Communal gatherings with a purpose, often at night, involving music, dance, and spirit possession, rooted in African spiritual and cultural practices. These weren’t just gatherings either—they were defiant refusals to be erased. In the dead of night, under the watch of a system that sought to strip them of memory and meaning, enslaved Africans reclaimed power. The music wasn’t for joy; it was strategy. The dance wasn’t for show; it was survival. And when the spirits came, they weren’t entertainment—they were indictment. These rituals tore holes in the colonial lie that the enslaved had no past worth preserving and no future worth fighting for.
Synonyms:
calenda
