Ethnographic atlas of Cuba

Concentrated settlement: A settlement with a more or less integral and compact area of population concentration. In addition to houses, there are other economic and social facilities. In this work, all locations reported in the colonial period as settlements (cities, villages, towns, hamlets and the bateyes in the sugar mills) were considered concentrated settlements. Cities and townships (villas) received this category through a Royal Decree in an official foundation process. They were the most important settlements in the island and held an urban way of life. Villages (aldeas) and hamlets (caseríos) were clearly rural and towns (pueblos) had an intermediate position, depending on their political and administrative functions. Actually, it is quite difficult to offer an accurate definition of the various settlements at the time, since there were many arbitrary classifications. Many differences can be found in a single indicator. In the case of villages (aldeas) and hamlets (caseríos), distinctions are harder to establish. For the present period, the classification appearing in the censuses has been followed: "Inhabited location (that is, concentrated settlement) is a group of five or more individual households, standing no more than 200 meters apart, with a name identifying it, forming a social and economic unit different from the neighboring ones."

Caballo (Horse): One of the single-membrane nailed hide drums forming part of the montompolo ensemble.

Cabildo: Urban institutions grouping Africans of a same ethnic origin and their offspring. These religious and mutual benefit associations contributed significantly to preserve many cultural expressions such as songs, music and dances, but were specifically able to maintain religious systems to a large extent. Some can still be found in the country.

Cachimba: Flat-bottomed boat, like a barge, with hatches in the bow and the stern, a regala, a sail with four points hoisted by one of its vertexes. It is used for several purposes, but specially to gather prawns with casting nets.

Coffee plantation: An estate where coffee is grown. In the peak moment of coffee production, they were the most important estates in Cuba after the sugar mills. Hundreds of slaves worked in the larger of them. However, already towards the middle of the 19th century, coffee production suffered a sharp decline. Many of the flourishing plantations of the beginning of the century were totally bankrupt or declining, their economic value was small and slaves were few. From that time on, coffee production was mostly based in small lots where coffee growers lived with their families.

Cajones: Set of three wooden boxes (caja, segundo and tercero -- box, second and third) made of hollow wood and played with both hands. They were first used in tenement houses (solares) to play the rumba de cajón. Today they are still used, but with the morphological changes brought about by formal stylization and a search for a better sound.

Cake: English word used in Cuba for a baked bread made of flour, eggs and sugar and dressed with meringue. It may be filled with marmalade.

Caldosa: A variation of ajiaco, but its stock is thinner and a pork head, and chicken or hen meat may be included among its ingredients. Today it is frequently served in social festive occasions.

Calfu (kalfú, carrefour): In French, crossroads. A loa (a deity) in the Petro cult from Haiti. During the Bande rará (Holy Week) celebrations, tribute is paid to him in a crossroads.

Calita: Rope with or without a piece of wire, several hooks and a plumb in its end.

Calón: A piece of wood set at the end of each of the free bands in certain types of nets.

Canastillero: Basket woven with fibers and used to keep baby diapers.

Canoa (Canoe): 1. Very narrow rowing boat, generally made of one piece of wood, without neither keel nor difference between the prow and the stern. // 2. Wooden or reinforced concrete vessel with the form of a canoe used by the rural population for various purposes. In cassava bread production, the containers where cassava is grated and the mass is kept before grated and where the pressed mass is poured receive this name.

Caña brava (Ditch reed): Big and thick cane (Bambusa arundinacea). Its long stalks are used, inter alia, for musical instruments (vaccines and katá).

Caña de Castilla: A grass (Arundo donax, Lin.) occurring spontaneously near rivers and streams. Its fiber is used in basket weaving and also for clarinet reeds.

Caoline: Single-chord instrument. A hole in the ground serves as its sound box. It is very similar to the tumbadera, the tingo-talango or the sirivinga. Haitians and people of Haitian descent play it during Holy Week celebrations.

Carabalí: Africans called Carabalí in Cuba came from an area that extended from east of the Niger river, south of Nigeria, to the mouth of the Cross river, near the old Calabar.

