Santería
Santería also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa, the Roman Catholic form of Christianity, and Spiritism.
In Cuba it is sometimes described as "the national religion," although it has also spread abroad. Santería's roots are in the traditional religions brought to Cuba by enslaved West Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Terminology
The term Santería translates into English as the "way of the saints." This term was first used by scholarly commentators in the 1930s and later spread among the religion's practitioners themselves. It has become the most popular name for the religion, although some practitioners find it offensive.
A common alternative is Regla de Ocha, meaning "the rule of ocha," ocha being a term for the religion's deities. Some adherents regard this as the religion's "official" name.
The tradition has also been called Lucumí, in reference to the colonial Spanish term for the Yoruba people, or alternatively La Religión Lucumí ("the Lucumí religion") or Regla Lucumí ("the rule of Lucumí").
Practitioners
Different vocabulary indicates the level of a practitioner's involvement, with the various terms sometimes reflecting different political and social agendas. Practitioners of both Santería and other Afro-Cuban religions are called creyentes ("believers"). Some people external to the religion have referred to its practitioners as "santerians" although this is not used by adherents themselves.
A non-initiate, including those who may attend public Santería ceremonies, is an aleyo ("stranger"); these non-initiates make up the majority of people involved in the religion.
Initiates are known as santero if male, and santera if female, although these two terms have sometimes been used for anyone, initiate or not, who participates in the religion. Alternative terms for an initiate are babalocha or babaloricha ("father-deity") if male and an iyalocha or iyaloricha ("mother-deity") if female. Those who have a sustained engagement with the religion are also referred to as omoricha ("children of the oricha"), aboricha ("one who worships the oricha"), and an oloricha ("one who belongs to the oricha").
Beliefs
Santería is a flexible and eclectic tradition, with considerable variation in how it is practiced. There is no strict orthodoxy, no key sacred text, and no central authority in control of the entire religion. It has absorbed elements from many cultures that it has encountered, such as that of the Chinese migrants who came to Cuba in the 19th century, while in continental North America, Santería has also incorporated influences from Central American and Mexican religions as well as from New Age and modern Pagan practices.
Santería teaches the existence of an overarching divinity, known as Olodumare, Olofi, or Olorun. Practitioners believe that this divinity created the universe but takes little interest in human affairs. As this creator deity is inaccessible to humanity, no major offerings are dedicated to it. The three facets of this divinity are understood slightly differently; Olodumare represents the divine essence of all that exists, Olorun is regarded as the creator of all beings, while Olofi dwells in all creation. In taking a triplicate form, this deity displays similarities with the Christian Trinity.
Santería teaches that the human head contains a person's essence, their eledá or orí. The concept of the eledá derives from Yoruba traditional religion, where it is seen as a person's "spiritual double." In Santería, this concept idea has syncretised with Roman Catholic beliefs about guardian angels and Spiritist notions of the protecciones or protector spirits.
Ancestor veneration is important in Santería. The religion entails propitiating the spirits of the dead, known as egun.
Morality
Santería has standards for behavior expected of practitioners, encouraging behaviors influenced by the mythological stories about the oricha. The religion presents strict rules regarding how to interact with other people and with the supernatural, for instance placing emphasis on respect for elders and superiors. A general attitude in Santería is that if an individual maintains good character, the oricha will aid them.
Practitioners generally take socially conservative stances, having high regard for traditional family structures, marriage, fidelity, and child-rearing; adherents in the United States often adopt more progressive stances on issues surrounding gender and sexuality than their counterparts in Cuba.
The religion is non-dualistic and does not view the universe as being divided between good and evil; rather, all things are perceived as being complementary and relative.
The oricha
Santeria is polytheistic, revolving around deities called oricha, ocha, or santos ("saints"). The term oricha can be both singular and plural, because Lucumí, the ritual language of Santería, lacks plural markers for nouns. Practitioners believe that some oricha were created before humanity, while others were originally humans who became oricha through some remarkable quality. Some practitioners perceive the oricha as facets of Olodumare, and thus think that by venerating them they are ultimately worshipping the creator god. Certain oricha are female, others male. They are not regarded as wholly benevolent, being capable of both harming and helping humans, and displaying a mix of emotions, virtues, and vices.
