Santería

Santería, the most common name given to a religious tradition of African origin that was developed in Cuba and then spread throughout Latin America and the United States.

Santería was brought to Cuba by the people of the Yoruban nations of West Africa, who were enslaved in great numbers in the first decades of the 19th century. The name “Santería” derives from the correspondences made by some devotees between the Yoruba deities called orishas and the saints (santos) of Roman Catholic piety. Many contemporary practitioners refer to the tradition as “the religion of the orishas” or the “Lukumi religion,” after the name by which the Yoruba were known in Cuba.

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. It is believed that access to the orishas can be achieved through various types of divination. In the Ifá oracle, for example, a trained priest, a babalawo (“father of the mystery”), interprets the fall of consecrated palm nuts to reveal the orishas’ response to a seeker’s question. Most Ifá consultations prescribe some form of sacrifice to one or several of the orishas. These offerings may range from simple presentations before home altars to elaborate feasts in the orishas’ honor. As a result of these ceremonial exchanges, the oracle often determines that one particular orisha has claimed the devotee as its child. Preparations are then made for the grand and irrevocable initiation of the devotee into that orisha’s mysteries. In the crowning ceremony, the symbols of the patron orisha are placed on the head of the devotee, and he or she may enter a ceremonial trance and become a medium for that orisha. At drum dances called bembés, initiated devotees, now properly called olorishas—those who “have the orisha”—may lose their ordinary consciousness and manifest that of their orisha patrons. Through the bodies of their mediums the orishas are believed to interact with the congregation directly and heal and prophesy for those who approach them.

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From the Cuban Revolution of 1959 to the early 21st century, nearly one million Cubans left the island, bringing Orisha religion to cities throughout the Americas, particularly Miami and New York. The tradition also spread to other Latino communities, African Americans, and white Americans. Although census data are lacking, it is likely that initiated devotees number in the tens of thousands and that those who consult an orisha at one time or another may be counted in the millions.

Devotees see the Orisha tradition as a world religion and have received public recognition of their spiritual achievements. In 1993 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the right of devotees to practice the controversial rite of animal sacrifice in the case Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah. The U.S. Army and Federal Bureau of Prisons have incorporated orisha ministries into their chaplaincies. Musicians, painters, sculptors, and writers have found in the Orisha tradition sources of African artistry and pride. It is likely that Orisha traditions will continue to grow and be recognized as one of the principal African contributions to world culture.