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When the black slaves were
brought to Cuba, they carried with them a whole magic world of stories
and legends containing ancestral experience of incalculable value.
These epic stories, immensely rich by reason of their texts and often
accompanied by songs, have been transmitted to us across the ages
by an oral tradition which has developed in different directions in
Cuba and in Nigeria - differing according to the characters of the
narrators who have brought this wealth of culture down to us. The
Yoruba religion, better known in Cuba as Santería, is based on a pantheon
of African gods created in the image of men. These man-gods are in
fact ancestors, and they dispose of a vast quantity of knowledge and
experience collected along the centuries. In addition, they are capable
of acts of magic, which confers upon them an unparalleled respect
amongst those who practise the religion. When they die, these man-gods
become divinities reigning over several African peoples. In fact,
the word Yoruba covers a number of different peoples speaking the
Yoruba language or dialects having the same root. Geographically,
they inhabit a region covering the south and south-east of present
Nigeria as well as part of modern Benin. The black slaves of Cuba
were brought from Africa by the Spaniards as part of the slave trade,
mainly during the 17th and 18th centuries, in order to replace the
Indians already inhabiting the island, who were apparently not fit
for the hard work involved in sugar and tobacco production. The Indians
were gradually wiped out, and more black Africans had to be imported
to satisfy the huge European demand for Cuba's products during that
period. It has been impossible to discover why the Yorubas became
the most influential group amongst all the ethnic groups enslaved
- of which there were more than 40. The Yorubas succeeded in imposing
on the others their liturgical rites, with all the songs, music and
dances which go with them. Without entering into too much detail,
we shall in these pages try to explain this complex phenomenon - which
exists in an almost identical form in Haiti with voodoo and in Brazil
with Candomblé. The first thing to remember is that the conditions
in which the slaves were captured, the way they were imprisoned by
their captors and the journey to Cuba, taken together, were responsible
for the deaths of more than half of this precious "ebony wood". Many
of them preferred to take their own lives, either during the journey
or upon arrival, when they saw the dreadful conditions in which they
were expected to live. Suicide seemed an ideal remedy, since many
of them believed in reincarnation. This tendency to commit suicide
was all the more marked amongst slaves separated from their ethnic
groups, i.e. from their own language and their own rites. The colonists
noticed this fact fairly quickly and, for obvious reasons of work
yield, they came to understand that when they purchased slaves they
should try to respect certain ethnic principles in order to prevent
too much loss due to suicide. They instituted a system of information
gathering and tried to make certain slaves interested in working in
self-supervision positions. In this way they created mini-societies
for each plantation which established a role and a place for each
individual slave. This also reduced the number of suicides. To give
the slaves a sense of purpose in their lives, they also allowed them
to organise festivals from time to time, in which they could perform
the music, songs and dances of their peoples. They also allowed their
black slaves to come together in groups known as 'cabildos', each
of which was made up of one ethnic group, in order to prepare the
festival of the Three Kings (January 6, or Epiphany). During the celebrations,
each cabildo appointed a king for a year, and there were processions
through the streets headed by the flag of each African people. It
is for such reasons that these cultures of African origin have been
preserved in Cuba. We would also like to explain a number of key ideas
which will allow our readers to enter more fully into this culture,
while trying to maintain the trilogy contained in the 'wemilere' (or
festival), which combines in an inseparable manner the three elements
of dance, song and percussion. As this religion is essentially imitative
in character, the religious ceremonies mix together men and gods,
since the gods 'descend' in order to possess a member of the assembly
and to express themselves through him. When the 'son' of one of the
gods falls into a trance (or 'rises'), the words pronounced will be
for the purpose of counselling those present and, contrary to what
is often thought and which is the case in some other religions, always
in a positive manner. This means that negative action against other
people is never required by the gods. As in Catholicism, there exists
a religious hierarchy including priests known as 'babalaos'. We will
now briefly describe the various gods or 'orishas' which make up the
Yoruba pantheon. These are worshipped by the faithful in a carefully
defined order during their religious services. Eleggua is an orisha
major. He holds the keys of destiny. He opens the doors of fortune
and misfortune. He is the personification of chance and of death.
He is the bearer of the mountain and of the savannah, the son of Obatalà
and Yemu. He is the first in rank of the group of four warriors (Eleggua,
Oggún, Ochosi and Osun). He won a sufficient number of privileges
over Olofi, Obatalà and Orula to be the first, and is therefore also
known as Okana. No orisha precedes him , for Olofi said to him "Because
you are the smallest, and my messenger, you shall be the greatest
on earth and in heaven, and nothing can be done if you are against
it". His colours are red and black, and his worshippers carry them
on necklaces. All children's toys are his symbols. In the Catholic
religion, Eleggua is syncretised as the child of Atocha, St. Anthony
of Padua and 'l'anima sola'. He always carries with him a 'garabato',
which is a branch shaped like a scythe, enabling him to separate the
high grass, thus opening and closing the ways of life. He also lives
behind doors and personifies the burlesque side of destiny as in the
hands of a child, which sometimes seems to make a mockery of us all.
Oggún is the owner of the metals. He is an irascible and solitary
dweller of the mountains. When the orishas come down to earth, it
is he with his untiring machete who must carve out a way for the other
gods amongst the bushes and the weeds. He used to live with his parents,
Obatalà and Yemu, alongside his brothers, Ochosi and Eleggua. He is
violent and crafty, the patron of all mechanics, engineers, chemists
and soldiers. He represents the gatherer of magic herbs, the solitary
hunter, and he is at the same time brusque and bestial. He is the
holder of the keys of prisons. His colours are, green, black and violet.
