ABSTRACT
Someone whose name has long since been lost in time and space once referred to the island of Hispaniola as La Isla Mágica (The Magic Island). Quite a suitable description! The cultural matrix from which this truly magical island evolved reflects an interwoven pattern of diverse ethnicities in synthesis that indeed conjures up something magical. The mixture of cultures that unfolded in both Haytí and Quisqueya produced, among other significant aspects of what we call culture, a fusion of magical beliefs and spiritual traditions that frequently astounds, and usually confuses, the outsider not familiar or not genuinely comfortable with other belief systems. In Dominican culture, a triplex cultural fusion exerted a very profound impact upon the character and thought, as well as other distinctive features, of el pueblo dominicano that gives the nation its unique magical quality today.
