Santería

Santería, Afro-Caribbean religion similar to Vodun, rooted in the Yoruba culture of West Africa and having a large following in the United States. Santería emerged in the 19th century among Yoruba who were transported to Cuba as slaves but maintained their traditional culture. The Spanish word santos (saints) was applied to the Yoruba orishas, or spirits, and that usage gave rise to the Cuban term for the Yoruba religion, Santería (Way of the Saints). Santería is fundamentally an African religion, but it shows the influence of its development in the largely Roman Catholic culture of Cuba.

Although Santería recognizes a supreme God, called Olodumare, human interaction with the divine typically focuses on the many orishas. An individual believer generally develops a special relationship with a particular orisha, and during worship the orisha may possess the body of the believer. Religious ceremonies are usually lengthy and elaborate, and the more important ceremonies involve a feast for both orishas and believers. The fact that animals are ritually slaughtered for the feast has led to heated public controversy in some areas. The city of Hialeah, Florida, reacted to this practice by banning animal sacrifice in 1987. However, in 1993 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the ban represented an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of religion.

During the mid-1990s, traditional practitioners of Santería experienced pressure to adapt their religious practices to life among the diverse cultures and belief systems in the United States. As the popularity of the religion spread beyond its base in the Cuban American population, impostors surfaced who charged high fees to conduct worship services for which they did not have the proper traditional background. This problem appears to have led to the publication of what were traditionally oral ceremonial texts and to the certification of Santería priests and priestesses. In addition, complicated rules and practices have been simplified in some Santería houses, as local organizations are called.