowed with the power of the earth. Actually, translated from Spanish, fell means "stick". Both are considered sacred and are used in the manufacture of altars.
These altari-nganga are the main attribute of the fallen. Such an altar is a cauldron filled with sacred soil (often from a cemetery), sticks (palo), human bones (most often skulls) and all sorts of other sacred things, including plants.
Palero believe that spirits live in nkisi (sacred objects) - kimpungulu, second in strength only to the supreme creator god of all living Sambi. His company in the pantheon of gods is Kobayende - the lord of the kingdom of the dead and the god of disease; Gurunfinda - the god of forests and plants; Mola Benge is the goddess of wealth and pleasure; Watariamba - the god of hunting and war; Nsashi is the god of thunder and fire and many other less important gods and deities. The gate between the realms of the living and the dead is guarded by Mariguanda.
Good and evil … priests
"Evil" priests fell, who call the forces of the devil, the spirits of suicides, criminals and witches, are afraid not only of the paleros themselves, but also adherents of other religions. These black magicians are considered omnipotent, and their witchcraft, if they have already undertaken to harm someone, is deadly.
"Good" priests are engaged in peaceful fortune telling and predictions. The most common tool of a soothsayer in palo is the horn of a bull or a goat with a mirror attached to it. Looking into this magical vititi mensou, paleroes predict the future.
Another popular divination tool is gunpowder. Most often it is divided into seven heaps, which are lit in a specific sequence. If the specified ignition order is followed, it is considered that the perfume gave a positive answer to your question.
Often, paleroes also guess with the help of cowrie shells. They scatter 7, 14 or 21 shells and then carefully examine their locations. By the same principle, predictions are made on pieces of coconut.
Still "good" priests practice smoking a white plate. This process is similar to our fortune-telling on coffee grounds. First, the palero touches such a plate to various parts of the human body - this is how the necessary information is transferred to it. After that, the plate is kept on the candle flame for a while, and then the patterns and lines of soot are studied.
Bone hunters
The religion is believed to have been brought to Venezuela by Cuban specialists, whom President Hugo Chavez has invited in large numbers to the country in recent years. It is quite possible, because it began to flourish in Venezuela only now, although it settled in Latin America in the 17th century.
Today, the situation in the cemetery of Caracas is so out of control that the inhabitants of the capital have created the organization Aprofamiliares, which advocates the prohibition of the trade in human bones. After all, dug graves and opened coffins are almost a daily picture at Cementerio del Sur.
Samuel Zambrano, the 34-year-old leader of Venezuelan Paleros, fears that if events continue to develop in the same direction, they will soon be blamed for all the troubles in Venezuela. He claims that the paleroes themselves have nothing to do with the looting of graves and that the situation around the cemetery demonizes religion and leads to its misunderstanding.
Meanwhile, such devilry continues to go on at the cemetery that the guards prefer not to enter there without special need and are usually on duty at the entrance. And even fearless taxi drivers from the capital refuse to enter the churchyard without security. Because there bandits and hooligans ride motorcycles and mopeds along the paths in broad daylight and attack the few guests who risked wandering into Cementerio del Sur.
In addition, murders often take place at the cemetery, and recently suicide fans have chosen it. Suicides come to Cementerio del Sur from all over the country to commit suicide. Perhaps they are attracted here by the fact that after death their skull, separated from the body, will become nkisi - a sacred object of worshipers has fallen …