Afro-Cuban Dental Modification 1929

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 1 Afro-Cuban Dental Modification 1929 translated by Patrick Johnson from Ortiz, Fernando 1929 Los Afrocubanos Dientimellados. Archivos del Folklore Cubano 16-33, viewable at http://dloc.com/UF00074034/00004/16j?search=archivos+%3ddel+%3dfolklore Translator’s Note: I tried to translate literally and preserve formatting as much as possible, though I made some changes to make the English flow better. For example, the mellado in dientimellados can mean nick, notch, gap, blemish, mark, stain, etc so I went with “dental modification” for the title. Endnotes hopefully clarify some translation decisions, though feedback would be very much appreciated on readability. Allison Bigelow provided valuable assistance with a variety of phrases, but any remaining errors in translation are mine alone. Page breaks are marked with //pg #// and footnotes and indentations are Ortiz’s. Ortiz writes well for the non-biologist, but my knowledge of Africa is limited so I generally left proper names alone unless I could confidently tease out via google which group the Cuban term described. * Taking advantage of some information already published in the Archives of Cuban Folklore as part of the documentation of certain typical features of freed blacksi, and the curious figure of the Havana underworld that we are studying, as well as analogous instances quickly culled from our readings and ethnographic searches, we wrote an article whose title appears atop these lines. This article was published with generous praise in the journal Cuban Dentistry, directed in Havana by Prof. Marcelino Weiss (June 1927). The monograph earned positive comments that we appreciate greatly, including two important contributions to the study of the phenomenon of African survival in Cuba. One of these is owed to Dr. V. Pérez del Castillo and the other to Dr. Marcelino Weiss, both reputable Cuban ondontologists, and the latter, professor of Dental Operations in the University of Havana. Both collaborations present new aspects for a folkloric interpretation of dental mutilation. We are grateful to both doctors for their writings, which greatly honor our work, we bring them together with this work to the Archivos, for their folkloric value. *** More than a century has passed since attention was called to the teeth of black Africans for their beauty and durability, which exceeded that of whites. In 1793, Isert, the Danish explorer, attributed these qualities not only to the gift of nature, but also to //17// the care that Africans give to their teeth, noting the constant use of toothpicks of a certain filamentous wood with astringent properties. Ethnographers have paid particular attention to teeth of blacks, particularly the varied and frequent mutilation with which they are deformed. In Cuba, ethnographic studies have been curiously abandoned despite offering scholars a field of observation among the most rich of nuances, including the study of Afro-Cuban dental modification, a subject that surely deserves attention. Here, dental mutilation is disappearing due to the advancement of culture in all elements of the population as well as death, or a loss of the symbolism that created such customs that remained in Africa and in other places of social primitiveness. Among some blacks brought to Cuba through the slave trade there was a custom of notching incisors. This facial deformation is very common in Africa, and from there emerges the practice of cutting the edges of teeth to form a point, which can be observed among elderly blacks and black Creolesii in Cuba, who suffered the cruel operation necessary for this dental

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 2 modification when they were children. Among these freed blacks this mutilation must not have been typical, or it must have disappeared quickly, because it is only mentioned by J. V. Betancourt. This author states that such dental modification was “a carabalí tradition.”iii This custom is still used today among the carabalí bibí,iv where this is a necessary signal for the beginning of puberty, or in other words, in male social groups1 it constituted along with tattoos of tribal markings a rite of passage according to Van Gennepv. In Brazil, the custom of filing teeth remains //18// in certain descendants of enslaved 2 blacks, but no specific region of African origin is indicated. Ethnographers who study black people on the plantations of Guayana have also observed this practice. Stedman said of slaves from Loango, whom he met in Surinam, that “they cut their incisors so sharp that it gave them a horrible appearance, like the teeth of a shark.”3 A half century later, blacks of Loango that were enslaved in the Guayanas persisted in using this custom; they were a vicious race practicing cannibalism and their teeth were filed sharply, to “easily cut a finger with a bite.”4 The use of sharp incisors, in the coast of West Africa seems concentrated from Calabarvi to the Congo, especially in those towns that practiced cannibalism5 (Fig A). However, deliberate dental modification is not exclusive to these countries. “The tradition of cutting points of teeth can be encountered all along the coast from Casamancevii to beyond Benin.”6 Well to the north of Calabar, among the people of the Senegal Rivers, filing of upper and lower teeth was done, among men and women, and was observed until the end of the sixteenth century (1594).7 Serpa Pinto has found the same use among towns farther south of Calabar, but there the two upper teeth are cut so that the two form a triangular opening with a vertex along the gum.8 //19//

