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{{For|the Sublime song|Santeria (song)}}
{{For|the Sublime song|Santeria (song)}}
[[File:Havana - Cuba - 0616.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A Santería ceremony known as "Cajon de Muertos". Havana, Cuba, 2011.]]
[[File:Havana - Cuba - 0616.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A Santería ceremony known as "Cajon de Muertos". Havana, Cuba, 2011.]]
'''Santería''', also known as '''Regla de Ochá''' or '''La Regla Lucumí''',<ref /><ref /> is a [[Syncretism|syncretic religion]] of [[West Africa|West African]] and [[Caribbean]] origin influenced by and syncretized with [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]. Its [[Sacred language|liturgical language]], a dialect of [[Yoruba language|Yorùbá]], is also known as [[Lucumi language|Lucumí]].
'''Santería''', also known as '''Regla de Ochá''' or '''La Regla Lucumí''',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/santeri.htm |title=Santería |publisher=Religions of the World |accessdate=January 4, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="mistic">{{cite web |deadurl=http://www.neworleansmistic.com/spells/primer/santeria.htm |title=Lucumí Religion |publisher=New Orleans Mistic |archivedate=May 29, 2008 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080528053852/http://www.neworleansmistic.com/spells/primer/santeria.htm |accessdate=January 4, 2009 |url=http://www.neworleansmistic.com/spells/primer/santeria.htm }}</ref> is a [[syncretism|syncretic religion]] of [[West Africa]]n and [[Caribbean]] origin influenced by and syncretized with [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]. Its [[sacred language|liturgical language]], a dialect of [[Yoruba language|Yorùbá]], is also known as [[Lucumi language|Lucumí]].


== History ==
==History==
Santería is a system of beliefs that merges the [[Yoruba religion|Yorùbá religion]] (brought to the [[New World]] by [[Yoruba people|Yorùbá slaves]]) with Christianity and Native American traditions.<ref /> These slaves carried with them various religious customs, including a trance and divination system for communicating with their ancestors and deities, animal sacrifice, and sacred drumming and dance.<ref /><ref /> In one ''patakí'', it is stated that the original practitioners of this complex religious system, often described as proto-Yorùbá (although there is no genetic affiliation with the ancient practitioners and the current Yorùbá peoples), were from an area much further from contemporary [[Yorùbáland]], being originally from the "Northeast" in the vicinity of [[Mecca]], which either refers to [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] or [[Mesopotamia|Sumer]]. [[Oduduwa]], an Orichá who in his human life is described as the religion's prophet, is believed to be the son of an ancient Sumerian king (c. 3000 BCE). It has been noted that there are numerous similarities between the Yorùbá religion and the ancient [[Religion in Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian religion]], [[Ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian religion]], [[Arabian mythology|Arabian religion]], and [[Proto-Indo-Iranian religion|Indo-Iranian religion]]. Some scholars have suggested that the ruling [[List of rulers of Ife|Yoruba dynasties]] were descendants of the [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]] of ancient [[Sumer]].
Santería is a system of beliefs that merges the [[Yoruba religion|Yorùbá religion]] (brought to the [[New World]] by [[Yoruba people|Yorùbá slaves]]) with Christianity and Native American traditions.<ref name="mistic"/> These slaves carried with them various religious customs, including a trance and divination system for communicating with their ancestors and deities, animal sacrifice, and sacred drumming and dance.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lOzGiT9wT7EC&pg=PA268 |title=Multicultural Health |author=Lois Ritter, Nancy Hoffman |publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning |date=April 18, 2011 |page=268 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=hF_xjFL6_NEC&pg=RA1-PA305 |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought, Volume 1 |author=Abiola Irele, Biodun Jeyifo |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=April 27, 2010 |page=305 }}</ref> In one ''patakí'', it is stated that the original practitioners of this complex religious system, often described as proto-Yorùbá (although there is no genetic affiliation with the ancient practitioners and the current Yorùbá peoples), were from an area much further from contemporary [[Yorùbáland]], being originally from the "Northeast" in the vicinity of [[Mecca]], which either refers to [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] or [[Mesopotamia|Sumer]]. [[Oduduwa]], an Orichá who in his human life is described as the religion's prophet, is believed to be the son of an ancient Sumerian king (c. 3000 BCE). It has been noted that there are numerous similarities between the Yorùbá religion and the ancient [[Religion in Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian religion]], [[Ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian religion]], [[Arabian mythology|Arabian religion]], and [[Proto-Indo-Iranian religion|Indo-Iranian religion]]. Some scholars have suggested that the ruling [[List of rulers of Ife|Yoruba dynasties]] were descendants of the [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]] of ancient [[Sumer]].


Upon its arrival in Cuba, this religious tradition evolved into what we now recognize as Santería.
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Upon its arrival in Cuba, this religious tradition evolved into what we now recognize as Santería.{{quote|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 ''[[Orisha|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''}}In order to preserve their ancestral and traditional beliefs, the [[Lucumi people|Lucumí people]] syncretized their ''Orichás'' with Roman Catholic ''Saints''. Due to this history, in Cuba, the terms "saint" and "orichá" are sometimes used interchangeably.


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{{quote|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 ''[[Orisha|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''}}
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This historical "veil" characterization of the relationship between Catholic saints and Orichás is made all the more complicated by the fact that the vast majority of ''santeros'' in [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Dominican Republic]], are also Roman Catholics, have been [[Baptism|baptized]], and often require initiates to be baptized in Roman Catholicism as well.


In order to preserve their ancestral and traditional beliefs, the [[Lucumi people|Lucumí people]] syncretized their ''Orichás'' with Roman Catholic ''Saints''. Due to this history, in Cuba, the terms "saint" and "orichá" are sometimes used interchangeably.
In 1974, the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye became the first Santería church in the United States to become officially incorporated.<ref />

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This historical "veil" characterization of the relationship between Catholic saints and Orichás is made all the more complicated by the fact that the vast majority of ''santeros'' in [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Dominican Republic]], are also Roman Catholics, have been [[baptism|baptized]], and often require initiates to be baptized in Roman Catholicism as well.

In 1974, the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye became the first Santería church in the United States to become officially incorporated.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/11/nation/na-santeria11 |title=Santeria priest won't let Religious Freedom be sacrificed |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |author=Richard Fausset |date=August 10, 2008 |accessdate=August 10, 2008 }}</ref>


== Rituals and ceremonies ==
== Rituals and ceremonies ==
Santería does not use a central creed for its religious practices; though it is understood in terms of its rituals and ceremonies.<ref />{{rp|102}} These rituals and ceremonies take place in what is known as a house-temple or ''{{lang|es|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 orichás which creates a space for worship, called an ''igbodu'' (altar).<ref />{{rp|102}} 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.<ref />{{rp|168}}
Santería does not use a central creed for its religious practices; though it is understood in terms of its rituals and ceremonies.<ref name="de la Torre 2004">{{cite book |author=[[Miguel A. De La Torre]] |title=Santería: The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |year=2004 |isbn=978-0802-84973-1 }}</ref>{{rp|102}} These rituals and ceremonies take place in what is known as a house-temple or ''{{lang|es|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 orichás which creates a space for worship, called an ''igbodu'' (altar).<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|102}} 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.<ref name="Brown 2003">{{cite book |author=David H. Brown |title=Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion |publisher=University of Chicago |year=2003 |isbn=978-0226-07610-2 }}</ref>{{rp|168}}

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Each ''ilé'' is composed of those who occasionally seek guidance from the orishas, as well as those who are in the process of becoming priests.<ref name="Mason 2002">{{cite book |author=Michael Atwood Mason |title=Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion |publisher=[[Smithsonian]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-1588-34052-8 }}</ref>{{rp|6}} The many ''{{lang|es|cabildos}}'' and ''{{lang|es|casas}}'' that bridged the 19th and 20th centuries are fondly remembered by contemporary priests as the origins and strongholds of Cuban Lucumí culture and religion.<ref name="Mason 2002"/>{{rp|57}}

