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Santaria, the hidden religion in Cuba Santaria, Catholicism in an African coat In the time of slavery, the catholic Spaniards forbid the Yoruba's to worship their own African gods, the Orisha's. Under pressure of their masters the Yoruba's pretended to worship the catholic holy men. In reality they silently baptist the catholic holy men into one of their many Orisha gods. This way they could worship their own gods, celebrate their own religious parties and give their gods a place. The spirits of their gods, so thought the Yoruba, couldn't be taken prisoner and so their religion survived all the horrors of slavery times. Santaria, explanation about the Orisha's There is about 400 Orisha's known, but only 20 are being worshiped in Cuba. Every Orisha has its own symbols, music, dance rhythm and colors that come back in the beads of necklaces. In some of the less touristy area's of Havana you will find shops full of things used in rituals of the Santaria like; shells, bowls, palm nuts, cocos nuts, candles, fresh herbs, colored necklaces, feathers and beads. The Orishagod Orula is the catholic holy Saint Franciscus. Santaria, religion as a life style, inauguration to Santero The inauguration to Santero needs the necessary preparation. To find out which Orisha fits the believer, the 'Babalao' (highest priest of the Santaria hierarchy) will trow palm nuts on a wooden board and depending on the position that the nuts take, the Babalao will be able to see which Orisha presented itself. After that there will be a ceremony to cleanse the inner. The head of the believer will be shaven and body dressed in white. The white clothing, symbol for purity, will need to be worn for 1 whole year. After that year there is a definite inaugural ritual. During this ritual the future Santero's will be separated from the world for 7 days. In these days they are being taken care of and accompanied by the Babalao and his assistants. While the already inaugurated Santero's, inspired by rousing drums and singing loudly, call onto their own Orisha's, the future Santero's get into a trance. The Orisha will enter the inaugurated and is in this way part of the ceremony. To get the Orisha's in a favorable mood, there will be goats and chicken slaughtered. The Orisha will give a path of life and on that base the new Santero will receive some rules to live by his whole life. These rules given from above, vary per person and could be something like never to eat chocolate or corn again, or to never swim in ocean or river again, so to not abuse water. After the inauguration they may call themselves Santero or Santera. The Santero will also get to know if he will ever have the strength to become a Babalao, a priest. Women dont have that opportunity. Santero, the financial bleeding The rituals of the Santeria are often quite expensive. The inauguration to become a Santero or Santera can cost as much as 15.000 pesos. The Babalao and his assistants expect to get a lot of, and very expensive, food and drinks. The Orisha's too, can be greedy and demand a lot of sacrifices. |
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