Cimarrón Spirit AfroDominican Maroon Culture

In the Dominican Republic as early as 1512 African slaves escaped from Spanish plantations and lived with the islands Taíno Indians or on their own in mountainous jungles in the remote frontier land of Hispaniola These people who were known as cimarrones meaning maroons created their own independent communities that have survived for centuries and until recently remained isolated from mainstream Dominican society These resilient and resourceful outlaws have long developed their own celebrations many of which mock a society that enslaved and branded them Cimarrón Spirit explores carnival traditions such as the ritualistic fire burning of the masks and costumes of Judas Cocorícamo and Tifúas as figures important to the cimarrón culture of Elias Piña