The Religions Book

304

MESSAGES TO

AND FROM HOME

THE AFRICAN ROOTS OF SANTERIA

S

anteria is a religion that

combines traditional

western African religion

with Catholicism. This blended,

or syncretic, religion developed in

Cuba between the 16th and 18th

centuries. During this period, huge

numbers of people from western

Africa were enslaved and taken to

work on the Caribbean plantations

IN CONTEXT

KEY BELIEVERS

Displaced Yoruba people

from western Africa

WHEN AND WHERE

From 16th century, Cuba

BEFORE

From prehistory African

tribal mythologies incorporate

strong links to the land and to

the ancestors.

9th–6th centuries BCE The

people of the kingdom of

Judah maintain their faith

while in exile in Assyria,

Babylon, and Egypt.

15th–19th centuries

European colonial conquests

are accompanied by forcible

conversions to Christianity.

AFTER

19th century The slave trade

is abolished; Creole religions

are practiced more openly in

the Caribbean and Brazil.

1970s Santeria becomes

established in the US.

that were established following

the Spanish colonization of the

islands. The Yoruba people of

present-day Nigeria and Benin

formed the majority of those taken

to the Cuban sugar plantations.

These slaves came from the well-

established Oyo Empire, which had

a sophisticated religious tradition.

This was outlawed by the Spanish.

In this way, believers continued to transmit

messages to and from home.

Slaves taken from western Africa to the Caribbean

However, they retained the elements of communication

with their gods, spirits, and ancestors in Africa through

trances and possession.

...took their religion with them and incorporated it into

the Christianity of their owners, initially to conceal its

nature from them.