J. Gonzalez Perez (b.1949), Congo Siete Rayos, oil on canvas-laminated tablet, 15 x 18 - 1/4", 2000, Havana. The fierce Congo carries his lungowa staff, machete, and mpaka divining horn. In the monte (sacred forest), surrounded by nature's powerful flora, fauna, landscape featres, and meteorological occurrences, he surveys his two spirit-charged ngangas (aka nkisi, prenda) Siete Rayos and Lucero Mundo, following ceremonial work. Beneath the great Ceiba (silk cotton) tree, lighted candles, four coconut shards for divination (chamalongos), strong rum, and a cigar stand before 's cauldron, which contains 21 feathered palos (medicinal sticks), sacred earths, and the kiyumba (skull), which embodies an ancestor spirit. Gonzalez has been a Palero, Abakua, tatoo artist, and painter for over 40 years.

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