1

P. Amaury Talbot. Life in Southern Nigeria. London, 1923. ps. 215-222. Isert claimed in 1785 that certain black tribes naturally had sharp incisors, evidenced by the enamel that completely covered the teeth without visible modification, such that the entire tip looked artificial (P. F. Isert. Voyages en Guinee et dans les iles Caraibes en Amerique. París, 1793. ps. 209-210). We do not know if the opinion of Isert was proven. 2 Oscar Freire Revista do Brasil. Julio, 1922. 3 J. G. Stedman. Narrative of a five year’s expedition against the revolted negroes of Surinam, etc. London, 1796. Vol. II. 4 Henry G. Dalion. The History of British Guiana. London, 1855, Vol. 1, pg. 163. 5 Cannabalism was frequent in the Calabar region. “Carabalí eat people” is what the same blacks of the nation said in Cuba during the era of the slave trade. 6 Berenger-Feraud, Ob. Cit. Pg. 297. 7 A. Alvarez D’Almada. Tratado breve dos Rios de Guine do Cabo Verde. Porto 1831, p. 80. 8 Serpa Pinto. Comment j'ai traversé l’Afrique. Paris 1881. Vol. 1, ps. 256 to 259. See also H. Chatelain. African Folk-Life, Jour of American Folklore, Vol. X, p. 27.

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 3

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 4 //20// Dental mutilation can also be seen among the Veis9, the Kru10viii, the Songo11ix, some Mandinka12x , certain habitants of the Río Grande13xi , of Senegambia14xii , of Benin and the Gulf of Guinea15, the Kredis, those of the country of Adamy, the Jemjens, etc. In Spanish Guinea, among some Pamúe tribes, like the Sukoras, Yenvies, Yenquién and others, "Incisors are filed with a knife to keep them sharp and pointed. Women cut teeth in the upper jaw, an operation performed with a machete, a crude tool used to cut firewood."16 Ward finds this among the cannibals of the Congo.17 In Loango, according to P. Torrend, teeth are cut into a point as a tribal sign, and blacks of Mozambique also do so.18 This tradition even exists among more southern regions like Bantu. And also among other peoples.19 //21// The same form noted by Serpa Pinto can be observed in Dahomey. Here, as in Yoruba, they used different styles, but there it is common among the Dahomey20 people to have a 9

A. Hovelacque. Les negres, pg. 67. Ibidem, pg. 71. 11 Ratzel, Las Razas Humanas, Trad. Espl. Tomo I, pg. 367. 10

12

Mollien. Voyage dans l’interieur de l’Afrique. Paris, 1822, T. II, pg. 203.

13

De La Croix. Relation universelle del’Afrique. Lyon, 1688, T. II, pág. 460. Cited in Hovelacque. W. Gray. Voyage dans l’Afrique Occidentale. París, 1826, p. 5 15 Binger. Du Niger au golfe de Guinée par le pais de Kong et le Mossi. París, 1892; Tomo I, pág. 424. W. Gray. Voyage dans A’frique Occidentale, etc. París, 1826, pág. 5. Spilsbury. Voyage to West Coast of Africa. London, 1807, p. 125. 16 Alfonso de Lucas de Barrés. Poesesiones españolas del Golfo de Guinea. Méjico, 1918, p. 95. 14