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To become a full-fledged [[Santero]] or Santera (Priest or Priestess of Santería), the initiator must go through an intensive week-long initiation process<ref name="Brown 2003"/>{{rp|165}} in which the teaching of the ritual skills and moral behavior occurs informally and nonverbally. To begin with, the initiator goes through what is called a cleansing ritual. The initiator's ''[[Godparent|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 ''{{lang|es|rogación de la cabeza}}'' (blessing of the head), in which coconut water and cotton are applied on the head to feed it.<ref name="Mason 1994">{{cite journal |author=Michael Atwood Mason |title="I Bow My Head to the Ground": The Creation of Bodily Experience in a Cuban American ''Santería'' Initiation |journal=Journal of American Folklore |volume=107 |number=423 |year=Winter 1994 |pages=23–39 |jstor=541071}}</ref>{{rp|26–28}} Once cleansed, there are four major initiation rituals that the initiator will have to undergo, which are: obtaining the ''elekes'' (beaded necklace), receiving Eleguá, receiving ''Los Guerreros'' (the Warriors), and making ''Ocha'' (Saint).<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|107}}

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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 orichá 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 orichá is. This must be done by a ''[[Babalawo|Babaaláwo]]'' (Father Who Knows the Secrets), in a divination ritual known as ''bajar Orula'' (bringing down Orula)." The ''elekes'' necklace is bathed in a mixture of herbs, sacrificial blood, and other potent substances and given to the initiated.<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|107}} The initiate most often receives the necklace of the five most powerful and popular ''oricha'', as the multicolored beads of the ''elekes'' are each patterned for the primary ''Orichás'' (Eleguá, Obatalá, Yemayá, Changó, and Ochún), and they serve as a sacred point of contact with these ''Orichás''. When the necklace is received, the initiated must bow over a bathtub and have his/her head washed by the ''olo orichá''. The ''elekes''<ref name="Mason 1994"/>{{rp|28}} serves as the sacred banners for the ''Orichás'' and act as a sign of the ''<nowiki>Orichá'</nowiki>''s presence and protection; however, it must never be worn during a women's menstruation period, nor during sex, nor when bathing.<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|107}}


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The second important ritual is known as ''{{lang|es|medio asiento}}'', the creation of an image of the orichá Eleguá. 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 path of Eleguá the recipient will receive. Then, based on his findings, he chooses materials that will be used to construct the image of the Eleguá, a sculpture that is used to keep evil spirits away from the initiator's home. This ritual is only prepared by men as the orichás take some of the Santero's "manly" spirit in the process.<ref name="Gonzalez-Wippler 2007">{{cite book |author=Miguel Gonzalez-Wippler |title=Rituals and Spells of Santería |publisher=Original Publications |year=2007 |isbn=978-0942-27207-9 }}</ref>{{rp|xi}}
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Each ''ilé'' is composed of those who occasionally seek guidance from the orishas, as well as those who are in the process of becoming priests.<ref />{{rp|6}} The many ''{{lang|es|cabildos}}'' and ''{{lang|es|casas}}'' that bridged the 19th and 20th centuries are fondly remembered by contemporary priests as the origins and strongholds of Cuban Lucumí culture and religion.<ref />{{rp|57}}


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The third ritual, known as the "receiving of the warrior", is a ritual where the initiated receives objects from their babaaláwo that represents the warriors; Iron tools to represent Ogún, Lord of Iron; an iron bow and arrow to represent Ochosi, the Divine Hunter; and an iron or silver chalice surmounted by a rooster to represent Osún, the messenger of Obatalá and Olofi, and who also works alongside Orula.<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|112}} This ritual begins a formal and lifelong relationship that the initiate will have with these Orichás, as the orichás devote their energies to protecting and providing for the initiate on their path.
⚫
To become a [[Santero]] or Santera (Priest or Priestess of Santería), the initiator must go through an intensive week-long initiation process<ref />{{rp|165}} in which the teaching of the ritual skills and moral behavior occurs informally and nonverbally. To begin with, the initiator goes through what is called a cleansing ritual. The initiator's ''[[Godparent|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 ''{{lang|es|rogación de la cabeza}}'' (blessing of the head), in which coconut water and cotton are applied on the head to feed it.<ref />{{rp|26–28}} Once cleansed, there are four major initiation rituals that the initiator will have to undergo, which are: obtaining the ''elekes'' (beaded necklace), receiving ''Los Guerreros'' (the Warriors), and making ''Ochá'' (Saint).<ref />{{rp|107}}


⚫
The last ritual of the initiation process is known as ''{{lang|es|[[Asiento]]}}'' (ascending the throne), and is the most important and the most secretive ritual in Santería, as it is the ceremony where the ''iyawo'' (bride of the oricha) 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. 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.<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|112}}
⚫
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 orichá 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 orichá is. The ''elekes'' necklace is bathed in a mixture of herbs, sacrificial blood, and other potent substances and given to the initiated.<ref />{{rp|107}} The initiate most often receives the necklace of the five most powerful and popular ''oricha'', as the multicolored beads of the ''elekes'' are each patterned for the primary ''Orichás'' (Eleguá, Obatalá, Yemayá, Changó, and Ochún), and they serve as a sacred point of contact with these ''Orichás''. When the necklace is received, the initiated must bow over a bathtub and have his/her head washed by the ''olo orichá''. The ''elekes''<ref />{{rp|28}} serves as the sacred banners for the ''Orichás'' and act as a sign of the ''<nowiki>Orichá'</nowiki>s'' presence and protection; however, it must never be worn during a women's menstruation period, nor during sex, nor when bathing.<ref />{{rp|107}}


⚫
Once the initiation is completed, depending on the individuals "house", 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.<ref name="Duncan">{{cite web |author=Dr Cynthia Duncan |publisher=University of Washington, Tacoma |url=http://www.aboutsanteria.com |year=2010 |title=About Santería }}</ref> It is a time where the ''Iyawo'' or Bride of the ''Orichá'' must follow a strict regimen of wearing all white and must avoid physical contact with those who have not been initiated. Once the ''{{lang|es|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 ''Orichás'' and are vested with the power to work with the forces of those ''Orichás'' in full."<ref name="Gonzalez-Wippler 2007"/>{{rp|xi}}
⚫
The second important ritual is known as ''{{lang|es|medio asiento}}'', the creation of an image of the orichá Eleguá. 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 path of Eleguá the recipient will receive. Then, based on his findings, he chooses materials that will be used to construct the image of the Eleguá, a sculpture that is used to keep evil spirits away from the initiator's home. This ritual is only prepared by men as the orichás take some of the Santero's "manly" spirit in the process.<ref />{{rp|xi}}


⚫
With Santería rituals there are musical ceremonies and prayers which are referred to as ''[[bembé]]'', ''{{lang|es|toque de santo}}'', or ''tambor''. It is a celebration dedicated to an ''Orichá'', where the ''batá'' drums (set of three drums known as the ''iya'' (the largest drum), ''itoltele'', and ''okonkolo'') are played in the ''<nowiki>Orichá'</nowiki>''s honor.<ref>{{citation |author=Diane Elizabeth Caudillo |title=Prayers to the ''Orishas'': A look at Santería |url=http://www.wenlin.com/lunasea/orishas.pdf |year=2007 }}</ref>{{rp|11}} Through these sacred drums, messages of worshippers reach the ''orichás'' and the ''orichás'' 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.<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|118}}
⚫
The third ritual, known as "receiving the warriors", is a ritual where the initiated receives objects from their padrino that represents the warriors; Iron tools to represent Ogún; an iron bow and arrow to represent Ochosi; and an iron or silver chalice surmounted by a rooster to represent Osún.<ref />{{rp|112}} This ritual begins a formal and lifelong relationship that the initiate will have with these Orichás, as the orichás devote their energies to protecting and providing for the initiate on their path.


