Syncrestic Religions

The past decade or so has see the rise of what has been called New Religious Movements(NRM) such as David Koresh’s Branch Davidians and Marshall Applewhite Heaven’s Gate.  Unfortunately, every religion that can be described as “pagan” has fallen under the heading of NRM, some of the these religions aren’t new at all, just modern interpretations of much older in some cases ancient religions.  The topic of this article will be syncrestic religions.  In a nutshell, a syncrestic religion is a religion that has taken on certain aspects of a different religion while combining them with traditional aspects of the original religion.  An example would be Voodoo.  Voodoo was brought to America during the slave trade.  Slaves weren’t allowed to practice their traditional religion, slaves owners insisted that all slaves be baptized Christian.  Over time, African slaves learned that they could rename their gods with Christian names while still following their traditional religious beliefs.

“Syncrestic religions can also be called Afro-Caribbean, meaning that their origins can be traced to Africa but have evolved and mutated into other religions once their adherents were kidnapped into slavery.  In America, there Africans were typically forced into adopting Christian practices.  They blended these new ways with their old beliefs and thus the religions of Santeria(Cuba), Candomble(Brazil) and Voodoo(Haiti) were born“(Kail (2003) p. 25)

This article will be an introduction for a multiple article study of Syncrestic Religions.  While NRMs have been on the rise over the last decade, so called  “occult experts” or “cult cops” have also been on the rise.  Many of those so called experts have been offering lectures on the nature of the occult as it relates to law enforcement.  Much of the information being disseminated at these lectures are inaccurate.  There isn’t some huge conspiracy in the world among occult groups to kidnap children to be used in bizarre rituals.  This article, as well as the follow up articles are an attempt to give the reader introductory information regarding syncrestic religions.

Santeria

Began in the area now known as Nigeria, where an ethnic group known as the Yoruba lived and built elaborate kingdoms.  Under a king known as an oba the Yoruba developed a strong culture of art, science, and religion.  The Yoruba’s fundamental belief’s surrounded a creator known as olodumare or olorun.  The Yoruba tribe flourished until the 1700s when the Spanish took several thousands of Africans as slaves.  The majority of the Yoruba were taken to Cuba, where they were forced to give up their religion and embrace the Catholic faith(Kail (2003) p.  27)

Palo Mayombe

Palo Is a very mysterious and secretive religion that originated in the Congo region of Africa.  The word palo itself means stick referring to the magical branches that are used in the  religion.  Mayombe is a sect that practiced the religion of palo.  The religion come into Cuba during the salve trade the religion arrived on our shores with Cuban immigrants.  Once it arrived it remained a very secret practice that bonded Cuban families.  While it is practiced covertly in America, the religion is practiced openly in Cuba(Kail (2003 p. 44)

Voodoo

Comes from West Africa.  Different ethnic groups of Africans such as the Yoruba, the Fon and the Ewe each held distinct religious practices and philosophies that are best described as Afro-Paganism.  Beliefs in gods and goddesses and the practice of magic were staples of these religions when Africans were captured by slave traders and sent to the Caribbean islands, they were forced to adopt French Catholicism, which led to a syncretism between the religions that can still be seen today in modern voodoo(Kail (2003) p. 53)

Over the next several issues, each of the above mentioned religions will be covered more in depth.  The purpose of these article’s isn’t to turn the reader into an expert on syncrestic religions but to give some background information on each of the religions, so the reader has a better idea of what each religion entails and a starting point for further study.

References:

Kail T. (2003).  A Cop’s Guide to Occult Investigations.  Boulder: Paladin Press