On November 28th I went to the Waterman building And listened to Doctor Paul C Johnson speak on Candomble and the material incorporation of spirit possession. He is a professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in the Department of History and Department of Afroamerican and African studies. He also has written about the African Diaspora and the many religions that make it up. He isn’t a practitioner of any of the religions he studies so gives an outsider’s perspective on the religions he studies.

In his lecture Doctor Johnson spoke about the origins of Candomble and the African Diaspora as a whole. He said that Numerically speaking, Brazil is the Capital of the African Diaspora in the Americas because more enslaved people were brought there than to any other colony nation during the slave trade era. The influence that Portugal had on the culture of Brazil through colonization is shown by the Catholic church’s influence and importance. Slaves were allowed to attend church on Sunday and as a result the enslaved people were able to practice modified versions of the religions of Africa. Despite these practices being banned in public until the 1970s the religion’s popularity in Brazil grew and still is growing. Most members of modern Candomble don’t consider it a religion and are baptized practicing Catholics. The Religion’s focus on material work through usage of altars, special items, animal sacrifice, and alcohol all highlight the difference between a Catholic mass and almost any ritual the Candomble does. However, the deities of Africa and the saints of Catholicism are interwoven. With many houses of Candomble each having a saint represent them that is tied to a deity from africa including Yemaya and Obatala. The religion also has another sect called Spiritism which is very similar including the ritual aspect of animal sacrifice but is considered more closely related to Christianity and has even been compared to Pentecostalism. Practitioners of SPiritism typically dress in all white and claim that they don’t practice witchcraft which makes them different from Candomble. Practitioners of Candomble often associate the deity Esu, the god of the crossroad and often considered a shady figure across the diaspora, with the devil due to his nature and his usage in Candomble rituals that aren’t always used for moral purposes. Candomble also differs from Spiritism due to its lack of the concept of good and evil. Practitioners of Spiritism may often call Candomble Witchcraft or work of the devil due to its lack of  good and evil and the slightly more dark depiction of Esu.

Doctor Johnson spoke about the way in which to convey information to the public in a way that is understood and how the way practitioners can sometimes make it difficult to understand a concept because each religion has its own logic, terms, and rules. The way in which the religions logic and terms are conveyed across cultural barriers often is a challenge that scholars of religion often face. This was an interesting concept to explore and made me think about ideas and rituals in other religions that I am familiar with that would make no sense to those watching the ritual if they weren’t in the religion. Take for example the practice of Communion, some questions I would have if I didn’t speak the language that the ceremony would be why do some people drink from the cup and eat the circle but others don’t? Why do some still go up but not drink or eat? Why do some have their arms crossed? Does it represent something?. All of these things would make no sense to me unless I understood the holy book and knew the story of the Last Supper.

Doctor Paul C. Johnson highlights the many different ways that cultures and religions mix and change over time in his book Syncretism and Hybridization and what the different ways that they mix are. Johnson’s definition of syncretism “syncretism was used in an expanded sense as a comparative adjective applied to religions”(Johnson 760). Candomble and Spiritism shows many examples of syncretism due to the religions being born out of the Catholic Church. The Catholic influences are seen with saints and deities being interwoven. That concept is also shown in Santeria due to the Catholic Church being an institution of power and importance in the Spanish empire just like the Catholic church was a powerful institution in the Portuguese government. The importance of cowrie shells in divination rituals is very similar to those found in Nigerian Yoruba practices which shows the Syncretic nature of the Diasporic religions Candomble and Spiritism.

Johnson, Paul C., Michael Stausberg, and Steven Engler. The Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion. First ed., New York, Oxford University Press, 2016.

The object is a Drink tray depicting the Goddess Yemaya. The tray is used to carry drinks and is sold to the public in mass. The public can purchase the tray however many don’t have any context as to who is on the tray or who designed the tray. The meaning of the tray to a practitioner of Regla de Ocha, Yoruba, Voodoo, or Candomble is completely different from the meaning to the average person in the United States as the average  person has no idea who Yemaya is or what any of those religions beliefs are. The Drink Tray Depicting the Goddess Yemaya is an item that isn’t used in rituals but still has a very large amount of value and importance. This importance isn’t just for practitioners of Regla de Ocha or other diasporic religious practitioners but also for the way in which non practitioners view the religion. The people who created the tray impacted the United States with a supreme court decision. That decision matters going forward not only legally but also in the way in which the religion is viewed by the public. Did the change in the law change the way in which the religion is viewed by the public of the United States of America and the way other diasporic religions are viewed?

