The base of Alberto Lescay's giant sculpture represents a "nganga," a ritual receptacle which is the focus of the Afro-Cuban religious system of Palo Monte or las Reglas de Congo brought into the island by slaves from Central Africa, mainly from the Congo region. The nganga, also known in Cuba as a "prenda" or a "cazuela," is an iron cauldron filled with items such as sticks (or "palos"), bones, sacred grave earth, iron objects, magnets, cloth, stones, symbolic objects such as shackles, weapons, toys, etc. The ritual vessel is believed to house a spirit of the dead and it is linked to other powerful spirits. There are in this magico-religious belief system strong evocations of the dead whose spirits are still active among the living, The Monument not only memorializes the runaway slave but artistically evokes the Palo Monte religious-cultural tradition as well; a tradition that, perhaps not unlike a "memorial," can be said to literally or metaphorically "activate" the spirits of the Dead. Note that the Bantu based Palo religion originating in the Congo basin of Central Africa is distinct from the West African Yoruba based Santería which is more closely associated with a "pantheon" of Catholic saints, including the Virgin of Charity. This Monument adds a new ethno-religious element to the historical and cultural "landscape" of El Cobre.  It recalls the Reglas de Congo' tradition while the Marian Sanctuary across the hills constitutes a contested site for the commemoration and celebration of Christian as well as Yoruba derived Afro-Cuban Santería traditions (see Section "Related Traditions & Spaces")..