Santería

A Santería ceremony known as "Cajon de Muertos". Havana, Cuba, 2011.

Santería, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi or Lukumi,^[1][2] is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi.

History

Santería is a system of beliefs that merges the Yoruba religion (which was brought to the New World by West Africans imported to the Caribbean to forcibly work the sugar plantations) with Roman Catholic and Native American Indian traditions.^[2] These Africans carried with them various religious customs, including a trance for communicating with their ancestors and deities, animal sacrifice and sacred drumming.

In Cuba, this religious tradition has evolved into what we now recognize as Santería.

"The colonial period from the standpoint of African slaves may be defined as a time of perseverance. Their world quickly changed. Tribal kings and their families, politicians, business and community leaders all were enslaved and taken to a foreign region of the world. Religious leaders, their relatives and their followers were now slaves. Colonial laws criminalized their religion. They were forced to become baptized and worship a god their ancestors had not known who was surrounded by a pantheon of saints. The early concerns during this period seem to have necessitated a need for individual survival under harsh plantation conditions. A sense of hope was sustaining the internal essence of what today is called Santería, a misnomer (and former pejorative) for the indigenous religion of the Lukumi people of Nigeria.

"In the heart of their homeland, they had a complex political and social order. They were a sedentary hoe farming cultural group with specialized labor. Their religion, based on the worship of nature, was renamed and documented by their masters. Santería, a pejorative term that characterizes deviant Catholic forms of worshiping saints, has become a common name for the religion. The term santero(a) is used to describe a priest or priestess replacing the traditional term Olorisha as an extension of the deities. The orishas became known as the saints in image of the Catholic pantheon." (Ernesto Pichardo, CLBA, Santería in Contemporary Cuba: The individual life and condition of the priesthood.)

As mentioned, in order to preserve their authentic ancestral and traditional beliefs, the Lukumi people had no choice but to disguise their orishas as Catholic saints. When the Roman Catholic slave owners observed Africans celebrating a Saint's Day, they were generally unaware that the slaves were actually worshiping one of their sacred orishas.^[3] Due to this history, in Cuba today, the terms "saint" and "orisha" are sometimes used interchangeably.

This historical "veil" characterization of the relationship between Catholic saints and Cuban orisha is made all the more complicated by the fact that the vast majority of santeros in Cuba today also consider themselves to be Catholics, have been baptized, and often require initiates to be baptized as well. Many hold separate rituals to honor the saints and orisha respectively, even though the faith's overt links to Catholicism are no longer needed.

In 1974, the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye became the first Santería church in the United States to become officially incorporated.^[4]

Rituals and ceremonies

Santería does not use a central creed for its religious practices; it is understood in terms of its rituals and ceremonies.^[5] These rituals and ceremonies take place in what is known as a house-temple or casa de santos (house of saints), also known as an ilé. Most ilés are in the homes of the initiated Priests and Priestesses. Ilé shrines are built, by the priests and priestess, to the different orishas which creates a space for worship, called an igbodu (altar).^[6] In an igbodu there is a display of three distinct thrones [draped with royal blue, white and red satin] that represent the seats of the queens, kings and the deified warriors.^[7]

Each ilé, is comprised by those who occasionally seek guidance from the orishas, as well as for those who are in the process of becoming priests.^[8] The many cabildos and casas that bridged the 19th and 20th centuries are fondly remembered by contemporary priests as the origins and strongholds of Cuban Lucumi culture and religion.^[9]

Becoming a full-fledged Santera or Santero (Priest or Priestess of Santería), the initiator has to go through an intensive week-long initiation process;^[10] in which, the teaching of the ritual skills and moral behavior happens informally and nonverbally. To begin with, the initiator goes through what is called a cleansing ritual, wherein the initiators padrino (godfather) cleanses the head with special herbs and water. The padrino rubs the herbs and water in a specific pattern of movements into the scalp of the head. However, if a person is entering Santería for the need of healing, they will undergo the rogacion de la cabeza (blessing of the head), in which coconut water and cotton are applied on the head to feed it.^[11] The ritual of the cleansing of the head cools and refreshes the whole person, wherein the initiator is born again. Once cleansed, there are four major initiation rituals that the initiator will have to undergo, which are: obtaining the beaded necklace, receiving the Eleggua, receiving the warriors, and making saint.^[12]

