Habla Congo

Habla Congo, also called Habla Bantú, is a Kongo-based liturgical language of the Palo religion, with origins in Cuba and a later spread to other countries of the Caribbean Basin. It arose among Bakongo people enslaved in Spanish America during the Atlantic slave trade. Practitioners usually call it simply lengua, meaning language in Spanish, and speech in it involves code-switching among Kongo-derived words and phrases, Bozal Spanish, the archaic Spanish creole of the Caribbean plantations or an imitation of it, and colloquial Caribbean Spanish. A palero, or Palo priest, says that he speaks Kongo. It is not secret, but it is intended to be impenetrable to the uninitiated. In this atlas the entry names the ritual language of Kongo-derived Palo practice.