SANTERA

(SpanishThe Way of the Saints) , also called La Regla de Ocha (Spanish: The Order of the Orishas) or La Religin Lucum (Spanish: The Order of Lucum) religious tradition of African origin that came to Cuba in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with the Yoruba (of modern Nigeria and Benin), who were brought to work as slaves on sugar plantations. By masking their deities with the faces of popular Roman Catholic saints, the Yoruba were able to preserve their religious tradition despite the scrutiny of slaveholders. Santera, or Lucum, as practitioners of the religion prefer to call it, spread to neighbouring islands and the United States. The main focus of the religion is the development of a personal relationship with one of the numerous patron spirits (Yoruban: orishas) and the performance of rituals associated with them. Among the principal saints are Saint Peter, who is identified with Elegu, the gatekeeper to the gods, and Saint Barbara, who is associated with Shang, the embodiment of justice and strength. Although not immortal, orishas are powerful spirits who offer protection, success, and wisdom to their devotees. They often seek them out in times of crisis. Devotees are assisted by a priestbabalorisha (Yoruban: father of the orisha), iyalorisha (Yoruban: mother of the orisha) or, in Spanish, santero or santerawhose body and consciousness have been entered by an orisha. The priests practice divination, using fetishes made of bones or shells to determine the source of the devotee's problems. Devotees offer food and perform ritual animal sacrifices, rites that establish permanent unions between them and the orishas. The most important and dramatic rituals are the bembs, ceremonies suffused in elaborate rhythms and involving communal drumming and dancing. During these ceremonies, it is believed, orishas enter, or mount, the bodies of the celebrants, sing and dance with them, and offer advice to the other participants. Because many adherents of Santera were part of the diaspora created by the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the religion spread to Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the United States, and elsewhere. It also remains popular in Cuba. The exact number of priests and practitioners remains uncertain because the religion lacks formal structure and its communities remain autonomous. Estimates, however, have placed the number at tens of thousands of priests and hundreds of thousands of practitioners in the United States alone. The many botnicas (stores that sell herbs and items for the religion's rites) in the cities on the East Coast of the United States further attest to Santera's continued growth among the exile community.