Been reading a lot of misconceptions on this topic. Would to like spread some light on this part of the Cuban culture. It is always good to know about cultures and religions around the world. First of all, I do not practice this culture rich religion nor am I promoting it. I’m just sharing what I know about santería being a Latino of African heritage. Can’t speak about everything in this post because that would take a few books. So bare with me to those who know a lot about this topic. I’m just summarizing it.
Santería in Latin America is actually very common. A lot of people who practice it now aren’t even hispanic nor of African heritage. This religion is a mixture of Roman Catholicism and Yoruban religions. It’s main language is Lucumí. Native to the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto rico. This language is like Latin to the Catholics and Arabic to Muslims. Lucumí is a langague mixed with west African words and Spanish. It has too many words and grammatical differences to be called a Spanish Creole. It’s a completely different tongue.
While in Cuba, I did not want to get blessings from a Santero or santera nor wanted to film their ceremonies. I will explain my reasons later. Most people think Santería is about worshiping the devil. Which is one of the misconceptions. In santería, there’s actually no devil. It’s similar to Pre-Christian religions of the Vikings, Romans and Greeks. There are many gods, so it’s not monotheistic like Islam or Christianity.
The main figure of santería is Changó. Changó is the god of lightning, dance and manliness. The dances you see santeros practicing is to please and get blessings from this lighting god. That’s why the marital arts like capoeria and juego de maní focus mainly around dance. Since, Changó is of Yoruban origin. Which is now manly part of Nigeria. I will speak more about this in detail on another post. Since, I could write a whole book about this topic.
So, the history of Santería is very interesting. This religion was created by slaves in order to hide the preservation of thier African culture from the Spanish. They used saints from the Catholic church to trick the Spanish into thinking they were practicing Christianity. The mixture of African religions with Catholicism was very common in the Portuguese and Spanish colonies. In the Spanish colonies, Santería was born.
Being Hispanic of African heritage from the Caribbean, Santería and other African religions are commonly practiced. Some do it in hiding, others are very open about it. I don’t practice santería because I don’t want to bring spirits into my life. As you all can tell, my life is crazy already. Adding spirits will just complicate things. Also, be careful when going to santeros. You don’t always know their true intentions. They could be bringing negative spirits into your life.
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Yes please do write a book! It’s so interesting. I like Santeria very much. I always thought Obatala was the most important Oricha. But that’s not important here. I never did fear it, I am interested in it. I once did visit a ‘santero’ through a Cuban friend but he seemed more like a catholic priest to me. Fact was, I was relieved of my digestive problems (you know when you can’t resist thatone ice cube in your drink). Another visit tought me that my ‘god’ was Ochun. It’s nice to know 🙂
In my opinion chango is. However obstala is the most important in Santeria. Wow that every cool of you! That’s awesome! You are such am adventurer
Hmm, don’t need any bad spirits in my life so will stay away from this. I loved your first picture, drew me right in.
Thank you! It’s best to not mess with the spirits. Ps it’s not photo got it from the website
Thank you for sharing. It was quite interesting! Honestly, growing up in South Dakota, USA, my only knowledge of Santeria was a Sublime song. This was much more informative!
Wow! Never actually been to south dakota! No problem! Glad you liked it! Stay tuned for more information!
interesting! thanks for sharing
No problem! Thank you for reading 🙂
that was fascinating! thank you
No problem! Glad you liked it! Stay tuned from more awesome and cultural experiences
Very interesting 🙂Thank you for sharing☀️🌚✨
No problem! Thank you for reading
Thank you for sharing this. I did not know many of the practices.
No problem! Thank you for reading!
Interesting read!! I love snippets of info like this!
thank you! you would love our newest post 🙂
I’m Portuguese but our brothers from Brazil are big on Santería and I grew up hearing stories about it. I also lived in Africa for a great part of my childhood and teens and it was very interesting to see how the African mythology mixed and mingled with Christian beliefs to create this fascinating belief system. In fact, I even wrote a fantasy series where Santería (or something like it) plays a major role. Great post.