WTF....

[old as dirt]

30. THIS

Last edited Sat Jan 1, 2022, 02:47 PM - Edit history (1)

People are killed for money, power. greed and all sorts of things that have zilch to do with religion..Just sayin'.

One of the first stories that my wife told me about her religion (Roman Catholic) when I first met her was about how her ancestors ran away some 500 years ago.

They were called "cimarrones", and were among the very first "illegals" here in América.

In the Patía valley they climbed a mountain, to the top of el cerro del Manzanillo, to see if they could see África. When they couldn't see África, they played their drums and cried.

Whenever their descendants were sad, like their ancestors before them, they would also climb to the top of el cerro del Manzanillo, and look out to see if they could see África, and when they could not, they would play their drums and cry.

Over time all of those tears coalesced to form a lake.

El cerro del Manzanillo is a magical mythological and geographical place.

As it happens, my wife was born very close to it, and when she was a child more than half a century ago, there was a rumor going around Patía that la Virgen María had appeared at the top of el cerro del Manzanillo, so her and her friend climbed to the top to see if they could see Her.

Now, my wife's religion happens to be a religion of war, and her music happens to be the music of war, and her culture happens to be a culture of war. Her ancestors had their reasons.

But that doesn't mean that all religion is about war, or that all music is about war, or that all culture is about war.

That's just a stereotype.

Here's a dissertation on my wife's religion.

It mentions four songs. One of them is in english, and a couple of lines are quoted.

RELIGIOSIDAD AFROPATIANA
Funerales de Angelitos: Arrullos

https://repository.javeriana.edu.co/bitstream/handle/10554/6623/tesis149.pdf;sequence=1

From page 44:

El Palenque del El Castigo

"Stolen from Africa, brought to America,
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival"