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Syncretism The African presence in the Americas has left an indelible imprint not only on the region's economic, social, and ethnic aspects; but even more so in the cultural, artistic, and religious development of this hemisphere. The study of this presence and its influences has gained tremendous significance in the current century, as has the interest in syncretism or juxtaposed religions created by a blending of Christian and African religious beliefs, rites and practices. Hundreds of years ago, slave ships brought thousands of Africans of different cultural backgrounds to the New World in the infamous slave trade, which lasted from the sixteenth almost to the end of the nineteenth century. As the Africans from diverse ethnic groups were huddled together in their barra cones or communal households in the sugar plantations and coexisted in urban centers, their religions became intertwined. Possessing a rich, well-developed, and structured mythology and a complex liturgy and arriving in great numbers in the nineteenth century, the peoples of the Dahomedan, Congolese and Nigerian regions of West Africa contributed predominantly to this syncretism. Among the many Yoruba-based religious phenomena, such as Candomble and Macumba in Brazil; and Shango or Orissa in Trinidad, the most persistent, expansive and outstanding example in this area is Afro-Cuban Santeria.
Also prominent in the Caribbean area is Obeah that originated with the Ashanti-Fanti ethnic groups and is prevalent in the British Caribbean. Vodoun - from the Dahomedan word for spirit or deity - evolved in the Dahomedan, Congolese and the Fon and Yoruba nations of Western Africa were syncretized in Haiti with various Catholic influences, particularly in symbolism and liturgy. The unifying theme and focus of all these African-based systems of worship is the relationship of the individual to the spirit world, the world of their ancestors, who have not gone to a better, distant place but are all around them. Spirits may manifest and control the powers of nature, have power over disease and illness and are patrons of different occupations. People and spirits are bound together in a communal ceremony of music and dance in which a key element is the worship of the deities through veneration and feeding.
In some rituals, the spirits manifest themselves by possessing their worshippers, sometimes giving power and healing. The practice of these religions may be for the benefit of the group or community as is seen in Vodoun and Santeria or, as in Obeah, practice may be for the benefit of the individual. Santeria, more properly called Religion Lucumi (as the Yoruba were called in Cuba) or Real de Ocha, is based on a system of beliefs, rites and practices which is derived from a merging of Roman Catholicism and other African traditions with the traditions of the Yoruba priests and priestesses who were enslaved in Cuba at the end of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth centuries. In Cuba, Santeria functioned under a cloak of secrecy, prior to the official abolition of slavery in colonial Cuba in 1886. The Spanish authorities sought to outlaw the gatherings of black mutual beneficence associations, the caballos, by passing legislation that would limit the number or frequency of the so-called drum dances of the plantations which were, in reality, religious rites. The advent of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and its subsequent emphasis on rediscovering Cuba's African roots, led to the African underworld receiving intense attention.
Although Santeria was labeled fetishist magic in the Revolutions early stages, later the old rites were embraced as cultural, artistic and historical expressions of the new Cuban State. The Cuban government instituted a tolerant stance towards non-Christian religions, a circumstance that swelled the ranks of Santeria. This can also be construed as a thinly veiled attack against the Catholic Church, which was viewed as a more powerful threat against the state. At that time, Yoruba ancestral dances and songs were stylized and used in ballets and other artistic venues while de-emphasizing their religious context.
Furthermore, in the 1970 s, Cuba's political aspirations in Africa intensified the government's interest vis-a-vis black culture in Cuba, supporting African art, music, dance, and literature, even if these contained direct references to religious themes. Depicting African religion as a common legacy between Cuba and Africa, Castro sought to strengthen ties with the emerging African nations. Even today, the Cuban government sponsors many workshops, seminars, and events that are aimed at the tourist market, as evidenced by the numerous brochures and flyers advertising events that are held every year. Weekly dances are offered that highlight the music inspired by traditional African drums, using the archaic Lucumi language that is still spoken today by priests and their followers in modern-day Cuba and South Florida. Santeria has become a major tourist attraction in Cuba. Once dismissed as mere entertainment for slaves and freed blacks, as superstition or witchcraft, Santeria has become fertile ground for research and artistic inspiration and acquired a huge following among Cuban exiles.
