History of Santería
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Santería is an Afro-Cuban religion that arose in the 19th century.
After the Spanish Empire conquered Cuba, the island's indigenous Taino and Ciboney saw their populations dramatically decline.[1] The Spanish colonialists established sugar, tobacco, and coffee plantations on Cuba and turned to the purchase of slaves sold at West African ports as a new source of labor for these plantations.[2] Slavery was then active in Spain,[3] and was also widespread in West Africa, where those captured in war or deemed guilty of severe crimes were commonly condemned to enslavement.[4] Enslaved Africans first arrived on Cuba in 1511.[5] Once there, they were divided into groups termed naciones (nations), often based on their West African port of embarkation rather than their own ethno-cultural background;[6] those who were Yoruba speakers, as well as Arara and Ibo people, were commonly identified as the "Lucumí nation".[7] The United Kingdom had abolished slavery in the early 19th century and from the 1820s began patrolling the West African coast to prevent further shipments of slaves to the Americas. The trade nevertheless continued clandestinely, with Cuba continuing to receive new slaves until at least 1860.[5] Full emancipation occurred on Cuba in 1886.[8]
Between 702,000 and 1 million enslaved Africans were brought to Cuba.[9] The majority arrived in the 19th century,[10] in the wake of the late 18th century sugar boom.[11] Most came from a stretch of Western Africa between the modern nation-states of Guinea and Angola.[12] The great plurality were Yoruba, from the area encompassed by the modern states of Nigeria and Benin;[13] the Yoruba had a shared language and culture but were divided among different states.[14] Most adhered to a complex system of belief and ritual, now known as Yoruba traditional religion, that had developed among the Yoruba city-states.[15] Much orisha worship was rooted in localised tradition, however certain orisha were worshipped widely, due in part to the extent and influence of the Yoruba-led Oyo Empire.[16] Enslaved West Africans brought their traditional religion with them to Cuba;[17] some were from the priestly class and possessed knowledge of traditions such as Ifá.[15]
In Cuba, these traditions adapted to the new social conditions of the enslaved population.[17] While hundreds of orisha were worshipped across West Africa, fewer than twenty came to play a prominent role in Santería; this may be because many orisha were rooted in kin-based cults and thus were lost when traditional kinship networks and families were destroyed through enslavement.[18] Oricha associated with the protection of agriculture also ceased to remain part of practices in Cuba, probably because enslaved Afro-Cubans had little reason to protect the harvests owned by the slave-owners.[19] Many of the myths associated with the oricha were transformed in Cuba, creating kinship relationships between different oricha which were not present in traditional West African mythologies.[20] Over time, the imported traditional African religions transformed into Santería,[17] a Cuban tradition that was evident by the end of the 19th century.[21]
In Spanish Cuba, Roman Catholicism was the only religion that could be practiced legally.[22] The Roman Catholic Church in Cuba made efforts to convert the enslaved Africans, but the instruction in Roman Catholicism provided to the latter was typically perfunctory and sporadic.[6] Many Spanish slave-owners were uninterested in having their slaves receive Christian instruction, concerned that allowing the slaves to observe religious holidays or Sunday services would be detrimental to productivity.[6] Most Roman Catholic priests were located in urban areas, away from the majority of the enslaved population who worked on rural plantations.[6]
In Cuba, traditional African religions continued to be practiced within clubs and fraternal organizations made up of African migrants and their descendants.[23] The most important of these were the cabildos de nación, associations modelled on Europe's cofradias which were sponsored by the Church and which the establishment regarded as a means of controlling the Afro-Cuban population.[24] These operated as mutual aid societies and organised communal feasts, dances, and carnivals.[23] Cuba's Roman Catholic Church saw these groups as a method for gradual evangelisation, through which they tolerated the practice of some African customs while stamping out those they most fiercely objected to.[25] It was within the cabildos that syncretism between Roman Catholicism and African traditional religions took place,[26] and where Santería probably first developed.[27] Members identified traditional African deities with Roman Catholic figures such as Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints, believing that these entities would assist people in their daily lives in return for offerings.[26]
From 1790, Cuba's government increased restrictions on the cabildos.[26] However, during the nineteenth century, their functions and membership expanded.[28] In 1882 a new regulation was passed requiring each cabildo to obtain a new license to operate each year, and in 1884 they were prohibited from practicing on Christmas Eve or January 6.[26] In 1888, the law forbade "old style" cabildos, after which many of these groups went underground, becoming some of the early casas de santo.[26] Over time, various individuals of non-African descent also converted to Santería.[29] Formally, these individuals were considered Roman Catholics, but their involvement in Roman Catholicism rarely extended beyond an initial baptism.[30]
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