Santería is an Afrocuban religion based in a variety of spiritual practices and their blending, including The Rule of Ocha, Ifa, Spiritisim, Palo, and Catholicism. Practitioners, known as Santeros, work with a variety of life forces known as Orishas, spirits, and other natural elements and forces to help one achieve balance and accomplish their destiny. It has many shapes and forms, and may be practiced differently in one temple to another, as well as one country to another.
It should be noted here that I am an initiate of the Ataré {Black Peppercorn} branch, and my house is of the Havana style coming from Cuba. My intention with writing this is to alleviate much of the confusion associated with the religion. I am in no way trying to say that this is the right way nor that I am the ultimate authority, and I encourage you to ask any knowledgeable Santero for his or her interpretations if you need extra guidance.
While Santería is a monotheistic religion, Santeros principally do not worship Olofí {God} directly. Instead, they worship the Egun {dead, spirits} and the Orishas. First and foremost Santeros worship the spirits that accompany us. We believe that we are spirits having a human experience, and after dying we go back to our spiritual form, and may continue to stay on earth to conduct more missions or until our spirits have further evolved. For any type of ceremony or religious gathering, Santeros start by praying and making offerings to their spiritual quadrant, which consists not only of their own spirit guides and ancestors but great Santeros that have come before them.
All Santeros also worship the Orishas. There is a vast and complex pantheon of spiritual and life forces that were sent by Olofí to govern the earth and oversee human kind. Each Orisha was given special missions and powers to execute and have their own natural elements and attributes. Every human has a Guardian Angel, which is his or her principal Orisha that essentially helped pull this person out of the spiritual world and gave birth to them in the human world.
Santería is a beautiful religion and based on destiny and a series of signs called Oduns, which are a belief system and set of values. In each Odun there are a number of stories, prohibitions, and pieces of advice that must be interpreted and applied to the persons everyday life. Each sign may also be ire {positive} or ofo {negative}. One should always seek to remain ire and listen to the advice of the Odun in order to do so.
There is no central church and no specific way to practice, but there are many generally agreed upon principals by which its practitioners should live their lives. Santeros should always seek to be the utmost ethical and respectable of all in their community. They must be clean and organized, as well as humble, selfless, and have respect for their elders. Santeros believe in a karmic law, and thus should never wish negative things upon anyone else. Outside of these general principals, each Santero is given his or her own set of Oduns by which they need to conduct their life which is completely depending upon that person's own destiny. Also, they will have have their own set of prohibitions and advice on how to live their life.
Instead of a church, we have an Ile {temple}. Ile is also the word for house, and in many Santería communities the principal Ile will be that of one's God-Parents. Santeros and members of the community often get together for a variety of reasons, including religious ceremonies, anniversaries of initiations, and feast days of the most commonly syncretized Catholic saints.
The greatest type of celebration in Santería is called a Tambor {drum}. In this ceremony, three people will play an intricate pattern of drumming, lead by an Akpon {singer}, who calls out songs for the Orishas. Anybody in attendance is encouraged to respond to the songs and dance. Each tambor will be in honor of a specific Orisha. A chosen Santero who has this Orisha crowned and has been trained in the mysteries of his or her dance will be there, with the sole purpose of dancing and eventually being mounted and possessed by the Orisha itself.
Santería is a hierarchical religion which may be practiced to a certain degree by anyone. Initially, anyone that believes in the Orishas but has not done the full initiation to become a Santero is known as an Aleyo. If the Aleyo would like to become a Santero, there are a variety of initiations they go through, the greatest of which is to crown their Guardian Angel onto their own head, at which point they will become an Iyawo. Finally, after successfully completing the year long Iyaworaje, they become a Santero.
After becoming a Santero, if one desires to continue to achieve an elevated status in the religion and their Guardian Angel has given them permission to do so, there are a few positions they may seek to obtain. First, they can become a Pinaldero. A Pinaldero is given access to more ceremonies and given more priveledges and responsibilities in their Ile. It also gives them the right to become an Ori Ate's apprentice. The next step is to become an Ori Ate, or leader of ceremonies. The highest position one can achieve is to become an Oba, or King.
Santería was born when the Spanish began enslaving West Africans and bringing them to Cuba, where they were forced to leave behind their traditional religions and convert to Catholicism. However, their were so many similarities between the African Orishas and the Catholic Saints that they were able to instead syncretize the two and continue their beliefs.
Because of the secrecy under which it was forced in the new world, it has unfortunately turned into a controversial and often misunderstood religion. This website is dedicated toward clarifying the confusion and helping to bring light to people that are looking to get started.