Carabalí Isuama (cabildo): This cabildo was established towards the end of the 19th century and, under the form of a comparsa, paraded the streets of Santiago de Cuba. Other Carabalí comparsas were organized in several cities in Oriente province. They all use instruments similar to those of the Carabalí Isuama comparsa: a drum called quinto, the one that "speaks" and "calls"; one called fondo or fondeadora; another called bombo, the one that "fills everything with noise", and a last one called respondedora, because it "answers" (responde in Spanish); two deep sounding cha-chas called la primera; two higher cha-chas to "peal"; the hierro (iron), that is usually a plow stone that keeps time, two drumsticks to strike one of the congas or drums; and a wind instrument, that used to be a three-hole small flute made from ditch reed and today is a plastic tube.

Carabalí Olugo (comparsa): This comparsa originated from the Carabali Isuama and uses similar instruments.

Caringa: Variation of the son montuno danced in couples that do not touch each other. Its main purpose is to show the skill and dynamism of the dancers, who try to surprise each other by changing their steps. It is also called calinga.

Carnival: Cuban traditional celebration having its origins in those held by the Spaniards and their offspring following old traditions in their country (comparsas, tandas, partidas and mojigangas in Havana). They also originated in the Twelfth Night Celebrations held by the Blacks in Havana and several localities in Cuba during the 19th century. In the capital, Carnivals were held during the three days before Lent. In the central and eastern areas of the country, they were originally linked to the celebrations for the town's patron and included some Carnival elements, such as floats, comparsas and parades. The Carnivals in Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba are outstanding among them. Carnivals have elements that are very much their own, such as costumes, music, musical instruments, dances, garments, standards, beauty and sympathy contests, pyrotechnics, floats, comparsas, and others.

Carpinterito (Little Carpenter): Variation of the son montuno performed only by children in the peasant festivities of the Red and Blue Bands in Majagua, Ciego de Avila province.

Carracho: One of the names given to the guayo (grater).

Carrefour (kalfú): See Calfu.

Casa de tabaco (House for tobacco): Economic building where recently gathered tobacco leaves are stored and dried.

Casabe: Thin and circular cake made with cassava meal and cooked in the buren. It was the staple food of West Indians and, for some years, also of the European colonizers. It still forms part of the diet in some regions of the island.

Caserío (Hamlet): Category used in official documents in colonial times to define concentrated settlements. They were small groups of houses, at times not well defined. From a demographic point of view, most of them had less than 50 inhabitants. However, small stores and even churches could be found in some of them. At times, small groups of houses scattered among estates were also given this name. According to the census in force, all concentrated rural settlements with less than 200 inhabitants are considered caserios. They have no administrative or commercial functions and most of their population takes part in agricultural and cattle breeding activities.

Catauro: Type of rustic basket made from palm leaves used in rural areas to collect and transport various products, such as fruit, root vegetables, vegetables, eggs, etc.

Cazoneta: Gear hanging from the branch of a tree growing in the shore. It is formed by a rope and a piece of wire with a buoy and a hook.

Cowbell: Small cylindrical iron or copper bell that is tied to the cattle neck. It is also used as a musical instrument in some orchestras.

Chachá: 1. Metal rattle formed by two hollow cones welded at their base forming a vessel with a wooden handle. Small pebbles are put into them and they sound when the instrument is shaken by the handle. Color ribbons are tied to the ends of the cones. // 2. Güiro(Crescentia cujete) maraca, similar to a Cuban maraca but a little larger. It is also called chachá Congo because of its origin. It is found in various Haitian groups of different types of drums. Their function is ritual: it is used to call the deities. // 3. Version of the Haitian chachá made with guiros of different sizes vertically placed. Because of a transculturation process, they are called chequerés in the central area of the country. All chachás have a Haitian origin.

Chalán: Flat-bottomed boat, without a deck, with a four-cloth sail and a jib.

Chalet: Type of rural house combining the characteristics of a European chalet and a bungalow adapted by the British from the traditional Indian bungalows. The Americans introduced it in Cuba. The present chalets repeat in a larger scale the characteristics of economic houses, but with larger porches, that may cover the front and one side of the house, a part of it, or the four sides of the house.

Chalupa: Flat-bottomed boat, similar to the chalán, with a keel and an overkeel, without hatches and with a four-cloth sail hanging from a lever. In adition to sails and oars, it can be propelled by a paddle. It has been very widely used to fish with casting nets and mesh nets.

