Abstract
The "libreta" or notebook in Spanish is the vernacular name for the writing convention and product that is central to Afro-Cuban religions, especially Lucumí or la Regla de Ocha. These texts speak to the under-studied traditions of Afro-Cuban practitioners writing their own religious and cultural histories and rely on the action of copying. Those initiated in Lucumí religion receive a libreta upon the completion of their priesthood initiation, containing counsel from divinations performed during the ritual by an appointed scribe. The libreta does the work of guiding the initiate through their life from the instance of initiation as it contains advice, remedies, and sacro-religious instruction. Further, the libreta is a living document, added to over time by the owner and libretas of note from initiatory elders and ritual specialists are hand-copied and shared between initiates. Their proliferation amount to a specialist, manuscript collection that is generated and circulated exclusively not only among adherents but have become a resource for many scholarly works, sometimes without citation. Libretas take many material forms and various examples are provided here from practitioners as well as the extensive archive of renowned researcher of Afro-Cuban religions, Lydia Cabrera. The article explores the ways that libretas and their associated practices afford self-inscribed insight into Lucumí religion and identifies Cabrera as a key and complicated figure in the production and uses of libretas, that in turn, helps understand textual materiality in Lucumí practice and its relationship to academic and other published works on the religion.
