Background:

Santeria or Regla de Ocha is an African-Cuban religion that is part of a group of religions that are referred to as part of the African Diaspora. The religious practices of many different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa were brought over to the Americas by enslaved African people from the 1500s to the 1800s. The pantheon of many gods from many different religions began to take shape as those who were enslaved made an effort to keep their heritage and religious traditions alive despite the lack of any rights. The many gods have roots in Modern day Nigeria, Angola, and Congo. The mixture of religions and loss of some deities is due to loss of ability to practice a religion that is focused on material objects and rituals because of enslavement and social ostracization.

Cuba’s diasporic religion is known as Regla de Ocha, Santeria, or Lucumi. The religion incorporates religious practices from Africa, Christianity, and those of the indigenous people of Cuba. Most of the Religion’s practitioners are also baptized members of the Roman Catholic church which is due to the Spanish influence over the enslaved people who were brought over and the subsequent forced conversion to Christianity by the Spanish empire.

Catholic saints each have a corresponding orisha that represents them in Santeria. Yemaya the goddess of the sea and the Virgin Mary are worshipped as one due to the two religious icons similarities for what they represent. Due to the almost immediate integration of the saints into the religion the practitioners of the religion were then able to practice the religion. This was because the way the rituals and worship were done it appeared as though the Catholic saints were being worshipped. Although practices were still confusing and suspect to those who didn’t practice it due to the saints being revered more than jesus. This resulted in the name Santeria meaning worship of saints. Despite it confusing the authorities, it wasn’t banned which allowed the religion to exist in a place where it otherwise could have been considered witchcraft or even blasphemy.

The Cuban Revolution of 1959 caused the religion to spread as the new government outlawed all religion and many practitioners escaped the country and came to the United States. Then in 1974 the Church of Lucumi Babalau Aye was created in Hialeah Florida as the first official Santeria worship site in the United States. Most of the practitioners who escaped Cuba during the revolution escaped to Florida due to its close proximity to the island nation and as a result formed a Cuban community in Florida.

One of the most important parts of Regla de Ocha is animal sacrifice. The animal being sacrificed is then used in some way and is always eaten at some point either during or after the ritual. Drinking the blood of the animal that is sacrificed is often also practiced during the ritual to cleanse the spirit of the person consuming it. In Hialeah florida in 1987 the city outlawed animal sacrifice which caused the priest of the church of the Lucumi Babalau Aye to take the city to court. The trial eventually made it all the way up the the Supreme Court which ruled against the city in 1993 and declared the law unconstitutional because it went against the First Amendment’s free practice of religion clause.

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On November 15th, Daniel Rodruiguez came to the Fleming Museum to give a talk on Cuban Santeria called “Thrones of the Gods, Altars of the Soul.” Rodruiguez is a Oba Oriate of the Santeria religion, or in other words a priest; more specifically, he is the priest of the Orisha Shango. A priest of Shango came to speak to the public to inform others of the truths of Santeria and discuss the idea behind the Birthday Altar present in the museum.

According to Rodruiguez, Santeria is the fastest growing non-stream religion that is based on an energy called ashe. While this religion follows a very strict set of rules and is about helping live one’s life to the fullest potential through gods called Orisha, it is not deemed a true religion and has a negative meaning to most non practitioners. As Rodruiguez explained, animal sacrifice, which is involved in Santeria, makes most people believe this religion involves satanic rituals. These accusations are far from true, as was discussed during the lecture. Practitioners of Santeria do not believe in the concept of the “devil” and sacrifice animals only to give ashe to the Orisha in ceremonial rituals. Elizabeth Perez describes what ashe is in her text, “Cooking for the Gods”, in the section The ache of ashes, “Such sacrificial offerings… have been seen to transfer the primordial energy called ache from the blood of animals to the orishas’ implements…” Perez also goes into detail about a topic Rodruiguez went over, animals used in sacrificed are also used to cook for the gods so they are not wasted, this is seen in the section Blessed butchery, “These animals then had to be cleaned, quartered, and roasted in a highly systematized manner, in order to convert the carcasses into meals for the gods.” When perez stated, “…in a highly systematized manner…”, it refers back to Rodruiguez’s description of Santeria having strict rules. After explaining the idea that animal sacrifice is done in a humane way, Rodruiguez went on to tell the public about an important altar in the religion. The Birthday Altar is created for priests to honor the day they were initiated into priesthood. The Priest’s Orisha are displayed on separate altars, organized by height to show the hierarchy between the gods, with the priest’s main Orisha in the center. For Rodruiguez, Shango would be the center of the Birthday Altar. Each tiny altar is decorated with objects and colors representing the Orisha. By the end of the lecture Rodruiguez had informed the audience on the true meanings of Santeria and the idea behind the Birthday Altar.