⚫
===Clergy===
⚫
The last ritual of the initiation process is known as ''{{lang|es|[[Asiento]]}}'' (ascending the throne), and is the most important and the most secretive ritual in Santería, as it is the ceremony where the ''iyawo'' (bride of the oricha) 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. 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.<ref />{{rp|112}}
⚫
Priests are commonly known as ''olorichas'' or owner of'' Orichá''. Once those priests have initiated other priests, they become known as ''babalorichás'', "fathers of ''orichá''" (for men), and as ''iyalorichás'', "mothers of ''orichá''" (for women). Priests can commonly be referred to as ''Santeros'' (male) and ''Santeras'' (female), and if they function as diviners (using [[cowrie-shell divination]] known as ''Diloggun'') of the ''Orichás'' 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]]'' ({{IPA-es|iˈfa|pron}}, {{Respell|ee|FAH|'}}), which in Santería is an all-male group. ''Ifá'' Priests receive ''[[Orunmila|Orúnmila]]'', who is the ''Oricha'' of Prophecy, Wisdom and Knowledge. Once this happens they are known by the title ''[[Babalawo|Babaaláwo]] (''Father Who Knows the Secrets)
⚫
Once the initiation is completed, depending on the individuals "house", 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.<ref /> It is a time where the ''Iyawo'' or Bride of the ''Orichá'' must follow a strict regimen of wearing all white and must avoid physical contact with those who have not been initiated. Once the ''{{lang|es|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 ''Orichás'' and are vested with the power to work with the forces of those ''Orichás'' in full."<ref />{{rp|xi}}


In recent years, a particular practice of the traditional Yorùbá ''If''á priests (from [[Nigeria]]) has come to the diaspora of initiating women to be ''Iyanifá'' or "Mother of Destiny", but Lucumí practitioners do not typically accept this practice due to their interpretation of the ''Odu Ifa Irete Untelu'' which states women cannot be in the presence of Olofi and so cannot be initiated as divining priestesses. This is a major difference between traditional ''Lucumí Ifá'' practitioners, and some traditional Yorùbá practitioners from Oshogbo and, since the 1980s, ''Ilé-Ifẹ̀''. Instead, a woman in Lucumí is initiated as ''Apetebi Ifá'', ''a'' "bride of Ifá", and is considered senior in Ifá to all but a fully initiated'' ''Babaaláwo''. ''There was little evidence of Iyanifá existing in West Africa until very recently, so the existence of the'' ''Iyanifá'' ''is likely to be of modern origin in Yorùbáland, and it is probably due to this reason that it does not appear in the Latin variant. The foremost Western academic authority on'' Ifá'', [[William Bascom]], traveled throughout Yorùbáland studying the ''Ifá'' cult in a series of visits in 1937–38, 1950–51, 1960 and 1965, and never encountered a single Iyanifá''' '''nor was he told of their existence by any of his informants.'''<ref name="Bascom 1991">{{cite book |author=[[William Bascom]] |title=Ifa Divination: Communication between Gods and Men in West Africa |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0253-20638-1 }}</ref>{{rp|81}} '''However, Maupoil, in his 1943 doctoral thesis, does mention he encountered a woman Ifá diviner in [[Dahomey]].'''<ref>{{cite book |author=Bernard Maupoil |title=La géomancie à l'ancienne côte des esclaves |trans_title=Geomancy on the old Slave Coast |publisher=Institut d'ethnologie, Université de Paris |year=1943 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k3pGAAAAMAAJ }}</ref>'''
⚫
With Santería rituals there are musical ceremonies and prayers which are referred to as ''[[bembé]]'', ''{{lang|es|toque de santo}}'', or ''tambor''. It is a celebration dedicated to an ''Orichá'', where the ''batá'' drums (set of three drums known as the ''iya'' (the largest drum), ''itoltele'', and ''okonkolo'') are played in the ''<nowiki>Orichá'</nowiki>''s honor.<ref />{{rp|11}} Through these sacred drums, messages of worshippers reach the ''orichás'' and the ''orichás'' 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.<ref />{{rp|118}}


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==Cuban traditional healing practices==
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=== Clergy ===
⚫
Cuban traditional healing practices are rooted in the spiritual and ethnic religious influences of [[West Africa]], [[Horn of Africa|East Africa]], and [[North Africa]]. Having a strong spiritual component, Cuban traditional healing practices also use the pathways of the [[herbalism|herbalist]], [[psychology|psychologist]], [[ethics|ethicist]], and that of a respected spiritual medium interceding between God and human beings. Du Toit refers to Cuban traditional healing practices as [[ethnomedicine]] which taps on the biodynamic chemical properties of certain plants, from which some commercial drugs were derived, such as the cardiac medications, [[digitalis]], [[quinine]], and [[curare]] - chemicals causing neuromuscular paralysis.<ref name="du Toit 2001">{{cite book |author=Brian du Toit |chapter=Ethnomedical (Folk) Healing in the Caribbean |title=Healing Cultures: Art and Religion as Curative Practices in the Caribbean and its Diaspora |editors=Margarite Fernandez Olmos and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gerbert |location=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2001 |isbn=978-0312218980 }}</ref>{{rp|19}} Du Toit categorizes Cuban ethnomedicine as having health specialists which are: ''{{lang|es|el yerbero}}'' (the herbalist), ''{{lang|es|el curandero}}'' (the curer), ''{{lang|es|el santero}}'' (the religious healer), and ''{{lang|es|el conocedor}}'' (the botanist). Du Toit continues, "Cuba is one of the regions in which a great deal of ethnographic and ethnobotanical research has been conducted."<ref name="du Toit 2001"/>{{rp|21}}
⚫
Priests are commonly known as ''Santeros'' or ''Olorichas''. Once those priests have initiated other priests, they become known as ''babalorichás'', "fathers of ''orichá''" (for men), and as ''iyalorichás'', "mothers of ''orichá''" (for women). Priests can commonly be referred to as ''Santeros'' (male) and ''Santeras'' (female), and if they function as diviners (using [[cowrie-shell divination]] known as ''Dilogun'') of the ''Orichás'' they can be considered ''Italeros'', or if they go through training to become leaders of initiations, ''Obas'' or ''Oriates''.


⚫
Du Toit cites the studies of Lydia Cabrera on the religious and healing role of indigenous medicinal plants, and Jose Gallo on the 900-page compilation of folk medicine, and also mentions that with the 31 herbs prescribed as [[bronchodilator]]s, only ''[[Datura|Datura candida]]'' was effective, due to its contents of [[scopolamine]] and [[atropine]] in the leaves. [[Cymbopogon|Lemongrass]] or ''{{lang|es|caña de limón}}'' is used for low blood pressure and anti-inflammatory effects. [[Thyme]] tea and [[castor oil]] are used to speed the delivery of babies and the broomweed (''[[Corchorus|Corchorus siliquosus]]'') induces the quick expulsion of the placenta.<ref name="du Toit 2001"/>{{rp|21}} Herbs are also used to create a trance possession using the hallucinogenic properties of ''Datura metel'' and ''Datura stramonium'' (both have scopolamine and atropine, causing amnesia), the [[psychoactive]] ingredients from the [[cane toad]] (''Bufo marinus'').<ref name="du Toit 2001"/>{{rp|23}}
⚫
== Cuban traditional healing practices ==
⚫
Cuban traditional healing practices are rooted in the spiritual and ethnic religious influences of [[West Africa]], [[Horn of Africa|East Africa]], and [[North Africa]]. Having a strong spiritual component, Cuban traditional healing practices also use the pathways of the [[Herbalism|herbalist]], [[Psychology|psychologist]], [[Ethics|ethicist]], and that of a respected spiritual medium interceding between God and human beings. Du Toit refers to Cuban traditional healing practices as [[ethnomedicine]] which taps on the biodynamic chemical properties of certain plants, from which some commercial drugs were derived, such as the cardiac medications, [[digitalis]], [[quinine]], and [[curare]] - chemicals causing neuromuscular paralysis.<ref />{{rp|19}}  Du Toit categorizes Cuban ethnomedicine as having health specialists which are: ''{{lang|es|el yerbero}}'' (the herbalist), ''{{lang|es|el curandero}}'' (the curer), ''{{lang|es|el santero}}'' (the religious healer), and ''{{lang|es|el conocedor}}'' (the botanist). Du Toit continues, "Cuba is one of the regions in which a great deal of ethnographic and ethnobotanical research has been conducted."<ref />{{rp|21}}


