Fourteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

The largest maroon community in the Colombian Cauca was professedly Christian. The central palenque (palisaded maroon town) only came to be known by the colonial authorities when the inhabitants led a priest to their hidden location to provide religious services and establish a church in the eighteenth century. In their intra-communal duels they called upon the Virgin Mary in a unique martial devotion. Yet, they also continued to rely on leaders who made pacts with the Afro-Colombian devil to lead their military resistance against re-enslavement and their cultural resistance against oppressive whites who sought to deprive them of their land, culture, and livelihood. This paper explores this practice as a continuation of the Angolan legacy of political legitimacy and community ethics.