17

See Hovelacque, ob. cit. p. 271. J. Dowd. The Negro Races. New York, 1907, Vol. I, ps. 329 to 338 Ward. Ethnographical Notes relating to the Congo Tribes. Journal of the Royal Anthropology Institute. Vol. 24, p. 243. 19 We want to add that observations of African dental modification, collected by travelers and ethnographers, are very numerous, and we cannot claim to have exhausted them. You can also consult the following works: J. E. Alexander. Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa. London, 1838 Vol. II, p. 163 J. Chapman. Travels in the interior of South Africa. London, 1808. Vol. II, p. 215 H. Schinz. Deutsch Süd West Afrika. Oldemurgo, 1891. p. 169 David Livingstone. Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa. London 1857, p. 532. J. J. Monteiro. Angola and the River Congo. Londen, 1875. Vol. I, p. 120. J. Irle. Die Herero. Güterzloh, 1906. P. 104 C. W. Hobley. The Ethnology of the Akamba and Other East African Tribes. Cambridge 1910, p. 18. G. Fritsch. Die Eingeborenen Sud-Afrikas. Breslau, 1871. p. 235. P. B. du Chaillu. A Journey to Ashongo-Land. ps. 210, 255, 331 y 442. R. F. Burton. Two trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo. London, 1876. p. 89 G. Nachtigal. Sahara and Sudan. Berlin, 1879. Vol. II. p. 683. Harry H. Jonston. The Uganda Protectorate. London, 1902. Vol. II. P. 868. Giraud. Les lacs de l’Afríque Equatoriale. 1890. p. 141. “Bulletín de la Societé Belge de Geographie". 1886, No. 4 p. 376. CH. Jeannest, Quatre Annees au Congo. París, 1886. p. 3. Dugall Campbell. Ln the heart of Bantuland. Philadelphia, 1922. p. 145. And there are still more yet. 18

20

E. Foa. Le Dahomey. París, 1895. p. 104. Statham, Angola. P. 210.

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 5 modification (Fig B) that allows them to spit very far, more than two meters. The upper incisors in an artificially pointed form can also be found in the High Congo21, the zone next to Calabar. Next to the anterior teeth are the fangs, which are commonly mutilated, though the shape varies according to tribe22. Although mutilation A is also accepted, sometimes even cutting the canines is accepted, as done by the Sanga-Sanghu people. Mutilation B is also of the Bakongo people. The chipping marked with the letter C corresponds to blacks of Loango, and to the Congos themselves. Those marked with letters D and E, as well as A, are of the Bakongo Congo. F and G are of the Mayombe Congo. //22// H corresponds to the Bakongo. I to the SanguSanghu. J to the Babinga. In Nyaslandia dental modification was adopted in various forms. These adaptations do not seem capricious, but instead obedient to lineage symbolism (letters K, L, M, and N).23xiii Isert (p 209), referred in 1785 to blacks of Guinea incising every superior tooth twice, making them appear as three small teeth, like a rodent (Letter O). These referenced mutilations do not exhaust the variety collected by ethnographers; much remains to be studied within this subject. It seems then that there is little doubt that mutilation of the upper incisors comes to us from slaves of residents of Cameron and Calabar, because not only is it still found in these areas, but also because this mutilation was noted by early explorers among the habitants of Calabar.24 This pointed mutilation can be seen in Africa as far as those of the Nile, where it is universal.25 Black people so tenaciously maintain this facial deformation, that, according to Hobley, if Akamba blacks lose a cut incisor, they will skillfully insert in its place a false tooth prepared in the proper form, such as a worked tooth of an ox or goat, and substituting the insert for the lost natural tooth. In Cuba, blacks descended from bibís carabalies continue this custom. An old woman, mother of a Creole with pointed incisors who is the grandson of a bibí carabalí, told us that the operation is very painful, with intense headaches for several days in a row and that the patient had to be tied tightly to stop him from fleeing the bloody mutilation. The procedures for the dental mutilation in Cuba take two forms, the triangular file, which, when placed //23// between the teeth, wears down its free extremities,xiv and the hammer and chisel that hit and break the incisor. Rather, it could be said that both were used together, this first and then the other, to perfect the cut. We were told that the operation is verified with a knife placed across the edge of the tooth, which penetrates the tooth mass when struck with a hammer, cutting and shattering the tooth easily and without pain. But this is not true, both because the operation cannot go this way given that the fracture of the tooth may not exactly take the desired angular line, and because pain is inevitable when the lesion penetrates the dentin. A hammer can fracture teeth, and

21

Weeks. Among Congo Cannibals, p. 141. Data of Hans Lignitz. Die Küntslichen Zalmvertümmlungen in Afríka im Lichte der Kuturkreis forschung. “Anthropos”, Viena. T. XIV-XV. Begging on p. 891. A. Cottes. La Mission Cottes au Sud Cameron. Paris, 1911, p. 130, 133, 135. 23 Lionel Decle. Three Years in Savage Africa, p. 298. 24 This is referred precisely in John Ogilby. Africa. London, 1670, p. 483. After the quote this compilation of John Barbot. A description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea, 1732, p. 385. 22

25

Ratzel. Loc. cit.

