The African diasporic religion known as Candomblé originated in the sixteenth century and spread to Brazil in the nineteenth. It emerged from a process of syncretism amongst numerous West African traditional faiths, including the Gbe, Yoruba, and Bantu. A small amount of Roman Catholic Christianity has influenced this. Candomblé is based on autonomous terreiros (houses), with no central authority in charge. Because Brazilians love to dance, music and dance play a significant role in Candomblé rituals. The term Candomblé literally means “dance in honor of the gods.”
The African diasporic religion known as Santería, or Regla de Ocha, originated in Cuba in the late 1800s. It developed as a result of a process of syncretism including Spiritism, the Catholic branch of Christianity, and the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa. Santería is not governed by a single body, and its practitioners—known as creyentes—are highly diverse. Santería is practiced in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and other Caribbean nations. Even though Candomblé is popular in Brazil. Santería professes the existence of an all-encompassing deity called Olodumare or Olorun. Adherents hold that although this divinity is indifferent to human issues, it created the universe.
Since this creator deity is not reachable by humans, there aren’t any significant offerings made to it.This deity shares similarities with the Christian Trinity; Olodumare symbolizes the divine essence of everything that exists, while Olorun is thought to be the creator of all beings. These two aspects of the divinity are understood slightly differently. Worship deities (ORIŚAS) in Candomblé and Santería:
OLODUMARE (GOD)
ORUNMILA (the ORISHA of Wisdom&Knowledge)
IFA OLOKUN (Oracle)
IYE MAJA (Mermaid)
OSHUN (River Goddess)
OBATALA (The creator)
OGUN (god of iron)
SHANGO (god of Thunder)
ÒYA (river goddess)
EGUNGUN (Masquerade)
OSANYIN (Spiritism)
Growing ties between Santería and kindred American and West African traditions, such Haitian Vodou and Brazilian Candomblé, were observed in the late 20th century. Some practitioners have focused on “Yorubization” since the late 20th century in order to break free from Roman Catholic influences and construct versions of Santería that are more in line with traditional Yoruba religion. West Africa had a large slave trade; the majority of the slaves were taken prisoner of war during hostilities with neighboring tribes, while some were formerly incarcerated felons. Africans were brought to Cuba as slaves for the first time in 1511, while the majority arrived in the 19th century. Up until at least 1860, Cuba was still taking in new slaves; complete liberation took place in 1886. Between 702,000 and one million Africans were transported to Cuba as slaves in all. The majority originated from a region in Western Africa situated between the present-day states of Guinea and Angola. The Yoruba people, who originated in what is now Nigeria and Benin, made up the largest majority. Although they were spread over several states, they had a common language and culture. They mostly followed Yoruba traditional religion, particularly YEMÒJA, which combined numerous local orisha cults, yet because of the size of the Yoruba-led Oyo Empire, some orisha were worshipped extensively.
Slaves in Cuba were categorized into groupings known as naciones (nations), frequently based more on their port of embarkation than on their own ethnocultural heritage; Yoruba speakers, along with Arara and Ibo people, were referred to as the “Lucumí nation” Some of the West Africans who were brought to Cuba as slaves were members of the priestly class and were familiar with the customs of Ifá and Egungun. Though hundreds of orisha were revered throughout West Africa, less than twenty rose to prominence in Santería, possibly as a result of the destruction of traditional family networks by enslavement, which led to the loss of numerous kin-based orisha cults. For Africans, slavery has caused more harm than good.
However, Yorubas are the ancestors of the ORISHA worshippers who are dispersed throughout the Caribbean, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and more. Worshippers of Santería and Candomblé come to Nigeria from all over the world during deities’ celebration, in particular the OSUN Oshogbo celebration.
