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Santeria is a setup of credence that include aspects of Yoruba mythology. It was brought to the New world- Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, the Southern USA, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad by Nigerians or “Yoruba slaves” along with Christianity and indigenous American traditions. During the time of transition and oppression, the need for preservation of their culture in a new world became a way of surviving. In order to practice their religion, Yoruba slaves were obliged to merge their customs with aspects of Catholicism which fusion to what’s known as Santeria. Santeria is a religion that aims to strengthen relationships between mortals and powerful spirits called Orishas. Followers believe that spirits will help them in life, if the appropriate rituals are performed. Despite that animal sacrifice it is not the main form of “offering” as a ritual, they are indeed part of Santeria. …show more content…
As Yoruba faced many challenges being introduced into the new world, Santeria has faced difficulties when first introduced into the United States. In November 4th, 1992, Santeria became famously known in the case of Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah. The lawsuit made it all the way to the supreme court with allegations that animal sacrifices during oblation ceremony was a form of animal cruelty and it breached public morals, peace, and safety within members of the
Meso-American religion involves a variety of beliefs and rituals of the people of Central America and Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s C.E. The beliefs of the ancient Meso-American religious traditions were focused around an annual calendar that had an accompanying ritual cycle. This calendar was associated with various Meso-American deities, often representing different aspects of the cosmos including a creator god, a god of war, a sun god, a fire god, etc. Various beliefs were practiced by the ancient Meso-American peoples that included diverse forms and levels of the afterlife, with each containing its own deity. Religious rituals and practices were typically governed by priests that had been educated in astronomy and genealogy. These priests were often adorned with jewels, ornaments of many colors, exquisite jewels and many had dual roles as diviners. Using idols was common in Meso-American religion and they were usually depicted in the form of animals or having animals as a part of them. Several of these ancient traditions included rituals of sacrifice to the gods, even human sacrifice.
It is amazing how two religions, such as Voodoo and Christianity, can be filled with so many awesome differences with respect to time eras, status, publicity, and language, and yet still have an almost identical core ideal. This also demonstrates that this core ideal of the use of humans as a mouthpiece of the divine has been a long lived concept which people, such as Mama Lola and her family, still believe in and practice today. Perhaps this proves there is some truth in the idea, and most likely, we will never know for sure, whether this concept, in it’s many different forms continues to live on, or if it dies out.
These illustrate the embodiment of the challenges one has to encounter when associated with the practice of Santeria. Santerians lack the freedom of complete self-expression, and they have to deal with the secrecy of their rituals, values, and beliefs to be acknowledged in colonial society. Their real identity is suffering and can only be grasped by those who share similar religious values. This lack of complete self-expression touches my heart because I am proud to express my values, my belief without restrictions. It is indeed disturbing to see Santerians have to embody this types of challenges in their lives. One should be proud and feel free to express their belief without restrictions. The book and the article indicate, that even though they face challenges as practitioners of Santeria they are devoted and are willing to balance their life while separating their social life and their religious
religion. Instead of accepting the Catholic religion, many slaves only incorperated it into the establishing Voodoo religion. Catholicism remains an important aspect of Voodoo, and many of it's methods and rituals are currently practiced as Voodoo (this is especially accurate in Santeria, a Cuban based Voodoo).
According to Paul Touloute, human beings since their creation have always wanted to investigate the unseen world. These desires led to many religious and philosophical tendencies that account for many religions throughout the world. One of those religions, Vodou, commonly spelled Voodoo, evolved in Haiti as the predominant religion of the people incorporating traditions imported by enslaved Africans. In an attempt to investigate Vodou beliefs and for a better understanding of the religion, Karen McCarthy Brown immerses herself into the life of Alourdes Macena and their extended Vodou family kinship. Karen participates not only in the home-spun ritualistic ceremonies which is essential to pleasing various spirits, but also undergoes ritual marriages to the spirits Ogou and Danbala, and completes the initiation process one must undergo in order to become a manbo. The key goal of doing an ethnographic fieldwork is to go beyond what “actors’ say they do” (being the ideal) to “what actors actually do” (the real). Within the story of Mama Lola, the author Karen McCarthy Brown explores the spiritual tradition of Vodou through extensive research and participation-observation, which is a great way to go from the ideal to real absences. Karen Brown learns how Vodou operates, who the spirits are and what it takes to appease them, and of most importance, she learns about how Vodou is a religion of and for the people.