The object was created by Ernesto Pichardo. Ernesto Pichardo is the head priest of the Lukumi Babalu Aye in Hialeah, Florida. The church practices a more “re-Africanized” version of the Cuban diasporic religion, Santeria also known by the name Regla de Ocha. Santeria in Cuba and in most sects in the United States is practiced in a home instead of a dedicated place of worship. Ernesto Pichardo’s “re-Africanized” sect of Regla de Ocha made a physical church instead of keeping worship in the household in an effort to more publicly practice Santeria. The “re-Africanization” of Santeria shows the “reversed diaspora” because it has made the rituals even more similar to the ones found in Yoruban rituals and less blended or hybrid compared to other diasporic religious practices. Paul Christopher Johnson wrote about the way in which diasporic religions all relate to a “memory” of the motherland and this concept of “re-Africanization” is just an extension of this concept and attempts to bring this memory to reality. In 1987 the city of Hialeah, Florida passed a law banning animal sacrifice in the city however made no restrictions on Halal or Kosher butchery. Animal sacrifice is an immensely important feature to the religion. The law was taken to court and eventually it was raised to the supreme court. In 1993 a decision was made the law was overruled in favor of plaintiff Ernesto Pichardo. The decision that the law was unconstitutional was made on the grounds that the law undermined First Amendment guarantees of free practice of religion.

The importance of the ruling is that it did two things, it legitimized Regla De Ocha and it set a precedent for future supreme court cases. The ruling has set in place a clear ruling by the highest court in the land that the right to animal sacrifice is protected under the first amendment. This ruling means a lot not only for just the religion of Regla De Ocha but most other diasporic religions and many other major religions including some sects of Christianity, some sects of Judaism, multiple events call of it in Islam, and it is present in Hinduism as well including many other less known religions where animal sacrifice is important.

The court case legitimized Regla de Ocha as a religion in the United States and showed the public that the people who practice it exist and aren’t some boogeymen practicing dark malicious “magic.” The Supreme Court case gave the religion a very large reason to be mentioned in the news in an accurate and honest manner for the first time when compared to the way Voodoo and other diasporic religions have been portrayed in the media. The way that diasporic religions are being displayed to the public in the correct and accurate way is completely different from the way that they all were put into the same group and viewed the same as a bad “black magic” religion that would do horrible things. The movie White Zombie released in 1932 certainly shows a difference from today with there being so much information available about every diasporic religion and what practitioners actually believe.

However, has the public’s opinion changed? The average citizen of the United State of America has no idea about what Diasporic religions are, what they believe, or where they are from. This is because most American public school systems don’t teach very much about African history. Most high schools teach a few variations of world history, a few variations of American history, and at least one course on European history, however what about other cultures and their history?

The item is used to keep drinks on. The tray is used by practitioners and non practitioners alike due to the tray being an object that is mass produced for utility in daily life. The object isn’t involved in any ritual except for as a potential gift for someone who is practitioner or not. In Regla de Ocha the practice of gift giving is very important. The importance of your birthday is very related to the tradition of gift giving in Santeria. This tray is a great gift for a person’s birthday if they practice Santeria or not. The practice of gift giving in Santeria is also often associated with creating the gifts as opposed to just buying them. The act of making things with elder members of the community is a very important almost ritual like practice that is very important with dealing with family traditions for the way altars are built. What colors, what kind of cloth, what kind of beads “What the “right colors” are is a relatively fuzzy category. The right colors are learned practically in the house among elders and godchildren and in the urban consumer market, with the experience of seeing, selecting, and handling beads and cloth.”(Brown 98)

The object was placed in the exhibit on the wall just past the Yemaya Altar that dominates the room next to the Yemaya ritual dress in the glass case. The placement of the object shows that is it supposed to be a visual aid to help better understand what the goddess is supposed to look like and have some context as to what symbols are important to the deity. In the Exhibit the object is displayed different from the way it would be displayed normally which is due to the lack of the tray which the tiles would normally sit in. This is most likely done to better display the object and to focus on the art rather than on the tray as an object.

