Santería

Santería (literally, Way of the Saints - preferred terms among practitioners include Lukumí and Regla de Ocha) is a set of related religious systems that fuse Catholic beliefs with traditional Yoruba religion, practiced by black slaves and their descendants in Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama and Hispanic population centers in the United States such as Florida, New York, and California. "Santería" was originally a derisive term applied by the Spanish to mock followers' seeming overdevotion to the saints and neglect of God. The slaves' Christian masters did not allow them to practice their various west African animistic religions. The slaves found a way around this by concluding that the Christian saints were simply different manifestations of their various gods. The masters thought that their slaves had become good Christians and were praising the saints, when in actuality they were continuing their traditional practices.

Santería ritual is highly secretive and primarily transmitted orally. Known practices include animal sacrifice, ecstatic dance, and sung invocations to the spirits. Chickens are the most popular form of sacrifice; their blood is offered to the orisha, or lesser guardian deities, who correspond to Christian saints. Drum music and dancing are used to induce a trance state in participants, who may become possessed by an orisha and speak with the orisha's voice. One's ancestors are held in high esteem in Santería. God is referred to as Olorun, or the "owner of heaven" and Olodumare.

Many animal rights activists take issue with the Santería practice of animal sacrifice, claiming that it is cruel. Followers of Santería point out that the killings are conducted in the same manner as many food animals are slaughtered and are not needlessly sadistic. Additionally, the animal is cooked and eaten afterwards. (The similarities between Santería and other forms of slaughter for food are of no comfort to animal rights activists who are vegetarian.) In 1993, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah that animal cruelty laws targeted specifically at Santería were unconstitutional, and the practice has seen no significant legal challenges since then.

See also:

• Yorùbá mythology

External link

• Full text of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah

---

Santeria is also the name of a reggae-ska fusion band from Munich, Germany

Santeria is also the name of a song by the ska band Sublime.