"Old Roots in a New Land”: An Examination of the Africanity of Santeria in Cuba

Abstract

The axiom that culture is dynamic, adaptive and resilient is exemplified in the Santeria of Cuba. Much of the picture of dehumanization, atrocities, and the treatment of slaves as chattels in the New World came from the Caribbean. Ironically, it was here that the slaves were better equipped to preserve their African culture. The factors that accounted for this include the climate and the topography of the area, demography, the predominance of Yoruba culture in the Black communities, the gang system of organizing labour, and weak white ideological presence. By check-mating the acculturation or creolization process, we saw how the interplay of African culture and Euro-American environment combined to bring about the emergence of Santeria. As an African-based religion, the Africanness of Santeria is evident in "magara" and the orisha system of worship as prescribed by the Yoruba of Nigeria. In its ritual, liturgical music and dance, etiquette, world-view, and material symbols, Santeria is discernibly Yoruba. As African religion re-created in the New World, it is also syncretist, having as its integral part the Spanish folk Catholicism and the Kardecan spiritism of France.