⚫
Aside from being herbalist, Santería traditional healing practice has a spiritual aspect. Santería has a holistic approach, acknowledging the connection with heart, mind, and body.<ref>{{cite book |authors=Margarite Fernandez Olmos and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gerbert |chapter=The Orisha Tradition in Cuba |title=Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santeria, to Obeah and Espiritismo |publisher=New York University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0814-72719-5 }}</ref>{{rp|50}} In Santería, the world flows with the primal life energy called the ''aché'' or growth, the force toward completeness and divinity. ''Aché'' is the current that Santería initiates channel so that it empowers them to fulfill their path in life, because ''aché'' is connected to all that has life or exhibits power; aché comprises blood, grace, and power.<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|12}} When a person is sick, the healer thinks, interprets and reacts, considering the illness not just a physical dysfunction but also an interface with suffering and bad luck in life, believed to be brought on by the activity of spirits.
⚫
Du Toit cites the studies of Lydia Cabrera on the religious and healing role of indigenous medicinal plants, and Jose Gallo on the 900-page compilation of folk medicine, and also mentions that with the 31 herbs prescribed as [[Bronchodilator|bronchodilators]], only ''[[Datura|Datura candida]]'' was effective, due to its contents of [[scopolamine]] and [[atropine]] in the leaves. [[Cymbopogon|Lemongrass]] or ''{{lang|es|caña de limón}}'' is used for low blood pressure and anti-inflammatory effects.  [[Thyme]] tea and [[castor oil]] are used to speed the delivery of babies and the broomweed (''[[Corchorus|Corchorus siliquosus]]'') induces the quick expulsion of the placenta.<ref />{{rp|21}}  Herbs are also used to create a trance possession using the hallucinogenic properties of ''Datura metel'' and ''Datura stramonium'' (both have scopolamine and atropine, causing amnesia), the [[psychoactive]] ingredients from the [[cane toad]] (''Bufo marinus'').<ref />{{rp|23}}


⚫
Prevalent in the African Caribbean cultures, ''{{lang|es|[[espiritismo]]}}'' is a part of the Latin American traditional healing practice. Du Tout reveals that Santería has a "strong element of spiritism."<ref name="du Toit 2001"/>{{rp|26}} McNeill also concurs that some ''Santeros'' have the power to communicate with spirits asking for guidance to improve the situation of a person consulting.<ref name="McNeill 2008">{{cite book |authors=Brian McNeill, Eileen Esquivel et al. |chapter=Santeria and the Healing Process in Cuba and the United States |title=Latina/o Healing Practices: Mestizos and Indigenous Perspectives |editors=Brian McNeill and Joseph Cervantes |location=New York |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |year=2008 |isbn=978-0415954204 }}</ref>{{rp|69}} However, in general, the ''Santeros'' of the ''Regla de Ocha'' and the other Cuban traditional healing practice, the ''Babaláwos'' of the ''Regla de Ifá ''primarily turn to religion as their practice to address personal challenges and identify means to improve a situation.'''''<ref name="McNeill 2008" />{{rp|77}} '''''Many people may go and see espirititas who don't see a ''Santero''. Also, espiritistas may work hand in hand with ''Santeros'' and ''Babaaláwos''.
⚫
Aside from being herbalist, Santería traditional healing practice has a spiritual aspect. Santería has a holistic approach, acknowledging the connection with heart, mind, and body.<ref />{{rp|50}} In Santería, the world flows with the primal life energy called the ''aché'' or growth, the force toward completeness and divinity. ''Aché'' is the current that Santería initiates channel so that it empowers them to fulfill their path in life, because ''aché'' is connected to all that has life or exhibits power; aché comprises blood, grace, and power.<ref />{{rp|12}} When a person is sick, the healer thinks, interprets and reacts, considering the illness not just a physical dysfunction but also an interface with suffering and bad luck in life, believed to be brought on by the activity of spirits.


⚫
While psychotherapy uses [[allopathic]] principles, spiritism uses [[homeopathy|homeopathic]] principles which aim to reduce the anxiety, or permit the patient to acknowledge pent-up emotions, unexpressed guilt, or repressed behavior through catharsis meant to release emotions the patient may not even be aware of.<ref name="du Toit 2001"/>{{rp|25}} It is said that "healing can occur when the spirit medium assists the sufferer to come into harmony with the spirit world so as to change his or her physical condition, emotions, way of life, or destiny."<ref name="du Toit 2001"/>{{rp|25}}
⚫
Prevalent in the African Caribbean cultures, ''{{lang|es|[[espiritismo]]}}'' is a part of the Latin American traditional healing practice. Du Tout reveals that Santería has a "strong element of spiritism."<ref />{{rp|26}}  McNeill also concurs that some ''Santeros'' have the power to communicate with spirits asking for guidance to improve the situation of a person consulting.<ref />{{rp|69}}  However, in general, the ''Santeros'' of the ''Regla de Ocha ''primarily turn to religion as their practice to address personal challenges and identify means to improve a situation.'''''<ref />{{rp|77}}  '''''Many people may go and see espirititas who don't see a ''Santero''. Also, espiritistas may work hand in hand with ''Santeros''.


⚫
The reputation of ''espiritistas'' was tinged with negativity, being accused of witchcraft because they deal with health through the unfamiliar paradigm of the spirit world, which was not understood by either the medical doctors or the Catholic priests. Consequently, ''espiritistas'' or traditional healers of Santería and other Latin American cultures working with healing through the spirit world are attacked as "works of the devil" from the pulpits of the Catholic Churches and labeled as "quackery" from the journals of the medical profession. This unique system of knowledge is appreciated as ethnopharmacology or ethnomedicine.<ref name="du Toit 2001"/>{{rp|25}}
⚫
While psychotherapy uses [[allopathic]] principles, spiritism uses [[Homeopathy|homeopathic]] principles which aim to reduce the anxiety, or permit the patient to acknowledge pent-up emotions, unexpressed guilt, or repressed behavior through catharsis meant to release emotions the patient may not even be aware of.<ref />{{rp|25}} It is said that "healing can occur when the spirit medium assists the sufferer to come into harmony with the spirit world so as to change his or her physical condition, emotions, way of life, or destiny."<ref />{{rp|25}}


⚫
Aligning and harmonizing with the forces of nature, practitioners of the ''Regla de Ocha'' ''/ Ifá ''invoke on the guidance of ''Orichás''. There are three foremost ''orichás'' that are predominantly concerned with folk-healing, however, other ''orichás'' may be invoked to help a person with a specific problem. These main ''orichás'' are: Osaín, the lord of the herbs, and Babaluye-Aye, the ruler of contagious and epidemic diseases, and Inle, the patron of physicians. Osaín is the patron of ''curanderos'' or traditional herbal healers, also called ''Osainistas''.<ref name="de la Torre 2004" />{{rp|78}} According to de la Torre, Osaín is believed to be embodied in the ''omiero'' which is a combination of "blood from sacrifices offered during the ceremony and juices extracted from herbs that are sacred to the ''Orichás'' with water (from rain, rivers, or seas) honey, ''aguardiente'', powdered eggshell, ''corojo'' and cocoa butter."<ref name="de la Torre 2004" />{{rp|78}} The forest has everything that would maintain a robust health and keep a person away from malevolence, thus, Santería practitioners would agree that no spell will be able to work without the sanction of Osaín, the master herbalist commanding the healing secrets of plant life.<ref name="de la Torre 2004" />{{rp|50}} Osaín is syncretized with [[Saint Joseph]], Saint Benito, or [[Jerome|Saint Jerome]]. Babaluye-Aye is revered by its victims and survivors like [[smallpox]], [[leprosy]] and skin diseases. Babaluye-Aye has become the guardian of those with [[AIDS]]. He is syncretized with the poor beggar [[Rich man and Lazarus|Lazarus]] in Jesus's parable.<ref name="de la Torre 2004" />{{rp|78}} Inle is the patron of physicians, known as a healer who favors scientific methods. Inle is ranked as one of the orichas that is approached for very specific health issues. Thus, Inle is also known as the protector of homosexuals.'''<ref name="de la Torre 2004" />{{rp|82}}'''
⚫
The reputation of ''espiritistas'' was tinged with negativity, being accused of witchcraft because they deal with health through the unfamiliar paradigm of the spirit world, which was not understood by either the medical doctors or the Catholic priests. Consequently, ''espiritistas'' or traditional healers of Santería and other Latin American cultures working with healing through the spirit world are attacked as "works of the devil" from the pulpits of the Catholic Churches and labeled as "quackery" from the journals of the medical profession. This unique system of knowledge is appreciated as ethnopharmacology or ethnomedicine.<ref />{{rp|25}}