Haitian Vodou is the combination of supernatural and mystical components of African religions, along with the ritual basics of Roman Catholicism. They believe that there is one supreme God, but praise spirits, which are recognized as sacred ancestors, African gods, and even Catholic saints. Haitians call these spirits loa. Loas are “African deities who have been inherited through succeeding generations by the descendants of those who brought them to Haiti” (124). It is required to have ritual ceremonies for the loa, so that they can guide, protect, heal, and help those that practice Haitian Vodou. To begin calling down the loa, one must draw the vévé, which is the symbol for the loa on the prayer ground. During these ceremonies, there is a lot of dancing, singing, drumming, prayer, animal sacrifice, and food preparation. Just like Catholicism, a priestess or priest guides the worshipers in the ceremonies. Also in the course of a Vodou ceremony, which ever loa that is being called upon possesses participants to give advice or perform cures. To anyone that does not practice Haitian Vodou, the way these ceremonies are unorthodox, but to Haitians, it is their way of life and what they believe
This is one of the more controversial parts of the Santeria faith, but we want to demystify the practice for those who may not understand its function. Within Santeria blood sacrifice is only done with the kinds of animals you’d find on a farm: chickens, roosters, goats, sheep, pigeons, etc. It is a required part of any initiation (Elekes, Warriors, Orisha Addimú, Kariocha) and without blood sacrifice you do not have the presence of the orishas in that ritual, and you do not have a legitimate consecration. This is an ancient and traditional practice upheld by the culture bearers of our religion and is not something that can be excluded in said
When one first hears the word Vodou, immediately images of curses and little model dolls come to mind. We tend to synonymize it with words like sinister, evil and revenge. However, Vodou is nothing like what mainstream North American media has brainwashed people into believing. As best put by Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, “Vodou is far more than [a religion] it's a spiritual system” (Tippet and Bellegarde-Smith 145). Haitian Vodou is a spiritual system that syncretizes the practices of Roman Catholicism with West African spirituality. This paper will contextualize Vodou and give a brief history on what it is, explain how I came to gain an interest in Vodou and close off with an introduction to Chouk Bwa Libète a traditional Haitian Mizik Rasin—roots
Modern practitioners of Santeria may be attracted to the religion for a variety of reasons, notable among which are curiosity with secret rituals and the longing among many immigrants and people of color to get in touch with Caribbean and African roots. What each specific individual wants from a religion is difficult to generalize upon, but Santeria offers a way for people to achieve harmony in their lives through communication with and obedience to orishas, the divine beings that act as intermediaries between humans and the Supreme Being, Olodumare. Santeria teaches how to know and appease the specific desires of a pantheon of orishas who alert devotees to problems in their lives and protect them from harm. In addition to a distinctive and demanding set of rituals that requires a commitment of time and energy from believers, Santeria offers a rich history and a supportive community that make it a way of life and not just a passive belief structure that bears little relevance to the daily life of its adherents.
Although an imperfect label, "NRM" continues to be the most helpful one available, and it has achieved a level of acceptance in general discourse about religion that other labels have not (Ashcraft, 2005). Santeria and Catholic are two similar yet, different type of religions but have the same solid belief in a heavenly father. With many different rituals and causes, by having unbalanced elements to what this new religion is, for one - Santeria to me is used as protection among evil worships but, Santeria can create good luck and bad luck to harm others with their voodoo dolls or spells. Santeria also is like a rite of passage - it's not something you get baptized in to when you’re a child, you must perform a ritual to get in and learn the way of becoming a Orisha. From generation to generation, aside from god - there are many higher beings for every type of problem one can have, you pray to that image and bring it an offering. Santeria has no holy place like a church so, this practice is commonly done in a house or a botanica (spiritual Hispanic store). Sacrifices are made, such as slaughtering animals for their blood - to offer it to an image in return for something positive or wishing misfortune upon
In earlier years of conquest the colonial church was still intact by the time the country was now New Spain. The church organization had by then created two distinct branches- secular and regular clergy. This would then spread around the word of Christianity to save souls. By assimilating this spread to the population of “Indians” they would then get acculturated into thinking their way of living was evil and to abandon their beliefs and to always “praise the lord”. Through t...
Myriad syncretic spiritual forms evolved during the era of colonial Mesoamerica, expressing both public devotional practices and private household rituals that many times were veiled from Church scrutiny (Carmack 308). These rituals, born in indigenous culture and adapted to the drastically changed socio-economic and political landscape of colonial life, represent some of the few remaining links to the region’s spiritual and historical past.
is a unique way of life with rich cultural and spiritual roots. The word Santeria is a syncretistic
Some cultures in the Spanish Caribbean participate in sacrificing and they also hold clergy to a different standard than those in the United States. Some of the religious practices they have also involved monotheism although polytheism is more customary. Some often look at their sacrifice as odd, disgusting and inhumane. When in reality most of us come from cultures that historically made sacrifices and were
The first Catholic priests came to South America with the conquistadors and through social and political force superimposed 16th century Catholicism upon conquered peoples and in subsequent generations upon slaves arriving in the New World. Catholicism has, likewise, frequently absorbed, rather than confronted, popular folk religious beliefs. The resulting religion is often overtly Catholic but covertly pagan. Behind the Catholic facade, the foundations and building structure reflect varying folk religious traditions. (2)