The drink tray is a mass produced item which even has a copyright symbol on it. This shows that there are likely many other exact copies of the tray and contrasts from the tradition of things being made from scratch in the Yoruba religion which shows a difference in the religions. However, what this practice of mass produced religious iconography is analogous to the many Judeo-Christian symbols being commonly found on things from cups all the way to placemats. What the mass produced item says about the religion itself is it has been influenced by western thinking and American ideas of mass produced goods displaying the way in which diasporic religions change based on factors around it.

The deity on the tray is Yemaya the goddess of the sea. Her name is spelled Yemoja and Yemaya by the different diasporic religions that worship her. She is considered the protector of women and deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. In Cuban Santeria and Brazilian Candomble Yemaya is also the protector of the fishermen and is also commonly associated with the queer community. Yemaya’s ritual foods depends on the diasporic religion. In Santeria Yemaya’s ritual food includes Watermelon, cane syrup, and pork rinds compared to her Brazilian Candomble ritual diet which includes milk, rice, flour, and corn. Yemaya’s colors are blue and white in all of the diasporic religions however her sacred number depends on the religion. In Santeria Yemaya’s sacred number is seven compared to in Yoruba where her special number is nine.

Yemaya is deity who generally looks the same and has most of the same kinds of symbols and colors across the many diasporic religions with each having a slight difference similar to the many other Orisha who are present in most if not all of the diasporic religions. Many of the differences are example of how diasporic religions change in response to new stimuli an example of this is Yemaya being a protector of fishermen in Brazil and Cuba two places where the importance of fishing to the local economy is more important than in Nigeria due to geographical factors.

The object’s colors, symbols on it, and use of numbers on the object all reflect different aspects of the goddess Yemaya. The blue color of Yemaya is shaped in a way to make her appear to be almost a part of the wave which shows her being the goddess of the sea. The use of the seven cowrie shells on each side of the border as a design has Yemaya’s number and also shells which come from the sea. Cowrie shells aren’t only important to Yemaya but also to Yoruban tradition “the images extensively discussed during her public discussion was the image of the cowrie shells, a powerful symbol in Yoruba cosmology.”(Otero, Solimar, and Falola 165) The seven small aquatic animals at the bottom of the border of the drink tray and mirrored orange and white fish in the top corners show even more so in depth that Yemaya is the goddess of the sea. The seven starfish on each side represent Yemaya’s number and her relation to the ocean. The watermelon in the border displays one of Yemaya’s foods that are used often times in ritual. Additionally, the border has 7 fish hooks on each side representing Yemaya’s protection of fishermen. The border also contains other maritime symbols associated with Yemaya including ropes, anchors, and a ship’s wheel.

The goddess Yemaya’s colors blue and white are all over the object. The color blue represents the ocean as she is the goddess of the ocean. The color white is the color of cowrie shells which are very a important symbol for Yemaya and come from the oceans in addition the salt from the ocean is white along with many different kinds of fish and sea animals.

The object paints a vivid image depicting Yemaya and her related symbols. If a random individual saw the tray with no description they could easily understand that the woman on the tile is involved with the water in someway. However, the same person likely wouldn’t know who made it or why that person matters. The public’s perception of the religion hasn’t changed because for the most part due to the lack of knowledge of it. This is immensely unfortunate because learning about the Diaspora would provide many people with an appreciation of African arts, stories, and culture. 

Brown, David H. Santeria Aesthetics. Washington And London, Smithsonian Institution Press.

Otero, Solimar, and Toyin Falola. Yemoja: Gender, Sexuality, and Creativity in the Latina/o and Afro-Atlantic Diasporas. Boston: New West Indian Guide, 2014.