The altar concept is an important idea in African diaspora religions, it is “… a place consecrated to devotional exercises… Anchoring men and women at life’s deepest moments…”, as stated by Robert Farris Thompson in the first paragraph of his work, “Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas.” Thompson’s idea of an altar was seen in the lecture given by Daniel Rodruiguez. Altars are used for devotional exercises towards Orisha, Rodruiguez showed this by performing a ceremonial prayer while shaking a maraca in front of the Birthday Altar to pray to the main goddess, Yemoja. Altars represent important moments in people’s lives, which is seen by Rodruiguez’s job. As a priest Rodruiguez travels across the country to do ceremonies involving altars to help people through important moments in their lives, an example is when one is initiated into Santeria. Without altars there is no way to embody an Orisha and in turn no way to honor them. Altars give Santeria practitioners a way to honor their gods and help them through their lives.

In conclusion, this lecture was very helpful in better understanding Cuban Santeria and the ideas behind the Birthday Altar. Before attending this lecture I did not agree with animals sacrifice as a religious practice, but Daniel Rodruiguez was able to change my opinion. Animal sacrifice in Santeria is no different than slaughtering animals for food, and the fact that every part of the animal is used during the ceremony gave me a whole new perspective on the traditions of the religion. Daniel Rodruiguez’s talk on Santeria will leave you with a better understanding of the religion and will change any previously negative views about the practices of Santeria. It was definitely a lecture worth attending and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about a new religion.

Thompson, Robert. Face of the Gods: The Artists and Their Altars. UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, 1995. Page 20.

Perez, Elizabeth. Cooking for the gods: sensuous ethnography, sensory knowledge, and the kitchen in Lucumi tradition. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2011. Pages 667-668.

Scarlet Shifflett

When I walked into the museum I expected to see dusty objects with no personality on a shelf. I wondered how I would be interested enough to write a paper on an object that had nothing to do with my culture, but then I stepped into the exhibit. Each room had significantly changed from its original state just a week before, there was suddenly life in each object. I walked the designated path looking at the altars with awe, everything fit together perfectly, but one room was so beautiful I had to stop.

The first thing I noticed were the walls. Where there was once plain white was now covered in blue cloth. Nothing was left uncovered by extravagant blue patterns, from flowers to sparkles. The cloth surrounded fourteen altars, each with their own personality shown with colors and objects. Every altar was unique in its own way, but I was drawn to one in particular, Oya. I did not know who this Orisha was at the time, I only knew her altar was the most beautiful and gave off a power none of the other surrounding altars did.

A copper crown with dangling charms sat on top of a soup tureen with bird handles. The first set of charms were all the same, a copper mask, while the second set contained a lighting bolt and a variety of farming tools, picks, hoes, and a machete. The porcelain soup tureen gave the altar a hint of cream color, allowing the red and maroon to really pop, while the birds added beauty with their carefully painted patterns. A horsetail whip was front and center, the long, silky black hair showed the elegance of the Orisha, while, along with the crown, also captured the royalty of Oya. Lying behind the whip was a wooden sword, covered with colorful beads that lead to another beaded handle with a mask dangling off. This handle was not as sturdy as the one on the whip, allowing me to assume this weapon could only be used by someone skilled enough to understand the delicate motions needed to swing the sword. This altar was the only one out of fourteen to have a picture of a catholic saint, which was shown on a red cloth accented with colorful beads. The entire altar was decorated with green, orange, purple, blue, brown, pink, and yellow beads, giving the red cloth more color and character.

I was drawn to Oya’s altar based on the beauty and power it gave off. The crown and whip told me the importance of this Orisha and the royalty she held, while the sword represented a worrier. I have never heard of someone of royalty fighting their own battles, and it was this reason why I chose Oya’s altar to be my object of interest.

