Santería
The Yoruba people, who were brought over from Nigeria as slaves, came to the Caribbean in the 1500’s with their own religion, which was seen as unfit by the white slave owners. Most plantation owners in the Caribbean were members of the Roman Catholic Church, so they forced their slaves to disregard their native religions and become Catholic. Soon, the slaves realized that they could still practice their West African religion as long as it was disguised as Catholicism, and Santería was born. Now it’s practiced in the United States, Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Great Britain, Canada, Venezuela, and Panama.
Based on Santería, people are born under a guardian Orisha, or saint, that must be worshipped throughout life. Each Orisha is an aspect of one supreme god. The seven main Orishas are known as the Seven African Powers. Eleggua is the gatekeeper between life and the afterlife in heaven and is the connection between the Orishas, humans, and god. He is very powerful because without him, there would be no communication between humanity and the saints. The Catholic Saint that is associated with Eleggua is Saint Anthony, and the colors associated with him are red and black.
Obatala is acknowledged as the parent of the Orishas and all of humanity, the creator of the world, and the enforcer of justice. He is linked with qualities of intelligence, harmony, compassion, and purity, so his color is white. In Catholicism, he represents the saint Our Lady of Mercy. According to legend, Obatala would consume so much palm wine while forming the bodies of babies who were going to be born, that many of them were born deformed. He was told by his spiritual guide, Olofi, that he wasn’t allowed to drink palm wine while performing his most important job. Now, any child who his born with a defect is considered to be a child of Obatala, so taunting them isn’t allowed.
Yemaya is the spirit of maternity, mother of all wealth, rules over witches, and is comparable in Catholicism to the Virgin Regla. Her real name is Yey Omo Eja, or Mother of Fish, which comes from the idea that life begins in the sea, and that developing babies are like fish. Similar to the oceans and the rivers, she has mysterious depths, but at the same time she exhibits nurturing maternal qualities. Her colors are blue and white, and she is sometimes referred to the spirit of mercy because of her loyalty to her children.
In Santeria, Yorubas then continue to worship and honor the Orishas and to practice their strong religious beliefs. The Yoruba rituals are modified and made similar to that of the Catholic religion. As aforementioned , when the Africans where brought to Cuba and the other New Lands they saw themselves forced to disguise theri ancestral religion and to embrace the church of theri captors. This created a complex religious mixture of beliefs. Because of its roots in Africa the worship of the saints has been a misunderstood religion, sometimes reffered to as unciviliazed and almost always viewed as a dark religion or a devil worshipping religion.
Modern practitioners of Santeria may be attracted to the religion for a variety of reasons, notable among which are curiosity with secret rituals and the longing among many immigrants and people of color to get in touch with Caribbean and African roots. What each specific individual wants from a religion is difficult to generalize upon, but Santeria offers a way for people to achieve harmony in their lives through communication with and obedience to orishas, the divine beings that act as intermediaries between humans and the Supreme Being, Olodumare. Santeria teaches how to know and appease the specific desires of a pantheon of orishas who alert devotees to problems in their lives and protect them from harm. In addition to a distinctive and demanding set of rituals that requires a commitment of time and energy from believers, Santeria offers a rich history and a supportive community that make it a way of life and not just a passive belief structure that bears little relevance to the daily life of its adherents.
Today in California we are blessed with such diversity and ethnical outlooks that make this state what it is today. However, the diversity didn't just popped up out of the ground and grows. It has come from along line of dedication and work, through community and most of all church. Churches like Saddleback, First A. M. E, and now more recently Dream Center and many others. Technology is helping lead the way for many of these churches both new and old. The new ideas of the Southern Californian Protestant churches are beginning to liven up the churches with music, dance, and picture and paintings. Years ago they had paintings and color but not to the extent of this new era. Take mission San Juan Capistrano for example, it is a very well known church but, in this modern day it can't compete with churches like F. A. M. E.
Before Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1492, The Spanish Inquisition made it known to anyone within Spain’s domain of influence that if a person was not of the Catholic religion, they were to be punished severely and sometimes even fatally. This influence would undoubtedly be brought over to the Americas a century later, as the colonization of the New World would begin by then. While it was very essential for the Spanish (as well as the Portuguese) to improve their economy by using the resources they found in Latin America, it seemed to a number of them as if that was the only reason for being there, or the main reason at the very least. During the Spanish Inquisition and from that point after, it was the Pope’s main goal, to convert everyone to Roman Catholicism; an opportune moment arrived as the Americas were found, along with the Natives who resided there who were waiting to be converted.
