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Walking into the Fleming Museum’s Spirited Things: Sacred Arts of the Black Atlantic Exhibit, you’ll see everything from emptied rum bottles that have been transformed with beads and other materials into representations of the gods, to small statues that are meant to control the spirits of the dead allowing them to be used by the living. What caught my attention though was a glimmer a blue from the corner of my eye. Looking to my left there is a glass container containing various objects that are dedicated to the goddess Yemaya, the goddess of the sea who is often perceived as a mother to all, from Cuban Santeriá, or as it is more commonly known in Cuba, as Regla de Ocha, though there were three other objects what draws the eye most is the most delicate. A small crown of silver, comprised of 7 smaller crowns, each of which has two blue gems catching the light that showcases the object draws the eye of the viewer. Silver chains hang from the crown, each with their own unique metal object which represent the goddess or one of her allies, drawing the viewer deeper into the story behind the crown. In this analysis I’m going to describe the meaning of the crown and the various parts that comprise it, and then I’m going to discuss how the crown is a representation of both the African Diasporic religions and how syncretism and hybridity play a role in the creation and the design of the crown as well.

Altar crowns are a central part on many personal altars found in the homes of worshipers. Altars crowns are placed on top of soup tureens, which we learned in class, are decorated to match the orisha being worshipped, in the case of the altar crown that was made for Yemaya, the colors would be blue and white. Within these tureens symbols to the gods or objects that please the gods can be found, making the gods present on the altar. The altars and the objects that are placed on them are embodiments of the gods which means they are given the same respect. This means that the people who worship them wish to provide them with the best and most beautiful objects, and we can see that with the delicate beauty of the altar crown. By making sure that the objects are regularly cleaned and maintained as well as giving them offerings of food and drink they make sure that their gods on the altar are happy and well maintained. This crown specifically, is used on altars of Cuban Santería/Regla de Ocha altars for the goddess Yemaya. Each piece of the crown can clearly be linked back to Yemaya or some other god or goddess of the Santeriá religion. It doesn’t just do this though, the object is able to link Santeriá back to its religious origins in the Yoruba religion with the chains that hang down off the crown. The chains that hang down create a veil, similar to those that are found on the crowns of the African Yoruba monarchs, connecting the current practices to those of its past.

To understand how the crown is made and the reasoning behind each portion of the crown we must first understand the goddess whom the crown is made for. According the the website for the Santeria Church of the Orishas,Yemaya’s most sacred places in nature are those associated with water, the oceans, lakes, and lagoons, the color that represents Yemaya or her caminos (avatars or “roads”, which essentially are different versions of herself) are the colors blue and white, since she is the goddess of the sea. Her sacred number is 7, for her 7 caminos, and representative of the 7 seas. Yemaya influences more than just the sea though, as she is seen and known as a mother to all, she also influences family and women’s issues, pregnancy, children, and she is also associated with healing. Our ability to understand the goddess that the crown is made for will allow us to create the connections to understand the creation of the crown as a whole.

The crown contains many parts that we can link back to the goddess Yemaya, the 7 smaller crowns, 7 blue gems found in between each of the crowns all connect back to her sacred number. As well as this there are 21 chains that hang down from the crown, each of these chains have small silver charm that represents either yemaya or one of her many allies, as well as her sacred number since 21 is a multiple of 7. The key is associated with Elegguá, which according the the website for the Santeria Church of the Orishas, is the god of all roads, cross roads and doors, without his blessings nothing can get done as he allows the prayers of those who practice Santeriá to reach the intended orisha. The horseshoe, the hammer, the hatchet, the sickle and the scythe, the anvil, the sledgehammer, the knife, the saw and the machete all represent Yemaya’s husband Ogún, who is a powerful warrior, who defends those who worship him. The snake represents her other husband Obatalá, who is the eldest and most powerful of all the orisha, he is said to be the father of many of the other orisha and is said to be the owner of all heads, both spiritual and outer. The lightning bolt and the sword represent her son Chango, who is the god of thunder, lightning, and leadership. The 3 quills to represent her daughter-in-law Obba, who is considered to be the goddess of marriage and home, who waits for her husband Chango even though he cheats on her with the other goddesses. The sun, moon, ship’s wheel and the anchor embody Olokun, who is the goddess of the deep sea, some of the same charms are also sometimes associated with Yemaya. The charms that remain represent Yemaya and her own powers.