It has taken on the role of a support system and a mediating institution both in Cuba and in exile; acting as a coping mechanism for dealing with stress, whether induced by living under a Communist regime or by in exile in a foreign land. As such, it is often used as a psychotherapeutic method and an alternative medical system. In sum, the survival of Santeria, as in other African religions in Latin America has been its malleability that has allowed it to adapt to new environments. Other African religious systems or magic-religious associations prominent in Cuba and in the Cuban Diaspora are Palo Monte or Palo Mayombe, a cult derived from the Congo of Central Africa. Sometimes accused of practicing black magic or witchcraft rites, papers (priests consecrated to Palo Monte) because of the use of human remains and potent herbs or spells for harmful purposes. Vodoun (also spelled Vaudun or Voodoo) is a word springing from the Fon tribe of Southern Dahomey meaning spirit, deity or image.
It encompasses an exceedingly complex conglomerate of cults and rites of diverse African ethnic groups mixed with Catholic practices. These beliefs, rituals and magical practices with complicated symbols have developed for thousands of years and impregnate the Haitian atmosphere "with a rich, mystical aroma of Africa. (Rigaud) Originating in Haiti, Vodoun is also of great importance in Cuba, where its influence is felt in the Easternmost regions of Orient since a sizable number of French settlers and Africans, both slave and free, migrated during and after the Haitian struggles for independence. It has also achieved considerable influence in the Dominican Republic where it has acquired its own characteristics and became known as Gaga. Like Santeria, Vodoun emerged as a reaction of the oppressed slaves to the religious and political domination of their colonial masters and, as such, it has become inextricably intertwined with the political life of this nation, affecting the daily lives of the people even to our day. Vodoun meetings and associations, just as the secular caballos and religious cofradias in Cuba, served as the focus of slave rebellions and political and underground activities. The role of priest, called human for the male and mambo for the female, is part priest, part doctor and part counselor.
Vodoun has greatly influenced Haitian arts both in mural paintings and carved statues. Besides these artform's, Haitian voodoo flags are admired for their beauty and symbolism. Drop vodoun is one of the most celebrated genres of Vodoun's sacred arts. Haitian plastic art has also been tremendously influenced by this mysterious and vital religion which is both a religious system and a way of life.
This characteristic adaptability in the African mentality springs from a respect for spiritual power wherever it originates and accounts, for the openness of its religions to syncretism, parallelism or simultaneous practice with other traditions and for the continuity of a distinctive religious consciousness. (Raboteu) In reviewing the many African based religious phenomena in the Caribbean, which are a veritable ever-changing kaleidoscope, they emerge as multi-faceted gems, which can be examined from various points of view and diverse approaches, a living tribute to man's and womans ingenuity, creativeness, and spirit of survival. Art and Religion It is estimated that approximately 40 % of the millions of Africans who landed in Americas between 1500 and 1870 were from Central Africa, culturally influenced by the Congo civilization. Thus, Congo traditions are pervasive in the Americas. Congo beliefs and iconography are based on sacred protective medicines, minis, which are used for physical and social harmony and healing. Altars are found at riverbanks, in forests and cemeteries, and at other borders between worlds. They are often surrounded by pottery, ideographic writing and sacred medicines.
The cyclical evolution of the soul that keeps transforming and returning is crucial to understanding Congo iconography. A dramatic and heavily coded continuation of Congo beliefs and icons occurs in the Southern United States, where Congo-American versions of the noise (singular of minis), or medicines of the gods, take characteristic forms. Altars everywhere are sites of ritual communication with the supernatural. They mark the boundary between heaven and earth, the living and the dead, the ordinary and the world of the spirit. Elevated or grounded, simple or elaborate, communal or personal, altars focus the faithful in worship. They provide an arena for offerings and requests they act to channel positive and negative forces.
The Yoruba term for altar, face of the gods, and the Congo concept of altar as a crossroads or border between worlds, are the operative metaphors used throughout the exhibition. Using the altar as a vehicle for historical reconstruction, the exhibition explores how, despite the destruction and disruption caused by the slave trade and the imposition of Christianity and foreign culture, African people and their descendants in the Americas maintained the essential elements of African religious traditions through improvisations and adaptations to local context. Face of the Gods presents approximately 18 altars made up of more than one hundred examples of African and African American works of art. Some of the altars are reconstructions, based on field photos, using loan objects from altar artists, national and international museums, and private collectors.
Altars have also been installed with the assistance of distinguished artists / traditional leaders like Jose Bed of Cuba, Balbino de Paula from Brazil, and Felipe Garcia Villamil of Cuba. Face of the Gods begins outside the museum where Palo Mayombe ground drawings, or firma's, have been applied to the pavement. Palo (stick in Spanish) is a Congo-based religion in Cuba; Mayombe, a location in Western Zaire. These signs are considered the signatures of spiritual entities associated with the Palo religion. Drawn on chalk or sometimes gunpowder, they are used to attract and incorporate those powers for protection and health. The Yoruba, one of Sub-Saharan Africa's most populous groups, sixteen million strong, live in the Republic of Nigeria.
