Certain religio-social societies, called _cabildos_, appear to have no other purpose than the conduct of these ceremonies. The _cabildos_ are supposed to be the only survival of the _nañigo_ clans, which the authorities claim to have suppressed, although it is very doubtful whether the organizations have been broken up. The _nañigos_ practised all manner of sinister mysteries, witchcraft, voodooism, and the rest, besides active participation in underground politics. No longer ago than the time of the Provisional Administration some of their members were convicted of killing and cutting up two white children in the performance of their secret rites. Roman Catholicism and African demon-worship have become grotesquely mixed in the ceremonies of the negro secret societies. Goats and fowls are sacrificed to the saints of the Church; the Holy Mother is invoked in barbaric terms, accompanied by a symbolism that originated in the wilds of Africa. Until comparatively recently the sixth of January was observed as “All King’s Day,” when the negroes held high carnival all over the Island. They took possession of Habana [Illustration: A NARROW STREET, HABANA.] and thronged the streets, dancing, gesticulating, shouting, and beating drums, dressed in fantastic costumes made up of the gaudiest colors, and carrying a variety of transparencies on long poles. The shops were closed, and the whites remained within doors, for not infrequently rival clans came to blows and serious conflicts occurred in the public streets.