The Santo Madero Community with Luz Celis Zuñiga

Central to the oral history of the Santo Madero community is the legend of a miraculous tree that fell in a violent storm only to reappear a few days later, upright and green. The event, which reflects the magic realism that Colombia is known for, has evolved into a vital part of local folklore and is celebrated by the Afro-Colombian community every year.
The roots of the Santo Madero community run as deep as the magical tree, tracing a path hundreds of years back to the mid-16th century when slaves brought to Colombia from Africa, known as the Palenquera diaspora, fled Cartagena and settled in the hills of Montes de María in Colombia’s Caribbean region.
Around 1845, the first Santo Madero families settled the lands of an area known as El Paraíso, located in the municipality of San Jacinto, Bolívar. Today, the Santo Madero community is home to more than 430 families, or 1,350 people.