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Suburban Santeria priest appealing animal slaughter ban
AP, via the Houston Chronicle, USA, Apr. 8, 2008“The First Amendment was written to protect the ability of all faiths to worship in their own homes and in their own way,” Kevin “Seamus” Hasson, founder and president of the Becket Fund, a Washington-based civil rights law firm, said in a news release. “People of all faiths should be concerned when the government says someone cannot practice their religion in their own home.”
Venezuelans increasingly turn to Santeria for spiritual needs, published: Saturday | February 9, 2008
File
A pilgrim drags himself on the floor while trying to
reach th of St Lazarus on St Lazarus' Day or Babalu Aye in Cuba's
Santeria religion, in Rincon, near Havana. Hundreds of followers of
Cuba's Santeria religion celebrate one of their holiest saints while
walking for days hoping to obtain relief from dreadful diseases or to
fulfil promises for granted wishes.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP):
The man says he is possessed by a god. He shouts, his body trembles and he lifts a sacrificed lamb to his lips, drinking its blood from the jugular.This initiation ceremony, seldom witnessed by outsiders, has become increasingly common in Venezuela, as the Afro-Cuban traditions of Santeria and other folk religions gain followers.The rituals have become an attractive option for Venezuelans seeking a unique spiritual path, including healing ceremonies aimed at curing everything from illness to heartache. Some even believe certain gods will offer protection from Venezuela's rampant violent crime.
Santeria sees a bright, hurricane-free future - Miami Herald, Jan. 5, 2008
Santeria priests look into the future of their followers and their environment and forecast an overall optimistic outlook.
We're building a high-rise skyline to rival New York's, but we need to take care of the poor. Think twice about getting that nip and tuck. Make a will so the children don't fight over their inheritance. If you didn't know it already, we have a real-estate mess on our hands. And yes, a black man might be elected president. As for the 2008 hurricane season, don't worry: It will be as tranquilo as 2007. These and other predictions were discerned by Manolo Erice, a leading Miami babalawo (Santeria priest), from La Letra del Año 2008, an annual forecast formulated by babalawos and initiates who gathered at a West Miami home on New Year's Eve to consult the oracles of the Lukumí religion, popularly known as Santeria. Letras (letters) are issued at the beginning of each year in Cuba, birthplace of the faith, and in cities with large Santeria communities, Miami's being the most important outside the island. The religion is a slave-era derivation of the faith of the Yoruba people of modern-day Nigeria.
Rituals and customs - BBC News
Dancer in Havana ©Santeria rituals allow human beings to stay in contact with the Orishas - these rituals include dancing, drumming, speaking and eating with the spirits. Santeria has few buildings devoted to the faith. Rituals often take place in halls rented for the purpose, or privately in Santeria homes which are may be fitted with altars for ritual purposes. During appropriate rituals the Orishas are able to meet believers at these sacred spaces.
Material for use in Santeria rituals can be bought in specialist outlets called botánicas.
These rituals can include Roman Catholic elements:
Lydia Cabrera notes that, in Santería, one ritual against evil eye combines a specially prepared herbal bath with three Our Fathers, Three Credos, and Three Ave Marias.Hector Avalos, Introduction to the U.S. Latina and Latino Religious Experience, 2004
Bembé - One major ritual is a bembé. This ceremony invites the Orisha to join the community in drumming, singing and dancing. The Orisha may 'seize the head' of a person (or 'mount them' as if they were a horse), and cause that possessed person to perform 'spectacular dances', and to pass on various messages from the Orisha to community members.
Santeria Priests mum on Castro, warn on Climate - ABC News Jan. 3, 2008
HAVANA (Reuters) - Priests offering New Year's prophecies from Cuba's Afro-Cuban religion on Wednesday gave few hints on the future of convalescing leader Fidel Castro and instead warned about dangerous climate change and epidemics. Many Cubans eagerly await annual predictions from the Santeria religion, which is practiced by 3 million people in Cuba and uses animal sacrifices to contact Yoruba deities originally worshiped by slaves brought from Africa.
