El Cabildo de Ma Gose
Acrylic on Canvas, 67" X 54"
El Cabildo de Ma Gose is a shrine in Agramonte, Matanzas Province, Cuba. It was established
during the slave trade and officiated by an African woman named Ma Gose. The altar
to San Lazaro pictured is one of several altars actively maintained in this sacred
space. It contains offerings, symbolic objects, drums and bells that are used to
call the spirits of ancestors and to pay homage to San Lazaro. On the left side of
the painting are two elegguas which are very similar in appearance to elegguas we
have seen in Dzodze, Ghana, and Adjodogou, Togo. The drums were made by the first
enslaved Africans in the area, and are still played during special ceremonies. The
two people barely visible behind the red curtain are the elders who maintain the cabildo
today. The shrine is a direct link to the unbroken African tradition still practiced
in Agaramonte.