This object relates directly to the readings that we do in class as it demonstrates both a direct example of how the african diaspora works as is demonstrated throughout the religions as well as demonstrating the theories of hybridity and syncretism in a way that we can look at and see with our own eyes.  To understand though how the object demonstrates how Santeriá is a diasporic religion of how it demonstrates syncretism, we first need to define both of the terms to truly understand and see the connection between the object and these topics.

Diaspora can be defined as a scattered population who originated from one location or as a population that has migrated from one location to another. Diasporic religions though are composed of memories of its place of origins and how it has changed since moving on. I believe the best description of a Diasporic religion though comes from Paul Johnson’s chapter Religions of the African Diaspora when he says, “African diasporic religions are transformed as they are accommodated in new sites and populations” (Johnson, 2013, 516). I think that this is the best definition because it relates to how the religions came over, and how they have changed. These Afro-Caribbean religions were brought over by the slaves taken out of their native countries during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, they brought their religions over, but because they were forced to hide their religion some of the aspects changed, transforming the religion into something new. This is clearly demonstrated in certain aspects of the crown, specifically with the chains that hang down with the small charms, the chains resemble the veil found on the on the African Yoruba monarchs, the classic traditions of the religion showing through despite the oppression of the religion, traditionally the objects that are attached to the chains would be found inside of the soup tureen. As well as the connecting the crown to its Yoruba traditions we can connect the goddess herself back, in Yoruba tradition the oriṣa would be known as Yemọja but she has become Yemaya in Cuban Santeriá through the African Diaspora. This is a demonstration of the african diaspora because there is a clear connection to Santeriá and its Yoruba roots.

Syncretism is the most commonly used word when it comes down to the mixing of different aspects of a religion into one, or when one aspect of a religion is influenced by another religion or culture. Though syncretism is used most commonly used when dealing with topics of religions, the word hybridity is used when dealing with the combination of different organisms, the two words are usually a package deal though, when you hear one, you will most likely hear the other, because they deal with similar topics. In Johnson’s chapter Syncretism and Hybridization, he says “Syncretism and hybridity require ‘worlds’ of parallel entities that can it could be juxtaposed or joined. We don’t usually imagine or posit the creole, hybrid or syncretic possibilities of, say, dogs and plants, or Augustinian theodicy and snow tires, because such entities occupy different worlds.” (Johnson, 2016, 766). This shows us the link between hybridity and syncretism because it explains that to be used the religions, or organisms that they are combining need to be that of the same “world”, which just means that they need to have something in common, in this situation we are talking about religion. The altar crown demonstrates syncretism through how the altar crown for yemaya shares certain aspects with the traditional styles of European crowns. This is a demonstrates of syncretism because of the roles that crowns play in Europe and in aspects of christianity. The crown is a symbol of royalty and the monarchy, this is a shared feature in both altar crowns, as altar crowns also symbolize royalty among the oriṣa, and the European crowns so the integration of European styles in with the traditional Yoruba style of crowns is a demonstration of hybridity. Crowns do more than just represent royalty though, in the Catholic religion it is believed that those who go above average in certain aspects of the religion will receive a crown when they enter in the kingdom of heaven, the crown of righteousness for example,  or the crowns that were worn by the monarchs as they traditionally had a role in the church. This is an example of how the European crowns play a role in the religion which makes the combination of the European styled crown and the Yoruba style crown an example of both hybridity and syncretism.

The altar crown for Yemaya in Cuban Santeriá is a clear demonstration the definitions of syncretism/hybridity and the African Diaspora. Examples that prove this can all be found in the crown and in the reasons behind the various pieces that come together to form the finished product. From the 7 blue gemstones meant to represent Yemaya, to the charms hanging off the chains which represent Yemaya and her allies. The 7 small european looking crowns that bring back the memories of when they had to incorporate catholic traditions into their religion so that they could practice it in secret, and the chains that hang down off the crown connecting it back to the traditional crowns of the religion it was based off of. Each of the aspects of the crown demonstrate how the crown and Santeriá as a whole is a diasporic religion and the aspects that it took in through syncretism.

Bibliography

Matory, J. Lorand. ms. The Fetish Revisited: Marx, Freud, and the Gods Black People Make.