Vodou Child - A vodou ceremony in the burbs? What do you think? - Miami New Times, Sept. 2007
For Haitians vodou is not just the stuff of dolls with pins stuck in the eyes or zombies wandering in a forest. The centuries-old religion has permeated Haiti for generations — it was carried by slaves from West Africa to the Caribbean beginning in the 1700s. On the island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, those transplanted Africans mingled with the Taino Indians, who were also persecuted by European occupiers. Vodou evolved from the three cultures. French laws prohibited its worship, so slaves pretended to take on Christian beliefs. As a result, many spirits, called loa in Kreyol, were assigned Catholic saints as their counterparts — which is why statues of the robed, pious-looking Europeans are sold in botanicas around the world. Vodou practitioners worship a creator and the spirits; the faith's emphasis is placed on achieving harmony with nature, community, and family.
Vodou played a huge role in Haiti's liberation from France. In 1751 a houngan named François Mackandal organized other slaves to violently raid sugar and coffee plantations. The French burned him at the stake. Another former slave and vodou practitioner — Toussaint L'Ouverture, who helped win Haiti's independence in 1801 — replaced him at the liberation movement's helm.
Santeria lures tourist cash to Cuba - Reuters May 2007
HAVANA (Reuters) - After a few minutes tossing a string of flat
beads and chanting, Rogelio Castellano decides his tourist client is
emotionally scarred by an old conflict. Only a $500 ritual sacrifice will put it right. He's insistent. Even after he halves the fee, it's more money than he could make in a year on a Cuban state salary. A babalawo, or priest, of Cuba's ritual-filled Santeria religion...
Vodou in New Orleans - BellaOnline 2007
The other name of Africa's West Coast is the Slave Coast. The slave trade had such a devastating effect on the African people from this area. Despite all their hardships, the Africans of the West Coast who arrived in New Orleans and Haiti were able to hang onto their ancient beliefs and pass them onto their descendants. Vodou is a Fon word from western Africa that is interpreted as "Spirit".
An unusual thing about the slave population in New Orleans was that the Africans who landed there belonged to the same groups in their homeland. Usually, African people were split apart based on language. This splintering of groups was done because it was believed to be a protection against slave revolts. The shared knowledge base among the Africans in New Orleans contributed greatly to the survival of African religious beliefs there. In its evolution, New Orleans' Vodou absorbed Native American knowledge and elements of Catholicism. In fact, it was through the re-interpretation and absorption of Catholic elements that allowed Vodou to survive through the 1800s until now.
Vodou is an ecstatic religion that now has important U. S. centers in New Orleans, Chicago and New York. As an ecstatic religion, Vodou involves matters of possession and of shamanism. Some other elements of this religion include ritual, prayer, offerings, sacrifice, healing, devotion to ancestors and other entities, dance, music and possession. Despite some negative sides to Vodou that involves magic, Vodou is mostly seen as a healing and beneficial religion. The Vodou religion involves the community.
The Spirits Move Them - Philadelphia City Paper.net - 2007
Just about every Sunday, an ecstatic group of parishioners gathers to commune with Creole spirits called "loa." As they chant songs and even sacrifice animals within the sanctuary, Dowell and O'Connor, both mambos, can become possessed by a pantheon of deities. Not only do the possessed — who often make jerking motions — walk and talk in the manner of each effigy, but they change costumes and take on well-known characteristics embodying the male and female characters of this ancient religion. The first to be channeled, Papa Ogu, is known for smoking fat cigars and flirting with the women. It's a far cry from the comparatively staid services at nearby Catholic and Baptist churches. Despite conflicting myths about Voodoo, these mambos and their eager followers are not alone when it comes to practicing the native West African tradition. It's estimated more than 25,000 people in Philadelphia openly practice some form of Haitian Voodoo or Cuban-based Santeria, with possibly 5 million practitioners throughout the U.S., says George Ware, president of the National African Religion Congress (NARC), an advocacy organization headquartered in Philadelphia.
Haiti's Voodoo practitioners gather for yearly pilgrimage - The Associated Press - April 9, 2007
SOUVENANCE, Haiti: Every year in early April, scores of Voodoo followers flock to a dusty village and surrender themselves to the spirits in a pilgrimage marked by drumming, chanting and animal sacrifices. Wrapped in white satin scarves, hundreds of pilgrims from across Haiti made the journey this year to Souvenance, 90 miles (140 kilometers) north of Port-au-Prince, for a five-day cycle of ceremonies that culminated Sunday.