My interest in the altar did not stop there, I wanted to know why someone would honor Oya, the goddess of storms and change, and how the objects on the altar embodied the orisha. In this essay I will give background information on the goddess Oya to show why people choose to honor this Orisha and the effects it will have on their lives. I will also discuss why this pedestal with objects on it is an altar.

The Oya altar is a part of a birthday altar. This altar comes from the Cuban religion Santeria and is an important part of a Santeria priest’s life. In Orisha Worship Communities: A Reconsideration of Organisational Structure Mary Clark describes what the typical birthday altar would look like on page 103, “The ceiling and walls of the designated space are covered with panels of fabric… the cloths form walls and a canopy that encloses the entire area.” This description accurately represents the altar that is housed in the Fleming museum. Another important aspect of a birthday altar is making sure each Orisha is being honored in their own way, as seen with the maroon and multi colored beads and the sword on Oya’s altar, page 104 states, “…small splash of color are incorporated into the pedestals and stands holding the pots and accouterments of the Orisha so each deity is represented by a cloth… each Orisha is surrounded by their particular tools and symbols.” This altar is meant to honor the priest’s Orisha, which they have chosen in previous ceremonies. If this altar was not in a museum then multiple rituals would occur to celebrate the priest’s birthday into the religion, “On the first day of the celebration… Each guest first greets the Orisha by prostrating herself on the mat placed in front of the throne… Godchildren of the hostess generally leave the ritually prescribed gift… Entertainment may include live drumming or recorded music…”, as described by Clark on page 105.

While the altar I am studying is only a small part of a bigger altar, the pedestal supporting the objects portraying Oya is considered an altar because it is a form of communication to the Orisha and a way to worship the goddess. “Altars everywhere are sites of ritual communication…” this is stated by Robert Farris Thompson on the first page of Face of the Gods: The Artists and Their Altars. I saw a form of communication in the altar with the farming charms on the crown. If the altar was in its ritual context than those charms could represent a farmer in need of change with his crops. If the crop season had a lack of rain, the farmer would call upon the goddess of storms and change. Worshipping Oya on her altar would allow the farmer to ask for storms to come to water his crops, giving him the yield he needs. In another part of the book, Face of the Gods: Arts and Altars of Africa and the African Americans, Thompson says, “a place [altar] consecrated to devotional exercises. Altars, then, encompass sacrifice, prayer, and devotion.” The sword, crown, and whip, show devotion to Oya by representing her power and strength as a royal warrior. In a traditional setting food would be placed on the pedestal as a sacrifice to the the Orisha, and one would kneel on the mat under the altar to pray to the goddess. With objects communicating to Oya and food and prayer showing devotion, this pedestal representing Oya is an altar.

One website was useful when collecting information on the goddess Oya, www.orderwhitemoon.org, this source was able to give me a perspective from someone who actively worships Oya while most scholarly sources only gave an outside perspective. The website stated, “Oya is one of the most powerful African Goddesses (Orishas). A Warrior-Queen…She is the Goddess of thunder, lightning, tornadoes, winds, rainstorms and hurricanes. A Fire Goddess, it is Oya who brings rapid change and aids us in both inner and outer transformation.” Other information included the Orisha’s number, nine, her colors are maroon, dark red, purple, orange, brown and multiple other colors, and icons that represent the goddess include, whips, masks, and swords. All these representations can be seen on the altar present in the museum; maroon and dark red cloth cover the podium the objects rest on, beaded accents throughout the objects incorporate the other colors, purple, orange, and brown. There is a horsetail whip, sword, mask, and a crown made out of copper with mask charms and one lightning bolt all represented the icons associated with the Orisha. This website also includes the foods that should be given to Oya on the altar, eggplants, grape wine, kola nuts, and fish.

One would honor Oya if they want a change in their life and would do so through the altar. The previously mentioned website tells how someone would call upon Oya when that person’s desire for change needs to be heard. First a person would light the candles present on the altar. Before I continue I want to say that the altar in the museum does not have candles because it is not an active altar dedicated to Oya, it is simply an altar meant to be viewed in a museum. This is a key difference between objects present in a museum and those that reside in the context they were meant to be in. After that person has lit the candles they will resite a passage that according to the writer of this website will invoke the presence of Oya; the passage is the following,

“Oya, Lady of Storms,

Oya, Bringer of Change,

Oya, Warrior of Women,

You who command the winds

And protect the souls of the dead

You whose domain is the tornado, the storm, the thunder,

I ask for you to join me here tonight

And help me bring positive change and action into my life

Hail, Oya, Lady of Storms!”

