PW035: Fruit of the Banana

Frutto di banana;1  questi sono i fichi della terra; aprendone uno con il coltello vi apparisce dentro un grucifisso2  come si vede—2

Fruit of banana; these are the figs of the land; opening it with a knife a crucifix appears inside as can be seen—2

• 1
  The friars make a distinction between Niceffo and Banana in their writings, referring to two local categories of fruits from the Musaceae family. See Cavazzi and Alamandini, Istorica descrizione, 35. Pavia, Viaggio Apostolico alle Missioni dell’Africa, f. 81r. Matheus Cardoso talks about “micifos” in 1624 see Brásio, Costa, and Correia, História do Reino do Congo, 37. Pellicer de Tovar, Mission evangelica al Reyno de Congo, 53. It appears as Mizefhos with mention of the size of the leaves “big enough to shade any sized man,” the crucifix in its flesh, and its identity as the tree of the garden of Eden in a late sixteenth century anonymous manuscript, unknown, Description of the kingdom of Kongo, f. 165r. See also the unpaginated vocabulary of words from Matamba in Antonio da Gaeta and Gioia, La maravigliosa conversione. Other mentions are found in Cadornega and Delgado, História geral das guerras angolanas, 1680[-1681], 3: 372. “Niceffos” and their long leaves that could cover a man (in Brazil) and the crucifix inside appear in Dionigi da Piacenza and Michelangelo da Reggio, Viaggio, 49; Dionigi da Piacenza and Michel Angelo da Reggio, Viaggio del P. M. Angelo de Guattini da Reggio et del p. D. de Carli da Piacienza cappuccini, 64-65.
• 2
  This is a long-established Franciscan trope, often repeated in the Capuchin central African corpus, see Fromont, Images on a Mission, 75, 83, 85-86. Others also mention the crucifix, see Cadornega and Delgado, História geral das guerras angolanas, 1680[-1681], 3:372; Mattheus Cardoso in Brásio, Costa, and Correia, História do Reino do Congo, 37; Dionigi da Piacenza and Michel Angelo da Reggio, Viaggio, 48-49.