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 6 perhaps this is done among some primitive peoples, including in Africa26; but the perfect cutting angle, as done the carabali way, can only be achieved with a file (See fig. A). However, according to a diligent ethnographer, this mutilation was done among the akamba bantúes of East Africa using a chisel. The teeth were cut very regularly and skillfully, resulting in tips that are terribly sharp and acute. Today blacks make chisels of pieces of steel torn from the frames of old parasols.27 A smart-aleck ñáñigo28 wanted to explain the practice saying it was because blacks in Africa “eat a lot of raw meat,” and that with pointed teeth it was easier to eat their food. But precisely the opposite is the truth, because Africans usually cook everything to eat later. The origin seems to be different. And if the ñáñigo had remembered any of his peoples’ songs and expressions, perhaps he would have fixed attention on something //24// of particular interest that could lead us to an explanation of this mutilation, perhaps terming it totemic, even as we recognize serious anthropological concerns in describing a phenomenon as a totem,xv though the sociological phenomenon is clearly defined in West Africa.29 Among Ñáñigos even today, filed teeth are called irentén in their carabalí bibí language, a word composed of “irén” meaning “teeth” and “ten” meaning “pointed.” One of the ñáñiga expressions, irentén bibí amanangó, is used to say the bibí have file teeth “ like an amanangó,” that is, “like a crocodile.” And a ñáñígo song goes “Irentén bíbí amanangó viko viko guananangó fía emenembá guefé itía anga. . .” “The filed teeth of the bibís are like those of the female alligator, for defense.” Ñáñígos also say Erie momí irentén amanangó akurumí iriampo akekeré amanantí eroró asementiero. “I have teeth filed like a crocodile to eat the children of my enemies for nourishment.” As we have seen, Afro-Cuban ñáñigos refer to pointed incisors designed to look like the crocodile, which, along with the tiger, constitute the main zootheistic types of ñáñigo rites.30 Dental mutilation seems to have been part of a requirement for a rite of passage, which, as noted by Van Gennep, represents sacrificial immolation before the gods and resurrection to a new life as found in various primeval peoples. In these rites, which generally occurred to mark the passage of puberty after childhood, and sometimes to signify a real man of status and authority,xvi the initiate would feign death; sometimes he would be lulled by hypnotic poisons to believe that he had died and was resurrected afterwards as a man, having spent time as a novice passing tests, which were often very cruel, in the world of the dead. This space was usually simulated in the background of a forest. But these fake deaths, which sometimes become real because of //25// the length of the tests, were replaced by symbolic offerings as the culture advanced. These were, among others, body modifications, perhaps on a finger or tow, or by tattooing, scarification, flogging, etc. Among the options for self-mutilation we find mutilation of incisors, and other perhaps less visible teeth. This is clearly present in Australian aboriginal communities, in whose initiation rites a god devoured pubescents before becoming content with

26

Berenger Feraud. Ob. clt., 297, says that black baniuns “deform their incisors with chisel blows rather than using the file, so it is quite common for teeth to break without acquiring the desired pointed shape." 27 C. W. Hobley. Ethnology of A Kamba and other East African tribes. Cambridge, 1910. p. 18. 28 Member of the secret society that blacks from Calabar formed in Cuba are named ñañiguismo, whose study, well underway by us, already comprises a large volume. 29 Maurice Delafosse. Des soi-disant clans totemiques de l’Afrique Occidentale. “Revue d’Etnographie et des Traditions Populaires". Paris, 1920, p. 87. Also see A. Van Gennep, Religions, maeurs, et legendes, IV Serie. Paris, 1912, p. 98, etc. 30 Permit me to dwell on this particular curiosity that is developed further in our next book Los Negros Ñáñígos.

