Warning this article contains content that some readers may find distressing!

In the following article I am going to go over what Santeria is, its origins, some of its practices, the deities associated with it, the process of initiation, and my own personal experience with Santeria as a child.

What is Santeria?

Santeria is also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla de Ifa, or Lucumi. It is a syncretic religion that grew out of the slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries when slave traders were bringing West Africans to the New World. Santeria is a Spanish word that translates to "the worship of the saints." Its roots can be traced back to the Yoruba-speaking West African tribes, and it is a mix of religious traditions from the Yoruba people and elements of the Catholic faith.

The religion focuses on building relationships with spirits, called Orishas, who are a manifestation of Olodumare (God). Followers of Santeria believe that the Orisha will help them in life and enable them to achieve the destiny God has pre-planned for them, so long as they carry out the appropriate rituals. These relationships are considered to be mutual, as it is believed that the Orishas need to be worshipped by humans if they are to continue to exist. Santeria was born when colonial laws criminalized the religion of the enslaved African people brought over on slave ships. The slaves had no choice but to practice their beliefs secretly in order to preserve their traditional beliefs, so they syncretized their Orishas with Catholic saints, but do not assume the Orisha are saints! They are not! The Orisha are Olodumare’s eldest children, who happen to be depicted as saints.

The Santeria religion also worships the Eggun, who are the spirits of the dead, including the priests and priestesses who are Ibae (have passed away). Eggun can also be initiates of Santeria who are appointed as godparents to new initiates, and spiritual guides, who may or may not be family members. The Eggun are often referred to as the ancestors, but this is not entirely true, though ancestors are certainly included among the Eggun.

Although I now live in the UK, I was born on a tiny island called Madeira and was raised in a household that worshipped the Orisha. My father was an initiate of Santeria and my grandmother was partially initiated; my mother was a devout Catholic.

Growing up, I never really noticed any obvious differences in my parents’ practices due to the Orishas being syncretized the with Catholic saints. For me, my parents were worshipping the same deities, with the same characteristics and the same images; the only difference was the titles they gave them.

You must understand that where I grew up, everyone went to church on Sunday morning, then consulted with their local Bruxa (witch) once church was finished, my Catholic mum included! I am certain that others who grew up in similar environments as mine also had difficulty, as children, separating the two belief systems.

In our house we had pictures of saints everywhere and even had an alter dedicated to the virgin Mary, both my mother and father worshipped there.

My grandmother’s house next door had a few more alters then we did; there was of course an area dedicated to saints and Jesus, an alter dedicated to Nossa Senhora de Santa Muerte (also known as Santa Muerte) which she used when she consulted with her clients, and another alter that was in a secret room.

This alter turned out to belong to my dad. My mother, being a devoted, Catholic, didn’t want it in the house, so his mother, my grandmother, lovingly allowed him and his congregation to worship in hers and thus gave my dad his “secret” room in her house.

This secret room was forbidden! None of us were allowed near it, any attempts made to look inside resulted in a serious ass whooping! And no, I am not joking, my cousins got whooped! My sister got whooped, I got whooped, everyone got whooped! We had no idea what was going on in there, until I was 4 years old and my dad invited me in.

I will never forget that day. I am going to be straight with you, when my dad came out of the secret room and asked me to enter, at first, I honestly thought he was tricking me, so I hesitated; then, he ordered me to go in, and I just looked at him, certain that I was about to get a beating of a lifetime! I thought about my options, and in my mind, all of them ended with a whooping, so I thought fuck it! I want to see the secret room! So, in I went.

As I entered all I could see was colour, the room was covered in colour! There was also a distinct smell, kind of like cigars and sweet rum mixed with soil. On the far corner of the room, I noticed an alter; it was unlike any alter I had ever seen. For a start, it was on the floor, and the main thing that stuck out were these rocks that were splattered with what I thought was brown paint.

Once in, my dad took me to the alter area and introduced me to the room, he then went up to the stones and lit an incense stick, he told me that the stones were alive and asked me if I could see the life in them. I looked at them for a while, a long while, but all I could see were stones, so I was honest, and I told him I couldn’t, then I turned to face him, and I swear by the breath that I breathe, I could see a fire being sitting on his head. My dad just stood there, staring at me, smiling, his eyes black and glistening, in that moment I knew, that the man standing in the room with me was not my father.

After this, I understood that Catholicism and Santeria were not the same thing and it made me question the workings of the Catholic faith. Even though Santeria is widely practised in my homeland, it is a highly secretive faith that operates under strict religious principles. Access to the inner workings of Santeria is very limited to those who are not initiated.

After my visit to my dad’s alter room, I told my grandmother what happened, and I asked her, why there were so many rocks? And why they were painted brown when everything else in the room was so colourful? And how could rocks be alive? My grandmother just laughed at me, she said that the rocks, like everything else in existence are alive, that they symbolise life and the life force of the Orisha, she then laughed again and told me that the rocks were not painted brown, but that they were special rocks that my dad acquired as part of his initiation, that they were sacred, and that the “brown” paint was the blood of animals sacrificed during my dad’s initiation, that these animals lives fed the village for a week, helped give sustenance to the Orisha and were focused points of power for my dad.

As I grew up, I learned that not all people who practice Santeria have been initiated into the religion. In Madeira, for example, most people, regardless of race, religion or sex, are familiar with some aspects of Santeria and may occasionally seek out a Santero (priest) or Santera (priestess) for a consultation when they face a particular problem.

