Afro-Cuban Santeria

 

 

 

 

Santeria, commonly referred to as Latin American magic, is a fused religion that intertwines aspects of Roman Catholicism as it is practiced in Cuba with "magic." Although the vast majority of santeros, followers of the religion, are found in Cuba, Santeria is by no means indigenous to the island. Santeria, deriving from the Spanish word santo, or saint, is the Cuban name for this religion because of the significance of saint worship. Despite the trappings of the Catholic sainthood, Santeria remains intrinsically an African religion that

originated on the shores of the Nile River in present-day Nigeria among the Yoruba tribe. It was inevitable that the religion would reach Cuba along with the slaves being imported from Africa in the slave trade.

Like most other African tribes in the process of creating a systematized, tangible religion, the Yoruba conceptualized "God" as an unknown mysterious, creating force. Beneath the omnipotent god is a pantheon of orishas, gods and goddesses that are extraordinarily human.

There are many orishas in the pantheon. Some African authorities say the number exceeds 600. However, only a few of these are known and paid homage to throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

As various African families were brought to the New World through the slave trade, their religious practices became influenced by the surrounding beliefs, customs, and languages. This brought great diversity into the magical ceremonies of the African slaves. In Cuba, the Yoruba slaves became known as Lucumi. As a result of religious pesecution that the Lucumis suffered at the hands of the Roman Catholic colonial Spaniards, they camoflaged their pantheon of gods under the iconolatry of the Catholic sainthood. This was the beginning of Santeria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most popular orishas in Latin America and the Caribbean include:

 

 

 

 

Priesthood

Priests are of great importance in the religious and magical rites of the cult. There are three different orders of priests.

Priest
Function
Babalowos
Divine the future by means of seashells or coconut rinds. This system of divination is known as the Table of Ifa.
Minister of the Orishas
Undertakes cures, such as Osain, the god of medicine, and Aroni, one of the gods of the herbs.
Priests of the orisha Oko
Cultivate the land and take care of agriculture.