Once Oya is invoked you should talk to the goddess about the changes you want to make in your life and how you will get there. The most important change that you want to make should be written down and left on the altar as a reminder. Thanking Oya, place offerings on the altar, these can consist of any of the foods listed above, and the once again recite the passage as a goodbye to the Orisha.

Even with thirteen altars surrounding Oya’s it is clear she is a powerful Orisha capable of great things. These great things involve controlling wind and storms and bringing change to those who honor her appropriately. Oya can be honored through an altar where food will be given to the goddess and devotion is shown through objects. As long as there is a form of communication and a way to worship the Orisha than that object will be considered an altar. In conclusion, if someone is in need of change in their lives than they should strongly consider building an altar to the Orisha Oya.

Order of The White Moon. Oya: Lady of Storms. http://www.orderwhitemoon.org/goddess/oya-storms/Oya.html.

Thompson, Robert. Face of the Gods: The Artists and Their Altars. UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, 1995.

Thompson, Robert. Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas. The museum for African Art, New York, 1993.

Mary, Clark, Orisha Worship Communities: A Reconsideration of Organisational Structure. United States of America: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2011.

Scarlet Shifflett

Clark  Mary, Asho Orisha (Clothing of the Orisha): Material Culture as Religious Expression in Santeria. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1999.

I found this book through google scholar when I searched “Cuban Santeria altars”. I Decided to use this source after reading the abstract and finding it relative to my topic.

This book contains many chapters, the ones I am interested in using are chapters three and four. Chapter three talks about birthday altars and how each altar is set up for the different Orisha. It also discusses why certain objects are important to an altar. Chapter four gives the significance of objects in terms of the Orisha and talks about the specific object to the Orisha it pertains. The objects present on an altar represent the Orisha’s life while also telling a story about the life of the person who created the altar.

The author has a scholarly point of view that is from someone on the outside looking in. This kind of perspective is useful when trying to learn about a broader subject, like altars, but is not very useful when trying to understand details, like Oya altars. The goal of the author is to inform the reading on the subjects of Cuban Santeria altars and the importance objects have on the altar. While this source will not help me with the details of my writing it will be useful to understand the main idea of my research, why altars are important when worshipping Orisha.

Gleason Judith, Oya in the company of saints. United States of America: Oxford University Press, 2000.

I found this article through the UVM library search. I used the key word “Oya” in the ATLA article database.  and this article was one of the first resources that was the most relevant to my topic. This article was available through a secondary source from the UVM library search database.

This article discusses the Orisha Oya, what is associated with Oya, change and storms,  along with her history, Oya was the favorite wife of Shango, another Orisha. A lot of important information about Oya is written in this text, allowing the reader to get a better understanding of why and how someone would worship the Orisha. While the altar concept is not so much talked about this article will still be useful because it allows me to learn more about the key part of the altar I am studying, Oya.

The writer’s perspective is that of someone telling a story about how they learned about a topic. The writer talks in first person and discusses how she went to Cuba to discover more on the Orisha. The writer’s goal is to inform readers of the goddess Oya and what her role is among other Orisha. I found the perspective of this article helpful in understanding the information given because it felt like I was learning at the same pace as the writer.

Mary, Clark, Orisha Worship Communities: A Reconsideration of Organisational Structure. United States of America: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2011.

I found this article through the ATLA database by searching “Orisha” I had to scroll through multiple other articles before coming to this specific one. I chose this article because it was from the same author as another one of my sources that I found helpful and because it contained a section on Santeria.

This article discusses the idea behind the birthday alatar. Clark goes into detail about what a birthday altar is and how a priest would know which Orisha to honor in their altar. An important detail in this section that directly relates to my topic was tureens on an altar. Clark stated that the tureens are kept closed with objects that embody the orisha. This statement was able to answer a key question in my research statement. Other topics discussed in the article related back to the priests who have birthday altars and how they are initiated.

Clark had a scholarly perspective in this article which is the same point of view she had in the first article I used. The goal of this piece of writing is to inform the reader on how a priest gets initiated and what that has to do with their birthday altar. While my object is not directly related to this article it was helpful in answering a key question I had that I was not able to find an answer to anywhere else.

