Introduction to Santería
Santería, sometimes referred to as La Regla Lucunmi, originated in West Africa in what are now Nigeria and Benin. Santería is, however, not purely a West African religion; it has many ties to European Catholicism. Because of this correlation, there is no exact year for the formation of this religion. The closest date available for the founding of Santería is between the 1700's to about 1870 – the period of the slave trade. The slave trade brought many people that practiced this particular religion to the shores of Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Trinidad as well as many other Caribbean countries.
Not only were the slaves' bodies brought over. Their souls, culture, and religion were brought to the Americas as well. In the early years, when the slaves had just begun arriving, there was a great deal of pressure placed on them, by the European plantation owners and missionaries, to convert to Catholicism. Despite these attempts by the plantation owners, Santería was still openly practiced, and the number of practitioners was increasing. Since in performing openly their religion many harsh beatings and punishments were administered, the religious followers tended to incorporate many Catholic elements into their religion. One factor that helped to make the two religions look similar to the plantation owners was that many of the orishas, the primary gods, shared many of the same physical characteristics that the Catholic saints possessed. This made the slaves appear to be practicing Catholicism although they were practicing their native, African religions.
Believers of Santería place their faith in the orishas. The orishas are not as powerful or as omnipotent as their predominant God, Olodumare, or Olorun. Olorun is the source of ashe, the spiritual energy that makes up the entire universe, all life and all things material. The orishas are the spirits or gods that interact with humans by controlling nature and attending to the daily needs of the religion's followers. They are approachable and can be counted on to come to the aid of followers by guiding them to a better life, materially as well as spiritually. In other words, they are emissaries of God. Furthermore, each orisha possesses a distinct personality. Communication between orishas and humankind is accomplished through ritual, prayer, divination and offerings (ebo).
Depending on the particular orisha that they wish to please, santeros use certain colors and certain animals and play particular drumbeats during their rituals. The music is of great importance because it helps to coax the orisha into "mounting" or possessing the priest.
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.
After the discovery of sugarcane from the Arabs, European nations began establishing plantation communities throughout the Americas which were rich with sugarcane. With the creation of these plantations, which focused on mass production of various products, a large amount of cheap human labor was necessary in keeping up with production quotas. Therefore, the Europeans found the best option was to import boatloads of African slaves, who were skilled, non Christian, and immune to many of the diseases that the Native Americans had previously perished from. Mexico, under the rule of the Spanish at the time, had previously relied on Aztecs acquired from warfare for human labor. However, as foreign diseases started to contaminate the enslaved in unsanitary conditions, and the Aztecs began to perish at uncontrollable speeds, the Spanish had had to rely on slaves exported from West Africa to fulfill their agricultural needs in plantations, and their economical needs in mines.
They chose to come live in America and choose their own way of living. They were very strict people, who did not like to act differently from others. They were also very simple people who devoted most of their lives to God. Men hunted for food and were ministers. Women work at home doing chores like sewing, cooking, cleaning, and making clothes.
The Yoruba people, who were brought over from Nigeria as slaves, came to the Caribbean in the 1500’s with their own religion, which was seen as unfit by the white slave owners. Most plantation owners in the Caribbean were members of the Roman Catholic Church, so they forced their slaves to disregard their native religions and become Catholic. Soon, the slaves realized that they could still practice their West African religion as long as it was disguised as Catholicism, and Santería was born. Now it’s practiced in the United States, Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Great Britain, Canada, Venezuela, and Panama.
The slaves went along with the demands of the slave owner’s ideals of paternalism and in return were able to manipulate the system to create their own culture within the plantation, therefore using accommodation as a tool of resistance and revolting. Many slave owners often saw religion as a form of “social control” and feared those without religion. While the masters believed they were in control, the slaves used Christianity as a sense of hope, community and equality. The slaves combined Christianity and African traditions, and emphasized the ideal of “the irrepressible affirmation of life” meaning they never let the world around them affect their joy in life. This helped many slaves get through life, create their own identity, and deal with the life they were given. The slaves molded their beliefs, therefore creating a religion of resistance and defiance. The strong unity of religion brought the slave community closer, therefore aiding them in the creation of culture, family life and traditions on the
Religion is one of the most scared aspects a person has in his or her life; for many practitioners
The slave system became larger, despite the fact that more slaves were becoming Christians and adopting the American culture. Many slaves even considered themselves African-Americans, no longer purely African. The slaves were worshiping the Christian God and began to baptize themselves to begin their life religiously. The effort put forth shows how slaves were willing to adapt their culture. Only a small minority of planters owned a large n...