⚫
People go to a ''consulta'' because of some physical ailment or personal problem affecting their health. Divination is a means that traditional healers utilize to inquire further on the details of a problem. Divination may articulate the origin/cause of the problem; in addition, it may include prescriptions for solutions/suggestions to certain difficulties.<ref name="Mason 2002"/>{{rp|96}} Divination establishes an interpretative frame for the situation a person finds himself in.<ref name="Mason 2002"/>{{rp|97}} Hence, the ''Santeros'' offer [[cowrie-shell divination]] or other appropriate traditional practices. [[Rituals]], or the reading of [[patakí]]s may be done to clarify a problem which sometimes the person consulting may not even be aware of. Passed orally from many generations, ''patakí'' are parables used by Lucumí diviners to guide or give insights or moral lessons to a people who come for consultation.<ref name="Duncan"/> The ''patakí'' recited by the ''Santero'' corresponds to the number that the cowrie shell divination brings.
⚫
Aligning and harmonizing with the forces of nature, practitioners of the ''Regla de Ocha ''invoke on the guidance of ''Orichás''. There are three foremost ''orichás'' that are predominantly concerned with folk-healing, however, other ''orichás'' may be invoked to help a person with a specific problem. These main ''orichás'' are: Osaín, the lord of the herbs, and Babaluye-Aye, the ruler of contagious and epidemic diseases, and Inle, the patron of physicians. Osaín is the patron of ''curanderos'' or traditional herbal healers, also called ''Osainistas''.<ref />{{rp|78}} According to de la Torre, Osaín is believed to be embodied in the ''omiero'' which is a combination of "blood from sacrifices offered during the ceremony and juices extracted from herbs that are sacred to the ''Orichás'' with water (from rain, rivers, or seas) honey, ''aguardiente'', powdered eggshell, ''corojo'' and cocoa butter."<ref />{{rp|78}}  The forest has everything that would maintain a robust health and keep a person away from malevolence, thus, Santería practitioners would agree that no spell will be able to work without the sanction of Osaín, the master herbalist commanding the healing secrets of plant life.<ref />{{rp|50}} Osaín is syncretized with [[Saint Joseph]], Saint Benito, or [[Jerome|Saint Jerome]]. Babaluye-Aye is revered by its victims and survivors like [[smallpox]], [[leprosy]] and skin diseases. Babaluye-Aye has become the guardian of those with [[AIDS]]. He is syncretized with the poor beggar [[Rich man and Lazarus|Lazarus]] in Jesus's parable.<ref />{{rp|78}} Inle is the patron of physicians, known as a healer who favors scientific methods. Inle is ranked as one of the orichas that is approached for very specific health issues. Thus, Inle is also known as the protector of homosexuals.'''<ref />{{rp|82}}'''


⚫
Aside from the use of herbs and divination, the Santería traditional healing is achieved through rituals that include animal sacrifice, offerings, altar building, music, dance, and possession trance.<ref name="Wedel 2004">{{cite book |author=Johan Wedel |title=Santeria Healing: A Journey into the Afro-Cuban World of Divinities, Spirits, and Sorcery |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=2004 |isbn=978-0813-02694-7 }}</ref>{{rp|108}} When the patient is a child, the ''Santero'' uses the curative system known as ''santiguo'' which means "to heal by blessing." Perceiving some health problems, most ''Santeros'' in Cuba recommend that the client seeks a medical doctor for a check-up. Parallel to the medical treatment, the patient might be prescribed some herbal teas, cleansing baths, or a special diet from the traditional healing practice. Sometimes, a ''Santero'' might advise a client to receive ''omiero'', whose efficacy, people unfamiliar with the paradigm of traditional healing practice, would be considered as "magical herbal elixir" and thus, conjectured as resulting to "miracle cures."<ref name="du Toit 2001"/>{{rp|26}} An ''omiero'' is a sacred mixture that is made up for very specific Santería ceremonies and is believed to embody the ''oricha'' ruler of herbs, Osaín.<ref name="de la Torre 2004"/>{{rp|108}} Most clients who see ''Santeros'' would never be told to drink it.<ref name="Duncan"/>
⚫
People go to a ''consulta'' for many reasons, mainly for health related issues. Divination is a means that traditional healers utilize to inquire further on the details of a problem. Divination may articulate the origin/cause of the problem; in addition, it may include prescriptions for solutions/suggestions to certain difficulties.<ref />{{rp|96}} Divination establishes an interpretative frame for the situation a person finds himself in.<ref />{{rp|97}}  Hence, the ''Santeros'' offer [[cowrie-shell divination]] or other appropriate traditional practices. [[Rituals]], or the reading of [[Patakí|patakís]] may be done to clarify a problem which sometimes the person consulting may not even be aware of. Passed orally from many generations, ''patakí'' are parables used by Lucumí diviners to guide or give insights or moral lessons to a people who come for consultation.<ref /> The ''patakí'' recited by the ''Santero'' corresponds to the number that the cowrie shell divination brings.


⚫
The Santería of the ''Regla de Ocha'' and the ''Babaalawos'' of the ''Regla de Ifá'' are just two of the many traditional healing practices used in the Afro-Caribbean cultures. Being so attuned to the natural world, these traditional healers bring this sensitivity to assist in the holistic improvement of a patient. Owing to the unique form of Cuban [[transculturation]], traditional healing practices are practized side by side with [[allopathic]] medicine through the progressive, universal [[Cuban healthcare]] system. Cuban healthcare integrates the biopsychosocial model which is geared towards preventive and community-oriented psychology, with the general health philosophy of the country<ref name="McNeill 2008" />{{rp|68}} Traditional healers recognize but do not compete with Western medicine. Western medicine may treat physical ailments, but the Cuban traditional healing systems deal with emotional, mental and spiritual issues.<ref name="McCarthy Brown 2003">{{cite book |author=Karen McCarthy Brown |chapter=Healing Relationships in the African Caribbean |title=Medicine Across Cultures: History and Practice of Medicine in Non-Western Cultures |editor=[[Helaine Selin]] |publisher=Springer |year=2003 |isbn=978-1402-01166-5 }}</ref>{{rp|285}}
⚫
Aside from the use of herbs and divination, the Santería traditional healing is achieved through rituals that include animal sacrifice, offerings, altar building, music, dance, and possession trance.<ref />{{rp|108}} When the patient is a child, the ''Santero'' uses the curative system known as ''santiguo'' which means "to heal by blessing." Perceiving some health problems, most ''Santeros'' in Cuba recommend that the client seeks a medical doctor for a check-up. Parallel to the medical treatment, the patient might be prescribed some herbal teas, cleansing baths, or a special diet from the traditional healing practice. Sometimes, a ''Santero'' might advise a client to receive ''omiero'', whose efficacy, people unfamiliar with the paradigm of traditional healing practice, would be considered as "magical herbal elixir" and thus, conjectured as resulting to "miracle cures."<ref />{{rp|26}} An ''omiero'' is a sacred mixture that is made up for very specific Santería ceremonies and is believed to embody the ''oricha'' ruler of herbs, Osaín.<ref />{{rp|108}}  Most clients who see ''Santeros'' would never be told to drink it.<ref />


⚫
==Current distribution==
⚫
The Santería of the ''Regla de Ocha'' is just one of the many traditional healing practices used in the Afro-Caribbean cultures. Being so attuned to the natural world, these traditional healers bring this sensitivity to assist in the holistic improvement of a patient. Owing to the unique form of Cuban [[transculturation]], traditional healing practices are practized side by side with [[allopathic]] medicine through the progressive, universal [[Cuban healthcare]] system. Cuban healthcare integrates the biopsychosocial model which is geared towards preventive and community-oriented psychology, with the general health philosophy of the country<ref />{{rp|68}} Traditional healers recognize but do not compete with Western medicine. Western medicine may treat physical ailments, but the Cuban traditional healing systems deal with emotional, mental and spiritual issues.<ref />{{rp|285}}
⚫
The traditional Yorùbá religion and its Santería counterpart are mainly found in [[West Africa]] and the [[Americas]] (notably the [[Caribbean]]), including [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Dominican Republic]], [[Panama]], [[Uruguay]], [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], and the [[United States]], mainly as a result of [[Cubans|Cuban]] and [[Puerto Rican people|Puerto Rican]] migration.


