Las Mujeres Cubanas y la Santeria

1
Las Mujeres Cubanas y la Santeria

• Women Practicing Santeria in Cuba
• Nancy J. Padrón

2
Introduction

• CUBA
• The most practiced religion on the
• Island is Santeria.
• Born among the African Yoruban people who were
  taken to Cuba as slaves between the 16th and 19th
  centuries.

3
Definition

• Santeria
• Means veneration of the Saints
• Fuses African myths with Catholic Saints.
• Syncretic religion
• Orisha
• A divine being, who like Catholic Saints, is
  petitioned on behalf of humanity and whos origin
  stems from the religious worldview of the Yoruba
  people.

4
Syncretization

• Virgen de las Mercedes
• Our Lady of Mercy

• Obatala

5
Syncretization

• Ochun

• Virgen de la Caridad
• (Patron Saint of Cuba)
• Our Lady of Charity

6
Syncretization

• Chango

• Santa Barbara
• St. Barbara

7
Syncretization

• Virgen de Regla
• Our Lady of Rule

• Yemaya

8
Society in Cuba

• Santeria is understood to permeate
• all aspects of Cuban society.
• Currently, it is estimated that between 91 and
  96 of Cubans practice Santeria.

9
Ferminita Gomez

• Born in 1860 and Died in 1958
• Omo Yemaya
• Yemaya Daughter

10
Ferminita Gomez

• Was the first Santera to perform an Olokun
  Ceremony in Cuba a very detailed and involved
  ceremony that no one had been able to perform
  before her.
• The rituals of this ceremony were passed down to
  her from her great, grandmother to her
  grandmother to her mother and then to her.
• She was a respected Santera who was doted upon by
  many whites in Matanzas, Cuba.

11
Role of Women

• Contrary to the status of women in
• Cuba, particularly people of color who
• had been subjugated for centuries..
• In Santeria, the women were respected
• and revered because they played an
• integral role in the hierarchy of the
• religion.

12
Santeras

• The reason for this reverence was because women
  symbolically gave birth to their Godchildren in a
  ceremony called an Asiento (which is when the
  Iyawo (Initiate) is joined with the Orisha that
  claims them).
• Asientos can not take place if Men are the only
  ones present. Symbolically, since men can not
  give birth

13
Santeras as Godmothers

• Santeras take their role as Godmothers very
  seriously and from the moment the initate is born
  the baby Iyawo is their responsibility and
  the care which includes instruction and training
  - is a lifetime commitment. Symbolic to
  Motherhood.

14
Women as Iyawos

• The Iyawo after a year learns the teachings of
  her ancestors - is then ready to practice as a
  Santera as evaluated by the Godmother and by the
  learning that has taken place which prepares her
  to participate rituals and ceremonies.

15
Conclusion

• Santeria, in spite of being a full
• fledged religion in its own right was never
  granted the status of other religious
  institutions in Cuba.
• Instead it was looked upon as a
• folkloric religion.

16
Conclusion

• Paradoxically, today, due to the fact that
  Catholics and others were persecuted when Fidel
  Castro took over the country Santeria has now
  taken its place within Cuban Society and Society
  at large.

17
Conclusion

• There is a concern among Santeras, the
  Godchildren of Ferminita Gomez, that Santeria is
  allowed to be practiced not so much for its
  religious and spiritual reverence - but for its
  economic revenues as a main source of touristic
  attraction.