enemies and Abakuá traitors. During initiation ceremonies, the staff is called the Erí nBan nDó, while during mournings and wakes it is called AlanManguín Besuá. Religion Abakuá members derive their belief systems and traditional practices from the Efik, Efut, Ibibio, Igbo, Ijaw and Bahumono spirits that lived in the forest. Ekpe and synonymous terms were names of both a forest spirit and a leopard related secret society. Much of what the Abakua believe in terms of religion is considered a secret only known to members. Language Due to the secrecy of the society, little is known of the Abakuá language. It is assumed to be a creolized version of Efik or Ibibio, both closely related languages or dialects from the Cross River region of Nigeria, because this is the cultural region and ethnic groups where the society originated. If it is indeed a creolized version of either Efik or Ibibio, it could be compared in purpose and in its formation and origins to other African languages, or specialized vocabularies derived from African languages, used in other Afro-American religions, such as: Lucumí: a Yoruba derived lexicon used as a ritual language in the Cuban Santería religion Iorubá/Nagô: another Yoruba derived sacred language used in the liturgy of Brazilian Candomblé Ketu tradition Habla Congo: code-switching between Kikongo vocabulary and Spanish words, used in the Palo religion of Cuba and other Caribbean countries, "Kromanti"/Jamaican Maroon spirit-possession language: creolized form of the Asante dialect of the Akan language from the Ashanti Region of Ghana, used in Jamaican Maroon religious ceremonies involving possession by ancestors, which grant the possessee the ability to speak the language Haitian Vodou Culture Language: specialized vocabulary derived from African languages used in Haitian Vodou Pala Wida: liturgical language used in Venezuelan Yuyu, derived from mostly Ewe, Kongo and Creolized Spanish Disambiguation Abacuá also describes a group of Afro-Cuban people of the carabalí as well as their style of music and their percussion instruments. The Abakuá Afro-Latin Dance Company, a dance company based in New York City, draws its namesake from this origin. The purpose for selecting this name was to recognize the company's link to the origins of the type of music the company performs to. The company does not claim to be an authentic representation of the specific style native to Abakuá but rather, an amalgamation of movements native to Afro-Cuban/Caribbean culture and the development of the company's own