⚫
In 2001, there were an estimated 22,000 practitioners in the US alone,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_studies/aris.pdf |title=American Religious Identification Survey, 2001 |publisher=[[City University of New York]] |format=PDF }}</ref> 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.
⚫
== Current distribution ==
⚫
Santería is mainly found in the [[Americas]] (notably the [[Caribbean]]), including but not limited to [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Dominican Republic]], [[Panama]], [[Uruguay]], Argentina, [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], and the [[United States]], mainly as a result of [[Cubans|Cuban]] and [[Puerto Rican people|Puerto Rican]] migration.


A similar religion of Yorùbá origin called [[Candomblé]] is practiced in [[Brazil]]. This is now being referred to as "parallel religiosity"<ref name="Perez y Mena 1998">{{cite journal |author=Andrés I. Pérez y Mena |date=March 1998 |title=Cuban Santería, Haitian Vodun, Puerto Rican Spiritualism: A Multicultural Inquiry into Syncretism |journal=[[Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion]] |volume=37 |number=1 |pages=15–27 |jstor=1388026}}</ref> because some believers worship the African variant that has no belief of a [[devil]], yet they are baptized Roman Catholic and belong to Roman Catholic churches.
⚫
In 2001, there were an estimated 22,000 practitioners in the US alone,<ref /> 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.


⚫
==Controversy==
A similar religion of Yorùbá origin called Candomblé Queto is practiced in [[Brazil]]. This is referred to as "parallel religiosity".<ref />
⚫
In 1993, the issue of [[animal sacrifice]] in Santería was taken to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://laws.findlaw.com/us/508/520.html |title=Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 |publisher=FindLaw.com |date=June 11, 1993 |accessdate=October 25, 2012 }}</ref>


⚫
In 2009, legal and religious issues that related to [[animal sacrifice]], [[animal rights]] and [[freedom of religion]] were taken to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]] in the case of ''Jose Merced, President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha Texas, Inc., v. City of Euless.'' The court ruled 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 restricting his religious practices relating to the use of animals,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-5th-circuit/1479305.html |title=Merced v. Kasson, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit |publisher=FindLaw.com |date=July 31, 2009 | accessdate =October 25, 2012 }}</ref> (see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 110.005(a)(2)) without the court having to reach his claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/2009-10-22/news/a-court-case-forced-a-santeria-priest-to-reveal-some-of-his-religion-s-secrets-it-s-ritual-of-animal-sacrifice-he-revealed-on-his-own/ |title=A court case forced a Santería priest to reveal some of his religion's secrets. Its ritual of animal sacrifice he revealed on his own |work=[[Dallas Observer]] |author=Kimberly Thorpe |date=October 22, 2009 }}</ref>
⚫
== Controversy ==
⚫
In 1993, the issue of [[animal sacrifice]] in Santería was taken to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in the case of ''[[Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah]].'' The court ruled that animal cruelty laws targeted specifically at Santería was unconstitutional.<ref />


⚫
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]], in which 17-year-old Charity Miranda was suffocated 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. However, 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mother Who Called Daughter Possessed Pleads Not Guilty to Her Murder |author=McQuiston, John T. |page=B5 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=28 January 1998 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/28/nyregion/woman-who-called-daughter-possessed-pleads-not-guilty-to-her-murder.html |accessdate=July 26, 2007 }}</ref>
⚫
In 2009, legal and religious issues that related to [[animal sacrifice]], [[animal rights]], and [[freedom of religion]] were taken to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]] in the case of ''Jose Merced, President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha Texas, Inc., v. City of Euless.'' The court ruled 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 restricting his religious practices relating to the use of animals,<ref /> (see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 110.005(a)(2)) without the court having to reach his claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 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.<ref />


⚫
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]], in which 17-year-old Charity Miranda was suffocated 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. However, 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.<ref />
==See also==
==See also==
* [[Religion in Cuba]]
* [[Religion in Cuba]]

Revision as of 00:55, 31 October 2014

For the Sublime song, see Santeria (song).
A Santería ceremony known as "Cajon de Muertos". Havana, Cuba, 2011.

Santería, also known as Regla de Ochá or La Regla Lucumí,[1][2] is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by and syncretized with Roman Catholicism. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yorùbá, is also known as Lucumí.

History

Santería is a system of beliefs that merges the Yorùbá religion (brought to the New World by Yorùbá slaves) with Christianity and Native American traditions.[2] These slaves carried with them various religious customs, including a trance and divination system for communicating with their ancestors and deities, animal sacrifice, and sacred drumming and dance.[3][4] In one patakí, it is stated that the original practitioners of this complex religious system, often described as proto-Yorùbá (although there is no genetic affiliation with the ancient practitioners and the current Yorùbá peoples), were from an area much further from contemporary Yorùbáland, being originally from the "Northeast" in the vicinity of Mecca, which either refers to Arabia or Sumer. Oduduwa, an Orichá who in his human life is described as the religion's prophet, is believed to be the son of an ancient Sumerian king (c. 3000 BCE). It has been noted that there are numerous similarities between the Yorùbá religion and the ancient Mesopotamian religion, Egyptian religion, Arabian religion, and Indo-Iranian religion. Some scholars have suggested that the ruling Yoruba dynasties were descendants of the aristocracy of ancient Sumer.

Upon its arrival in Cuba, this religious tradition 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

In order to preserve their ancestral and traditional beliefs, the Lucumí people syncretized their Orichás with Roman Catholic Saints. Due to this history, in Cuba, the terms "saint" and "orichá" are sometimes used interchangeably.

This historical "veil" characterization of the relationship between Catholic saints and Orichás is made all the more complicated by the fact that the vast majority of santeros in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, are also Roman Catholics, have been baptized, and often require initiates to be baptized in Roman Catholicism as well.

In 1974, the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye became the first Santería church in the United States to become officially incorporated.[5]

Rituals and ceremonies

Santería does not use a central creed for its religious practices; though it is understood in terms of its rituals and ceremonies.[6]: 102  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 orichás which creates a space for worship, called an igbodu (altar).[6]: 102  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]: 168 

Each ilé is composed of those who occasionally seek guidance from the orishas, as well as those who are in the process of becoming priests.[8]: 6  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 Lucumí culture and religion.[8]: 57 

To become a full-fledged Santero or Santera (Priest or Priestess of Santería), the initiator must go through an intensive week-long initiation process[7]: 165  in which the teaching of the ritual skills and moral behavior occurs informally and nonverbally. To begin with, the initiator goes through what is called a cleansing ritual. The initiator's 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 rogación de la cabeza (blessing of the head), in which coconut water and cotton are applied on the head to feed it.[9]: 26–28  Once cleansed, there are four major initiation rituals that the initiator will have to undergo, which are: obtaining the elekes (beaded necklace), receiving Eleguá, receiving Los Guerreros (the Warriors), and making Ocha (Saint).[6]: 107 