He is syncretised with St. Peter, St. Paul and with St. John the Baptist,
among others, according to the locality. Ochosi is the son of Yemayà,
the patron of all those in trouble with the law, as well as magicians,
hunters and fishermen. He dances with Ochún, and he is worshipped
in particular before surgical operations, because he is said to be
the friend of Abbata, who is part of the Inle, the medical group of
the Ocha (which is a branch of the Santería). He is also supposed
to be the possessor of the lancet. His dances are imitations of a
huntsman with a bow and arrows, searching for prey and shooting it.
He dresses in violet, and carries a beggar's bag of tiger skin. Obatalà
was sent by Olofin to create the earth and shape man. He is an orisha
major, the ideal of a pure god. He is the owner of the colour white,
of thoughts and of dreams. He was sent to govern the earth and guarantee
peace and harmony. He is the only one powerful enough to govern over
Changó and Oggún. He is respected by all the other orishas, and it
is he whom they seek as their advocate in cases of dispute. No on
may swear or undress in his presence. His colour is white, and his
dance represents the tranquil movements of ancients who used a horse's
tail to tidy the ways of life. He is syncretised with the Virgin of
Mercy. Yemayà is an orisha major. She is the mother of life and is
considered as the mother of all the orishas. She is the owner of water
and represents the sea, which is the fundamental source of life. She
is untameable and skilful. She uses her machete both for hunting and
for cutting the high grass. Her punishments are very hard and her
anger terrible, but always just. Her colour is blue, and her dances
show her plunging her head and hands into water to take out fish and
shells. Full of joy, with laughing often heard, this dance begins
quietly. Then, in imitation of the sea, it gradually whips up. The
dancers whirl round and round, with their robes undulating like the
waves of the sea. It is interesting to note that Yemayà's popularity
increased during the unfortunate period of the 'balseros' (summer
1994), because as owner of the sea she was thought to protect those
desperate Cubans who after offering their prayers to her cast themselves
to the mercy of the sea in makeshift rafts on the hazardous voyage
to Florida. Ochún, goddess of love, of femininity, and the river.
She symbolises flirtatiousness, feminine grace and sexuality. She
is the wife of Changó and also the close friend of Eleggua, who protects
her. She is always happy, she laughs often and loud, and she adores
parties. She is also capable of both provoking and resolving fights
caused by jealousy amongst men and amongst orishas. Her colour is
yellow, and she is the owner of coral. She is syncretised by the Virgin
of Charity in copper. A church has been dedicated to her near Santiago.
Changò is king of the drums, king of joy, king of women, and simply
king, because he was born of the hands of his father Olofin. He appears
suddenly like a flash of lightning, menacing with his axe. He is virility
itself, sitting upon an a ivory horse, and when he utters his powerful
war-cry "Kabie sile Changò", women start to sway with their hips,
and his house, the palm tree, begins to wave with the pulsating wind.
Flames of fire bite the sky with their magic flashes. Then Changò,
Obbadimeyi, projects with all his strength from his pelvis the drums
of Iya, Itòtele and Okonkolo, from which emerges the 'wemilere' (the
festival). This is imbued with love and faith. His colours are red
and white (blood and love). He is syncretised in Saint Barbara. Oyà
Yansà is the goddess of the great contrasts. She is the whiteness
of the lightning in the black night, but she is also the dainty goddess
of flowers in a world of violence. Her dress of nine colours moves
when she utters her war-cry "Yansà jecua jei!" She has an army of
spirits who accompany her when she goes out to battle. She is the
only fighting women in the Yoruba pantheon, and that is why she was
able to free Changò from his prison cell. She is the wind, the tornado,
the whirlwind - out of which come fire and light. She is madly in
love with Obbalube Changò, the king. For him she would do anything,
even kill if necessary, thanks to her 'Iruke' (a horse's tail which
disperses evil spirits). She is called the gravedigger, because after
killing she sits at the gates of her house, the graveyard, to await
her prey. Babalu Ayé, another orisha major, saintly and greatly venerated,
is the god of sickness. He has the special characteristic of having
been banished from land of the Yoruba for bad behaviour and to have
been found again in the land of the Ararà. He was punished with leprosy
- this being the reason why he is most particularly the god of skin
diseases. His disappearance and re-appearance is the reason why the
music offered up to him may be played either in the Yoruba way with
'batàs' drums or in the Ararà way with the rest of the drums and with
other rhythms and melodies. He is synchronised with St. Lazarus, his
colours are white and blue, and his dance represents a limping leper
who waves away the flies which irritate him. He is the symbol of everything
that is ugly. He continually scratches and speaks in an ugly nasal
tone. These are the most important gods of the Yoruba pantheon. We
have mentioned the colours of each god because it often happens both
in Cuba and elsewhere that those who practise the Santerìa religion
wear necklaces in the colours of the god to which they belong. The
babalao conducts a ceremony which determines the god to which a believer
belongs, and once that is established he is initiated during a kind
of baptismal service during which offerings are made. From that moment
the initiate must obey a number of restrictive rules during a specified
period, which is generally a year. This is why one sometimes comes
across people entirely clothed in white who will greet one not with
a shake of the hand but by crossing their arms across their chests.
For more information we include below a short bibliography - only
in Spanish for the moment - which should enable you to increase your
knowledge about this fascinating subject. But of course the most important
step towards knowledge is to discover this marvellous universe by
travelling to Cuba. If you find the idea of a trip of interest, please
do not hesitate to contact us.
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