Origin myths and other stories about the oricha are called patakíes. Each oricha is understood to "rule over" a particular aspect of the universe, and they have been described as personifications of different facets of the natural world. They live in a realm called orún, which is contrasted with ayé, the realm of humanity. Oricha each have their own caminos ("roads"), a concept akin to the Hindu concept of avatars. The number of caminos an oricha has varies, with some having several hundred. Practitioners believe that oricha can physically inhabit certain objects, among them stones and cowrie shells, which are deemed sacred. Each oricha is also associated with specific songs, rhythms, colors, numbers, animals, and foodstuffs.
The most-commonly revered oricha are:
- Eleguá: the guardian of the crossroads and thresholds.
- Ogun: weapons and war.
- Ochosi: woods and hunting.
- Osun: a protector who warns practitioners when they are in danger.
- Changó or Shango: associated with lightning and fire.
- Yemaja: associated with maternity, fertility, and the sea.
- Ochún: rivers and of romantic love.
- Oyá: a warrior associated with wind, lightning, and death, and is viewed as the guardian of the cemetery.
- Obatalá is the oricha of truth and justice and is deemed responsible for helping to mould humanity.
- Babalú Ayé: associated with disease and its curing.
- Osain: herbs and healing.
- Orula: the oricha of divination, who in Santería's mythology was present at the creation of humanity.
- Ibeyi: takes the form of twins who protect children.
- Olokún: the patron of markets, while his wife Olosá is associated with lagoons.
- Agagyú: volcanoes and the wasteland.
Although in Santería the term santo is regarded as a synonym of oricha and is not a literal reference to Christian saints, the oricha are often conflated with one or more Roman Catholic saints based on similar attributes.
Relationships with the oricha
Santería's focus is on cultivating a reciprocal relationship with the oricha,[ with adherents believing that these deities can intercede in human affairs and help people if they are appeased. Practitioners argue that each person is "born to" a particular oricha, whether or not they devote themselves to that deity.
To gain the protection of a particular oricha, practitioners are encouraged to make offerings to them, sponsor ceremonies in their honor, and live in accordance with their wishes, as determined through divination. Creyentes believe that the oricha can communicate with humans through divination, prayers, dreams, music, and dance.
Aché
Aché is a major cosmological concept in Yoruba traditional religion and has been transferred to Santería. Aché is regarded as the organizing power of the cosmos; the Hispanic studies scholars Margarite Fernández Olmos and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert referred to it as "a spiritual-mystical energy or power found in varying degrees and in many forms throughout the universe."
While deeming Olodumare the ultimate embodiment of aché, practitioners believe that aché permeates all life, and is present in both the visible and invisible world.
Practices
Santería is a practice-oriented religion; ritual correctness is considered more important than belief. It has an elaborate system of ritual, with its rites termed ceremonias (ceremonies). Most of its activities revolve around the oricha, focusing on solving the problems of everyday life. Practitioners usually use the term "work" in reference to ritual activity; thus "working ocha" describes its rites.
Santería is an initiatory religion, one which is organized around a structured hierarchy. An ethos of secrecy pervades many of its practices, with initiates often refusing to discuss certain topics with non-initiates.
Houses of worship
Rituals take place in the ilé ("house"), casa templo ("house of worship"), casa de santos ("house of saints"), or casa de religión ("house of religion"). The ethnomusicologist María Teresa Vélez called this the "house-temple", with the ilé usually being the personal home of a santero or santera. It will typically have an inner room, the igbodu ("sacred grove of the festival"), where the most important rituals take place.
Shrines
Altars or shrines to the oricha are typically found both within the igbodu and in practitioners' homes. Central to these altars are sacred objects, termed fundamentos ("fundamentals"), which are contained within porcelain vessels called sopera. The most important of the fundamentos are stones termed otanes, which are regarded as the literal and symbolic representation of the oricha, and thus living entities. They are deemed to be sources of aché.