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 7 extracting incisors.31 The expulsion of teeth essentially stimulated the initiate being devoured and brought back to life by the initiating spirit, and leaving traces of his passage from one world to another. Briffault would support this, as according to the ideas of primitive peoples analyzed by Frazer, the teeth are the portion of the body where the greatest part of the immortal soul resides. This rare view states that the bones and teeth survive the rest of the body because they are the most durable parts of the human organism, by which the rest of the body survives. Thus, the enduring soul joins them as the most natural, permanent, and preferred point for a material connection. Beliefs of blacks support this theory. Those of Togo, or the blacks of Ewe, they whom in Cuba are called Dajomé and Achantis, believe that children are formed in the maternal womb out of the jaws of the dead, achieve reincarnation in this way.32 Just as primitive man believes that crystals are stones of long or eternal duration, so to does he believe that teeth are the part of greatest permanence and vitality of the skeleton. This can be seen in many groups. In Samoa, the spirit of the shark god resides in his teeth and the rest of the animal is vulgar and not sacred. The same is also true for the teeth of the whale, etc. Dental modification, like circumcision, can ensure reincarnation according to the primitive mind.33 //26// The savage Australian sees in the preservation of a piece of bodily substance a center where the future of his spiritual-power can refocus vital life-giving energy and rematerialize. The Akikuyu of East Africa believe the same. Even among Christian peoples, such as Spain for example, they usually save teeth or pieces of teeth from those of the first dentition, until the day of Final Judgment, which is the Resurrection of the flesh. For Briffault, teeth filing, as common in Africa as in Indonesia, “is probably a mitigated derivativexvii of violent fracture of teeth.”34 But this does not explain the ritual forms or designs of the nicks, which are sometimes are very obscure. Recall, for example, the four incisors that the Carabalí people sharped to tips. In short, we think that the practice of teeth filing among the Carabalí has a zootheistic symbolism, or at least zoomorphic one that is closely related to ñáñigo rites that they brought to Cuba. Explanation of this opinion exceeds the scope of this work, since we are focusing on the study of the ancestral ñañiguismo, which we could call pre-Cuban, via thorough analysis of the symbolism of their liturgies, metaphysics, and secret rites. Mary H. Kingsley thought that the practice of filing teeth down to points was based on the desire, deeply rooted among blacks of the Lower Niger and Calabar, to add something to their figure that distinguished them from low or despicable animals. “Often you hear a native of these lands, when they file down or break their teeth, speaking contemptuously of those who do not follow this custom: ‘Those men have teeth like dogs.’35 Among the Makalaka of Zambezi they say, conversely, that “only horses eat with all their teeth.”36 //27// In some countries dental mutilation does not appear to be ornamental nor imitative of 31 32

R. H. Mathews. The Burbung of the Wiradthuri Tribes. Journal of the Anth. Inst. XXV, p. 298. J. Spieth. Die Ewe-Stamme. Berlin, 1906. p. 558. A. B. Ellis. The Yoruba Speaking peoples. London, 1894, p. 131.

33

So Frazer deduces. The Golden Bough. Vol. I. p. 96. Loc. Cit. 35 Mary H. Kingsley, Travels in West Africa, London 1897, pg. 477. 34

36

Holub. Seven years in South Africa, London, Vol. II, p. 256.

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 8 other beings, instead it solely consists of persecution, humiliation, and marking practices, among groups like the Ashanti for example, where broken teeth is a sign of enslavement37; however, this may have originally derived from their understanding that such a sign represented the foreignness of a dentally-modified enemy group that was defeated by the Ashanti, who did not have this tradition. But where the mutilation is followed by a special deformation, such as symmetrical and triangular-shaped upper incisors, it can be interpreted as a ritual act. Many believe with justification the hypothesis that the mutilation of incisors involves magic, inspired by the desire to imitate the sacred animal or totem of the tribe or clan. Meek thinks so for certain Niger peoples.38 Livingstone says Tonga incisors were pulled to look like oxen.39 The same happens with the Manzeva.40 Schweinfuth explains dental deformation as imitation of sacred herbivores.41 According to Holub, the Matonga do so “to not look like horses,” and for the same reason lower teeth are removed in Togo and among the Bali of Cameroon.42 A similar ritual character of celebrating the advent of puberty exists among the Herero, the Bangoro, those of Mozambique, as in other non-African countries.43 Among the blacks of Biafra, children who die before their teeth are cut44 are thrown into the woods to be eaten by wild animals. //28// Frazer affirmed the totemic character, tending to imitate crocodile teeth or those of the tiger; both animals have great mythological significance to the Calabarís. Therefore, we find the same sharped incisors in masks of sacred little devils of Calabar, from which Afro-Cuban ñáñigos originate, which we will discuss in a forthcoming book. Calabaríes sharpen their teeth in various styles, the most popular of which is filed down to a point “in imitation of those of the crocodile.”45 Nevertheless, this explanatory theory of bodily mutilation for reasons of magical mimicry continues to be discussed and denied. Briffault, in his monumental work, flatly denies the idea46, because he says that such dental mutilation would bring the initiate closer to tribal totems through the similarity of external features, but these features were styled equally by the members of distinct clans without totemic differencesxviii. However, it does not seem that this mimetic interpretation can be eliminated just yet, particularly in cases of dental chipping that follow fixed forms of traditional symbolism. Some believe that blacks undergo the operation to achieve this facial mutilation, despite the high pain levels, for the sole purpose of attracting women.47 Undoubtedly this is too simple an explanation; it cannot be forgotten that female bibis of Calabar also sharpen their teeth. It thus appears that, while originally derived from a ritual purpose, dental mutilation became a masculine sign of totemic fraternity, and ultimately civic ornamentation, whose symbolism, 37

