Skull found in the Delaware River Nov. 22 may have been used in a ceremony of the Palo Mayombe religion.
By John Tredrea
Hopewell Township police think the human skull found in the Delaware River Nov. 22 may have been used in a ceremony of the Palo Mayombe religion, which came to Cuba from the Congo during the slave trade and subsequently reached the United States with Cuban immigrants.
Capt. George Meyer of the township police said Monday that the investigation has led authorities to believe the skull may have been a ceremonial artifact used in cult rituals by a Palo Mayombe priest.
"According to experts we’ve contacted, the Palo Mayombe religion requires that such a skull be disposed of in a river, and in a way that seems related to the objects found with the skull," the captain said.
The skull was found in shallow water near Upper River Road in Titusville by a Florida couple who had been visiting people in this area. Police will not disclose the identity of the people who found the skull.
Capt. Meyer said "about 30" items were found with the skull. Included among those items was an animal skull. Parts of a jaw also were found, he added. "We believe they are from the skull. Further examination is needed to confirm that," he noted Wednesday.
Capt. Meyer said the township police have not received results of an examination of the skull by state forensic experts. He added Wednesday: "We cannot estimate when the complete examination will be finished."
That examination may reveal the skull’s age, sex and gender and how long ago the person to whom the skull belonged died. "At this point, we think the skull is fairly old," said Capt. Meyer, who added that the skull could have been stolen from a grave. He added that police have no evidence to link the skull to any crime, recent or otherwise.
The captain also said Wednesday: "It was reported to us by area residents that a pick-up truck was seen on the road with a metal casket in the back. We have no leads from that at this point."
***
According to a paper on Afro-Cuban Diasporan religions, written in August 2000 by Sara M. Sanchez, "Palo Monte, or Palo Mayombe is the most common of the religious cults derived from the Bantú (Congo) of Central Africa, who occupied a vast territory from the southern part of Cameroon through northern Angolato Mozambique and also extended to what is now Congo-Brazzaville. It encompasses various Congo religious systems: Regla Conga, Biyumba, Musunde, Quirimbaya, and Vrillumba. There was also a later variant that admitted whites Regla Kimbisa del Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje, established by Andrés Facundo Cristo de los Dolores Petit. This Rule, while expanding its membership and furthering Catholic influences in many of the rituals, as well as also expanding the cult to Yoruba orichas, was viewed as betraying Congo secrets to the ruling whites.
"The emphasis of the Bantú/Congo religious practices lies in the magical or sorcery aspects of African beliefs, in tandem with healing practices. The name "Palo" denotes the sticks and branches from the forest (el monte) utilized in the elaboration of a sacred object (nganga) used for spells. Often maligned, practitioners of Palo (paleros) are accused of practicing black magic or witchcraft, with rites utilizing corpses and dangerous herbs and spells for evil purposes. Palo involves a specialized cult of the dead with emphasis on magic practices, such as pacts with the dead, typically made in a graveyard along with the creation of a nganga. This nganga is placed in a special iron cauldron filled with ritual objects of nature (bones and sticks) and imbued with magical powers. All of these practices and attributes of sorcery with the dead (trabajos con muertos) involve the idea of evil witchcraft and make Palo experts or leaders very much feared and regarded as dangerous.
"In Miami, as in Cuba, they have made the headlines by stealing corpses for use in their ngangas. The Africans themselves were implicated by this negative image as they capitalized, to their advantage, on the fear of their sorcery by the whites in power. All these magic rites have earned Palo the epithet of "the dark side of Santería," the term encompassing in this instance not only the Regla de Ocha, but also the Congo-based cults."

