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!