out through mediumistic séances, and he preached
a kind of Christian morality based on suffering,
charity, and spiritual development. All this had
been dictated to him by spirits.
Although Kardecan spiritism—or Espiritismo
as it came to be called—first took hold among lit-
erate highly placed Cuban Creoles who wanted
independence from Spain and were alienated from
the Spanish-dominated Catholic church, it eventu-
ally worked its way down to the urban masses and
out into the countryside. Although Santeria had
been transmitted primarily by oral tradition since
at least the 18th century, and although Rivail’s
books had to be smuggled into Cuba because they
were illegal, his writings still had an impact on
the development of Santeria. Some Santeria priests
came to view apprenticeship as a spiritist medium
as a valid, even necessary prerequisite for the
practice of their religion. They became adepts
in both systems and also adopted some of
Espiritismo’s healing techniques.
Although Catholicism and Espiritismo have
affected the development of Santeria, its ritual sys-
tem and cosmology remain essentially African in
character, with a strong fidelity to Yoruba prac-
tices. Among the faithfully preserved aspects of
Yoruba religion in Santeria are the names and per-
sonalities of the Yoruba deities, divination pro-
cedures, ceremonial spirit possession and trance,
Yoruba liturgical music and musical instruments,
dance as a medium of worship, Yoruba language
prayers and incantations, beliefs in ancestor ven-
eration and reincarnation, and sacrificial prac-
tices. Santeria contains a vast compendium of
herbal medicine and healing ritual, much of which
also has African analogues.
BeliefsDespite the impact of Espiritismo and Christianity,
Yoruba religious conceptions clearly dominate
Santeria’s pantheon, ritual, and worldview.
Santeria theology recognizes a somewhat distant
Supreme Being, called by various Yoruba names,
such asOlodumare,Olorun, andOlofi, or simply
Dios(God) in Spanish. The Supreme Being created
the universe and all things in it, including the
orisha, who are the main focus of worship. The
orisha (also calledsantos) are powerful spiritual
beings—at once forces of nature, guardians of
particular facets of human life, and magnified
human personality types—sent by Olodumare to
populate and civilize the Earth and endow it with
the essential powers necessary for the harmonious
existence of all living things. Although there are
innumerable orishas throughout the world, and
the number of them known among Yorubas in
Nigeria is large, only a few have special promi-
nence in Santeria, and each of these corresponds to
a saint also known and venerated in Cuba’s
Catholic churches.
The spirits of people who have died are also
important. The ancestral Dead are closer to
human beings than they are to Olodumare or the
orisha, and deceased family members continue to
have an intimate connection with their descen-
dants. The ancestral Dead are capable of interven-
ing in the affairs of their living relatives and can be
called on to intercede with the orisha. Although
they are less powerful than the orisha and less
attention is given to them, they still receive respect
and veneration, and all devotees have a small altar
devoted to them.
An encompassing energy,aché, flows through
and envelopes the entire hierarchy of beings from
Olodumare, through the orisha, the ancestral
Dead and other spirits, plants, animals, and the
entire natural world. This energy can be manipu-
lated through rituals and can be made to manifest
itself in different forms. Each orisha has its own
divine power, or aché, through which it is sus-
tained and through which it acts on the aspects of
the world over which Olodumare gave it domin-
ion. When the orisha first formed human beings,
they also taught them how to access each orisha’s
power. This knowledge is the basis of the rituals
and doctrines of the different priesthoods.
Through these rituals, devotees expect to achieve
an active harmony with the Supreme Being, a
closer relationship with the orisha and the natural
world, and increased control over the forces
affecting their lives and personal fortunes.
Santeria is neither a salvation religion that rejects
the world nor a revealed religion with an authorita-
tive founder or holy book. For Santeria devotees,
spiritual beings and religious truths do not exist in
a world apart from the natural and social world
known to our senses; instead, they reside within it.
Santeria has an intensely hierarchical, human-
centered, and this-worldly cosmology that does notSanteria 591