Cruz, R. Ted Winter 1994 article 17.1 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy Animal Sacrifice and Equal Protection Free Exercise: Church of the Lukumi Babaluaye

Epstein, R. A. (1992, Dec 23). Rule of law: Testing the boundary between church and state. Wall Street Journal

Matory, J L. “Ceramic-Tiled Image of the Afro-Cuban Goddess Yemayá.” Duke University.

Johnson, Paul C. A Companion to Diaspora and Transnationalism. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.

Michael Sofio

Epstein, R. A. (1992, Dec 23). Rule of law: Testing the boundary between church and state. Wall Street Journal

I found this article on CATQuest while using the keywords “animal sacrifice” and “supreme court.” The article highlights the 1987 supreme court ruling in favor of the Santeria practitioners.

The Author compares the case to two other supreme court rulings that are related to a religious body’s legal rights. The first of those cases was that in California and was about a deaf student receiving tax dollars and that spending them on a religious institution was illegal and that decision was eventually overturned. The second case was about a school in New York showing a religious movie after school being shown and the school being a government entity establishing a religion by showing the movie. The case was also overturned. These cases that are of similar type to the case regarding animal cruelty shows the logic behind the law and why case decisions were made.

Cruz, R. Ted Winter 1994 article 17.1 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy Animal Sacrifice and Equal Protection Free Exercise: Church of the Lukumi Babaluaye

I found this article on Academic Search Premier while searching with the keywords “animal sacrifice” and “supreme court ruling.” The article drew my attention because it was in English, on the topic of animal sacrifice, and the author had a familiar name. the article was about the 1987 Supreme Court ruling. The artlicle breaks down the arguments on both sides and shows the evidence both posses. the article also possesses transcripts from the actual courtroom.

The Author doesn’t speak about his opinion on the ruling. However, Ted Cruz does generally take the side of any religious group especially if they are facing legal scrutiny. However, Senator Ted Cruz is a very conservative individual who is very Christian which generally would make me think he my not have a lot of knowledge of the Diasporic religions. However, Ted Cruz has Cuba heritage which makes me think he may know more about the religions that the class is studying than most people or is at least familiar with the concepts at hand in the court case.

Otero, Solimar, and Toyin Falola. Yemoja: Gender, Sexuality, and Creativity in the Latina/o and Afro-Atlantic Diasporas. Boston: New West Indian Guide, 2014.

Doctor Brennan suggested this book to me. The book is a catalog of information about the goddess Yemoja. The book first started in 2002 by the two authors to produce a volume that reflects an interest in exploring the international Yoruba deity Yemoja. The book highlights Yemoja in the many different nations and the differences between them. The book also speaks about understanding the aspects of race, gender, and sexuality that come with the goddess and how it is relevant to understanding not just the religion but also the culture. The book also explains the practices of worship of Yemoja and how they are important.

The Authors of the book wrote this book as a part of a series on the other deities that are very important in Yoruba culture including Shango, Ogun, and Osun. This book differs in that it is about Yemaya.

I have chosen to research the Ceramic-Tiled Image of the Afro-Cuban Goddess Yemayá. This object is a drink tray and is used to carry drinks and is depicting a cuban deity despite the object being from the United States. The object was designed by Ernesto Pichardo who is a Cuban Santero who was the plaintiff in a 1987 Supreme Court Case which ruled in favor of Ernesto Pichardo and overturned a ban on animal sacrifice. The law that was put into place in 1987 in the city of Hialeah, Florida. Despite its non-ritual use this object has a connection to an important Supreme Court ruling that is very important for many religions that practice animal sacrifice. Ernesto Pichardo is known for attempting to re-africanize his sect of Santoria.

Yemayá is the goddess of the sea and as a result has somewhat of an association with water and other drinks because of her being an entity controlling the water. Additionally the number seven, Yemayá’s sacred number, is ever present in the tray. The seven sea creature in the bottom portion of the border, the seven Cowrie Shells on the border, The seven starfish on each side of the border, the seven fish hooks on the border, and the seven Cowrie shells on Yemayá’s necklace the ever present nature of seven in the object is immensely important to the deity that is depicted on the tile. However, in Africa Yemayá’s number is nine as opposed to seven in Cuba “nine is one of the numbers of Yemayá in Africa, as in the Abeokuta praise verse, “open river, divided into nine parts.”(Thompson 76-77). Finding more about the Cuban outlook on the numbers was something I wasn’t able to find out about more in the readings.

