https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FfvcLXxXT-hqSUnvut_qp9uM5gXxYKxLnL1oykfQf7w/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14cY6WvbAwT5ZEhfbJ0VKKPbUv8d3EX-gkPzTevi8LtM/edit?usp=sharing

As one of the 4 capitalized altars in the Fleming Museum’s “Spirited Things” exhibition, the Yoruba altar contains a deeper purpose that was orchestrated by the creator of the altar, Professor Matory of Duke University. Altars in all religions are sites of ritual communication where the boundary between the spiritual and tangible world is explored (Thompson, 1995, p. 50) However, altars are especially pertinent to the orisa tradition in West Africa because they enable practitioners to offer their devotion to specified deities.

Although varied colored objects on the altar suggest the reference of other orisa, the altar is chiefly dedicated to the river goddess Yemoja. The most prominent object on the altar is a Yemoja embodiment in a white calabash. The calabash contains cowrie shells, kola nuts, river stones, and a number of other pieces that pertain to the identity of Yemoja known as Yemoja Olowo Kan. This embodiment of Yemoja is most closely associated with ancient Yoruba land, such as the town of Osogbo. With this in mind, one purpose the altar serves is to express devotion to the goddess Yemoja because of her worth to the Yoruba.

Professor Matory is responsible for the orientation of the altar, therefore it can be said that this altar is authentic to him. Several photos are included on each side of the altar and their presence is telling of an emotional connection that the Professor has with the goddess Yemoja and the Yoruba. Upon asking the Professor about the photos, it was explained that the photos serve as a commemoration to remind him of his engagement with the people of Yemoja. This in turn evokes the relationships that the people have formed with the goddess to fulfill their dutiful obligations. The Professor also added that the altar was his own Yemoja. His personality reflects the personality of Yemoja just as her personality reflects the personality of himself. These ideas contribute to an additional purpose of the Yoruba altar, a medium to acknowledge the elaborate relationship that the Professor has with the goddess Yemoja.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QcD7YEpKbo8e5Ub7bnqrEviOXMUmB7nP74kxyCLFYYA/edit?usp=sharing

Here is the link to the google doc that discusses the context behind the Spiritist altar:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14QTnUPHVeIzAHiQMNxY_rDkH-63LXXEzwjV20oXqasw/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18RTvohYj7FAsPsb68AED60h_hHirZKjakJXOTvZkYdU/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DhkxCxenAF4zHZ8QgD3ETB5V33gw-DBZy669zRFcRLk/edit?usp=sharing

The Class Notes document for this week is available here.

Paul Johnson, “What is Candomblé”

This week you should post a discussion question that connects Johnson’s chapter on Brazilian Candomblé to one of our previous class readings. Your question should be one that leads to further discussion, rather than a fact-based or a question that has a single answer. Ideally, your question will help us to better refine or produce further understandings of our class concepts (African diaspora, syncretism/hybridity, altars). Alternately, you can pose a question about the chapter that connects to how we study religion as an outsider.

POST YOUR RESPONSES IN THE CLASS NOTES DOCUMENT! Be sure to include your name with your post so that you can receive credit for completing it.

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.

On Wednesday, November 15th, I attended the lecture “Thrones of the Gods and Altars of the Soul” by Daniel Rodriguez in the Fleming Museum. Daniel Rodriguez is a professor of Spanish, and a practitioner of Santeria. He’s an Oba Oriate, which means that he’s reached the level of highest ranking priest in Santeria. An Oba Oriate sets up ceremonies for initiates and other practitioners, performs Ifa divination, and provides overall advice to lower rank followers of Santeria, as well practicing Santeria themselves. With all of these responsibilities, it’s no wonder that Professor Rodriguez put emphasis on the fact that it’s very difficult for him to balance his job as a professor and his responsibilities to his religion.

Although I wasn’t able to stay for the whole lecture, I attended the part where Professor Rodriguez discussed Santeria, before he got to individually discussing Orisha. I found that this lecture was very much worth attending, because it is another way for outsiders to hear the perspective of someone on the inside. In learning about religions such as Yoruba, Santeria, and Vodou in class, we often discuss the view of the outsider versus the view of the insider, and how we as outsiders can never truly have the same perspective as an insider, no matter how much we try. An example of an outsider’s view can be seen in an article titled “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema”, in which the author writes, “It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves” (p.8). The author describes the practices of the “Nacirema”, which is “American” backwards, and twists all the aspects that we view as normal into sounding foreign, mystical, and dangerous. This article exists to show the reader how anything, described from an outsider’s perspective, can be misinterpreted, and is a good example of how an outsider’s view is always distorted.

Professor Rodriguez talked a lot about how new practitioners don’t want to wait to have privileges, and they don’t realize how difficult and what a commitment practicing Santeria can be. He explained that a lot of people view religions such as Santeria and Vodou as “trendy” and don’t know that it is a lot of work to practice Santeria. He specifically mentioned how, for example, when one is initiated, they must wear white for a year and a day. Many initiates don’t realize how difficult this can be, or how much of a commitment it is to always feed, clean, and take care of altars. He also mentioned that many initiates don’t want to wait to get their special privileges, they want immediate benefits. This is one way in which an outsider’s view distorts Santeria for initiates: they don’t understand how important it is to earn your status rank, instead of having it be handed to them, and they view the religion as “easy” and trendy, instead of treating it seriously.

Professor Rodriguez also discussed how the media views Santeria. My first experience with Santeria was with my class at UVM where we explored the intricacies and beauties of Santeria, so although I am an outsider, I don’t particularly have a negative connotation with the word Santeria. Professor Rodriguez brought up interesting points about how media shows their outsider’s view of Santeria in a bad light, so much so that “trendy” people who are being initiated  sometimes prefer to say that they practice “Regla de Ocha”, even though these terms have the same meaning. A lot of people view followers of Santeria as “evil” based on the fact that they perform animal sacrifice, and modern media only cares to cover stories about “animal remains being discovered”, or other stories meant to demonize Santeria, instead of trying to learn about everything else that Santeria practitioners do, and how they can positively impact society. Again, the outsider’s view comes into play in how in people who don’t practice Santeria, often their only exposure to it is through negative media, instead of the real perspectives of people that are part of Santeria and its culture.

Overall, I thought that it was worth going to Professor Rodriguez’s lecture. He spoke from a point of experience about Santeria as a modern religion, and the hardships that they face, which is important to know. Although I am an outsider to the religion of Santeria, I feel that after listening to the perspective of an insider, I am much more informed about Santeria culture and how Santeria functions in society.

Works Cited:

Miner, Horacce. “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” American Anthropologist 58:3, pp. 5–8.