When the spirit moves ...

The main component in being able to contact the spirits of the ancestors and to heal is to have the belief.

"You have to believe in it otherwise you can't do it," Loretta Moore explained.

The other key ingredient is the language. One has to know the language and the words to speak in order to speak to the ancestors and to do the healing.

It is said that the language used in Kumina for singing and communicating with the ancestors is heavily influenced by Kikongo (Kongo descent).

"Otherwise from that, if you can sing a Jamaica song, any ol' time song from yuh a bwoy a grow up. Like - 'If yuh no gimme di ackee yuh cyaa pass, mi wi mek river cum cum carry yuh weh'!"

The group is divided into two vocally, and the singing is done in call-and-answer fashion.

But is contact really made with the spirits of the ancestors? And how is this done?

"Yes, we make contact. When yuh dance, as soon as the drum beat an' the singing begin, and yuh start to dance, if the spirit is a spirit wha love yuh, well the spirit dem start to come een one way, manifest himself with you by moving wit yuh an' him mek yuh do things yuh neva do."

Using the cerassee weed, doused in white rum draws the spirits, it is claimed. When the spirits arrive, the dancers can actually feel their presence and even onlookers become aware.

"When the spirit come an' start to work with you, anybody can know because you move different, you talk different, and things like that. So it's not a hard thing but yuh haffi put yuhself that yuh don't get hurt by the spirit."

Tape measure

Part of this protection comes from the scissors that some practitioners stash in the turban or waistband, also the tape measure.

"When everything get together, drum start to play, singers start to sing, then the spirit carry the word dem, as soon as it come into you, you begin to talk the words dem. But smaddy must be there to understand wha him (the spirit) a talk. Otherwise from that you can dance til any hours yuh feel like and jump any height, somebody is there to catch yuh, because generally the spirit dem ride yuh. The ancestors, things they used to do before dem dead, dem dweet same way with yuh, dem mek yuh dweet.

"Any spirit yuh want, from yuh know him name and yuh know him before him dead, just call him. No matter where him bury because drumming is spiritualism, the drums draw them. And yuh know the type a bush, dem specialise in bush, like if anything happen to yuh, dem can tek the bush and heal yuh quick. Yuh get a cut or anything like that, from yuh have the white rum, yuh wake the spirit, the spirit come and the spirit touch everything wha yuh fi handle, so when yuh handle dem things deh now, yuh heal. The sick one get better.

"Sprinkle the rum or put some in your mouth and blow it. Wet the cerassee with the rum and as soon as the smell reach them, them come, that attract them."

But whereas Nanny might have used Kumina in her fight against the British, which eventually gained her national heroine status over two centuries later, practitioners of Kumina in today's society are not looked upon so favourably. In fact, some accuse them of working obeah, which generally has negative connotations. Some may cite misunderstanding of the practice or simply the fear of spirits for the perception.

"Yes, some people would be scared because dem 'fraid a spirit. Furthermore, dem nuh call it spirit, dem call it duppy. And some a dem call it obeah but it's a different thing completely. Kumina is to heal," Mother Moore insisted.

And basically that is why the link is made with the spirits of the ancestors - to heal persons.

"Yuh link with the spirit so that you can do the right thing because in your natural way you cannot do magical things, for you don't know about it. But as soon as the spirit come and start manifest with you, the spirit doing it through you. When the spirit working with you, you do things you never do yet; and even when yuh finish dweet, somebody haffi tell yuh what-and-what you was doing."

With the negative perception by some, there is going to be talk. But for Moore, it means nothing, basically.

"Mi cyaa feel no way, mi haffi jus do wha him haffi do. Yuh see wha dem did do Jesus? That is an example.

"Most of dem love it! But through the spirit, that part mek dem kinda get coward because of how dem learn about ghosts, generally dem fraid a ghost. People see it as a negative and that is what keeping it back."

- Carl Gilchrist