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 orichá 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 orichá is. This must be done by a Babaaláwo (Father Who Knows the Secrets), in a divination ritual known as bajar Orula (bringing down Orula)." The elekes necklace is bathed in a mixture of herbs, sacrificial blood, and other potent substances and given to the initiated.[6]: 107  The initiate most often receives the necklace of the five most powerful and popular oricha, as the multicolored beads of the elekes are each patterned for the primary Orichás (Eleguá, Obatalá, Yemayá, Changó, and Ochún), and they serve as a sacred point of contact with these Orichás. When the necklace is received, the initiated must bow over a bathtub and have his/her head washed by the olo orichá. The elekes[9]: 28  serves as the sacred banners for the Orichás and act as a sign of the Orichá's presence and protection; however, it must never be worn during a women's menstruation period, nor during sex, nor when bathing.[6]: 107 

The second important ritual is known as medio asiento, the creation of an image of the orichá Eleguá. 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 path of Eleguá the recipient will receive. Then, based on his findings, he chooses materials that will be used to construct the image of the Eleguá, a sculpture that is used to keep evil spirits away from the initiator's home. This ritual is only prepared by men as the orichás take some of the Santero's "manly" spirit in the process.[10]: xi 

The third ritual, known as the "receiving of the warrior", is a ritual where the initiated receives objects from their babaaláwo that represents the warriors; Iron tools to represent Ogún, Lord of Iron; an iron bow and arrow to represent Ochosi, the Divine Hunter; and an iron or silver chalice surmounted by a rooster to represent Osún, the messenger of Obatalá and Olofi, and who also works alongside Orula.[6]: 112  This ritual begins a formal and lifelong relationship that the initiate will have with these Orichás, as the orichás devote their energies to protecting and providing for the initiate on their 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 iyawo (bride of the oricha) 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. 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.[6]: 112 

Once the initiation is completed, depending on the individuals "house", 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.[11] It is a time where the Iyawo or Bride of the Orichá 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 Orichás and are vested with the power to work with the forces of those Orichás in full."[10]: xi 

With Santería rituals there are musical ceremonies and prayers which are referred to as bembé, toque de santo, or tambor. It is a celebration dedicated to an Orichá, where the batá drums (set of three drums known as the iya (the largest drum), itoltele, and okonkolo) are played in the Orichá's honor.[12]: 11  Through these sacred drums, messages of worshippers reach the orichás and the orichás 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.[6]: 118 

Clergy

Priests are commonly known as olorichas or owner of Orichá. Once those priests have initiated other priests, they become known as babalorichás, "fathers of orichá" (for men), and as iyalorichás, "mothers of orichá" (for women). Priests can commonly be referred to as Santeros (male) and Santeras (female), and if they function as diviners (using cowrie-shell divination known as Diloggun) of the Orichás 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 [iˈfa], ee-FAH), which in Santería is an all-male group. Ifá Priests receive Orúnmila, who is the Oricha of Prophecy, Wisdom and Knowledge. Once this happens they are known by the title Babaaláwo (Father Who Knows the Secrets)

In recent years, a particular practice of the traditional Yorùbá Ifá priests (from Nigeria) has come to the diaspora of initiating women to be Iyanifá or "Mother of Destiny", but Lucumí practitioners do not typically accept this practice due to their interpretation of the Odu Ifa Irete Untelu which states women cannot be in the presence of Olofi and so cannot be initiated as divining priestesses. This is a major difference between traditional Lucumí Ifá practitioners, and some traditional Yorùbá practitioners from Oshogbo and, since the 1980s, Ilé-Ifẹ̀. Instead, a woman in Lucumí is initiated as Apetebi Ifá, a "bride of Ifá", and is considered senior in Ifá to all but a fully initiated Babaaláwo. There was little evidence of Iyanifá existing in West Africa until very recently, so the existence of the Iyanifá is likely to be of modern origin in Yorùbáland, and it is probably due to this reason that it does not appear in the Latin variant. The foremost Western academic authority on Ifá, William Bascom, traveled throughout Yorùbáland studying the Ifá cult in a series of visits in 1937–38, 1950–51, 1960 and 1965, and never encountered a single Iyanifá nor was he told of their existence by any of his informants.[13]: 81  However, Maupoil, in his 1943 doctoral thesis, does mention he encountered a woman Ifá diviner in Dahomey.[14]

Cuban traditional healing practices

Cuban traditional healing practices are rooted in the spiritual and ethnic religious influences of West Africa, East Africa, and North Africa. Having a strong spiritual component, Cuban traditional healing practices also use the pathways of the herbalist, psychologist, ethicist, and that of a respected spiritual medium interceding between God and human beings. Du Toit refers to Cuban traditional healing practices as ethnomedicine which taps on the biodynamic chemical properties of certain plants, from which some commercial drugs were derived, such as the cardiac medications, digitalis, quinine, and curare - chemicals causing neuromuscular paralysis.[15]: 19  Du Toit categorizes Cuban ethnomedicine as having health specialists which are: el yerbero (the herbalist), el curandero (the curer), el santero (the religious healer), and el conocedor (the botanist). Du Toit continues, "Cuba is one of the regions in which a great deal of ethnographic and ethnobotanical research has been conducted."[15]: 21 

Du Toit cites the studies of Lydia Cabrera on the religious and healing role of indigenous medicinal plants, and Jose Gallo on the 900-page compilation of folk medicine, and also mentions that with the 31 herbs prescribed as bronchodilators, only Datura candida was effective, due to its contents of scopolamine and atropine in the leaves. Lemongrass or caña de limón is used for low blood pressure and anti-inflammatory effects. Thyme tea and castor oil are used to speed the delivery of babies and the broomweed (Corchorus siliquosus) induces the quick expulsion of the placenta.[15]: 21  Herbs are also used to create a trance possession using the hallucinogenic properties of Datura metel and Datura stramonium (both have scopolamine and atropine, causing amnesia), the psychoactive ingredients from the cane toad (Bufo marinus).[15]: 23 

Aside from being herbalist, Santería traditional healing practice has a spiritual aspect. Santería has a holistic approach, acknowledging the connection with heart, mind, and body.[16]: 50  In Santería, the world flows with the primal life energy called the aché or growth, the force toward completeness and divinity. Aché is the current that Santería initiates channel so that it empowers them to fulfill their path in life, because aché is connected to all that has life or exhibits power; aché comprises blood, grace, and power.[6]: 12  When a person is sick, the healer thinks, interprets and reacts, considering the illness not just a physical dysfunction but also an interface with suffering and bad luck in life, believed to be brought on by the activity of spirits.

Prevalent in the African Caribbean cultures, espiritismo is a part of the Latin American traditional healing practice. Du Tout reveals that Santería has a "strong element of spiritism."[15]: 26  McNeill also concurs that some Santeros have the power to communicate with spirits asking for guidance to improve the situation of a person consulting.[17]: 69  However, in general, the Santeros of the Regla de Ocha and the other Cuban traditional healing practice, the Babaláwos of the Regla de Ifá primarily turn to religion as their practice to address personal challenges and identify means to improve a situation.[17]: 77  Many people may go and see espirititas who don't see a Santero. Also, espiritistas may work hand in hand with Santeros and Babaaláwos.

While psychotherapy uses allopathic principles, spiritism uses homeopathic principles which aim to reduce the anxiety, or permit the patient to acknowledge pent-up emotions, unexpressed guilt, or repressed behavior through catharsis meant to release emotions the patient may not even be aware of.[15]: 25  It is said that "healing can occur when the spirit medium assists the sufferer to come into harmony with the spirit world so as to change his or her physical condition, emotions, way of life, or destiny."[15]: 25 

The reputation of espiritistas was tinged with negativity, being accused of witchcraft because they deal with health through the unfamiliar paradigm of the spirit world, which was not understood by either the medical doctors or the Catholic priests. Consequently, espiritistas or traditional healers of Santería and other Latin American cultures working with healing through the spirit world are attacked as "works of the devil" from the pulpits of the Catholic Churches and labeled as "quackery" from the journals of the medical profession. This unique system of knowledge is appreciated as ethnopharmacology or ethnomedicine.[15]: 25 