Leo Kanner, Folklore of Teeth. “The Dental Cosmos". Philadelphia, 1926, starting on pg. 488 C. K. Meek, The Northern Tribes of Nigeria, Oxford, 1925, Vol. I, p. 506. 39 Livingstone. Missionary Travels. London, 1857, p. 532. 40 Giraud. Les lacs de l’Afrique equatoriale. Paris, 1900, p. 141. 38

41

Jeo Kanner. Same citation lbid. 43 E. Wstermark. The History of Human Marriage. Vol. I, pg. 506. 44 H. P. Fitzgerald. "English Illustrated Magazine,” 1900. p. 572 45 Duncan. Travels in Western Africa. London, 1847, Vol. 2, p. 309. Drake. Revelations of a Slave Smuggler. New York, 1860, p. 28. 46 Robert Briffault. The Mothers. London, 1927. Vol. II, 705. 47 Tuckley. Expedition to explore the River Zaire, pg. 80. 42

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 9 perhaps lost, attracted women. To this final example of traditional use, the same practices of noncaribili in Cuba suggest that dental modification is not just of a tribal character, because people outside of the tribe also follow the practice. Thus, it is wiser to think that sharpened teeth, so characteristic of blacks from Calabar, was not a peculiar sign of freed blacks, although //29// individual and unusual features can be seen in them when matched to carabali bibí. The intimate connection of freed blacks with ñáñigo, which followed them in the identification as thugxix, and their clear genealogical heritage in the jungles of Calabar, explains well why the freed blacks had upper incisors mutilated into a pointed triangular shape. On another occasion we will tell why old ñáñigos of the Havana criminal world usually have modified teeth. Were Afro-Cuban teeth mutilated for aesthetic tradition, or, given the particular anterior mesial and distal cuts, an accepted dental treatment? by V. Pérez del Castillo I am greatly impressed by the work documented in the previous issue of this journal titled “Afro-Cuban Dental Modification” by the learned professor Dr. Fernando Ortiz, and to contribute to this question I can offer little about the ethnographic study, but my observations may be of some use. Why did Afro-Cubans mutilate and even today ruinxx their teeth? During ten years of professional practice in the village of Nueva Paz, I had the opportunity to view several cases of voluntarily mutilated teeth, and proportionally, the number of females was higher. They were not attending the clinic to alleviate the pain. They were just sorry for having broken their teeth, and through a brief questioning, they invariably told me they did so in order to prevent cavitiesxxi; the individual //30// responsible for cutting guaranteed the tooth would remain immune to decay. Mutilation observed in the field was invariably the type in which the tooth was cut into a point, as Professor Ortiz depicts in figure A of the corresponding diagram. All these women smoked heavily and a thick layer of nicotine sheltered the mistreated dental enamel. When prompting the patients as to how this mutilation was carried out, they reported to us the use of a short knife, scrupulously stabilized. The withdrawn worn-out knife, known by the name verduguilloxxii was possibly used to give the cuts, aided by a piece of special wood, consisting of a certain hard bark with a softer heart that acted as a bearing. The pain of the operation is often not acknowledged; treatment of those women showing signs of weakness is done with difficulty by mechanical means that carry out the preparation of the root and is thus bearable for all the patientsxxiii. I believe that the success of the operation depends solely on the strike and the position of the mouth while cutting. As for smoking to excess, they indicated they did so due to the advice of the operator to avoid the resultant pain during the days after the mutilation, mostly the ligament affected by the blows, along with the pulp cavityxxiv; which presumes that before the defense phenomena begin (calcifications) the state of the tooth is pitiful. I submit that the idea of carrying out cauterizations at the level of mutilated tissue, just like what happened to all of these parts, presented dentin nodules (osteo-dentin) as material for defense. Regarding the layer of excess nicotine on the teeth, this possibly occurred due to the roughness of the walls after the completion of mummification (Note the Japanese betel). The belief held by those who practice this operation is due to ignorance of the substances