To further understand the role of the owners’ inference and belief in civilising the slaves, this section will explore the role of religion in developing the slave community. The religion of Christianity was regarded by the whites as the religion of the civilised. For this reason, slaves had to be indoctrinated into Christianity. This conversion began in the second half of the eighteenth century and was a prominent element of the lives of Antebellum slaves. Yet, this created a problem for slaveholders. The problem was that the religion which they were trying to promote, stressed on equality of all, and to treat others how you would like to be treated. Therefore, a solution was that the slaves heard selective teachings of Christianity, the theology of which focused on obedience in life, and salvation in the afterlife. Obedience to masters while on Earth will result in the rewards in heavens. Christianity is an umbrella religion, with many variants under
Beginning in 1770, slaves in the southern states began to convert to evangelism religions such as Methodist and Baptist Faiths. Ways of worship such as clapping, dancing and singing were encouraged by evangicals, which was similar to African worship patterns. The idea that Christians were equal in the sight of God was a message that provided hope to slaves. In 1800, emphasis was placed on Protestant evangelicalism, individual freedom and direct communication with God. In 1810, slave trade in the U.S. came to an end. During this time period, whites would insist on slave attendance at the white controlled church where ministers promoted obedience to ones master. Blacks saw white actions as a mockery of the "true" Christian message of equality
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)
African-Americans utilized American Christianity as an embodiment of hope and comfort during a time of oppression. While they endured backbreaking labor and physical abuse from their overseers, they likely sought a spiritual experience characterized by movement and loud vocals such as when they were “seized by the spirit” for a positive physical ritual in their life. Additionally, God to them was an entity outside of the plantation that was rooting for them because he believed in universal human equality and the evils of slavery and abuse. For slaves, especially in the South, this encouragement was likely hard to come by. If this was the case, slaves believed that judgment would set things right and that hopefully they would not live their whole lives enslaved. However, the teachings that slaves were given during white sermons were fragmented and they knew it. Specifically, African-Americans acknowledged the emphasis on servitude expressed in white interpretations but the lack of passages related to their masters’ wrongdoings.
The Orishas are entities that reflect the powers of Olodumare (Supreme God). Each Orisha has a role in controlling the forces of nature and lives of the mortals. Each Orisha is distinguished by many things among these thing is their color which is their mark, their favorite food which they like to receive as a gift or an offering, their emblem which is their weapon or symbol, etc. here are some examples of Orishas:
The political became personal and social with language warfare in colonial Haiti beginning with the Roman Christian word religio meaning an exclamation of truth (Paton 2). As the origin of the well-known term religion, it implies boundaries between factual religious doctrines and fabricated superstitions (Paton 2). In the era of Caribbean colonization, these differentiations created class warfare that separated savages from nobles on a moral plain (Paton 3). The scholarly, Frazer distinction between science, religion, and magic supplements this discrediting by asserting that defining the latter hinges on practical navigation using natural laws and an eternal omission of empirical support (Versnel 178). Development of the dichotomy of religion and magic persevered upon cultural interactions between colonial entities and oppressed Haitians, creating new dynamics within the concept of magic. The direct, individualized rituals of mysticism became associated with manipulative motives by the mortal knowledge used to invoke concrete results (Versnel 178-179). Moreover, the socially ostracizing uncomfortability related with unfamiliar traditions further separated magical customs and lumped the practices with deviant, immoral behaviors (Versnel 178-179).
Shinto has ancient origins that can be traced all the way back to 500 B.C.,but it wasn’t called Shinto until 8th century Japan when Buddhism started to threaten the Japanese way of life. The religions begun, of course, in Japan. Shinto has no founder, it has been practiced by the Japanese since they appeared on the earth apparently so nobody knows who the heck started it (). There is no specific person who spread the religion, due to the fact Shinto didn’t spread much, There are some temples in Hawaii, South America, and Europe, which are most likely from immigrants into those regions from Japan (). Some say that Shinto is tied in with the land of Japan. If your mom was Shinto yo...