In several urban and rural areas of eastern Cuba, from Camagüey to Guantánamo, a ceremony called “Espiritismo de Cordón” is currently practiced. Its origins are in the Areíto of the Cuban indigenous people.

The book “Living Traces of the Indo-Cuban” by José Antonio García Molina, Mercedes Garrido Mazorra, and Daisy Fariñas Gutiérrez demonstrates that the indigenous legacy in Cuba, embodied in the Areíto, is preserved today and is the spiritual heritage of today’s Cubans. It explains that during the five stages of the ceremony, which is guided by a guide, the participants hold hands and form a circle, placing the afflicted in the center to learn about their ailments and invoke their ancestors for their healing.

The material also includes 73 musical samples printed for the first time after being recorded.

The discovery of the origin of the “Espiritismo de Cordón” ceremony, until now unknown even to the prestigious Cuban ethnologist Fernando Ortiz (who studied it during 1948-50 without determining its origin), constitutes a contribution to the studies of Cuban cultural identity, since until now there was no evidence of the existence of any forceful expression of Cuban indigenous spiritual culture in the current population.