Some people like my grandmother undergo some initiation ceremonies, such as the reception of the warriors where they receive beaded necklaces called "elekes", but they're not yet fully initiated.

Initiation into Santeria is a weeklong process, when the initiation into Santería begins, the initiates symbolically die and are reborn. Their old life ends, and a new one begins. During the entire first year after the initiation ceremony ends, new initiates, both male and female are called iyawo/ yawo (pronounced: ya-WOH, or ya-BOH), which is a Lucumi word that's usually translated to "bride of the Orisha".

This year is meant to be a period of purification and rejuvenation as the iyawo gets used to interacting with the Orishas intimately. Full scale initiation is a serious business. There's no turning back from it, and it requires enormous sacrifices of time, money, and effort.

Prior to the slave trade, each major city in Yoruba land was a centre of worship for a different Orisha. When the slaves were intermixed and forced to coexist outside of their homelands, the worship of multiple Orishas became the standard practice and the initiation process evolved.

New initiates of Santeria are now ordained into the sects of multiple Orisha instead of just one as was done in Africa.

There are around 400 Orishas but only a few are regularly worshipped. Below is a list of the seven primary Orishas, also known as the "Seven Powers", a small description of each and the Catholic saint they are most commonly syncretized with:

Eleggua / Saint Anthony Eleggua is the first and most important Orisha in Santeria. He is the owner of the crossroads, the witness of fate and acts as the connecting agent in this world.

Ogun/Saint Peter Ogun is a mighty warrior, the divine blacksmith who crafts tools and weapons, he is the father of technology, the cutting edge of the knife and the power of metal.

Obalata / Saint Our Lady of Mercy Obalata is the eldest of the Orishas, he is the king of peace and logic.

Oya / Our Lady of Candelmas or Saint Theresa Oya is a fierce female warrior and the Orisha of change

Oshun / Our Lady of Charity of Cobre Oshun is the Orisha of sweetness, love and beauty

Yamaya / Our Lady of Regla Yamaya is the mother of all living things, the queen of heaven, earth and all waters.

Chango / Saint Barbara Chango is the Orisha of lightning, thunder and fire, the power of passion and virility.

Every person ordained as a priest or priestess receives the mysteries of Eleggua, Obatala, Oshun, Yemaya, and Chango. Followers, of Santeria can’t communicate directly with the Orisha, only a Santeria priests/priestess, known as babalawos, can act as intermediaries and they do so by using divination and rituals that often involve elaborate ceremony, rum, drums, cigars, and animal sacrifice.

Although I grew up surrounded by Santeria, I have not been fully initiated into its systems, despite the fact that if it was up to my dad I would have been! Admittedly I do work with the Orisha in my practice and believe Yemaya has visited me on numerous occasions, but if I am truly honest, I have always been intimidated by the level of commitment required of initiates. I have seen first-hand what happens to those who do not follow through with the worship of their Orisha, and it scared me.

I am also not fully comfortable with the concept of animal sacrifice, this is obviously a personal choice, but that doesn't mean that I feel negatively towards this practice in Santeria. Having grown up surrounded by farmers, I never felt any distress seeing animal being taken in as offerings, I actually thought it was beautiful that these offerings, being made to the Orisha, were going to feed so many the hungry and less fortunate in our village.

Of course, being the person that I am I questioned everything! and my grandmother kindly explained that the reason sacrifice was so important, is because Sacrifice is the energy that fuels magick. She explained that sacrifice doesn't have to be blood, that each individual Orisha has his or her preferences for food, smoke, and drink, and the offering made will depend on the favour that's being asked.

Understand that the Orishas are not immortal and depend on human devotion and sacrifice to survive.

In Santeria the blood of animals is offered as food for the Orishas, while humans eat the meat. For centuries, Santeria was practised in secret, and survived orally from one generation to another. In Cuba after the Revolution, Santeria was openly acknowledged but was criticized by the government.

Fidel Castro was even rumoured to be a believer. That may be in part due to an auspicious event that happened during his victory speech on January 8, 1959. While Fidel was addressing the crowd, two doves flew over the podium, and one of them landed on his shoulder. (Doves are symbols of Obatala, the son of God in Santeria.) Not surprisingly, many people took this as a sign that God wanted Fidel to lead Cuba. And so he did from 1976 until 2008!

People unfamiliar with Santeria often refer to it as a "primitive" or "esoteric" religion. In reality, it's neither. The Yoruba people, who are the ancestors of the Lucumi religion, had a highly civilized kingdom in Africa with a rich culture. They were great philosophers with a profound sense of ethics, which carried over into what is now known as Santeria.

Sadly, there is no sacred text on the Lucumi religion because it was transmitted verbally from generation to generation by priests and priestesses as part of an oral tradition. While some aspects of Santeria are kept secret from outsiders the religion is not esoteric or limited to the understanding of a select few.

The principles of Santeria aren't difficult to grasp. In many ways, it's a practical religion that aims to help individuals live more in harmony with themselves and the world around them. Santeria uses the concept of ache (spiritual energy present in the universe) to achieve the will of God with the help of the Orishas, the aim is to acquire more ache and maintain it through ethical behaviour and attention to spiritual matters, in order to evolve as human beings.

I hope that this piece has given you a better understanding of what Santeria is, its origins, and some of its religious practices. This was the first time I have ever shared my own personal experiences with Santeria to those outside of my circle and it wasn’t the easiest thing for me to do, but I’m glad I did. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this piece as much as I enjoyed writing it, and remember, knowledge is power, do with it what you will