Santeria (Way of the Saints) is an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba beliefs and traditions, with some Roman Catholic elements added. The religion is also known as La Regla Lucumi and the Rule of Osha.
Is Santeria a Catholic?
Santeria combines elements of Catholicism with the Yoruba religion and many Cubans identify with both traditions and their ceremonies. The Church has been tolerant of Santeria but remains wary. The Vatican does not recognize Santeria as a religion and Francis has no events scheduled with practitioners.
What are the beliefs of Santeria?
The Santeria faith teaches that every individual has a destiny from God, a destiny fulfilled with the aid and energy of the orishas. The basis of the Santeria religion is the nurture of a personal relation with the orishas, and one of the principal forms of devotion is an animal sacrifice.
What is the purpose of Santeria?
Santería is based upon the development of personal relationships through divination, sacrifice, initiation, and mediumship (see medium) between practitioners of the religion and the orisha deities, who provide their devotees with protection, wisdom, and success and who guide devotees in times of crisis.
What God does Santeria worship?
Santería is polytheistic and revolves around deities called oricha. Deriving their names and attributes from traditional Yoruba divinities, they are equated with Roman Catholic saints.
What is a Santería priest called?
Santeria has a priesthood that includes both men and women. Priesthood involves training and initiation. The priest may be a babalorisha (Father in the Spirit) or iyalorisha (Mother or Wife in the Spirit). The Spanish words for these priests are santero or santera.
Does Santería believe in the afterlife?
They are drawn to Santeria, sometimes called Lukumi, for a host of reasons. The religion emphasizes the here and now rather than the afterlife, and it focuses on natural forces. Each deity represents an aspect of nature, like thunder, and a human characteristic, like power.
What is a Santería ritual?
Santeria rituals allow human beings to stay in contact with the Orishas – these rituals include dancing, drumming, speaking and eating with the spirits. Santeria has few buildings devoted to the faith.
When was Santería banned?
“So, in order to maintain their religion, they did a syncretism where they blend the Spanish saints with the African saints.” Immediately following the 1959 revolution and into the 1990s, religion was banned in Cuba.
Is Santería a religion?
Santeria (Way of the Saints) is an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba beliefs and traditions, with some Roman Catholic elements added. The religion is also known as La Regla Lucumi and the Rule of Osha. Santeria is a syncretic religion that grew out of the slave trade in Cuba.
Why do Santería sacrifice animals?
One of the principal forms of devotion in Santeria is animal sacrifice. Sacrifices are performed at birth, marriage, and death rites; for the cure of the sick; for the initiation of new members and priests; and during an annual celebration. The sacrificed animal is cooked and eaten at some ceremonies.
What religion makes you wear all white?
During their first week of formal initiation into the Santería faith, men and women must wear all white and be accompanied by a religious elder each time they go out in public.
Does Santería believe in reincarnation?
Ancestors are believed to reincarnate usually into their family lineages as a grandchild; however, it is also possible for reincarnation outside the family lineage. Before rebirth, ancestral spirits restore themselves in the “good heaven” (orun rere) while watching over the family and some may become revered Orisha.
Who is elegua in the Bible?
Elegua (Yoruba: Èṣù-Ẹlẹ́gbára, also spelled Eleggua; known as Eleguá in Latin America and Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands) is an Orisha, a deity of roads in the religions of Santería, Umbanda, Quimbanda, Holy Infant of Atocha, and Candomblé.
Who founded Santería?
Santeria was created in Cuba by the mingling of Yoruba traditions brought by enslaved Africans from Nigeria and Benin with the Roman Catholic faith of the Spanish plantation owners.
How much does Santería cost?
A full-on initiation ceremony into Santeria, which grew out of the Yoruba religion brought to the Americas by African slaves, would cost a foreigner well over $1,000.
What do they sell in the Santería stores?
Such establishments sell folk medicine, herbs, candles, and statues for Saints and popular gods. They also carry oils, incense, perfumes, and books. Such stores have become increasingly popular in the United States as the Latino communities they serve have grown in that country.
Where is Santería practiced in the US?
It has been estimated that approximately 10 million individuals in the Americas are adherents to the Afro-Cuban religion Santería; somewhere between half a million and 5 million of them are located in the United States. It is believed that approximately 50,000 adherents reside in South Florida.
When did Santeria religion come out?
Santeria is a fusion of Catholic practices and African folk beliefs. It emerged in Cuba during the 17th century, and has been embedded in Cuban society ever since.
What is a palero?
For anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars, Palo priests, called Paleros, serve as consultants to dead spirits, who they believe have the power to do almost anything the Paleros bid them to do. For quick results, Paleros use human bones and skulls to call upon the spirits represented by them.
What is the Yoruba afterlife?
Olupona: It is assumed that death doesn’t end a person’s life, but instead marks a passage from one realm of existence to the next. Hence, the Yoruba believe there is an afterlife (or an “afterdeath”) in which the living dead exist as part of the sacred cosmos.