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Image / Religious procession, San Basilio de Palenque, 1975

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Title
Religious procession, San Basilio de Palenque, 1975
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1975-06
Publication Information
California State University, Northridge
Contributing Institution
California State University, Northridge
Collection
Richard Cross Photographs (Bradley Center)
Rights Information
Use of images from the collections of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is strictly prohibited by law without prior written consent from the copyright holders. The responsibility for the use of these materials rests exclusively with the user.
The Bradley Center may assist in obtaining copyright/licensing permission to use images from the Richard Cross collection. http://www.csun.edu/bradley-center/contact
Description
Residents of San Basilio de Palenque participate in a religious procession at night. The procession is only part of the June festivities, which last for three days. St. Basil and Saint Catherine leave the church around four o'clock in the afternoon, carried on their shoulders by the Palenqueros who dispute the honor, followed by rows of children, women, and men who at the end of the afternoon form a luminous trail of lit candles behind the saints. San Basilio de Palenque, a town located 31 miles from Cartagena, is considered the first free-slave community of the Americas because on August 23, 1691, the Spanish King Charles II signed a royal charter recognizing the freedom of the runaway slave communities in the María Mountains. Local authorities, however, did not sign a treaty with the communities of free slaves until January of 1714 acknowledging their freedom and ordering the establishment of the town of Palenque San Basilio Magno. Father Isidoro, of the order of Saint Basil the Great, was named the first priest of the community in 1714, and the church was consecrated to St. Michael the Archangel. According to public records, in 1975 the village had 2,400 residents (mostly farmers or day laborers) and 388 houses. Colombian anthropologist Nina S. De Friedemann had been studying the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio de Palenque for the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and Richard Cross joined her to do work as a visual anthropologist in June 1975. This image illustrates Cross's anthropological category: Social organization.
Los residentes de San Basilio de Palenque participan en una procesión religiosa en la noche. La procesión es solamente una parte de las fiestas de junio, que duran tres días. San Basilio y Santa Catalina salen de la iglesia alrededor de las cuatro de la tarde, llevados en hombros por los palenqueros que se disputan el honor, seguidos de filas de niños, mujeres y hombres que al caer la tarde forman una estela luminosa de velas encendidas detrás de los santos. San Basilio de Palenque, un pueblo ubicado a 31 millas de Cartagena, se considera la primera comunidad de esclavos libres de América porque el 23 de agosto de 1691, el rey español Carlos II firmó una cédula real que reconocía la libertad de las comunidades de esclavos fugitivos en el Montañas de María. Sin embargo, las autoridades locales no firmaron un tratado con las comunidades de esclavos libres sino hasta enero de 1714, reconociendo su libertad y ordenando el establecimiento del poblado Palenque San Basilio Magno. El padre Isidoro, de la orden de San Basilio Magno, fue nombrado el primer sacerdote de la comunidad en 1714, y la iglesia fue consagrada a San Miguel Arcángel. La antropóloga colombiana Nina S. de Friedemann había estado estudiando la comunidad afrocolombiana de San Basilio de Palenque desde 1973 para el Instituto Colombiano de Antropología y Richard Cross se unió a ella para trabajar como antropólogo visual en junio de 1975. Esta imagen ilustra la categoría antropológica de Cross: Organización social.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
black-and-white negatives
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.N35.B1.13.01.15
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/4213
Subject
Documentary photographs
Blacks--Colombia--San Basilio del Palenque
Rites and ceremonies
Processions
Place
San Basilio del Palenque (Colombia)
Relation
99.01.RCr.N35.B1.13.01.15.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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