CURIEPE: LAND AND LIFE OF THE FREE BLACKS.
By way of inspiration, this title seems interesting to me to tell this journey, there are no formalities here, it is a story of enlightenment and in this context there are no accuracies, everything that appears here are experiences and the pulsar of these sensations, feelings, connections of what we are. I am an old woman and so are you... It is well said: "In the creation of all the matter that makes up our universe, it is there where the origin of our identity is awakened. The matter that makes up our biology comes from that time. We have the same age as the universe" Antonio Zarpe
My writing teacher always told me: "In principle, write whatever, about whatever and however it comes out. There will come times when you apply scissors, but this pruning will be done by you, a grammatical agent will not come to damage your text" and today, as every day I write, is my June 24th, when this trance appears to me in the practice of writing, thanks to my cosmic unconscious, to my blackness... Up St. John the Baptist..
FREE DAY FOR FREE BLACKS
Legend has it that, in colonial times, the enslaved blacks were given a few days off during the year, and these days were thanks to the universe for the summer solstice, a time of celebration for the harvesting of crops and also the day of the birth of St. John the Baptist.
Although it was imposed, what this awakened in the imaginary was to return to the origin and to encourage devotion and in Curiepe - Venezuela it is worshipped as an Afro. This may be a metaphorical way for the Afro culture to celebrate its St. John Congo that, with the celebration of the birth of St. John the Baptist everything was possible.
"WE ARE THE MOLASSES THAT LAUGHS".
In my country Venezuela there is a town that I have been visiting for 2 years and there I get ways to marvel at my culture, my devotion, my ancestry. I meet beautiful women wanting to perpetuate that history Memorias Danzadas (In Ig: @curiepelasabana, @afromechita and @daritello) and with that identity that characterizes them, they invite us to know their village Curiepe in the State of Miranda Venezuela.
The day began with a task, to meet the oldest woman I know, I confess that I saw many with their attire, their beauty, their old age, their history, their customs, their pride curiepero. And the oldest was myself. I went to meet them and to look at myself in them, they are myself. I did not stop looking at them, but at the same time, like life, I demanded the party, the drum and the enjoyment of it all.
Beautiful, big, dancing women, everywhere you look. I was there too.
When the bells ring everything starts and the saint comes out of the church, it is a real hullabaloo, but in the body the sensations of joy are multiple, it is not subtle and if it is, it is impregnated with the ancestral and cellular memory that we are.
With my daughter Victoria and my friend Susan (In Ig:@lamelena and @susancontre), it was also a reunion, of women grateful to life with greatness. We started with the church, followed by the procession, we enjoyed the mine and went to the river.
We devised an itinerary from seeing everything that covers this immersion of life, my life, we went in procession (yes in procession, as the processes) to see the saint in a beautiful altar where he is placed, set in the way of life of Curiepe at that time.
LET THE RIVER TAKE IT AWAY
In the river the thing was of total link with all that, nature, mother earth, the water that cleans, as many elements as picturesque people. After that high temperature, we went unceremoniously into the river, the current carried all that away. There Susan recited her petitions: Take away all beliefs of lack, of poverty and bring abundance, prosperity. This is also a day of rituals and in the absence of jumping into the fire, water and earth, with bare feet, it brings us into the proprieties of our own ritual.
If you come to Curiepe, ask for soup, but soup with noise, so that the drums sound outside and you can listen to pure Latin salsa while drinking soup, here everything is a party atmosphere, the red and white contrasts with the passion, purity and enjoyment.
The geniality of these people, the kindness and freedom can be felt. They are free, we are free, free of thought, of fear, they let you enter their houses and they welcome you with desserts, with drinks, in the confidence of the one who does not grab what is not theirs, that is not in their thinking, they are at the service of the act of love of receiving the people who come to visit the town, especially the old women, they offer you food, desserts and drinks, made with their own hands, just for that occasion. We are free of geography, that house is your house, we belong. We are free, free of schedule, time is enough for whatever you want, you can breathe freedom, even financially it is very economical, to move, eat, drink beers...
This is the free day of enslaved blacks, we will meet again.
This is my first post in this community. Now I'm going to leave here the code of @pinmaple's map:
The photographs are from my personal album and the translation was done with the Deepl page.