Cuban slaves spawned Santeria - The Boston Globe
The act of praying was adopted from Catholicism but the saints are fronts for Santeria orishas, or gods. For example, Chango, the god of fire and lightning, is synonymous with Santa Barbara. Saint Lazarus, the saint of good health, is akin to Babalu Aye, the god of health and ailments. The religion began to spread in the United States as Cuban exiles moved here. It has a considerable following in areas that have particularly large Hispanic and African populations such as South Florida and New York.
Associated Press - Cuban Santeria Priest foresee better economy but more health problems in 2007
HAVANA: Top priests of Cuba's African-influenced Santeria religion issued their yearly forecast on Tuesday, predicting that the island will enjoy a better economy but suffer more health problems in 2007. Betancourt's group also said the Santeria orishas, or gods, ruling 2007 will be Ochosi, god of hunters, and associated in the Roman Catholic faith with St. Norbert or St. Sebastian, and Oya, goddess of winds. "This is a very good year for conquering adversaries," Betancourt said.
Law hinders rituals, Santeria leader says - Dallas Morning News
EULESS, Texas - The room was set up with benches and shrines; herbs, dried coconuts and eggshell chalk laid out on a table. With the preparations done, 10 church members sat by the pool behind the redbrick home on the cul-de-sac and drank beer. The next day, they would sacrifice a chicken to initiate a member, using the energy in its blood to communicate with the spirits, called orishas. The officers told the priest, Jose Merced, that killing animals is illegal within the city limits. Merced tried unsuccessfully to explain that animal sacrifice is as essential to his religion, Santeria, as the Eucharist is to Catholicism.
Suit over animal sacrifice ban highlights growing religious clashes in a more diverse U.S. - Associated Press
EULESS, Texas: On many Sunday mornings Jose Merced watches police officers directing traffic into and from overflowing church parking lots and realizes his own religion doesn't evoke the same friendly treatment. When police came to his home on a quiet cul-de-sac in this Fort Worth suburb last summer, it was to demand that Merced — an Oba, or priest of the Santeria faith — call off a religious ceremony planned for the next day.
"This is Mother Nature's Religion" - Once secretive Santeria faith brings its healing message into the open - The Boston Globe
Before she plants herself on the floor, Sanchez adds two tall thin white candles and a coconut to the shrine, a collage of colorful cloths each representing one of the 23 orishas, or gods in the Santeria religion. Others have brought similar gifts, which include pineapples, apples, and muffins. There are enough presents here to transform this living room into a mini-garden of gifts, all of them designed to pay tribute to the patron saints. Sanchez then symbolically rings a bell for Obatala, Quintana's guardianorisha whose favorite color is white, according to Santeria religion guidelines. It's a ritual that outsiders rarely see and insiders seldom discuss.
B.U. Bridge - Boston University Community's Weekly Newspaper
Urban Voodoo - The Stranger - Seattle's Only Newspaper
Nestled in the quiet suburban comfort of Lake City lies a modest little house on a modest little street, a simple two-story construction that would never draw a second glance. But within its walls, fantastic happenings abound: Ancient African gods are conjured and consulted, mysterious rituals performed, and magic attempted. The home is owned by Cameron and Jill Howard, your average, run-of-the-mill suburbanite married folk who just happen to be your average, run-of-the-mill Voodoo priests. Actually, what the Howards practice is called Santeria, a religion comparable but not identical to Haitian Voodoo. Santeria is a secret religion of ancient gods, throbbing drums, spirit possession, and ritual sacrifice. Santeria and Voodoo are in fact sister religions, both ripped from Africa's west coast by the slave trade and carried to the Caribbean (primarily Cuba and Haiti) in the hearts and minds of slaves.
Florida Flyins
FlyIns professor John Kaplan has photographed across the globe. In Cuba, he took this portrait of "Egun," who represents a spirit in the Santeria church.
CarribeanNetNews
Cuban santeria finds more faithful from afar
USAToday (Multiculturalism - Courts asked to consider culture.)
Santeria priest thought it was a good thing when fellow members of the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye began to leave the bodies of sacrificed chickens near the trees and bushes of
Olga de Alaketu, priestess of Candomble temple: at 80 - Associated Press 2005
Ms. Alaketu's terreiro was frequented by prominent figures, including Brazilian writer Jorge Amado and French anthropologist Pierre Verger. Earlier this year, the terreiro was declared a national heritage site by Brazil's Culture Ministry. Candomble is an animist religion brought over with the African slaves, mostly from Nigeria and Benin. Followers incorporate spirits in ceremonies filled with music and dancing that often last throughout the night. The ceremonies can also involve animal sacrifices.
