Santeria - A Closed Practice and how they kept their religion

A slideshow about Santeria and its closed practices

1. Santeria
Annalise and Sahithi

2. Overview
●Formed as a result of African slave trade
●Started in the 1500s in secret
●Syncretized Yoruba beliefs (Nigeria, Benin, Togo) with Catholic practices
●Originated in Cuba as a form of resistance to conversion efforts
●Today, practiced in Cuba and in America (Miami, Los Angeles, New York)
●About 100 million practitioners

3. Cosmology
●Physical world (Aye) and spiritual
world (Orun) coexisting like carved
calabash
●Oludumare is Supreme Being of the
universe that is unknowable
●Ashe/ache is the energy that
permeates the universe in
everything that exists; it is not static
nor is it good or bad
●Oludumare is the source of ashe

4. Orishas
●Oludumare is by definition unknowable and beyond comprehension
●Orishas are lesser deities that represent some manifestations of
Olodumare and control an aspect of nature, often interchangeable with a
Catholic saint
●Orishas are not perfect and are often humans who attained divine status
●Orishas adopt people as their children before they are born and act as
guardians
●Much of the ritual/experiential aspects of Santeria involve moving further
into relationship with one’s patron orisha

5. Humans
●Humans consist of a physical part and a spiritual part called ori
○Ori literally means head and also describes consciousness and destiny
●Ancestors are venerated and the dead often reincarnate into the families
of their children
●Reincarnation isn’t a punishment and isn’t about salvation
●The ultimate goal of Santeria is to restore balance in your life and move
further in the spiritual world rather than being saved from sin
○This can be accomplished through relationships with orishas
○Balance can also be restored through the manipulation of ashe by a priest in rituals

6. Structure
●No sacred texts (stories passed on through oral tradition)
●No centralized authority
●Independent communities of worshippers called iles led by a priest
●Hierarchy
○Aleyo - Not associated with an ile
○Aborisha - People who have been initiated into the protection of an orisha
○Olorisha - Orisha is seated in one’s ori following more initiation ceremonies, your life
becomes dedicated to service of the orisha, effectively become a priest
○Babalawo - Priests in service of orisha Orunmila who are able to perform divination in Ifa
sect but can’t perform certain other rituals
●Apprenticeship → you learn from an elder or godparent

7. Mythical
Stories about
the orishas are
transmitted
orally

8. Ritual
●Initiation Process (in brief)
○Animal sacrifice required - the blood of the animal corresponds to the blood of birth into
a new life, helps initiates further appreciate life, animal killed humanely, orisha consumes
blood while community consumes meat
○Elekes - receive necklaces representative of 5 primary orishas, first initiation
○Warriors - receive shrines to orishas Oshun, Elegua, Ogun, and Ochosi and is tasked to
care for them; people may later receive shrines to other orishas

9. Ritual
●Initiation (cont.)
○Kariocha - “To seat the orisha,” divination to determine one’s crowning orisha and
receives their tutelary orisha
○Iyaworaje - A new initiate who spends a year dressed in white adhering to strict
behavioral standards; after this, one becomes an olorisha/santero/santera
●This is obviously an oversimplification
○Many different sects with decentralized practice

10. Ritual
●Divination
○Done by priests
○Interpreting a set of 16 cowrie shells (256 combinations)
■Eleggua points out if you are in balance/blessing or imbalance/misfortune
○In Ifa sect, divination through palm nuts or diviner’s chain via Orunmila
○Divination performed before initiating
○Deity is personal
●Sacrifice to orishas
○Known as ebo
○Often consists of fruit or food
○Animal sacrifice only in extreme cases
○Restores balance
○Extent of sacrifice determined by divination

11. Ritual
●Healing
○Folk medicine
○Restore balance
●Dancing and Drumming
○Community ritual
○Serve as method of communicating with orishas
○Some report possession by orishas

12. Experiential

13. Societal
Godparents and Godchildren - a
sacred relationship
●Important because of oral
tradition and community values
●Respect to “elders” (those who
have been initiated in Santeria
longer than you)
●“Crowning” = initiation (ori is
crowned with orisha)

14. Material
●Items needed in Santeria purchased in
botanicas
●Syncretic in terms of material dimension
w/Catholicism - will pray at altars to Catholic
saints; integrates West African & Latin
American art
●Drumming, dances, and trances/possessions
are important ways of communicating with
orishas
●Beaded necklaces in the color of a particular
orisha are worn to represent the orisha and
have them with someone at all times; these
necklaces (elekes) must be absolutely
respected

15. Botanica Orisha Locumí - Brooklyn

16. Church of Our Lady of Regla

17. The Virgin of Charity
La Caridad del Cobre
Patroness of Cuba,
Aligned with orisha
Ochun

18. Contemporary Issues
●Focus on resilience and healing
●Secretive because it had to be → misunderstood
●Christians suppressed Santeria as satanism or brujeria (witchcraft)
●Animal sacrifice plays an important role in Santeria spirituality
●Discrimination against Santeria practitioners as being abusive toward
animals (not true)
●1993 Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah - unconstitutional
to prevent animal sacrifice
●Greater prevalence in the US with a greater Cuban population in America
●Many people find balance in Santeria faced with modern problems

19. If We Have Time - Additional Mythology!