Santeria
Part I
When I began to research Santeria for this article, I was under the impression that I’d be able to break down the religion into an understandable 3-4 page paper and be able to cover all the major high points of the religion. Couldn’t have been more mistaken on that. Santeria is an amazingly complex religion. As such, this article will be an introduction to the religion; next month’s article will cover some of the important high points.
As America becomes more multicultural, the traditional religions of Hispanic, African and Arab American’s (just to name a few) will begin to become more recognized or noticed in society. A misunderstanding of the nature of these religions can lead to fear, discrimination and in the worse case persecution of the followers of the misunderstood religion. For example some estimates state that there are over 100 million practitioners of Santeria in both Latin America and in America. Most of the followers are focused in areas with large Latin American populations such as Miami, New York and Los Angles. Based on the large number of Santeria followers this is a religion that can’t be ignored nor misunderstood.
Overview
Part of the difficulty in understanding Santeria is the fact that, the Santeria most commonly practiced here in America as well as in Latin American countries and is syncreticed with Christianity began with the Yoruba people of West Africa. The religion also exists in Africa, however, that form of the religion doesn’t have the same Christian influence as does the form of the religion that is practiced in the America’s. As such, an outsider to the religion(like myself) would have a difficult time trying to discern what parts of the religion are traditional in belief to the Yoruba people and what belief’s have been incorporated due to Christian influence. “Santeria as a religion entirely independent from that of the Yoruba even though it’s general structure is largely based on the Yoruba tradition”(Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 7).
As with many syncrestic religions, Santeria was brought to the America’s through the slave trade. Santeria had its beginnings with the Yoruba people. The Yoruba “originated in Southwestern Nigeria. At one time they had a powerful and complex social structure organized in a series of Kingdoms the most important of which was Benin”. (Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 1) The Kingdom of Benin (ca 12th century-1896) was dispersed by English Colonists. “At the beginning of the 17th century the Ewe people invaded the region of Dahomey and the neighboring kingdoms forcing the Yoruba tribes to migrate to the Nigerian coast where many of them were captured by slave traders and brought to the new world”( Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 1)
What I find interesting about the study of religion is the similarity that can be found between the different religions, when discussing religion and Santeria, “extensive studies of the Yoruba cult notably those by William Bascome and Roger Bastide have shown that the Yoruba pantheon is extremely complex and sophisticated and strongly reminiscent of the ancient Greeks. Their deities known as orishas are believable and extraordinarily human in behavior” (Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 2) It can also be noted that “there are some similarities between Santeria and Voodoo notably the worship of some of the same deities” (Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 2) Generally speaking the differences between Voodoo and Santeria are greater than any similarity because “in Santeria the Yoruba influence supersedes that of any other culture” (Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 2)
The Cuban Influence
American and Hispanic versions of Santeria originated in Cuba, the religion is known as Lucumi in Cuba. The syncretism of Lucumi can be seen in the fact that they were “deeply influenced by the Catholic iconolatry of their Spanish masters. In their efforts to hide their magical and religious practices from the eyes of the Spanish. They identified their deities with saints of the Catholic Church” (Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 3)
Catholicism and Nature Religions
Santeria is a syncretistic religion based on “the fact that all of the Yoruba deities worshipped in Santeria have been identified with Catholic Saints” (Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 3) When African slaves were originally brought to the new world, they had been allowed to continue to follow their traditional religions, over time, the slave masters began to forbid the slaves to continue to worship in their traditional ways. As such, Santeria was syncertisized with Catholicism to allow the slaves to continue to worship in traditional ways while appearing be to following Catholic ways.
Much like the Wiccan tradition, “the Yoruba religion comprises an intricate system of rituals ad ceremonies of a distinct magical nature, all of which the slaves conducted in the woods. This resulted in a great deal of persecution which forced the slaves to cloak their religion in secrecy. All the rituals especially the initiations were conducted under stringent vows of secrecy. This secrecy which never existed in Nigeria is still observed by the practitioners of Santeria today and is one of the reasons the religion is so closed to outsiders” (Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 3)
Central Theme
One of the central themes or practices of Santeria “is ancestor worship, the dead in one’s family known collectively as Eggun must be fed periodically”( Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 6).
“Central to the practice of Santeria is ancestor worship “According to the Santerors the dead come before the saints. This is one of the strongest precepts of Santeria” (Gonzalez-Wippler (2007) p 6)
Summary
Finding information on Santeria is difficult to say the least. The religion continues to be closed to outsiders. However, as America becomes more multicultural, more and more individuals have become attracted to the tradition, as such, some of the mystery that has surrounded Santeria is beginning to fade.
Part II of this article will be focusing on the actual nature of the Santeria tradition.
References
Gonzalez-Wippler, M. (2007). Santeria The Religion. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide.
