I grew up in Miami and the Santerians were always putting hexes on people. What I really couldn't stand was when they sacrificed an animal in a suburban yard. The animal would be begging for it's life. That would ruffle me. Ever hear of this belief?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lukum%C3%AD
Did I say I was a practitioner of Santeria? NO! I am disturbed by this practice. Read the question before you tell me not to do hexes!
The way the animals cried touched my heart. Some of the Santerias did hexes against people who they felt were their enemy. A typical one would be a cow heart with herbs inside it left at a certain location. I admit not all Santeria practitioners are bad. It was a mysterious belief to most of us Floridians.
Yep sad isn't it. They killed a goat in a bath tub in an apartment above my sister about 7 years ago. She moved back to Indiana. I have been cursed it didn't work!!
Santeria is one of the many pancreatic religions created in the New World. It is based on the West African religions brought to the new world by slaves imported to the Caribbean to work the sugar plantations. These slaves carried with them their own religious traditions, including a tradition of possession trance for communicating with the ancestors and deities, the use of animal sacrifice and the practice of sacred drumming and dance. Those slaves who landed in the Carribean, central and south America were nominally converted to Catholicism. However, they were able to preserve some of their traditions by fusing together various Dahomean, baking and Yoruban beliefs and rituals and by synchronizing these with elements from the surrounding Catholic culture. In Cuba this religious tradition has evolved into what we know today as Santer?a, the Way of the Saints. Today hundreds of thousands of Americans participate in this ancient religion. Some are fully committed priests and priestesses, others are "godchildren" or members of a particular house-tradition, many are clients seeking help with their everyday problems. Many are of Hispanic and Caribbean descent but as the religion moves out of the inner cities an into the suburbs a growing number are of African-American and European-American heritage. As the Ifa religion of Africa was recreated in the Americas it was transformed, today as it moves moves into mainstream America we can expect further transformation
Santeria is the utilization of Catholic Saints to cloak African deities worshiped by African slaves during their captivity and enslavement by slave traders en route the new world. Many of the Spanish, European, and/or Dutch Masters attempted to convert the slaves to Catholicism, but the slaves conformed only perfunctorily, as they continued to worship their gods via this means of secret representation of their gods and animal sacrifices. Santeria is not an accepted form of Catholicism, nor should it be confused with it.
The beliefs and practices spread to some of the slave "stop-over ports" in Hispaniola, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean.
I do not practice Santeria but I practice Vodou and learned about Santeria. Santeria is similar to Vodou. It originated in Cuba from African slaves.
Animal sacrifice is a common practice in Santeria as it is in Vodou. Sacrifices are done to please the Orisha and as a way to make them want to work for you. The animals are always sacrificed quickly so they do not suffer. If they suffer then the meat would not be clean and the Orisha will not be pleased with the sacrifice. Any animal that is sacrifice is cleaned, cooked, and eaten by the house members. Unless the animal was used in a cleansing ritual.
Think of it this way. You go to the store and buy a frozen chicken to eat for dinner. Well they would buy the chicken fresh instead. Kill, clean, cook, eat. They are never killed for fun. There is always a purpose for the sacrifice. Remember people in others countries do not have the luxury of going to the store and buying meat. They raise the animals and kill them when they need food. This practice has carried over from that.
Now if you practice Santeria you do not put hexes on people that is not part of the religion. It is called beriberi or witchcraft which for Hispanics its considered bad magic. Most practice helpful magic with the aid of Orishas. Mostly to heal, get money, things of that sort.
I am curious how do you know the animal was begging for its life? Have ever had to kill an animal to eat? I have known people the raise chickens in their backyard so they can eat them. It has nothing to do with religion. They were raised that way. Fresh is way better than frozen. Oh yeah my cousins in Tenn. own a farm with lots of animals that they kill for food. Guess what they are christian!!
In Cuba, it's the only religion Castro allows, and people swim on homemade rafts to get away from it. Castro knows he can control people through the fear the superstition of Santeria brings. In 1959, he had trained doves land on his shoulder, which he knew the Santerios would take as a "sign" from the Orishas. Cuba, along with Voodoo filled Haiti, are the only 2 third world countries in the western hemisphere.
Yes, I am familiar with it. It enslaves people through superstition and fear.
http://usminc.org/santeria.html
Anyone familiar with the religion Santeria?
