The Santería Religion and South Florida

For this reason, Santeros attempt to decipher between good and evil magic, but some believe that all Santeria magic is evil and exists only by demonic

b. Reason to Listen: Unlike the popular negative conceptions, Rastafarianism is actually a movement that promotes positivity.

Elialde author of The Sacred and the Profane introduces a new model of the sacred and the profane. Elialde’s model is meant to be universal, therefore meant to be appropriate for any recognized religion. David Carrasco author of Religions of Mesoamerica and Kay Almere Read and Jason J. González authors of Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of Mexico and Central America, discuss their interpretation of the Mesoamerican religion although their views on the Mesoamerican religion differs in some aspects when compared to Eliade’s model of the sacred and the profane there are a few noticeable similarities between both views.

The villagers praise different spirits which are in control of different things on earth, like a woman’s fertility or the condition of the land, but ultimately, they all answer to one supreme ruler, Chukwu. In Catholicism, worshipers pray to the different saints who are messengers of God. When Christianity was first introduced to the villagers, most were reluctant to participate in such blasphemous acts against the spirits. In the beginning, there were few who defected from the traditional ways. The villagers allowed the white settlers to stay and spread their message, writing them off as foolish and ineffective. They never believed that the movement would grow as large as it did. With the growth of the white man’s religion throughout the village, came the picking apart of their faith. Their very being was being devoured by the parasite that was the white man and his poisonous message. Although Things Fall Apart is a fictional piece, it is a prime example of how every religion’s time must come to an end, and essentially fall apart, losing its claim to fame. A more closely

For the followers of the Holiness Church in the Appalachian Mountain region, serpent handling is a central activity at their religious meetings. Following a passage in the Gospel of Mark, followers are instructed to “take up serpents” and trust in God enough to put their lives at risk. This rather unique religious ritual can be analyzed and understood by looking towards the MacMillan definition of religion. The MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religion states “[…] almost every known culture [has] a depth dimension in cultural experiences […] toward some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life. When more or less distinct patterns of behavior are built around this depth dimension in a culture, this

Church of LukumiBabalu Aye v. city of Hialeah was a U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, a practicing congregation of the Santeria religion, and the city of Hialeah, Florida. The congregation had bought property in the city in order to build a sanctuary for ritual services (of which include animal sacrifice). The Christian residents of the town brought their concerns of the religion?s practices before the town council, which enacted ordinances 87-40 and 87-52 (Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v City of Hialeah (91-948), 1993).

The story of Miami begins more than 10,000 years ago with a settlement of Paleo-Indians along the edge of south Biscayne Bay near today’s Charles Deering Estate. Many millennia later, Tequesta Indians entered the lush, subtropical area and built settlements stretching from the Florida Keys to Broward County, with the largest concentrations along the north bank of the Miami River and on Key Biscayne.

Throughout this semester we have focus on a variety of topics that relate to the Latino community. I found all the topics very interesting but, the one that got my attention the most is religion and sexual orientation within the Latino community. I found really interesting how religion shapes gay men or women in the Latino community. For my final paper for this class, I want to take a different approach, I want to talk about how religion and cultural beliefs affect the life of gay Latino men. In the book “The Rain God” by Arturo Islas, on his book he talks about how it was hard for Miguel Chico to come out the closet to his family because of these catholic church beliefs they have. In the other side there’s the film “La Mission” directed by Peter Bratt who did a great job on showing

The second ritual medio asiento the person goes through consultation with a santero to discuss the persons past, present and future life. The third ritual is called receiving the warrior. In this ritual the person receives objects from their babaalawo that represent the warriors. The last ritual is asiento (ascending the throne). This is the most important and secretive ritual in santeria. This is when a person wears all white clothes. In this religion drums are only used by men and must be treated with respect. For example, dancers must never turn their backs towards the drums while dancing, it is considered disrespectful (Robinson, 2009).

Santeria is a religion that has beliefs of the Yoruba and it also has Roman Catholic elements (Types of Religion, 2016). Santeria is an Afro-Carribian religion that expanded during the time of the Cuban slave trade (Types of Religion, 2016). Santeria for many years was considered to be a secret religion. Santeria is practiced throughout the world and not only in Cuba as it once was. This religion is very secretive and there is little known about their rituals and practices and is not general knowledge and kept from the public (Religious Tolerance, 2007). Santeria is an oral tradition (Religious Tolerance, 2007). They do not reference or use any type of book such as the Bible. This religion has a priesthood, so there are priests and priestesses

Then, we look at some of the unethical rituals from Mesoamerican. There sacrifices, where priest

An extensive component in one declaring a religion deals with the concepts that supporters hold to be true- their beliefs. These beliefs then become a fraction of that person’s identity. L. Ron Hubbard presumed that he had found a specialized theory in which the behaviors of the human population could be anticipated and contained through a set of “natural laws.” Hubbard made sense of humanity by using these laws to expose the obscure factors that make up the imperfections of mankind (“75

Throughout the years, Cuba is known to be a Communist country struggling to determine its own identity. Some Cubans have fought with the decision to stay in their native country or migrate to the United States. Others have decided to settle in Cuba and let their fate be determined by the gods. Santería, an African religion mixed with Catholic traditions, is practiced by many Cubans and allows followers to establish their destiny by the orishas, or African spirits. It also gives a sense of individuality to the characters in the novel, Dreaming in Cuban which incorporates several elements of the faith into the story. Overall, the Santería religion affects the Cuban people in many parts of their lives politically, artistically, musically, and

Jehovah’s Witnesses are a people known widely throughout the world. They are well-dressed people who come knocking at your door on different occasions offering religious literature for sale or trying to introduce their beliefs through carefully prepared conversation. People young, old, rich, poor, well educated and non-educated have embraced them. Their enthusiasm as proclaimers of God’s Kingdom has impressed even their harshest critics. Their love toward one another makes some non-witnesses hope and pray that more people would act in that manner. Yet, some may still wonder, who really are the Jehovah’s Witnesses? What is their history, their practices and their beliefs? Why are they the most attacked new religious

Taking risks to prove one’s religious faith has played a prominent role in many cultures. One such risky ritual is snake handling - which involves actual handling of snakes that can injure and even kill during such rituals. Two cultures that still follow these religious traditions are the Manasa sects in India and the snake handlers of Appalachia in North America. Although these two cultures are separated by time, geography, and belief, they share a common practice of snake-handling. In both of these religious traditions, the practitioners experience the divine force within them – and actually handle a poisonous snake, allowing the snake to bite or risk of getting bitten. Though the concept of handling snakes during the ceremony is common,