Montamentu is an

African Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the t ...

ecstatic Ecstasy () is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of their awareness. In classical Greek literature, it refers to removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function." Total involvement with ...

religion found in

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

. Precursors or earlier forms may be seen in ancestor veneration in the 18th century and a 1788 court case in which religionists were condemned by the colonial court for practicing the religion as an act of "lying to the bystanders". In the 1950s a new wave came about, introduced by migrants from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. As with most

African diaspora religions African diaspora religions are a number of related Pagan beliefs that developed in the Americas in various nations of the Caribbean, Latin America and the Southern United States. They derive from Pagan traditional African religions with some infl ...

from the colonial and slavery era, Montamentu is a syncretic religion. Roman Catholic, African and Native American, as well as some Asian deities are revered. Montamentu is accompanied by music. In some cases by tambú drumming, although this is a misnomer. Tambú, proper, is the drum, rhythms, music event, dancing and singing combined in a festive, non-religious setting. Also: in some ceremonies the music is provided by musical records from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti or Venezuela. Sometimes there is chanting without drums.Bernadina, F. M. (1981). Montamentoe: een beschrijvende en analyserende studie van een Afro-Amerikaanse godsdienst op Curaçao: 21

Notes

Afro-Caribbean religion Afro-Dominican (Dominican Republic) Religion in the Dominican Republic {{religion-stub