Healing
Healing is important in Santería, and health problems are the most common reason why people approach a santero or santera for help. When operating as healers, practitioners are sometimes termed curanderos. Particular focuses of Santería healing include skin complaints, gastrointestinal and respiratory problems, sexually transmitted infections, and issues of female reproduction; some practitioners provide concoctions to induce abortion.
Santería teaches that supernatural factors cause or exacerbate ailments. Herbalism is a major component of Santería healing practices, with healing plants having an important role in the religion.
Offerings and sacrifice
Offerings are given to the oricha, ancestral spirits, and sometimes to the earth. These offerings can consist of fruit and other foodstuffs, liquor, flowers, candles, money, or slaughtered animals. Divination is often used to determine the exact nature of the offering; initiates are supposed to provide offerings on a regular basis, and at least once a year. Given to strengthen the supernatural forces, to thank them, or as a supplication, they help form a reciprocal relationship with these entities in the hope of receiving something in return. If this fails to materialise, practitioners may resort to several explanations: that the details of the ritual were incorrect, that the priest or priestess carrying out the rite lacked sufficient aché, or that the wrong ebbó was provided for the situation.
Animal sacrifice
Birds—including guinea fowl, chickens, and doves—are commonly sacrificed, usually by having their throats slit or their heads twisted and ripped off. For rituals of greater importance, sacrifices are often of four-legged animals. Some practitioners describe the killing of animals as an acceptable substitute to human sacrifice, and in Cuba there have been persistent rumours of children being sacrificed in Santería rites. The oricha and egun are believed to "eat" the blood of the victim; the latter's lifeforce is deemed to transfer to the oricha, thus strengthening its aché. An animal that struggles to avoid being killed is sometimes understood as having particular strength which will then pass to the oricha.
Once killed, the animals' severed heads may be placed on top of the sopera belonging to the oricha to which the sacrifice has been directed. After the carcass has been butchered, some of the organs may be cooked and offered to the oricha; other parts will be eaten by practitioners. Some of the blood may be collected and added to an infusion of herbs and water. Believed to contain much aché, this liquid is used for removing malevolent influences and in ceremonies for baptising ritual tools.
Santería's animal sacrifice has been a cause of concern for many non-practitioners. It has sometimes brought adherents into confrontation with the law, as with the 1993 case of Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that animal cruelty laws targeted specifically at Santería were unconstitutional.
Status in post-revolutionary Cuba
The Cuban Revolution of 1959 resulted in the island becoming a Marxist–Leninist state governed by Fidel Castro's Communist Party of Cuba. Committed to state atheism, Castro's government took a negative view of Santería. Practitioners experienced police harassment, were denied membership of the Communist Party, and faced limited employment opportunities. They required police permission to perform rituals, which was sometimes denied. The state nevertheless promoted art forms associated with Santería in the hope of using them to promote a unified Cuban identity. While espousing anti-racism, Castro's government viewed the promotion of a separate Afro-Cuban identity as counter-revolutionary.
Following the Soviet Union's collapse in the 1990s, Castro's government declared that Cuba was entering a "Special Period" in which new economic measures would be necessary. As part of this, it selectively supported Afro-Cuban and Santería traditions, partly out of a desire to boost tourism; this Santería-focused tourism was called santurismo.[ Priests of Santería, Palo, and Ifá all took part in government-sponsored tours for foreigners desiring initiation into such traditions, while Afro-Cuban floor shows became common in Cuban hotels. In 1991, the Communist Party approved the admission of religious members, and in 1992 the constitution was amended to declare Cuba a secular rather than an atheist state. This liberalisation allowed Santería to leave behind its marginalisation, and during the 1990s it began to be practiced more openly.
The second half of the 20th century saw a growing awareness of Santería's links with other orisha-worshipping religions in West Africa and the Americas. These transnational links were reinforced when the Ooni of Ife Olubuse II, a prominent Yoruba political and religious leader, visited Cuba in 1987. Cuba's government permitted the formation of the Yoruba Cultural Association, a non-governmental organization, in the early 1990s.