Aligning and harmonizing with the forces of nature, practitioners of the Regla de Ocha / Ifá invoke on the guidance of Orichás. There are three foremost orichás that are predominantly concerned with folk-healing, however, other orichás may be invoked to help a person with a specific problem. These main orichás are: Osaín, the lord of the herbs, and Babaluye-Aye, the ruler of contagious and epidemic diseases, and Inle, the patron of physicians. Osaín is the patron of curanderos or traditional herbal healers, also called Osainistas.[6]: 78  According to de la Torre, Osaín is believed to be embodied in the omiero which is a combination of "blood from sacrifices offered during the ceremony and juices extracted from herbs that are sacred to the Orichás with water (from rain, rivers, or seas) honey, aguardiente, powdered eggshell, corojo and cocoa butter."[6]: 78  The forest has everything that would maintain a robust health and keep a person away from malevolence, thus, Santería practitioners would agree that no spell will be able to work without the sanction of Osaín, the master herbalist commanding the healing secrets of plant life.[6]: 50  Osaín is syncretized with Saint Joseph, Saint Benito, or Saint Jerome. Babaluye-Aye is revered by its victims and survivors like smallpox, leprosy and skin diseases. Babaluye-Aye has become the guardian of those with AIDS. He is syncretized with the poor beggar Lazarus in Jesus's parable.[6]: 78  Inle is the patron of physicians, known as a healer who favors scientific methods. Inle is ranked as one of the orichas that is approached for very specific health issues. Thus, Inle is also known as the protector of homosexuals.[6]: 82 

People go to a consulta because of some physical ailment or personal problem affecting their health. Divination is a means that traditional healers utilize to inquire further on the details of a problem. Divination may articulate the origin/cause of the problem; in addition, it may include prescriptions for solutions/suggestions to certain difficulties.[8]: 96  Divination establishes an interpretative frame for the situation a person finds himself in.[8]: 97  Hence, the Santeros offer cowrie-shell divination or other appropriate traditional practices. Rituals, or the reading of patakís may be done to clarify a problem which sometimes the person consulting may not even be aware of. Passed orally from many generations, patakí are parables used by Lucumí diviners to guide or give insights or moral lessons to a people who come for consultation.[11] The patakí recited by the Santero corresponds to the number that the cowrie shell divination brings.

Aside from the use of herbs and divination, the Santería traditional healing is achieved through rituals that include animal sacrifice, offerings, altar building, music, dance, and possession trance.[18]: 108  When the patient is a child, the Santero uses the curative system known as santiguo which means "to heal by blessing." Perceiving some health problems, most Santeros in Cuba recommend that the client seeks a medical doctor for a check-up. Parallel to the medical treatment, the patient might be prescribed some herbal teas, cleansing baths, or a special diet from the traditional healing practice. Sometimes, a Santero might advise a client to receive omiero, whose efficacy, people unfamiliar with the paradigm of traditional healing practice, would be considered as "magical herbal elixir" and thus, conjectured as resulting to "miracle cures."[15]: 26  An omiero is a sacred mixture that is made up for very specific Santería ceremonies and is believed to embody the oricha ruler of herbs, Osaín.[6]: 108  Most clients who see Santeros would never be told to drink it.[11]

The Santería of the Regla de Ocha and the Babaalawos of the Regla de Ifá are just two of the many traditional healing practices used in the Afro-Caribbean cultures. Being so attuned to the natural world, these traditional healers bring this sensitivity to assist in the holistic improvement of a patient. Owing to the unique form of Cuban transculturation, traditional healing practices are practized side by side with allopathic medicine through the progressive, universal Cuban healthcare system. Cuban healthcare integrates the biopsychosocial model which is geared towards preventive and community-oriented psychology, with the general health philosophy of the country[17]: 68  Traditional healers recognize but do not compete with Western medicine. Western medicine may treat physical ailments, but the Cuban traditional healing systems deal with emotional, mental and spiritual issues.[19]: 285 

Current distribution

The traditional Yorùbá religion and its Santería counterpart are mainly found in West Africa and the Americas (notably the Caribbean), including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, and the United States, mainly as a result of Cuban and Puerto Rican migration.

In 2001, there were an estimated 22,000 practitioners in the US alone,[20] 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.

A similar religion of Yorùbá origin called Candomblé is practiced in Brazil. This is now being referred to as "parallel religiosity"[21] because some believers worship the African variant that has no belief of a devil, yet they are baptized Roman Catholic and belong to Roman Catholic churches.

Controversy

In 1993, the issue of animal sacrifice in Santería was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States 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.[22]

In 2009, legal and religious issues that related to animal sacrifice, animal rights and freedom of religion were taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Jose Merced, President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha Texas, Inc., v. City of Euless. The court ruled 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 restricting his religious practices relating to the use of animals,[23] (see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 110.005(a)(2)) without the court having to reach his claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 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.[24]

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, in which 17-year-old Charity Miranda was suffocated 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. However, 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.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Santería". Religions of the World. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Lucumí Religion". New Orleans Mistic. Archived from the original on May 29, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2009. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; May 28, 2008 suggested (help); External link in |deadurl= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Lois Ritter, Nancy Hoffman (April 18, 2011). Multicultural Health. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 268.
  4. ^ Abiola Irele, Biodun Jeyifo (April 27, 2010). The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. p. 305.
  5. ^ Richard Fausset (August 10, 2008). "Santeria priest won't let Religious Freedom be sacrificed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Miguel A. De La Torre (2004). Santería: The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America. Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802-84973-1.
  7. ^ a b David H. Brown (2003). Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion. University of Chicago. ISBN 978-0226-07610-2.
  8. ^ a b c d Michael Atwood Mason (2002). Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion. Smithsonian. ISBN 978-1588-34052-8.
  9. ^ a b Michael Atwood Mason (Winter 1994). ""I Bow My Head to the Ground": The Creation of Bodily Experience in a Cuban American Santería Initiation". Journal of American Folklore. 107 (423): 23–39. JSTOR 541071.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  10. ^ a b Miguel Gonzalez-Wippler (2007). Rituals and Spells of Santería. Original Publications. ISBN 978-0942-27207-9.
  11. ^ a b c Dr Cynthia Duncan (2010). "About Santería". University of Washington, Tacoma.
  12. ^ Diane Elizabeth Caudillo (2007), Prayers to the Orishas: A look at Santería (PDF)
  13. ^ William Bascom (1991). Ifa Divination: Communication between Gods and Men in West Africa. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253-20638-1.
  14. ^ Bernard Maupoil (1943). La géomancie à l'ancienne côte des esclaves. Institut d'ethnologie, Université de Paris. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Brian du Toit (2001). "Ethnomedical (Folk) Healing in the Caribbean". Healing Cultures: Art and Religion as Curative Practices in the Caribbean and its Diaspora. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0312218980. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "The Orisha Tradition in Cuba". Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santeria, to Obeah and Espiritismo. New York University Press. 2003. ISBN 978-0814-72719-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  17. ^ a b c "Santeria and the Healing Process in Cuba and the United States". Latina/o Healing Practices: Mestizos and Indigenous Perspectives. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 2008. ISBN 978-0415954204. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ Johan Wedel (2004). Santeria Healing: A Journey into the Afro-Cuban World of Divinities, Spirits, and Sorcery. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0813-02694-7.
  19. ^ Karen McCarthy Brown (2003). "Healing Relationships in the African Caribbean". In Helaine Selin (ed.). Medicine Across Cultures: History and Practice of Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer. ISBN 978-1402-01166-5.
  20. ^ "American Religious Identification Survey, 2001" (PDF). City University of New York.
  21. ^ Andrés I. Pérez y Mena (March 1998). "Cuban Santería, Haitian Vodun, Puerto Rican Spiritualism: A Multicultural Inquiry into Syncretism". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 37 (1): 15–27. JSTOR 1388026.
  22. ^ "Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520". FindLaw.com. June 11, 1993. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  23. ^ "Merced v. Kasson, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit". FindLaw.com. July 31, 2009. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  24. ^ Kimberly Thorpe (October 22, 2009). "A court case forced a Santería priest to reveal some of his religion's secrets. Its ritual of animal sacrifice he revealed on his own". Dallas Observer.
  25. ^ McQuiston, John T. (28 January 1998). "Mother Who Called Daughter Possessed Pleads Not Guilty to Her Murder". The New York Times. p. B5. Retrieved July 26, 2007.

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