Changüí: 1. In the eastern provinces, one of the modalities of the son. This term also identifies a musical genre with a form similar to that of the son montuno, but with a bongó extemporization that makes its rhythm much more complex. Changüí music has a quicker pace than son. It is a social dance, its steps are less marked and there is much feet flourishing, displacement is larger and turns prevail. // 2. A type of party in Guantánamo province, with the characteristics of a peasant celebration.

Chapín: Type of flat-bottom boat, with a davit in the stern to support the handles of the chapingorro and the talantín. It is used to catch spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus). A paddle and an auxiliary lever propel it.

Chapingorro: Fishing gear made up by a ring of a small diameter and a bag net with a long wooden handle. It is used to catch spiny lobsters (Panilurus argus).

Charanga: 1. A popular orchestra with few instruments. // 2. A type of Carnival in Cuba. The best known one is that in Bejucal, a municipality in Havana province. Charangas are similar to parrandas. People divide into competing boroughs with the purpose of improving the quality of the celebrations. At the end of the parade, a surprise that has been hidden as part of the show and whose originality is the cause of collective admiration is discovered.

Chicote: Ditch reed rod with a rope and a hook at the end.

Chilindrón: Goat meat stew. Mutton fricassee at times receives that name too.

Chinchorro: Long and narrow net used by fishermen to capture fishes in the sea.

Chismosa: 1. Small and rudimentary kerosene lamp. // 2. A dance where men try to put out a lamp women carry, while women move the lamps trying to keep them lighted.

Chivo capón (castrated goat): A variation of the son montuno in some localities in Granma, Holguín and Las Tunas provinces. Dancers mimic goats. Men dance with bent bodies and their arms in their backs, moving their heads up, down and sideways, snigging and bleating, imitating the persecution of female by male goats. Women dance as if fleeing from men. There are regional variations of this dance.

Cibucán: Bag woven with yarey fibers our aboriginal peoples used to make cassava bread and is still used for the same purpose. It is filled with grated cassava and hung vertically until the juice oozes. Then its mouth is tied and it is taken to the press where it remains until the mass is squeezed dry. Some peasants today call it macuto.

Clave: Idiophone formed by two small cylindrical pieces of hard wood, 25 to 30 cm long, that are hit against each other, following the rhythm. Usually in plural: claves.

Coa: Hard wood stick, about a meter long, with one end sharpened and burned to give it more strength. Aborigines used it to dig the earth for edible roots. It is still used in manual farming and has kept this name.

Cobera: Rod to gather queenconch.

Cobrada: A plumb and two hooks.

Cocoyé: Haitian dance that entered the eastern part of Cuba with 19th century immigrants from that country.

Colgadizo (House with) (Porch Roof): House with a slanted roof. It can be open, closed or attached to the main building. Its name changes according to the area in the country. In the western region, it is known as a house with an "addition" or a "martillo" (hammer); in the Central Provinces it is called a house with "two porches", an open one at the main entrance, and a closed one, with walls, at the back. It may be continuous (parallel to the house) or lateral (double or simple, transversal or forming a right angle with the house), according to the taste, possibilities or requirements of the owner to add some rooms to his house. There is a recent trend among peasants owning bohíos to modify them following this model, a thing easily accomplished by doing away with the second body of traditional houses and adding colgadizos to the main body.

Columbia: One of the most important modalities or rumba. Male soloists with great skill, creativity and extemporization abilities perform it and a magnificent confrontation arises between the dancer and the quinto player. Rhythm is figurative and quick, with brief discontinued motives. Singing is at times satirical and funny and may make allusion to diverse social situations, individuals and events in a hidden or enigmatic form. For that purpose, it resorts to terms from Palo Monte, Santería or Abakuá. (See Abakuá, Palo Monte and Santería.)

Comparsas: Dance forms of a very old origin, characterized by parade displacements. In some given festive dates, a group parades the streets in an organized way, with an established choreography and specific music and songs. Costumes and props match the intended topics.