The first ritual is known as the acquisition of the beaded necklaces (known as elekes); according to De La Torre, "the colors and patterns of the beads on the elekes will be those of the orisha that serves as the iyawo's (bride) ruling head and guardian angel and so the first thing that must be done is to determine who the orisha is. This must be done by a babalawo (fortune teller), in a divination ritual known as bajar a Orunla (to bring down Orunla)." The elekes necklace is bathed in a mixture of herbs, sacrificial blood and other potent substances and given to the initiated.^[12] The initiate most often receives the necklace of the five most powerful and popular orisha, as the multicolored beads of the elekes are each patterned for the primary Orishas (Ellegua, Obatala, Yemaya, Chango and Oshun), and they serve as a sacred point of contact with these Orishas. When the necklace is received, the initiated must bow over a bathtub and have his/her head washed by the orisha. The elekes ^[13] serves as the sacred banners for the Orishas and act as a sign of the Orishas presence and protection; however, it must never be worn during a women's menstruation period.^[14]

The second important ritual is known as medio asiento, the creation of an image of the orisha Eleggua. The individual will go through a consultation with a Santero, where all the recipients’ life, past present and future, will be reviewed. During the consultation, the Santero determines which of the 21 paths of Eleggua the recipient will receive. Then, based on his findings, he chooses materials that will be used to construct the image of the Eleggua, a sculpture that is used to keep evil spirits away from the initiator's home. This ritual is only prepared by men as the orishas takes some of the Santero's "manly" spirit in the process.^[15]

The third ritual, known as the "receiving of the warrior", is a ritual where the initiated receives objects from their babalawo that represents the warriors; Iron tools to represent Oggun, Lord of Iron; an iron bow and arrow to represent Ochosi, the Divine Hunter; and an iron chalice surmounted by a little rooster to represent Ósun, the messenger of Obatalá.^[16] This ritual begins a formal and life-long relationship that the initiate will have with these Orishas, as the orisha's devote their energies to protecting and providing for the initiate on his path.

The last ritual of the initiation process is known as Asiento [ascending the throne],and is the most important and the most secretive ritual in Santería, as it is the ceremony where the iyamo (bride) becomes "born again" into the faith. This ritual is a culmination of the previous rituals, and cannot be made unless the others have been completed. Prior to the ritual, the individual is considered to be impure and is required to "die" from their old self. Asiento is a process of purification and divination whereby the initiated becomes like a newborn baby and begins a new life of deeper growth within the faith.^[16]

Once the initiation is completed, there is a year long waiting period, known as iyaboraje, in which the newly appointed Priest and Priestess can not perform cleansings and other remedies.^[17] It is a time where the Iyawo or Bride of the Orisha must follow a strict regimen of wearing all white and must avoid physical contact with those who have not been initiated. Once the ebo del año has been completed there will be an end of year ceremony, which will enable the Priest or Priestess to consult clients, perform cleansings, provide remedies and perform initiations. And according to Gonzalez : "they are also regarded as royalty in the religion, as they are considered representatives of the Orishas and are vested with the power to work with the forces of those Orishas in full."^[18]

With Santería rituals there are musical ceremonies and prayers which are referred to as bembe, toque de santo, or tambor. It is a celebration dedicated to an Orisha, where the batá drums (set of three drums known as the iya (the largest drum), itoltele, and oconcolo) are played in the Orisha's honor.^[19] Through these sacred drums, messages of worshippers reach the orishas and the orishas respond to their devotees. These drums are used only by men and must always be treated with respect. For example: Dancers must never turn their backs towards the drums while dancing, as it is considered disrespectful.^[20]

Clergy

Priests are commonly known as olorishas or owner of Orisa. Once those priests have initiated other priests, they become known as babalorishas, "fathers of orisha" (for men), and as iyalorishas, "mothers of orisha" (for women). Priests can commonly be referred to as Santeros and Santeras (depending on gender), and if they function as diviners (using cowrie-shell divination known as Diloggun) of the Orishas they can be considered Italeros, or if they go through training to become leaders of initiations, Obas or Oriates.

Considered to be highest in rank are priests of Ifá (pronounced ee-fah), which in santeria is an all male group. Ifá Priests receive Orunmila, who is the Orisha of Prophecy, Wisdom and Knowledge. Once this happens they are known by the title Babalawo, or "Father Who Knows the Secrets".

