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Santeria: A Secretive Afro-Cuban Religion
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16536 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
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11 / 1989 |
4,922 Words |
| Author
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Lesley A. Northup
Lesley A. Northup is a free-lance writer with a special
interest in Hispanic culture and religion. |
The Spanish colonization of the Caribbean, from the sixteenth century through the nineteenth, was accompanied by the importation of large numbers of African slaves. In Cuba, many of the slaves were Yorubas, from what is now Nigeria, and they brought with them their religion, an ancient polytheistic system in which gods and humans freely interact. The staunchly Roman Catholic Spaniards did not look favorably on this pagan import and forbade its observance. Penalties for practicing the old beliefs could be severe and this drove the African religion underground where it developed into the religion of Santeria. But the religion imposed on the slaves by the white man lacked the immediacy and passion of Yoruba belief. The Catholic "gods" (saints) did not talk to their people or "mount" (possess) them: They didn't eat and drink and rejected the world and its pleasures. So the Yoruba gods began a remarkable transformation: Their numbers were reduced, their characteristics intermingled and combined, and they became equated with Christian saints. While many hundreds of gods had flourished in Africa, only three dozen were established in the pantheon of Santeria and in its modern form, Santeria focuses almost exclusively on the "Seven Powers," or principal composite gods.
Ostensibly Christian, the practitioners of Santeria openly worshipped the Catholic saints (the Christian saints were considered very powerful since Christians were the masters and Africans were the slaves) while retaining the essence of their native beliefs. In this guise, Santeria flourished.
For their part, white people generally turned a blind eye toward the new practices. The Catholic priests were satisfied with the outward show of conversion and faith, and the
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