Santería

Santería, also known as Lukumí or Regla de Ocha, is a set of related religious systems that fuse Catholic/Christian beliefs with traditional Yoruba beliefs. In the Yoruba language, Lukumí means "friends" and also applies to descendants of Yorùbá slaves in Cuba, their music and dance, and the cubanized dialect of the Yorùbá language.

History

The term "Lukumi" is an authentic ancient designation still in use by present day Yoruba peoples of West Africa and their descendents in Cuba and the diaspora. The term Lukumi also refers to a vastly large number of religious followers or adherents who practice authentic Lukumi traditions as well as the most common syncretic form of the religion known as "Santeria", which was established in Cuba dating back to around the mid-18th century. The term Lukumi derives from the word "Olukumi", meaning my friend. The term Yoruba as a cultural designation only dates back to the mid-19th century colonialism. In modern day Nigeria, the Yoruba consists of several ethnic groups, including but not limited to: Egba, Egbado, Ijebu, Oyo, all who arrived in great numbers in Cuba. The Lukumi however derive from a region known as Ulcumi/Ulcami, which was contained within the vast Oyo Empire dating back as early as the 16th century, located just north north-west of Lagos. Cuban Lukumi also refer to their ancient African Kingdon as Ulkuman, another variation of Ulcumi.(Law,1977,p.5)(Mason,1992,p.2) (La Enciclopedia de IFA).

What we recognize as modern Yoruba today, in Cuba they were known as Lukumí, the more ancient and authentic designation. Lukumi Slaves and slaves from other regions of Western Africa were purposely segregated by slave owning families as a means of maintaining tribal and ethnic tensions between them during times of enslavement (see Midlo Hall's 1992,2005). It is in this manner that Cuban Enslavement and the means of maintaining control over each of these cultural groups evolved. It wasn't until the early part of the 18th century that the Spanish Government and the Catholic Church allowed for the creation of societies called cabildos. These cabildos were primarily used by the slaves as a means for entertainment and reconstruction of many aspects of their ethnic heritage, and were also intended as a means to institutionalize the interethnic animosities.

"The colonial period from the standpoint of African slaves may be defined as a time of perseverance. Their world quickly changed. Tribal kings and families, politicians, business and community leaders all were enslaved in a foreign region of the world. Religious leaders, their descendants, and the faithful, were now slaves. Colonial laws criminalized their religion. They were forced to become baptized and worship a new "Loving God" surrounded by a pantheon of saints. The early concerns during this period seem to indicate a need for individual survival. An ability to live on and not die under harsh plantation conditions. A sense of hope was sustaining the internal essence of what today is called Santeria, a misnomer for the indigenous religion of the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

In 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. Santeria, 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, Santeria in Contemporary Cuba: The individual life and condition of the priesthood)

In order to preserve their authentic ancestral and traditional beliefs, the Lukumi had no choice but to disguise their Orishas behind the veil of the Catholic Saints. When slave owners observed Africans celebrating a Saint's Day, they were generally unaware that the slaves were actually worshiping their sacred Orishas. Today, the terms saint and Orisha are sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably. The term Santería (also known as, Way of the Saints), a derisive term applied by the Spanish to mock followers' seeming overdevotion to the saints and their perceived neglect of God, was later applied to the religion by racist whites. The slaves' Christian masters did not allow them to practise their various west African religions. The slaves found a way around this by masking the Yorùbá Orishas as Christian saints while maintaining their original identities. Often this combining is called by Eurocentric anthropologists and other social scientists as syncretism, even though the practices are not actually combined and thus, are not actually a true example of syncretism. Nevertheless, the masters thought their slaves had become "good Christians" and were praising the saints, when in actuality they were continuing their traditional practices. [1]

The Traditional Lukumí religion and its "Santeria" counterpart can be found to existed in many parts of the world today, including but not limited to: the United States, Cuba, Caribbean, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Great Britain, Canada, Venezuela, Panama and other areas with large Latin American populations. A very similar religion called Candomblé is also practiced in Brazil, which is home to a rich array of other Afro-Latino American religions. This is now being referred to as "parallel religiosity" (Perez y Mena, SSSR paper 2005) since some believers worship the African variant that has no "devil fetish" and no baptism or marriage and at the same time they belong to either Catholic Churches or Mainline Protestant Churches, where there is a devil fetish. Yoruba religiosity works toward a balance here on earth (androcentric) while the European religions work toward the here after. Some in Cuban Santeria, Haitian Vodun or Puerto Rican Spiritualism (Afro-Latin Religions) do not view a difference between the Saints and the Orishas, the ancestor deities of the Yoruba people's Ifa religion.

