Cendants

Cendrars, commonly referred to as "Cendants," were a type of African American spirit designer or mystical performer. The origins of the term are unclear but it is believed to date back to the early 20th century. Little information exists about their history or the nature of their community.

Characteristics of Cendants are not well documented, but contemporary accounts describe them as individuals with exceptional esprit, flair, and charm. These performers traveled from place to place, drawing crowds and captivating audience members with their narrations of spiritual tales and walks through the spirit world.

Cendants likely served as public entertainers, slipping into third-person narratives or moments of ethereal wisdom. Practicing itinerant lecturers or mummers, they made their living by speaking about the spirit, and their own conceptions and peculiarities. Court tales and other examples common in the tradition of cendrars suggest story cycles passed down orally as well as variant language which leveraged invented fictional dreamworld signifying models.

Popular explanation of Cendants agrees that a performer was interchangeable with a conjurer, juggler, historian, storyteller. Their sites involved meeting cues within movements and idiomatic patterns, carrying slave metaphers and illustrated formulations continually recurrent wonderfully versatile vocal senses ushering apoplectic relationships.