Facets of Faith for Jan. 7, 2012

Cuba, Haiti contribute religions to Louisiana

As Africans were brought to the West to serve as slaves, they were forced to adapt to Roman Catholicism, their owner’s religion.

However, these groups found that their traditional native African beliefs dovetailed well with the structure of saints and the rituals within Catholicism.

This led to the creation of several religions, including Voodoo and Santeria, which grew while remaining hidden from white owners. Santeria is the subject of the main story in this week’s People & Faith section.

Santeria is Spanish and means the way of the saints.

Voodoo comes from a West African word that means lesser deities, spirits or sacred objects.

When reading about both religions or seeing them portrayed in movies, they sound very similar. The Encyclopedia of Religion in the South says that the main difference between the two is that Santeria, which came from Cuba, is more outwardly Catholic, while Voodoo, which came from Haiti with a side trip to Cuba, is more outwardly African.

Voodoo is probably the better-known since it entered Louisiana in the early 1700s. Santeria came to the U.S. in 1959.

Voodoo and Santeria share many things:

• Both come from West Africa: Santeria from the Yoruba and Bantu tribes, which are in current-day Nigeria and Benin, and Voodoo from the Dahomey tribe in present-day Benin.
• Both overlay a set of gods or spirits on the structure of Catholic saints.
• When both came to the United States, they flourished in New Orleans, New York, Miami and other locations.
• Both rely on dance and music in rituals.
• Both believe in a supreme being and in other spirits or lesser deities.
• Both use magical, mystical or supernatural actions to influence their lives.
• Trances caused by the spirits and animal sacrifices are common to both religions.

Other Caribbean islands developed similar religious practices:

• Obeah is from Antigua, the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and in Surinam.
• Myal, a form of Obeah, and Pukkumina are from Jamaica.
• Quimbois is from Martinique and Guadeloupe.

As with Voodoo and Santeria, each religion shares the above characteristics, but the terminology and practice was determined by the culture of the island and of its ruling country.

Sources: Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, Samuel S. Hill; Slave Religion, Albert J. Raboteau; Creole Religions of the Caribbean, Margarite Fernandez Olmos and Lizabth Paravisini-Gebert; Santeria, Miguel A. De La Torre; Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult, George A. Mather and Larry A. Nichols; Encyclopedia Britannica; The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions, Keith Crim, editor; The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, Jonathan Z. Smith, editor

Contact Leila Pitchford-English at [e-mail] or P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821.