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ON THE SYNCRETISM OF AFRICAN RELIGIONS IN CUBA
WORSHIP OF AFRICAN ORIGIN
Differently known as worships of African origin or Afro Cuban religions mainly show up in Cuba, Santeria o Regla de Ocha or Yoruba religion , Regla Conga o Palo Monte , Regla Arara and the secret society of Abakua.
From Yoruba, an original ethnic of Nigeria , Santeria o Regla de Ocha was formed , characterized by the worship to orishas ( saints). In their very origins they idealized the forces of nature, such as the creation of rivers, or thunder anger or wind just to quote two examples, which got to identify with deities that were warriors or healed illnesses and they were represented as humanized deities.
As African people were getting acquainted with Catholic churches, slaves found resemblance with their orishas, but they were forced to disguise them in order to pay tribute to their gods.
This caused syncretism with the Catholic religion that can be appreciated in each orisha –catholic saint. Such identity started to be commonly called “ the saint” so the worship is known as Santeria and its practitioners “santeros or santeras”
The highest hierarchy is ruled by Babalaos (priests) besides existing other active believers as the babalochas, iyalochas and orihates. Specialists consider the worship of African origin more complex that the one existing in the country and which is kept in a bigger number of original elements.
The Yorubas had the concept of a creator, which eased the way to compare it with the God of Catholics, this god is usually called Olofi.
From Congo to Zaire and Angola, slaves were brought from population known as Bantu, language, whose beliefs gave origin to Regla Conga or Palo Monte, inspired in the forces of nature and that states how the super natural lies on nature in the wilds. It is the religion of the so called paleros and uses Catholic altars and rituals such as baptism , blessed water and masses. At the same time it is full of magic.
From these beliefs we can find different branches in the country, such as : Mayombe, Briyumba and Kimbisa.
The so called Regla Arara, that in the Nineteenth Century had a great force in Cuba, and that goes back to the Dahomey region, present republic of Benin, is still remaining in the Western region of the island.
One of the gods of Arara origin most beloved is Babalu Aye , also recognized as Yoruba and also honored by this worship’s followers. It is a syncretic orisha with San Lazaro , the man with ulcers in the skin and that suffered leprous , he used two crutches and two dogs, in a narration of the parabola of the Saint Lucas Evangelic, named “The Rich Epulon
MORE ON SYNCRETISM OF AFRICAN CUBAN RELIGION, AS WELL AS IT BEING...
Lucumi:The Yoruba in Cuba
Cuba, in particular, still has a phenomenal amount of sacred Yoruba music and dance. In the time of slavery, owners purposely broke up the families of slaves and mixed together people from the different African ethnic groups as a way of maintaining control. However, in early 18th century Cuba the Spanish Catholic Church created mutual aid societies, called cabildos, as a medium of entertainment and reconstruction of many aspects of their ethnic heritage. There came to be Yoruba cabildos, Congo (Bantu) cabildos and Arara (Fon) cabildos in Cuba.
Yoruba religious ceremonies were practiced and preserved in the cabildos of Cuba as the slaves seemingly synchronized their masters' pantheon of Catholic saints with their own pantheon of orisha. Thus, the orisha covertly lived on in Cuba hiding behind a facade of Catholicism. In truth, these traditions did not exactly synchronize with Catholicism, but rather Catholicism was used as a camouflage behind which Yoruba religious practices took root and flourished. While the white slave owners observed the Africans celebrating a saint on his/her particular day, they were usually unaware that it was actually the orisha who was being worshiped.
Today, the terms saint and orisha are used interchangeably in Cuba. The correlation of the Yoruba orisha with the Catholic saints is part of the island's common culture. For example, Santa Barbara is understood to be the Yoruba orisha Changó, the god of thunder. San Lázaro is synonymous with Babalú Ayé, the orisha of infectious diseases. Consequently, the Yoruba religion in Cuba is often referred to as Santería, or the cult of the saints.
Another common name for this religion is Lucumi, a Yoruba word meaning friends. Lucumi is also the name given to descendants of Yoruba slaves in Cuba, as well as their music, dance and their Cubanized dialect of the Yoruba language.
Yoruban and Christian rites are easily mixed together by Cubans. After all, the genetic and cultural mixing of African and European ethnic groups has been occurring there for centuries. However, little European influence can be found in the dance and music of the Lucumi ceremonies. Also, the Nigerian systems of divination, such as Ifá, remain intact in Cuba.
Wherever African Latin Americans are in this hemisphere, you will find it's all the same, with the African culture predominating and being DENIED as the the cultural matrix of that country... That is why you cannot present the CIA factbook as FACTS... The so-called catholic(White) Latin Americans do not like their nations being seen as culturally African by outsiders... The Merengue and the Tango are all of African origin, and were derived from African traditional religious steps... The same with the Samba, which IS Brazil's national music... I will present some stuff on Brazil next...
Peace!
Isaiah