In order to find more information on the imagery for my research I will need a primary and secondary source. I will research Cuban festivals and altars dedicated to Yemayá in order to find out what items are considered sacred to her and what the usage and meaning of those objects are. I will read books and articles online to find out more about Yemayá from Cuban people who worship her so I can better understand her from the eyes of a Cuban worshipper. With the information I think I will be able to understand the differences between the way African and Cuban people worship the same deity differently and also understand why those differences have happened.

Nigeria has a culture that has been constantly impacted by change from many things such as slavery, colonization, and war. Now Nigeria is going through a state of massive amounts of growth and modernization. This modernization in many other countries has resulted in more secular life that isn’t the case in Nigeria. Hybridization and syncretism have changed and shaped The Yoruba religion and evidence of this is in the Osun-Osogbo festival and in the religion’s regular practice as well.

The Yoruba Holy book Efa is known as The Encyclopedia of Yoruba Knowledge because it not only acts as a holy text but also as a way to tell the future, history, genealogy, herbal medicine,and has elements of psychology. Efa uses information from the past and is read using natural objects including sand. The practice of telling the future and the concept of viewing things in the lens of time is an integral part of Yoruba and more broadly most if not all diasporic religions according to Thompson. Additionally, opening the mind and being open are very important in the religion according to the Yoruba priest who performs a ritual on Bruce Feiler in the . That same priest lives next to a church and feels as though he is praying to the same one god that his neighbors are worshiping even though they practice a different way. The opening of the ceremony with a beaded necklace is very similar to Rosary beads in the Catholic faith which seems to be another example of the diasporic process influencing the Yoruba tradition. However the historical significance of beads in Africa which were often times used as a commodity to trade with by the European slavers for slaves makes me question if this was a practice used before the slave trade due to the possible very negative connection associated with the beads.

Yoruba is comparable to Christianity and in fact has influenced the practice of the religion in many ways showing the diasporic nature of Yoruba as a religion. They are comparable due to in christianity there being three traditional aspects of the one god in the Father, Son, and Holy spirit and in Yoruba there is one main God, Olorun, however there are 401 aspects of the deity according to Lloyd Weaver a Yoruba Priest from the united States. As another example of how Christianity, more specifically Catholicism, and the concept of saints in the catholic church is very similar to Yoruba tradition according to Sandy Placido who teaches at American University. Having specific days for saints like saint Patrick’s day, saint Michael’s day, and many more have Yoruba counterparts of specific days of worship for specific Orisha. However, It is much different in that there are specific months for specific deities. While this may seem somewhat different than Christianity it really isn’t, when you compare the Catholic calendar it begins to look somewhat similar with ther. Yoruba has a separate calendar for the gods with 13 months and 4 days a week and a separate calendar for day to day business which is the same as the Gregorian Calendar. The usage of the Gregorian calendar is due mostly to European Christian influence.

The Osun-Osogobo festival’s focus on the water, cleansing, and the head all relate to the idea of being baptized in Christianity. During the Osun-Osogobo festival the is a pilgrimage to the nearby river. The crowd of people walk down to the river while walking, they all do a motion over their head in order to cleans themselves. This act of cleansing is similar to how a priest would bless a person who is being baptized before putting them into the water. Then once the crowd reaches the water they cover their heads in water and some even drink from the water in an effort to cleanse themselves. This is comparable to the act of baptizing someone except there isn’t a priest blessing everyone. The task of cleansing is done individually which differs from the Christian tradition despite the two religions having a very similar tradition. However, just because these two religions have a lot in common that doesn’t mean that they are anywhere near the same.

The hybrid and inclusive nature of Yoruba religious tradition is tied to many different factors however many of those factors seem to be of European origin. Despite the many European influences, the Yoruba religion still remains incredibly unique. The focus on time and change are integral to the religion and differentiate it greatly from many other religions