In recent years, a particular practice of the traditional Yoruba Ifa priests (from Nigeria) has come to the diaspora of initiating women to be Iyanifa or "Mother of Destiny", but Lucumi practitioners do not typically accept this practice due to their interpretation of the Odu Ifa Irete Untelu which states woman cannot be in the presence of Olofin (otherwise known as Igba Iwa Odu) and so cannot be initiated as divining priestesses. This is a major difference between traditional Lucumí Ifa practitioners, and some traditional Yoruba practitioners from Oshogbo and, since the 1980s, Ile Ife. Instead, a woman in Lucumi is initiated as Apetebi Ifa, a "bride of Ifa", and is considered senior in Ifa to all but a fully initiated Babalawo. There was little evidence of Iyanifa existing in West Africa until very recently, so the existence of the Iyanifa is likely to be of modern origin in Yorubaland, and it is probably due to this reason that it does not appear in the Cuban variant. The foremost Western academic authority on Ifa, William Bascom, traveled throughout Yorubaland studying the Ifa cult in a series of visits in 1937–1938, 1950–1951, 1960 and 1965, and never encountered a single Iyanifa nor was he told of their existence by any of his informants.^[21] However, Maupoil, in his 1943 work, does mention he encountered a woman Ifa diviner in Dahomey.^[22]

Current distribution

The traditional Yoruba religion and its Santería counterpart can be found in many parts of the world today, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and the United States, mainly as a result of mostly Cuban and Puerto Rican migration.

In 2001, there were an estimated 22,000 practitioners in the US alone,^[23] but the number may be higher as some practitioners may be reluctant to disclose their religion on a government census or to an academic researcher. Of those living in the United States, some are fully committed priests and priestesses, others are "godchildren" or members of a particular house-tradition, and many are non-committal clients seeking help with their everyday problems. Many are of Black Hispanic and Caribbean descent, but as the religion moves out of the inner cities and into the suburbs, a growing number are of African-American and European-American heritage.

In Puerto Rico, the religion is extremely popular, especially in the towns of Loiza, Carolina and Bayamon.

Operating independently of the historical syncretism described above, there are now individuals who mix the Lukumí practices of Cuba with traditional practices as they survived in Africa after the deleterious effects of colonialism. Although most of these mixes have not been at the hands of experienced or knowledgeable practitioners of either variant of the system, they have gained a certain popularity.

A very similar religion called Candomblé is practiced in Brazil, along with a rich variety of other Afro-American religions. This is now being referred to as "parallel religiosity"^[24] because some believers worship the African variant that has no notion of a devil and no baptism or marriage, yet they belong to Catholic or mainline Protestant churches, where these concepts exist.

Controversies and criticisms

• In 1993, the issue of animal sacrifice was taken to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. The court ruled that animal cruelty laws targeted specifically at Yoruba were unconstitutional.^[25] The Yoruba practice of animal sacrifice has seen no significant legal challenges since then.

• In 2009, legal and religious issues that related to animal sacrifice, animal rights and freedom of religion were taken to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Jose Merced, President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha Texas, Inc., v. City of Euless. The court ruling that the Merced case of the freedom of exercise of religion was meritorious and prevailing and that Merced was entitled under the Texas Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (TRFRA) to an injunction preventing the city of Euless, Texas from enforcing its ordinances that burdened his religious practices relating to the use of animals^[26], (see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 110.005(a)(2)) without the court having to reach his claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. But still, no matter that the city of Euless, even after losing a drawn-out lawsuit that tested the boundaries of religious liberty in Texas, was still searching for new ways to shut down Merced's spiritual practices.^[27]

• There have been a few highly publicized cases where injuries allegedly occurred during Lukumi rituals. One such case reported by The New York Times took place on January 18, 1998, in Sayville, New York, where 17-year-old Charity Miranda was suffocated to death with a plastic bag at her home by her mother Vivian, 39, and sister Serena, 20, after attempting an exorcism to free her of demons. Police found the women chanting and praying over the prostrate body. Not long before, the women had embraced Lukumi. It should be noted, however, that Lukumi doctrine does not postulate the existence of demons, nor does its liturgy contain exorcism rituals. The mother, Vivian Miranda, was found not guilty due to insanity, and is currently confined in a New York State psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane.^[28]

See also

	Cuba portal
	Religion portal

References

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lukumí

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Santería

• Lucumi & Ifa
• Furius Santería DB: A database of the rhythms and chants found in recordings

v t e Afro-American religion Religions Abakua Candomblé (Bantu Jejé Ketu) Kumina Obeah Palo Quimbanda Rastafarianism Santería (Lukumí) Spiritual Baptist Umbanda Haitian Vodou Louisiana Voodoo Winti Deities Babalu Aye Eshu Iansan Jah Mami Wata Obàtálá Ogun Ọlọrun Orunmila Ọṣun Shango Yemaja Roots West African Vodun Ifá Oriṣa (Yorùbá) Lwa (Dahomey) Odinani (Igbo) Nkisi (Kongo) Catholicism (Portugal Spain) Related articles Christianity and Vodou Haitian Vodou and sexual orientation