There are now individuals who mix the Lukumí practices with traditional practices as they survived in Africa after the deleterious effects of colonialism. Although most of these mixes have not been at the hands of experienced or knowledgable practitioners of either system, they have gained a certain popularity.

Deities

In Lukumí beliefs, Olorun, from Oluwa Orun (owner of the heavens) (also rendered Oluwa, Olodumare, Eleda (the creator)) is the supreme deity. He is the creator both of the universe, and of the Orishas, including:

• Aggayu Sola/Agayu/Aggayu/Angayu
• Babalu Aye/Babaluaye/Babaluaiye/Shakpana/Oluwo Popo/Asojano/Azojuano
• Dada
• Egun/Eggun/Egungun
• Erinle/Inle
• Esu/Elegbara/Eleggua/Elegua: Owner of Vital Force, Eshu: The Gatherer of a great multitude
• Ibeyi
• Igbo Were/Igbowere - Mother of Osain
• Iroko
• Nana Buruku
• Oba/Obba

• Obatala King of the White Cloth
• Ochosi/Ochossi, Osoosi
• Odde/Ode
• Odu/Oddu - aka: Olofin
• Oduduwa/Odua
• Oggue/Ogue/Oge - Campanion to Shango
• Ogoun/Ogun/Oggun
• Oke - Companion to Obatala
• Olodumare - God Almighty
• Olokun, goddess of the river
• Olofin - aka: Odu/Oddu

• Olorun
• Orisha Oko/Orisa Oko
• Orun
• Orunmila/ELA/Orunla/Orula/IFA
• Osain/Ozain/Osanyin
• Oshun/Ochun
• Osun/Ozun - Represents the spirit of an individual.
• Oya/Yansa/Iyansa/Iyansan
• Shango/Chango/Obakoso/Sango
• Yemoja/Yemaya
• Yewa

Each Orisa has its specific nick name, symbols, offerings, music, archetype, etc..

Beliefs and rituals

The sacred belief system of the Lukumi prevent non-adherents from participating in ceremonial rites. Nearly all Lukumi ceremonies are reserved for priests and the newly initiated.

Santeria was traditionally transmitted orally, although in the last decade a number of books have been published on the tradition. Practices include animal offering, dance, and sung invocations to the Orishas. Of these the most controversial is animal sacrifice. Followers of Lukumí point out that the killings are conducted in a safe and humane manner. The priests charged with doing the sacrifice are trained in humane ways to kill the animals. Furthermore, the animal is cooked and eaten afterwards by the community. In fact chickens, a staple food of many African-descended and Creole cultures, are the most common sacrifice; the chicken's blood is offered to the Orisha, while the meat is consumed by all. Also of note is that the practice of animal sacrifice was historically common amongst many religions, most notably Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam. In Judaism for example, altar sacrifices are of three kinds: sin offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings. All in accordance with Mosiac Law.

Fruit is also offered to the Orisha. Drum music and dancing are a form of prayer and will sometimes induce a trance state in initiated priest, who become "possessed" and will channel the Orisha, giving the community and individuals information, perform healing etc. (see Yoruba music). One's ancestors, egun, are held in high esteem in Lukumí. All ceremonies and rituals in the Lukumi religion begin with paying homage to one’s ancestors.

The Lukumi believe in a creator who is called Olodumare(God). There is no specific belief in a Devil since the Yoruba belief system is not a dualistic philosophy - good versus evil, God versus a Devil. Instead the universe is seen as containing forces of expansion and forces of contraction. These forces interact in complex ways to create the universe. All things are seen to have positive aspects, or Iré, and negative aspects, or Ibi. Nothing is seen as completely “good” or completely “evil” but all things are seen as having different proportions of both. Similarly no action is seen as universally as “wrong” or “right” but rather can only be judged with the context and circumstances in which it takes place. This concept is sometime derided as “situational ethics.” In this context the individual is seen as made up of both positive/constructive impulses as well as negative/destructive impulses. Similarly, an individual's talents and facilities are seen as having a potential of both positive and negative expression. Therefore, there is a great deal of attention and focus on each individual striving to develop good character and doing good works. Good character, or Iwapele, is defined as doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do, not out of fear of retribution or as a way of seeking rewards, but simply because it is right. All humans are seen as having the potential of being good and blessed people (no original sin), although they have a potential to make evil choices, and the universe is seen as benevolent.