They are heirs to an ancient culture exceptional for its urban density, refinement and complexity. When forced migration took Yoruba peoples to the plantations of Cuba, Brazil and Haiti, they recombined their deities into a new pantheon and incorporated Catholic saints whose powers and histories seemed parallel. For example, some representations of the Virgin Mary were equated with the sweet and gentle aspect of Oshun, the goddess of love. In Cuba, Shango, the Yoruba thunder god, was frequently associated with martyred Saint Barbara, because her assassins were struck dead by lightning.
The icons associated with the deities were also translated into American equivalents the ritual swords of On, the Yoruba god of iron, became identified with St. Peter's iron key to heaven. While outwardly conforming to the religious practices of the Catholics surrounding them, the Yoruba in Cuba and Brazil maintained a system of thought that creatively reorganized their traditional religions to survive in a new environment. The first altar is of Afro-Brazilian Yoruba tradition and dedicated to Obatala/Oral, a saint among saints, sweet, pure and merciful, whose color white stands for honesty and truth.
To denote unblemished honesty, this throne altar uses transparent white fabric draped and tied in an enormous bow, staffs of white metals, tin and silver, and a beaded crown, cement columns studded with silver painted stones, scepters and swords. Crosses and candles denote syncretic borrowing of Catholic saints and symbols: Obatala is most often compared to Jesus. On an adjacent wall is a Nigerian Yoruba crown covered with white beads. These altars introduce Yoruba religious iconography with sculptures for the deities or orissa of the large Yoruba pantheon. Each orissa oversees a particular realm of the moral universe and has his or her own visual signature, made up of characteristic colors, icons, fabrics, symbols and foods. With these works of art as a point of reference, the extensive visual vocabulary of the Yoruba worship in Africa is juxtaposed to that of a Yoruba-influenced Afro-Cuban altar where the enduring impact of these ancestral forms is clearly revealed.
While the emblems vary and change with inventive Creole energy, they nevertheless span three continents and many centuries with remarkable consistency. Links are made between Afro-Cuban art and altars and their antecedent Congo minis, portable sacred medicines of god, often called healing charms. In Africa, minis are kept in containers as diverse as shells, packets, ceramic vessel, wooden images, statuettes and cloth bundles. The most compelling Kongo minis are nail covered figures used for oath taking and healing. In addition to their fierce attitude and covering of protruding blades and nails, these figures also contain powerful ingredients in the head and stomach cavities.
Placed in isolated rooms, corners, or crossroads, adorned with feathers, stones, sticks, beads, earth and iron reflecting a symbolic language of meaning, the altars in this gallery illustrate the symbols of Congo religion in Cuba. The Guanabacoa noise, named for a cemetery across the harbor from Havana, is a simple altar made of a mound of earth, a small cross, a seashell and erect and bent sticks, eloquently positioned. Two Sarabanda noise are present in this exhibit - some scholars say that one of them represents the Creole spirit of a powerful black man who worked on the railways in the last century. Altars are often the locus of healing and moral reckoning and the four altars in this section demonstrate the explosion of forms and symbols inspired by the Yoruba art and belief in Brazil, which have fused into Umbanda, the largest black religion in Brazil. The same Yoruba vocabulary is evident in a small, portable basket altar to Asohin, an avatar of Obaluaiye, from Puerto Rico. It contains his broom, which sweeps disease around the world, and earthenware vessel holding his stones, a dish with perforations (pestilence), spotted feathers of the Guinea hen, and the figure of St.
Lazarus, the saint most often syncretized with Obaluaiye. They are a dramatic illustration of the explosion of African American cultural improvisation and aesthetic creativity that insures spiritual and moral sustenance for Africans in the Americas for centuries. Works Cited: Castellanos, Isabel, (1996). From Ulkumi to Lucumi: A Historical Overview of Religious Acculturation in Cuba.
In: Santeria Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin American Art. Arturo Lindsey, ed. Washington, D. C. : Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 39 - 50. Rigaud, Milo, (1971). Secrets of Voodoo.
Translated from the French by Robert A. Cross. New York: Pocket Books. La guerre, (1989). Voodoo and Politics in Haiti. New York: St.
Martins Press. P. 23. Home, James T. , (1995). Spirits, Blood, and Drums: the Orissa Religion in Trinidad. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Raboteu, Albert J. , (1978).
Slave Religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
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