Ethnographic atlas of Cuba

Gangá: 1. Africans called Gangá in Cuba came from the area of Sierra Leone and Liberia (Pepel, Kisi and Wolof). // 2. Three two-membrane drums tied to each other by hemp ropes and to the sound box by transversal straps. They are played in a horizontal position and only one drumhead is used. Those called caja and mula are played with two sticks, while the cachimbo is played with only one stick and the palm of the hand.

Garabato: 1. Field implement made with a branch, about a yard long, with a forked end. It is used to pick or put aside the grass cut with the machete. // 2. Congo dance, a variation of palo. It is a collective dance where the performers establish a relationship with each other. The garabato is credited with magical powers in Cuban religions of African origin. Beating the ground with it is supposed to attract supernatural forces. Also, several persons may play the garabato at the same time with different rhythmic levels. Mayombe believers call it lungowa.

Gavilán (Hawk): A dance mimicking animals. Women embody a hawk while men are the hunters. With their head, shoulders, arms and pelvises, women mimic the movements of the bird, trying to hide so as not to be hunted. Men, moving as if they carried guns, kneel, stop and turn while after them. Then the hawk tries to take a chicken - usually represented by some object - and at that moment the hunter kills it.

Goma (tire): Old pneumatic tire, its rim covered with mangrove sticks with a cover for spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus) to enter. It hangs from a chord to hoist it once in a while.

Grampín: Metal bar with several hooks on one end and a rope on the other.

Guacán: See babucán.

Guaguancó: Variation of the rumba in urban areas with a prevalence of people of African descent. The totally spontaneous and extemporized movements and communication of the dancing partners should match perfectly. While dancing, the woman, constantly flirting and provoking the man, is always attentive to prevent the vacunao, an essential element in the dance, from taking place. It is a form of dance where flirting, courting, rejoice and eroticism prevail. The initial lyrics are long and take the form of a long narration, referring to an event or an individual, thus its meaning has to do with a moment or occasion. The melodic line is more fluid than in other rumba modalities. At times it starts with very long sounds, especially when a singer steals the song from another one and lengthens the first syllable of his song as if it were a call. At times singers use décimas instead of simple quatrains, not necessarily octosyllabic, in their lyrics, or include parts in prose.

Guairo: Small vessel for coastal traffic.

Guajiro: Name given to peasants in Cuba.

Guanajá: Kind of son montuno. A circle is formed and a man mimicking a turkey (guanajo) takes its center. The guanajo, who doesn't have a dancing partner, tries to grab one from the men in the circle surrounding him. When he does, the man whose partner has been stolen is the new guanajo. In Cuba, guanajo (turkey) also means "dumb": the man has been dumb enough to lose his partner.

Guanché: Peasant dance possibly of Canarian descent. It was danced in Moron and Majagua, Ciego de Avila province, from the second part of the 19th century until the early decades of the 20th. Joyful dance where women use fans and men use hats and there is a close relationship among the dancing partners. Today it forms part of the peasant festivities of the Red and Blue Bands in Majagua.

Guaniquiqui: Wild plant with creeping branches (Chamissoa altissima; Trichostigma octandrum, Lin.) used for basket weaving, mainly in baskets and seats.

Guano: Name given in Cuba to native palms with leaves in the form of a fan. The dry leaves of all the palms used to roof every type of rural construction also take that name.

Guarinqueña: Needle work in towels, pillowcases, etc. Threads are removed from the material and drawings, embroidery, etc. cover those areas. Dominican women learned that type of work from those of Guarico and brought it to Cuba when they migrated in the 19th century.

Guataca: Work implement formed by a long and narrow wooden handle, with an iron quadrangular plate and a cutting edge in one end. It is used to dig or remove plowed or soft ground. This tilling implement, without the handle, is used as a musical instrument by some orchestras.

Guateque: Celebration in rural and suburban areas with peasant music of a marked Hispanic and Canarian influence, and dances such as the zapateo, traditional food and drink and games and contests (horse riding, greased pole, frying pan game, and others). Today they are also held by cultural institutions in the municipalities and receive various names: Peasant Nights, Serenades, etc.

Guayo: 1. Cooking implement used for grating. Among the Cuban aborigines, a piece of wood inlaid with small sharp stones used to grate cassava received this name. It later became the Cuban term for grater. Today it is made of metal. It may be rectangular and set in a wooden frame. Guayos set in an axis moved with a handle and even an electric engine may be found today. They are also called rallo. // 2. Musical instrument with a form similar to that of a guayo. It is scraped with a drumstick to obtain the desired sound.

Gueleddé (drums): Single membrane open drums with pegs, very similar to the typical Arará drums, but smaller and not as profusely ornamented. They are three liturgical drums that are played at the same time, like the batá, but with garabatos.

Güiro: 1. m. Musical instrument also known as Guayo, made of a dry güiro with a side opening and full of transversal parallel chanels in its surface, where the friction producing the instrumental sound is made.

Great barracuda: Sea fish (Sphyraena barracuda) that can reach 2 m long. It has big teeth in its jaws. It mainly feeds on fish and transmits ciguatera, thus is should not be eaten.

Grinder call: Grinders from Galicia went down the streets blowing gelder's whistles that in Cuba represented Pan's flute. The most recent research confirms panpipes or green cane pipes from the Orense area in Spain were used. The call is still heard in Cuba today, but a toy plastic whistle is used instead.

Guinea grass: Panicum maximum, a grass occurring very frequently in low lands.