To begin, most Africans have come from societies with traditional African religious backgrounds unrelated to Islam or Christianity. As a whole, African religious traditions combine belief in a Supreme Being with the worship of other gods and ancestors and use ritual and magic to mediate between human beings, nature, and the gods. In many African languages, there is no word for God, because in their tradition every thing and place embodies God. Many African religions have common tenets. They share a belief in a community of deities, the idea that ancestors serve as a way to communicate with these deities. They also share the belief...
the Church maintained its relationship with the now-Creole elite at the expense of its relationship with other indigenous, mestizo and African sectors of the population. It closely aligned itself with the Conservative rather than Liberal parties in many countries which resulted in the severance of Church-state relationships in Ecuador, Brazil, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Chile and Mexico. By the 1930s the Church found itself in the position of losing influence with the Latin American population. Maintaining its links to the conservative party and landowning elites of Latin America. The syncretism of religion in Latin America is the result of when combining beliefs which then changes the idea or the main thought of religion or belief system. This will usually result with the leader or leaders of the principle religion to become upset but not so much for the people who practice it. For example, “After independence was won from Spain, the creole elite split into conservatives and liberals. One of the issues of contention was the status of the Catholic Church. The liberals wanted religious toleration and secularization of some of the church's
Yemanjá is the Queen of the Ocean in Candomblé beliefs. She is one of the seven orixas of the African Pantheon. She has many names in different variations of the religion. In Africa she is called Yemoja, Ymoja, Yemowo, and Mami Wata, to Brazil she is known as Yemanjá, and Janaína, Cuba has many names for her including, Yemaya, Yemayah, Iemanya, and Madre Agua, Haiti calls her LaSiren (Spaceman). There are many different variations of her name in different countries which all derive from the Yoruba expression, “Yeye Emo Eja” which means “Mother Whose Children Are like Fish” (Solun). She is the same deity in all of her variations. She is Queen of the Ocean, a sea goddess, and mother of all orixas.
Puerto Ricans often stray from the orthodox boundaries of Catholicism. Catholics pay rich homage to the saints, which is common in Latin America, however, parts of the island still believe in the evil eye, saints’ miracle, faith healing, and witchcraft. Catholic icons are often seen around household...
Within the past twenty years scientology has dominated celebrity culture. The religion has increased its celebrity following, and as a consequence has been put in the spotlight. Scientology is a fairly new religion that was founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard started his career as a science fiction writer, but one day when he was under anesthesia at the dentist he had an epiphany that inspired Scientology. He believed he knew all the answers to the universe, and he wrote Dianetics, which has become a guide book for the religion (Christian Century). Scientology focuses on the soul and clarity of the mind. In scientology the soul is called a thetan, and followers are required to “undertake the path of mental liberation with the help of another person, a spiritual counselor called an auditor” (Molloy). Auditing how scientologists free and overcome problems from past lives that their thetan inhabited. Molloy says, that scientology has roots in Buddhism and Hinduism because of the connection to past lives and liberation of the soul. L. Ron Hubbard set out to make a thriving religion that would grow and prosper.
The Scientology religion deals with the human spirit and its relationship to the universe and its Creator. It teaches that its fundamental laws of life, when used, help people gain a happier and more fulfilling life. Scientology teaches many different methods that soon help with dealing with different life situations and personal belonging. It gives people another way of life. It attempts at bringing joy into peoples lives by being more of a personal counselor then anything else. It gives another way to help you with your life problems with giving people confidence once again in themselves . Some techniques are used to aid in the fights against drugs, crimes, and immorality. This religion is more of something that someone does, its not just a bunch of beliefs that people just learn and live by.
Religion is one of the most scared aspects a person has in his or her life; for many practitioners
When mentioned to the general public, the word “Pentecostalism” generates three diverse responses: confusion, mockery, and tolerance; some people never heard of the word, some people view it as being infamous, and the rest accept it. According to the Oxford dictionary, Pentecostalism “relates to any number of Christian sects emphasizing baptism in the Holy Spirit.” Misconceptions originated from the misunderstanding of the history of Pentecostalism, along with the notion that Pentecostalism is one sect when, in fact, there are many divisions. The largest of these is the teachings of Charismatic’s, which make up the most prevalent part of the denomination and have been the driving force for the assumptions and reputation that Pentecostalism has garnered. To truly understand Pentecostalism, one needs to learn the religions history, the standard beliefs of the various sects, and the contemporary changes that some followers have made in the recent years that have fueled the current fallacy about the belief system.
Obierika – He is a close and loyal friend to Okonkwo. He is always there for him, even when he is banished for seven years, Obierika still comes to visit Okonkwo and his family in the motherland. He also takes care of the yam distribution and it’s payment because Okonkwo is unable to do so.
The first Catholic priests came to South America with the conquistadors and through social and political force superimposed 16th century Catholicism upon conquered peoples and in subsequent generations upon slaves arriving in the New World. Catholicism has, likewise, frequently absorbed, rather than confronted, popular folk religious beliefs. The resulting religion is often overtly Catholic but covertly pagan. Behind the Catholic facade, the foundations and building structure reflect varying folk religious traditions. (2)