Conga: 1. Name of a drum of African origin. // 2. Group dance where dancers move freely and spontaneously, without a given choreography. There is a basic step and no specific costumes are worn, thus its difference with comparsas. The conga occidental (Western conga) is accompanied mainly by tumbadoras, bombos, sartenes (frying pans) and trumpets, while the masón beat of the tahonas endows the conga oriental (Eastern conga) with its specific rhythm. Single membrane drums called bokú and other musical instruments such as the galleta (big and flat, with a short box and 1 m in diameter) and the pilonera, a smaller drum that looks like a pilón (an implement used to grind coffee beans) are among the instruments used. There have been changes in this traditional ensemble, among them the three galletas with different diameters used in Las Tunas province. The conga Camagüeyana (Camagüey conga) is formed by single membrane drums of diverse sizes made from barrels to which the hides are nailed. They are called pipa and media pipa.

Congo: Africans called Congo in Cuba came from the Bantu ethnical and linguistic area that extends from the north of the Congo river to the south of Angola. Several ethnic groups were included under this name, among them the Bakongo, Loango, Bafiote, Macuba, Mayombe, Mondongo, Musundi, and many others.

Congrí: Rice and beans cooked together, also known as moros y cristianos (Moors and Christians). It is made with black or red beans, the latter being preferred in the eastern part of the country.

Contredanse: Dance originating in England, that arrived in Cuba as a consequence of the French influence in the Spanish court and consolidated with the arrival of French settlers from Haiti, Louisiana and New Orleans. Contredanse was welcomed in the island, where its rhythmic pattern changed so much that it began to be considered a Cuban expression. About 1836 it evolved and began to be danced by independent couples. This contradánza was something new for its times and was different from the 19th century contredanse.

Chorus Looking for the Lost Child: Christmas tradition in Santiago de Cuba. A group of persons went down the streets of the city looking for a lost child while singing a romance having to do with this passage in Jesus' life.

Clave choruses: Choral groups that competed with each other in Christmas. Guitar, claves and violas (a banjo without strings) served as accompanying instruments.

Choruses asking for shelter: Nine days before December 24th, the day when Jesus was born, shelter was asked in three different houses. In the two first houses, it was denied, while in the third one, when granted, lyrics on the topic were sung.

Corojo: Palm tree (Acrocomia armentalis) occurring in very rocky limestone grounds. A very resistant textile material, called pita de corojo, is elaborated from its macerated leaves, from which very strong chords, ropes, and thread for cattle breeding and fishing are made.

Correa: Implement with a long handle and teeth made of flexible wood, with the form of a tripod, to grapple queenconchs.

Coy: Type of rectangular wooden hammock made of a hard wooden framework lined with canvas, thick material or jute bags. It is hung with a rope and used specifically for children to sleep on.

Cruzado (punto) (Crossed punto): It is derived from the punto fijo (fixed punto). Melody is syncopated with the accompanying instruments, thus its name.

Cuartón: Cuartones used to be the smallest administrative divisions in the Cuban territory. Partidos were divided into cuartones and were in charge of a cabo de ronda o de cuartón (beat or cuarton corporal). Later, they came to be known as rural barrios.

Cutara: Simple type of shoe without neither heel nor wing, with the form of a slipper, woven with flexible plant fibers. Peasant women in the eastern provinces, mainly Guantánamo, make them.

Colored: Term used in the censuses to classify all persons that were not considered white. Blacks, Asians and persons of mixed parentage were included among them. Asians were classified as "yellow".

Cordón spiritualism: A form of spiritualist cult. With songs and dances, a cordón, or circle of mediums, cause a trance, or the arrival of the spirits of dead persons whose spiritual fluid is used in healing the sick that are placed in the center (or balsa) of the cordón.

Calabash: Crescentia cujete, L. Tree from the Bignoniacea family, occurring throughout the island. Cups, jars and every type of vessel used in the poorest rural houses are made from its fruit. The pulp is extracted and the outer part is scraped and polished. Vessels made by cutting the fruits into two parts are called jícaras. In the countryside, many like to have their coffee in them, since they consider it gives it an especially nice taste.

Corn meal: Corn meal is boiled until it thickens. Salt, lard, tomato and species are added to it. Pork and crisp pork rind can also be used. In this case, it is called "revuelto" ("scramble") in the eastern region.

Chinese trumpet: Aerophone, a kind of flute with colliding reeds. It produces five high pitched notes. Its body is a conic tube with holes ending in a wide bell. As its name suggests, it is Asian in origin.