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 10 that form the tooth, as this is one body, and walls offer more separation and less danger for decay. //31// Indeed, in our ancestors the maxilla corresponded to the developing volume of the teeth, and therefore, there was not plentiful decay, which is known due to investigations by numerous scientists. In short, I came to accept that Afro-Cubans do not mutilate their teeth except to protect themselves.

Response to the article “Afro-Cuban Dental Modification” Marcelino Weiss In the first class of the Surgical Dentistry course, we always maintain the transcendental importance of the study of the dental bodyxxv. Among other arguments we cited, that are not opportune to mention here, we state the following: The dental body is one of the first that forms in the human body. Effectively forty or fifty days after conception, the first phenomena of tooth formation starts. Teeth are organs that persist throughout life; and even after death they may endure thousands of years without decay. Teeth are of such importance that study of their distinct forms and patterns have served nothing less than zoological classification. The great construction of this science rests on knowledge of the tooth. The teeth are a precious connection, a powerful contribution to sexual function in the evolutionary scalexxvi, above all others in birds and mammals. And none can ignore their role in mating, for example, among chickens, donkeys, horses, and cows. The bite, or perhaps peck could be the more appropriate word, of the rooster to the hen could signify, as by a male to female donkey, more or less perfect possession by the male or submission by the female. Surely it is not possible //32// to think of more complete feelings of pleasure. This is very clear. However, we must recognize that animals generally perform sexual function with full freedom of action, without scruple or limitation. To your taste and your conquests, we might say. We have no right to assume that these animals do not reach above the epitome of pleasure. On the contrary, they should get it. Now, among the civilized, moral principles on one hand and sociability on the other result in mutual respect between men and women (as in we do not speak of male and female), etc, etc, have made the performance of sexual function, in general, done with great modesty and deliberation. It would be appropriate to quote, by the way, an anecdote of the oldest city of Cuba, where an honorable family lived, the most serious head of the family, in moments of lustxxvii and the capacity to become covetousxxviii stood at the adjoining door of his wife, hit the door three or four times, and waited for a response: Q: Who dares to interrupt my sleep at this hour? A: Your mercy my Madam, I am our slave and master. Do you want and you are ready to receive a man’s work? —- If it is with honesty and good intention, enter, Juanón. We cannot speak similarly for the less civilized, semi-savage, and the completely wild races of man. Among the completely wild, sexual gratification is done naturallyxxix. BY

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 11 We will (not) discuss the civilization, growing every day, of the Afro-Cubans; an enviable civilization maintained with pride, exemplary of the intellectual as well as the moral order, they are the pride of their race and nourishxxx Cuba. But now we will speak to Africa in our commentary of the article by Dr. Fernando Ortiz, our illustrious collaborator, and we are beginning to lay these premises: a) Black African men are the height of masculinity, and the epitome of sensuality. b) Afro-Cubans relatively retain these characteristics. //33// Indisputable truths, to which we may add that, in Africa, within the tribes so well-studied by Dr. Fernando Ortiz, their customs, sexual function, and sexual intercourse, are in short, without the modesty, deliberation, and respect of the white civilized races. Without getting into compromising explanations, and with the sole purpose of contributing to the understanding of traditional chipping of teeth and in a precise form, we humbly remindxxxi that they used their teeth as an important sexual connotation, forcing male to female and placing her under his full control, and arriving at the height of pleasure in the act of intercourse, as with the rooster’s peck or donkey’s bite, for men this results in a nip or bite on the nape of the female. The male enjoys it more, as assured to me by a legitimate example of a carabalí who still lives and procreates at over ninety years of age; the female reaches her paroxysm with the mark she received from the pointed teeth in the ineffable moment. It is the sexual act called look who’s coming, imported to Cuba via Africans. Then, through sexual-aesthetic-religious tradition, Carabalis and other Africans modified their teeth, and of Afro-Cubans do so due to the inheritance of sexual-aesthetic-religious tradition48. The female splendidly displaysxxxii his jagged teeth and gives them the appropriate use.