Once-Barred Practice Flourishes in Brazil-African-Influenced Candomble Challenged by Pentecostals, Modern Interpretations - Associated Press 2005
BELFORD ROXO, Brazil -- Beyond the storefront
churches and sidewalk bars on Rio's gritty north side, where the
asphalt ends and dirt roads begin, Brazil gives way to Africa. The sound of atabaques, or African drums,
rises in the night air from a squat brick house, and a full-throated
tenor sings incantations in the ancient Yoruba tongue of Nigeria. Inside, slightly
bored children play quietly while women in swirling skirts dance in a
circle, chanting to invoke the Orixas -- the gods worshiped by their
African ancestors. This is Candomble, a religion once banned in Brazil,
now emerging into public acceptance while overcoming fierce and even
violent competition.
The Miami Herald
There were the abakuá, an elite male society evolved from the Calabar region of West Africa, the palo monte who hailed from Central Africa’s Congo, and the practitioners of santería, the popular religion mixed with Catholicism that evolved in times of slavery among the lukumí, the Nigerian Yoruba.
The Miami Herald
A high priest of the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé has gathered a small following in South Florida. He will speak at the Brazilian consulate.
VODOU PRIESTESS CALLED TO HEAL - Palm Beach Post - November 14, 2004
At the entrance to St. Jacques Botanica in Boynton Beach is an altar to Iwa, the spirits of Haitian Vodou.Vivi Jean Pierre communicates with them to heal the sick and unlucky, including those afflicted with HIV. "They don't really have AIDS," says Jean Pierre, a Vodou mambo, or priestess. "Sometimes, somebody who might be jealous of them put a zombie on them. The zombie goes in their body, and it changes the person's system. It eats at them and turns the blood to make it look like they have it." For people who are truly HIV positive, Jean Pierre says Vodou can help. "It won't cure them, but it could maybe help them live 10 or 15 years more," she says. "When they go back to the doctor, they see they don't have it anymore."
World: Africa worshipping the goddess of fertility - BBC News/Africa, August 29, 1998
The Oshun festival has become the central pillar of the traditional religion of one of Nigeria's main ethnic groups, the Yoruba. The week long ceremony is a celebration of the Orisha religion which is as old as Africa itself.
During the climax of the festival, men and boys beat off the evil spirits which followers of Orisha believe are everywhere.
![[ image: Festival has grown massively in recent years]](http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/160000/images/_160725_drummer_150_grab.jpg)
Festival has grown massively in recent years
THE DEAD VOODOO QUEEN - The New York Times - June 23, 1881
MARIE LAVEAU'S PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF NEW ORLEANS The early life of the beautiful young Creole - the prominent men who sought her advice and society - her charitable work - how she became an object of mystery.New-Orleans, Jun 21 - Marie Laveau, the "Queen of the Voudous" died last Wednesday at the advanced age of 98 years. To the superstitious Creoles Marie appeared as a dealer in the black arts and a person to be dreaded and avoided. Strange stories were told of the rites performed by the sect of which Marie was the acknowledged sovereign.
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This site is specifically for African Americans to share their experiences in Africa. The moderator created this site so that you can share your story so that others may be inspired to experience what some may consider a lost heritage. In this way, you can pay homage to the ancestors by bringing others home through your words and photos.
Ancestors! In Vodou and Elsewhere - The Basics of the Vodou by Houngan Hector
At the base of every Afro-Carribean tradition is the propriation of
one's ancestors. In Lukumi/Santeria, they are known as eggun. In
Espiritismo (Hispanic Spiritism), they are known as los muertos, and in
Haitian Vodou, they are called zansyet yo. Even most Hispanic Catholics
that I know revere their ancestors with a glass of water and a candle.
Thus giving their ancestral spirits luz (light: to guide their way),
progresso (progress;advancement), and refresco (refreshment). The
ancestors are so fundamental, so basic to the individual, that one's
first service in any of these traditions should be to them. They are
essential in your well-being and development.