Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [205]
•Santeria
Also called Le Regia Lucumi or the Rule of Osha, Santeria originated in Cuba as a combination of West African Yoruba religion and Catholicism. There, as in Haiti and elsewhere, slaves were forced to follow Roman Catholic practices, which contradicted their native beliefs. But finding parallels between their own religion and Catholicism, and in order to please their slave masters while disguising the worship of their own gods, they, too, created a secret religion. Santeria uses Catholic saints and personalities as “fronts” for the traditional African god and his spiritual emissaries, the orishas of the original Yoruba religion. Santeria spread quickly among these West African slaves, and even when the slave trade was abolished, Santeria flourished, its African-based religious traditions continuing to evolve and fuse with Christian ideas, native Cuban traditions, and, later, Enlightenment ideas brought from France.
Santeria has no sacred texts, and has been passed on orally to initiates for hundreds of years. Today it continues in small numbers in many countries, including the United States, where it is still practiced—in New York and Florida, in particular.
Like voodoo, much of Santeria corresponds to Yoruban religious traditions and mythical stories. The supreme god is Olodumare (or Olorun), who is the source of all energy in the universe, and is equated with Christianity’s Jesus Christ. Olorun’s emissaries, the orishas, are equated with specific Roman Catholic saints. Just as Legba is the messenger god in Africa, Legba (or Elegba) of Santeria acts as the intermediary between humans and the orishas. He is equated with the Catholic St. Anthony; nothing can be done without his intercession. Shango, who rules thunder and lightning, is called Chango in Santeria and is linked with Catholicism’s St. Barbara. Demoted from the litany of saints in a 1969 reform of Roman Catholic liturgy that downgraded her along with many other notable martyrs, Barbara was said to have been beheaded by her own father for her Christian faith. When her father was killed by lightning, Barbara became associated with the force of lightning and with death that falls from the sky. That provides the connection to Chango, who is also a god of thunder, lightning, and martial power.
For five hundred years, the traditions of Santeria—including a set of Eleven Commandments, roughly equivalent to the biblical Ten Commandments, with the addition of a prohibition against cannibalism—have been maintained by its followers. These traditions include a belief in magical spells and trance possessions, which both play an integral part in Santeria. The trance possession occurs at shamanistic drumming parties, during which dancers try to attain a sacred state of consciousness and ecstasy.
While Santeria and voodoo share West African mythical and religious roots, there are differences between them as they now exist. Principally, the Santerians believe that Catholic saints and orishas are the same spirits, while voodoo believes that the two groups are distinct, and reveres both.
Finally, both religions have attracted attention because of animal sacrifice, which is probably the most controversial and publicized aspect of Santeria. The sacrificial animal, according to Santeria tradition, must be killed quickly and painlessly, and the meat eaten by participants in the service. In the early 1990s, the city of Hialeah, Florida, attempted to halt such practices, but a local branch of the Santeria church sued and—with the support of mainstream churches and Jewish organizations—won their case in the U.S. Supreme Court. In deciding the case of Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah in June 1993, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “Though the practice of animal sacrifice may seem abhorrent to some, religious belief need not be acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection.”
CHAPTER NINE
SACRED HOOPS
The Myths