In the heat of August, tens of thousands of people crowd the streets of Osogbo, Nigeria where they plan to spend the next 12 days honoring their most important Orisha, the goddess Osun. Osun offers grace to Osogbo and ensures their lives are well as long as the people honor her and her Sacred Grove once a year. The beauty and intensity of this festival is explored by Bruce Feiler in “Osun-Osogbo” an episode of a documentary series called  “Sacred Journeys”. Feiler takes you into the heart of Osogbo to show the world how this city honors their goddess from lamp lighting ceremonies to animal sacrifice. After Feiler’s twelve day journey is over and the film has ended it is clear that the Osun-Osogbo festival is an example of the African diaspora with the memories that shape this culture, the distanced covered from a time of exile, and thousands of people returning to Osogbo every year.

The African diaspora is an idea that there are communities around the world that came from descendants of the slaves taken from Africa. Paul Christopher Johnson’s quote from his writing “Religions of the African Diaspora” best connects this idea to the Osun-Osogbo festival, “Diasporic religions are composed on the one hand out of memories about space-places of origins, about the distance traversed from them since a time of exile, and physical or ritual returns…” Two women whose journey of becoming Yoruba priestess’ in the film is the most accurate example on how this festival represents the African diaspora.

The two women who traveled to Osogbo with Bruce Feiler tell him what life was like growing up. They both practiced the same religion depicted in the festival but in the Americas; their only real connection to the Yoruba people was through memories of their families. This example from the film is a key representation of the African diaspora because the Yoruba traditions were kept alive in small communities across the world through memories from their African descendants passed down from generation to generation.

Not only did the women practice their religion from memories passed down, but they understood how their small religious community in the Americas came to be. During the slave trade most slaves came from the coast of Nigeria, bringing their culture with them. The forced journey corresponds with Johnson’s idea of the African diaspora, “…the distance traversed from them since a time of exile…”. This idea made the two soon-to-be Yoruba priestess’ and many others feel the need to come back to the festival  to experience what was taken from them and many other generations. Their physical returns due to a past time of exile truly captures the African diaspora in the Osun-Osogbo festival.

While the idea of the African diaspora is not one known to everywhere this is definitely a film worth watching. It is truly amazing to see a culture that has been spread all over the world stay connected through memories, which in turn gives them the desire to return to the heart of their culture, the Osun-Osogbo festival.

Different scholars define African diaspora as different things, while neither is wrong or right one definition stands out in the way it connects the Oṣun-Oṣogbo festival. This definition comes from the article, “Religions of the African Diaspora” by Paul Christopher Johnson, “Diasporic religions are composed on the one hand out of memories about space-places of origins, about the distance traversed from them since a time of exile, and physical or ritual returns…” The idea of memories impacting a religion is seen in the film with the people’s memory of the first king coming to Oṣun’s land and cutting down a tree. This act was not something the Orisha took lightly and to make amends the king said he would keep the area sacred and worship her every year through the Oṣun-Oṣogbo festival. Through memories the African diaspora religion was able to stay alive and continue with their traditions. What interested me most about this part of the film was how little the religion has changed in west Africa, In class we read about syncretism and hybridity, but in the heart of this religion, very little has changed, as stated by practitioners in the film. The other example of African diaspora religion in the Oṣun-Oṣogbo festival is the idea that at some point in the past people left their homeland in a time of exile. This is a big idea at the Oṣun-Oṣogbo festival because many people from the Americas go to Nigeria to connect with their roots in Africa, keeping the traditions alive, even though they do not live in the area. We talked about how the religions African slaves practiced changed and mingled over the slave trade but also how these people kept the religion alive throughout the many years that followed. To me this idea really helps support the idea of African diaspora, people adapted to their lifestyles and in turn changed some traditions, but they always look back to their homeland for connection, rather that be spiritually or physically. Overall, I found the film very interesting. One topic that really stuck with me is how other religions are almost kicking the traditionalist religion out, yet the traditionalists are not the ones causing any problems. I’ve never agreed with the idea of organized religion because of how judgemental they are to each other, but this film showed me that not all religions are like that with how accepting the Traditionalists are. After watching this video I would like to learn if the traditionalists have made any progress with their programs that allow people to practice traditional faith without any consequences from outside religions and society. All in all, this film gave me a better understanding of not only the religions we study but also of the articles read in class.