48

The highly original interpretation of Dr. M. Weiss falls beyond the verification possibilities of the Archivos del Folklore Cubano. It seems to us worthy of consideration for its originality and carabalí origin. We have found that among Balí of the Netherlands Indies, young teeth are sharpened as a prerequisite for marriage. R. Van Eck. Citation of Frazer. The Golden Bough. Vol. X. p. 68. But it does not securely deal with this rather than a rite of passage of puberty or of adolescence to manhood, executed within the mysteries of a secret society. However, the sexual explanation for sharpening incisors, as given by the elderly carabalí, should be collected, as it connects with the procreative meaning some cryptic rites have, though they may not externally appear so. -- Note by F. Ortiz.

Ortiz 1929 trans. Johnson 12 Translator’s notes: i

The term is “negros curros.” Literally the word curro connotes warlocks but this term also referred to enslaved Africans. A posthumous publication titled Negros Curros describes the particularities of those released from slavery in Havana, as noted by Harriet de Onís’ 1995 Cuban Counterpoint: pg l, footnote 15 http://books.google.com/books?id=dHbo35eSzuUC&pg=PR50 ii criollo in this case describes a man born in Cuba with at least some European descent iii Carabalí refers to Abakuá, an anticolonial secret society who trace their descent to Efik and Efo of the Cross River region in Nigeria. Ñáñigo is the term for members iv Abakuá are what they call themselves, but later scholars such as http://bdigital.bnjm.cu/secciones/publicaciones/libros/cimarronaje/cimarronaje.pdf commend Ortiz for demystifying Africans in Cuba so perhaps this is why Ortiz used that term rather than the term the people used to describe themselves and their secret society. v Van Gannep originally published Rites of Passage in 1909 http://books.google.com/books?id=CbH5AQAAQBAJ&dq=van+gennep+rites+of+passage vi Calabares seems to refer to Southeast Nigeria vii Southern Senegal viii Inland Liberia ix Northern Algola x West Africa xi I’m assuming based on the citation this refers to the Senegal River that today divides Senegal and Mauritania xii I think this includes Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali xiii gentilicios which I translate as lineage connotes family name in the sense of marking country of origin xiv extremidades libres xv A fairly liberal translation of “muy serios reparos de técnica antropológica, para admitir la existencia del totem” xvi varonía plena might translate to “real masculinity,” but varonía also connotes a man of respect, status, authority, etc so I added those details to tie closer to Van Gennep xvii derivativo atenuado xviii Not sure how to better translate “esa mutilación dental que aproximaría el iniciando al totem tribal por semejanza de sus facciones externas, se estila igualmente por los miembros de los clanes distintos sin diferencias de cuáles sean sus tótems” xix Hampón xx estropea also means break, damage, destroy xxi caries also connotes tooth decay, as I translated at the end of the sentence xxii Google images show verduguillos that look to me like daggers and cutlasses xxiii I’m not certain of how to better-phrase Que la operación es dolorosa no es de aceptar, pues tratándose de mujeres de apariencia débil, soportaban con dificultad los medios mecánicos empleados para realizar la preparación del muñón, tolerables por todos los pacientes. xxiv Cuernos de la pulpa base don this dental diagram in Spanish: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4541/1156/1600/Diente.jpg xxv “Tooth” may be a more simple translation of órgano dentario xxvi Literally “animal scale” but I think this is the implication. xxvii voluptuosidad xxviii convertirse en deseos seems old-fashioned to me, so I tried to maintain that tone via the word “covetous” xxix “con gran sans façon” xxx Mima in the dictionary seems to mean “indulge” or “pamper” but I think “nourish” may be better xxxi atrevemos a recordar is very formal, literally “we dare to remind,” but in a humble sense. Atrevemos a pedir for example literally means “we dare to ask” but is figuratively translated as “we kindly ask” so I tried to maintain that tone. xxxii Luce gallardamente would usually be appropriate for maybe splendidly displaying a national flag or uniform, but also has an ironic, pejorative context of “making a spectacle.”