Santeria

Arising as a mix of the ancestor worship and animistic traditions of West Africa, and the Catholicism or Christianity of the European slave traders and plantation owners of the Carribean and Central and South America, the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria continues to capture the imagination. The practices and rituals of Santeria are often portrayed in films, television, and song. Although many portrayals of Santeria still focus on its mystery and negative connotations, it is becoming more widely understood and accepted. Santeria is considered a syncretic religion, meaning that it attempts to merge or reconcile the contradictory beliefs of the African people brought to the region as slaves with the Christianity of the European imperialists.
The Yoruba people, who were brought to the Carribean and Latin America from the area of modern day Nigeria, worshiped a pantheon of spirits and deities known as orisha. Under the religious persecution of the European slave traders, the attempted annihilation of the native religions amongst slaves, and forced conversion to Christianity or Catholicism, enslaved Yoruba people substituted the names of Catholic saints for the orisha in order to continue their traditional practices of worship undetected by their oppressors. Over time, a genuine melding of Catholic and Yoruba tradition has led many to embrace Santeria while also identifying as Catholic and practicing baptism. Some no longer recognize a difference between the Catholic saints and the orisha, while others continue to hold separate ceremonies in honor of either orishas or saints.
Due to the heavy emphasis on worship of the saints, and the perception of traditional Catholics that such an emphasis deterred from the worship of the Christian god, the name “Santeria,” was originally coined by the Spanish as a derogatory term for the new religion. Santeria is also called “La Regla de Lukumi,” or Lukumi’s Rule, as well as “The Way of the Saints.” In modern times, people are no longer forced to hide indigenous traditions behind a veil of Catholicism, and Santeria as we know it is practiced in many countries, especially in Latin America and the Carribean. The Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, became the first Santeria church incorporated in the United States in 2007.