Persecution

African Spirituality was actively suppressed and outlawed during slavery. On the continent native traditions were viewed as inherently backward and "primitive” by the European colonizing forces who set out to actively "civilize" the natives through a number of mechanism including torture and execution; kidnapping the young and putting them in "boarding schools;" bribing or other material incentive. Intimately implicated and complicit in this process were Christian missionaries, who charged themselves with "saving the souls" of the native peoples by converting them from their millennia old traditional spiritual practices to Christianity.

Within the European and North American Christian culture African Spirituality has been historically demonized, sensationalized and distorted. Hollywood’s portrayal of African traditions has be mired with gross distortions and exaggerations. The historic repression of African Spirituality in the context of slavery has as well as racism, cultural imperialism and supremacy have also played significant roles. The notion that a legitimate, sophisticated spiritual philosophy could have originated in Africa flies in the face of widespread distortions in Europe and North America about the backwardness of African culture. The controversies and criticisms of this tradition have to be viewed within this historic context.

Controversies and criticisms

• Some animal rights activists take issue with the Lukumí practice of animal sacrifice, claiming that it is cruel. The singling out of this Lukumi practice can be seen as suspect considering the way most animals are slaughtered in commercial applications as well any number of animals routinely slaughtered by farmers, etc. for food. In 1993 This issue was taken to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. The Supreme Court ruled that animal cruelty laws targeted specifically at Lukumí were unconstitutional, and the practice has seen no significant legal challenges since then.

• There have been a few highly publicized cases where injuries allegedly occurred during Lukumi rituals . One such case, as reported by The New York Times took place on January 18, 1998 in Sayville, New York, where 17-year-old Charity Miranda was suffocated to death with a plastic bag at her home by her mother Vivian, 39, and sister Serena, 20, after an unsuccessful exorcism to free her of demons. Police found the women chanting and praying over the prostrate body. Not long before, they had embraced Lukumi. The mother in question, Vivian Miranda, was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and is currently confined in a New York State psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. [2].

• There have been some wildly inaccurate movies about the religion as well, such as the 1997 Spanish-Mexican-American movie Perdita Durango depicts a couple who follow laughable fantasized Santeria beliefs and practice satanic rituals, including human sacrifice and the consumption of aborted fetuses.

See also

• Religion in Cuba
• Ifa
• Orisha
• Candomble
• Vodun
• Voodoo

Further reading

• John Mason, Black Gods - Orisa Studies in the New World
• John Mason, Olokun: Owner of Rivers and Seas ISBN:1-881244-05-9
• John Mason, Orin Orisa: Songs for selected Heads ISBN:1-881244-06-7
• Lydia Cabrera, El Monte: Igbo-Nfinda, Ewe Orisha/Vititi Nfinda ISBN:089729-09-7
• [Chief Priest Ifayemi Elebuibon], Apetebii: The Wife of Orunmila ISBN:09638787-1-9
• [J. Omosade Awolalu], Yoruba Beliefs & Sacrificial Rites ISBN:0-9638787-3-5
• Baba Ifa Karade, The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts
• William Bascom, Sixteen Cowries
• David M. O'Brien, Animal Sacrifice and Religious Freedom: Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah
• James T. Houk, Spirits, Blood, and Drums: The Orisha Religion of Trinidad. 1995. Temple University Press.
• Raul Canizares, Cuban Santeria
• Robert Farris Thompson, "Flash of the Spirit"

External links

• OrishaNet: A website written by a Lukumi Babalawo or high priest
• The Palo and Lukumi Organization - Website written by Lukumi Orisha-Ifa High Priest, aka: Babalawo
• DMOZ Open Directory - Lucumi, Ocha, Santeria
• Santeria/Lukumi Resources
• Full text of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah
• ReligiousTolerance.org Page on Santeria
• At the Crossroads - A first hand account of a Santeria divinatory reading