It is a fruit of the syncretism of African religions with elements of Christianity.
History
Santería is a religion that has its origins with the Yoruba tribe of Africa. The Yorubas lived in what is now known as Nigeria, along the Niger River. At one time they had a powerful and complex structure organized into a series of kingdoms, of which the most important was Benin, and this lasted for 12 centuries until 1896.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Yoruba fought a series of wars with their neighbors and with each other. This internal fight and external attacks led to the downfall and enslavement of the Yoruba people. Between 1820 and 1840, most of the slaves shipped from Benin were Yorubas. These slaves were taken to Cuba and Brazil to work on the sugar plantations. The Yoruba were soon called the †œLucumi,† due to their greeting †œoluku mi,† †œmy friend.†
Spanish laws, while allowing slavery, tried to mitigate this injustice by granting slaves some rights, at least in theory. They had the right to private property, marriage and personal safety. The laws also required that slaves be baptized Christians as a condition of their legal entry to the Indies.
The Church tried to evangelize the Lucumí blacks but the conditions were very difficult. In addition to the shortage of priests, the injustice of slavery made it difficult for the Lucumí to understand and accept what they were taught about God. The good souls who sought to help and evangelize them were of the same race as those who oppressed them. The result was that many outwardly accepted Catholic teachings while inwardly maintaining their old religion.
With the communist revolution, which triumphed in Cuba in 1959, more than a million Cubans went into exile in the USA (mainly in Miami, New York and Los Angeles) and other countries. Among them were santeros who spread Santeria in their new environments.
A pagan religion resulting from Yoruba + Catholicism syncretism.
In their efforts to hide their African religion and magical practices, the Lucumí identified their African deities (orishas) with the saints of Catholicism, resulting in a religious syncretism known today as Santería. A Christian saint and a Lucumí orisha are seen as different manifestations of the same spiritual entity.
Santeria worships a central and creative force called Olodumare. Everything that exists proceeds from him, and everything returns to him. Olodumare expresses himself in the world created through Ashe. Ashe is the cosmic life blood, Olodumare’s power towards life, strength and justice. It is a divine current that finds many channels of greater or lesser receptivity. Ashe is the absolute basis of reality.
They believe that the life of each person is already determined before birth in Ile-Olofi, the house of God in heaven. Those who do not comply will be punished by the orishas and must reincarnate until the punishment is satisfied.
The Saints
We Christians venerate the saints, understanding that they are human beings who heroically lived their faith, died and are now in heaven from where they intercede for us thanks to their participation in the glory of Jesus Christ.
For the santeros, the saints are gods (orishas) that must be worshiped. Olodumare created the orishas to manifest his will and his essence in creation. These are a personification of Ashe. The orishas are also the guides and protectors of the human race.
The saints they took to identify them with the orishas were the best known in the Church in Cuba. The Blessed Virgin in different invocations is also identified with an orisha as if she were another saint. Identification often has to do with clothing or the reasons the saint or Virgin is known. Thus Santa Bárbara, dressed in red and with a sword in Catholic images, is identified with the god Shangó, a warrior to whom strength is attributed.
According to Santería, each person’s life is supervised by a saint (orisha) who takes an active part in their daily life. On the feast of his saint, the person must attend mass and the ceremonies of that orisha.
initiation
Before the initiation the person must receive a “cleansing” to purify himself. The first initiation is that of the necklaces, known as †œelekes.† Five necklaces are given that belong to Eleggua, Obatalá, Shangó, Yemayá and Oshún and protect from evil. The person is expected to respect the orishas and behave morally.
The hierarchy
Not all practitioners of Santeria are santeros. This name is usually reserved for the priests (omo-orishas) of Santería to whom believers go for consultations and sacrifices.
The ceremony in which a person becomes a saint is called an “asiento.” A bond is formed between the santero and an orisha. After having received the †œseat† the person can ascend in the hierarchy of Santería. They then go through the rite of the knife that allows them to make animal sacrifices.
The highest-ranking priests are called “babalaos.” They act as diviners so that if there is a very difficult case for the santero, he goes to the “babalao.”
Fortune telling
The divinations are to know the future or to discover some curse or if the person has been attached to an evil or good spirit. In the case of an evil spirit, the santero proceeds to do “cleaning.” If the spirit is good, it must be reinforced. For divination, santeros use different ways to interpret an oracle.
