MY MOTHER IN HAVANA

A woman seeking connection with her deceased mother immerses herself in Cuba’s Santeria religion in this powerful memoir.

When Huntman was 19 years old, her mother died. Still aching from the loss 30 years later, the author became intrigued by the Cuban festival celebrating Our Lady of Charity. On her first trip to Cuba to study dance, she was introduced to the ritual dances of Santeria and learned how the river goddess Ochún has been syncretized with Our Lady of Charity. Huntman felt compelled to join the yearly pilgrimage to Our Lady’s sanctuary, hoping to find a way back to her mother in the pursuit of the “divine matriarch.” She took a second month-long trip to Cuba, spending the first 15 days in Havana to learn more about Santeria and the dances and rituals surrounding Ochún. For the second half of the trip, she journeyed to El Cobre, where the yearly ceremonies honoring Our Lady take place, to commune with priests and historians. Finally, she visited a spiritistnamed Madelaine, who Huntman hoped would be able to summon her mother’s spirit. As Huntman became enthralled by the goddess Ochún, she also began to adeptly interrogate the role of femininity in her and her mother’s lives, exploring how gender affected their ambitions, social expectations, and presentation of themselves. (“At night I’d kneeled by my bed praying to whatever father god looked over me. Nowhere had I been looking for a woman­–a feminine source I carried inside myself.”) The author’s search for her mother becomes a compelling examination of the self as she questions her past and her belief systems as they relate to the divide between the living and the dead. Huntman’s deep love and respect for Cuba, and the Afro-Cuban traditions that permeate the culture, are abundantly clear in the writing. Lush, detailed descriptions of the world she was granted access to are skillfully interwoven with her personal reflections on her past and present.

Spiritually rich and unabashedly passionate, this memoir is a feast for the soul.