Kwan Yu, the famous General of chinese history, very much beloved now as an Immortal by Taoists in many places, found its way to Cuba too. Cuba had a huge immigration of chineses, in La Havana there’s the Barrio Chino, the chinese part (Mi Chin Tan & Flor de Loto are among the best restaurants 🙂 ).
Cubans call Kwan Yu with the name SANFANCON, the chinese Chango.
His red face, military rank and story obviously made the transculturation easy.
One of my teachers, Tata Roque Zamora Cabrera of Parraga, keeps alive this tradition of worship having been his grandfather from Canton. Tata Roque also speaks a decent cantonese chinese as well.
Sanfancon is kept inside a ceramic chinese urn, an exemplar is exposed now in the Museum fí¼r Ví¶lkerkunde of Hamburg by kind permission of the Soul of Africa Museum of Essen, Germany.
A real jewel for etnology…

Detail of a bronze cold cast, Kwan Yu on horse. Personal collection of anthropology.

Posted in Hermetica Italica

About Manuel Congo

A renowned Palero, Babalawo, Ajarn and Hougan, Manuel Congo lives in rural Italy, where he spends most of his free time touring on his custom Harley Davidson. An avid ethnographer and noted expert on Italian witchcraft, Manuel has spent decades working for elite clients around the world, conducting investigations in locales as far-flung as Togo and Thailand. He enjoys rainy days, BBQ and blondes.

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