1. A chain of medallions that the santero throws on his table. The oracle is read according to how the medallions fall.
2. A wooden tray called †œifa† on which powder (eyero-sun) is sprinkled. With a horn, the babalao draws lines and zeros to compose the oracle. It is intended to discover the presence of forces around the person and the good or bad nature of them.
3. One type of divination is the †œikin† in which three babalaos use 16 coconuts to make divinations.
The sacrifices (ebbo)
Sacrifices or “ebbo” must be offered to the orishas, which they need to live since they are not immortal. The orisha consumes the invisible ashe released from the sacrifices through a consecration (sacred words of dedication).
The †œebbo† consists of special herbs and the blood of slaughtered animals. Each orisha has some herbs and animals that they like to consume and only these things that the orisha enjoys are the ones that should be sacrificed. The blood and herbs are poured over ritual stones that represent each orisha and that contain the spiritual essence of the orishas. That is why Santería requires shops called “botánicas” where herbs and other religious objects are sold.
There are three types of animal sacrifices:
1. To cleanse from an evil or a curse
2. To the orisha asking for his assistance
3. For the initiation ceremony in one of the orders of Santería.
Before an †œebbo† can be offered, the †œeggun† or †œEleggua† must be invoked, which are the spirits of the ancestors, either of the person or of the santera family to which he belongs. Eleggua is the orisha who brings the offering to the other orishas and therefore must be honored first.
How to understand Santeria
In the five years that I was chaplain at the Hermitage of the Virgen de la Caridad in Miami, I had the opportunity to evangelize many santeros who came thinking they were visiting the god Oshun. They generally had no understanding of Jesus Christ as Savior, nor of the need for conversion. Having no knowledge of Christian revelation, they saw no conflict between being Christians and santeros.
People often enter Santeria looking to solve a problem. For example, an illness, the infidelity of a husband, economic problems, etc. They have been told that the santero has special contacts with the beyond and they care little if that contact is with God or with the devil, as long as it works for them. In some cases, the person has tried to solve the problem by turning to Jesus and his Church but it has not † œworked.† I have heard many testimonies in which they say they have tried everything before entering Santeria. I do not doubt that they will eventually feel an experience of God, but in Santeria they will not find the revelation of God who has given us all his love in his Son, Jesus Christ.
Once initiated into Santeria, you are told that you must continue to get the best results. The santero takes control of the person until fear governs them. He is told that if he separates, something very bad will happen to him… The Santero becomes an indispensable character who dominates all of life and from which there is no way out. In this he is similar to the relationship with the mafia.
It is natural to seek to solve problems, but the authentic encounter with God can only be centered on God’s love and on doing God’s will out of love, even if it requires embracing the cross. God is a good Father who will give us the strength to carry it. That trust, even if we do not understand his designs, is the basis of our Christian faith. Obedience often requires embracing big problems out of love.
Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me: ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my heavenly Father.†
Jesus himself gives us the best example: “Father, if you want, take this cup away from me; but not my will, but yours be done† (Luke 22:42).
Here is the radical difference: Christ invites us to deny ourselves and embrace the cross out of obedient love for God, Santeria seeks divine powers to solve problems, and the Santero immerses himself in the spiritual world that requires certain rites to ensure his well-being. . Who this god is who provides security is of no apparent importance to the santero. The Christian lives in the Holy Spirit, the santero submits to other spirits.
Bibliography:
Gonzalez-Wippler, Mingene. Santeria: the Religion, New York: Harmony Books, 1989.
Murphy, Joseph M. Santeria: an African Religion in America. Boston: Beacon Press, 1988.
Steffon, Jeffrey J. Satanism, is it Real? Ann Arbor: Servant Publications, 1992.
The origin of Santería in Cuba is perfectly explainable. Shortly after the discovery, along with the conquerors, the missionaries came who did a deep evangelizing work and sowed in our town the seed of the Christian faith. But when that tremendous injustice of bringing blacks from Africa as slaves, inhumanly torn from their homeland and family, was committed, those men could not be properly evangelized. Neither the priests knew their African languages nor did they understand Spanish. They were made to go to church and practice the Catholic religion, but without a true conversion: inside they continued to think of their pagan gods, “and…