Flores-Peña, Ysamur, and Roberta J. Evanchuk. 2011. Santería garments and altars: speaking without a voice. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Matory, J. Lorand “Artifacts.” Artifacts | The Sacred Arts of the Black Atlantic. Accessed October 30, 2017. http://sacredart.caaar.duke.edu/artifacts/1283#.

“Yemaya.” Santeria Church of the Orishas. Accessed October 30, 2017. http://santeriachurch.org/the-orishas/yemaya/.

Johnson, Paul Christopher. 2016. “Syncretism and Hybridization.” In The Oxford Handbook in The Study of Religion. Edited by Michael Stausberg and Steven Engler, 754-69. Oxford University Press.

Johnson, Paul Christopher. 2013. “Religions of the African Diaspora.” In A Companion to Diaspora and Transnationalism. Edited by Ato Quayson and Girish Daswani, 509-20. Blackwell Publishing

Power Objects Lecture: Charging and Discharging in Afro-Caribbean Religions

On Wednesday October 19th Dr. McAlister, came to lecture on “Charging and Discharging in Afro-Caribbean Religions.” Dr. McAlister who is a professor at Wesleyan University and is an expert in the studies of Haitian Vodou, this is only part of the reason the Dr. McAlister was invited to come to speak in connection with the exhibit though. Dr. McAlister was able to study Vodou power objects over a period of years in a way that not many other researchers do, while she was on a trip to Haiti she accidentally bought a charged object that held the spirits of two zonbi, which she was unaware of until she began her research of the object. This makes her even more relevant to the exhibit at the museum as she is an expert in Haitian Vodou and she was able to bring parts of Vodou that we were not able to see when you look just at an altar in her lecture that she gave.  

In her lecture she spoke first about her article, “A Sorcerer’s Bottle”, which tells the story of how she unknowingly became the owner of these two zonbi. She spoke about the different kinds of spirits and told us the the bottle contained petwo spirits. Petwo spirits are hot, they are very quick and effective, but they are angry. Petwo spirits are most commonly associated with what most people know as “black magic”, those who capture petwo spirits will eventually suffer the consequences as the spirits take a lot of the energy and life force from the person who has trapped them. After explaining to us how the objects are charged, she moved on to how one would go about discharging the objects. She explained how spiritual charges can be transferred, and explained the differences between discharging something and desacralizing. When something is discharged the spirit is liberated desacralizing is when the spirits are transferred into another object so that the original object could be used in a museum for example. Once we had all the background knowledge that we needed, Dr. McAlister showed us a video of the discharging process that she had taken when she brought her bottle back to Haiti to be discharged, being able to watch the process of the spirits being discharged allowed me to better understand dischargement as a process. As well as this, being able to watch this ritual gave me a better understanding into Vodou and the traditions as a whole, especially having to do with the spirits after a person has died in Vodou tradition.

This lecture related directly to our class because only days before had we read her first article, “A Sorcerers Bottle”, this gave those of us who had read the article a better basis to understand her lecture on. This lecture went further connecting to a reading we did written by Professor Abiodun titled “Àṣẹ: Verbalizing and Visualizing Creative Power through Art” goes onto explain African art that we do not normally think of when we think of traditional art, he explains through the article that African and Yoruba art is alive, and while this particular bottle came from Haiti and Vodou which is a diasporic religion based off of Yoruba traditions. This means that Vodou evolved from Yoruba, which means that it carries some of those traditions, in Dr. McAllister’s article her friend when viewing the bottle says, “‘You know, that thing it never stops’ remarked one friend as she spoke absently about something else. Indeed, the bottle moves and swirls in its own way.” (McAlister, 2) this connects the bottle back to it’s Yoruba roots as the bottle seems to be alive and every moving.

McAlister posed many interesting questions throughout her lecture and I wish we had a bit more time to go through and fully watch and discuss the videos from the discharging process a bit more. I would like to ask her what she thought caused the contents of the bottle to ignite like they did during the video of the discharging process.

Abiodun, Rowland. “Àṣẹ: Verbalizing and Visualizing Creative Power through Art.” Journal of Religion in Africa 24, no. 4 (1994): 309-22. doi:10.2307/1581339.

McAlister, Elizabeth. “A Sorcerers Bottle” Sacred Arts of Ancient Vodou (1995): 304-24