Spread outside Cuba
The Cuban Revolution fuelled Cuban emigration, especially to the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela. With an increased Cuban presence in the U.S., Santería grew in many U.S. cities, being embraced by Latino Americans as well as European Americans and African Americans. Some African Americans regarded it as an authentically African religion, especially when purged of Roman Catholic elements, sometimes perceiving it as a religious wing of the Black Power movement. In the U.S., Santería, along with Haitian Vodou, also proved an influence on the revival of Louisiana Voodoo in the late 20th century.
Relationship to other religions
Although Santería is the best known of the Afro-Cuban religions, and the most popular, it is not the only one. Others include Palo, which derives from practices originating in the Congo Basin, and Abakuá, which has its origins among the secret male societies practiced among the Efik-Ibibio. Many practitioners of Palo and Abakuá also follow Santería.
Santería also has commonalities with other West African and West African-derived traditions in the Americas which collectively form the "Orisha Tradition." These include Haitian Vodou and Brazilian Candomblé, sometimes characterized as "sister religions" of Santería due to their shared origins in Yoruba traditional religion.
Christianity
Christian views of Santería have been largely negative, and in Cuba, it has faced much opposition from the Roman Catholic clerical establishment over the centuries. Many Cuban intellectuals and academics also take a dim view of Santería. Opposition to the religion is also evident outside Cuba. Pervasive stereotypes link Santería to criminal activity, and its rituals for self-protection have been adopted by various groups involved in narcotics trafficking within the U.S.
Santeros and santeras are often accused of financially exploiting their initiates and clients—an accusation sometimes made by other practitioners of Santería itself. Various practitioners have also found that their involvement in Santería has strained their relationship with spouses or other family members who are not involved, and in some cases adherents have abandoned Santería to join other religious movements such as Pentecostalism.
Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah
Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that an ordinance passed in Hialeah, Florida, forbidding the "unnecessar[y]" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption," was unconstitutional.
After the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye leased a property in Hialeah, Florida, the Hialeah City Council held an emergency public session with autorities and local leaders making statements against Santeria such as:
- its practices are "violation of everything this country stands for."
- in Cuba, "people were put in jail for practicing this religion."
- Hialeah's police chaplain testified that the Church worshipped "demons."
- "this community will not tolerate religious practices abhorrent to its citizens."
In September 1987, the city council unanimously passed three new ordinances that criminalized “sacrifices of animals for any type of ritual, regardless of whether or not the flesh or blood of the animal is to be consumed.” The city council exempted kosher slaughterhouses, regular slaughterhouses, hunting, fishing, pest extermination, euthanasia of stray animals, and feeding live rabbits to greyhounds.
Legal battle
The Church sued in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. On June 10, 1988, U.S. District Judge Eugene P. Spellman granted absolute immunity to the individual city council members and the mayor. The Church's petition for certiorari from the Supreme Court of the United States was granted, with Douglas Laycock appearing for the Church during oral arguments on November 4, 1992.
On June 11, 1993, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed the lower court's decision. Because the ordinance suppressed more religious conduct than was necessary to achieve its stated ends, it was deemed unconstitutional, with Justice Anthony Kennedy stating in the decision, "religious beliefs need not be acceptable, logical, consistent or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection."
In popular culture
Santería is often used as a platform of the antagonists in films, television shows, and books.
- The Possession of Joel Delaney (1972) a horror film about a wealthy New York City divorcee whose brother becomes possessed by a deceased serial killer who committed a series of gruesome murders in Spanish Harlem.
- The Religion (1982) a horror novel by Nicholas Conde which explores the ritual sacrifice of children to appease the pantheon of voodoo deities, through the currently used practice of Santería.
- Cecilia (1982) a Cuban drama film.
- The Believers (1987) a horror-noir film about a city plagued by a series of brutal, ritualistic child murders.
- "Santeria" (1996) is a ballad by American ska punk band Sublime, released on their self-titled third album. The song tells the story of a jealous ex-boyfriend who is planning to take revenge on the man who stole his girlfriend.
- Perdita Durango (1997) action-crime-horror film about an imposter Santeria priest who resorts to bank robbery to pay his debts. Released as Dance with the Devil in the United States.