Running Head: Santeria 1. Santeria: Health for Health. Jennifer Barnette. Anthropological Theory ANT340. Dr. Ilda Jimenez y West.

Transcription

1 Running Head: Santeria 1 Santeria: Health for Health Jennifer Barnette Anthropological Theory ANT340 Dr. Ilda Jimenez y West August 17, 2013

2 SANTERIA 2 Santeria: Health for Health I don t [sic] practice Santeria, I ain t [sic] got no crystal ball... Sublime s lyrics are the beginning and end of most Americans knowledge of the Santeria religion. Others may have a vague notion of animal sacrifice being involved. Malinowski s Functionalist theory tells us that religion and magic are used to alleviate anxiety when science cannot (Perry, 2003). In the case of the video, Norma is bringing Santeria spirit Babalu Aye into her home with hopes of good health. When Africans were brought to America as slaves, they were torn from their homes, their families, and their belief systems. Americans attempted to reeducate them and convert them to Christianity, sometimes Catholicism. Catholics have an entire legion of saints, each with a particular attribute. To attempt to preserve some of their beliefs, the slaves matched Yoruba spirits to the attributes of Catholic saints and worshipped them as one person in dual form (Santeria, n.d.). Catholic Saint Lazarus was known for healing the sick, so he was chosen for the Yoruba patron of good health, Babalu Aye (Santeria, n.d.). The statues of Lazarus have a bandaged head, lesions on his chest, and crutches or sores under his arms from crutch use (Santeria, n.d.). The stained glass picture shown in the video portrays Babalu Aye with crutches and lesions on his legs (Santeria, n.d.). Both depictions also include a small dog, or three, but no explanation is given for that similarity. Pilgrims crawl on hands and knees to El Rincon, a small town outside Havana to pay their respects to Saint Lazarus (Santeria, n.d.). Some push bowls and boxes in front of them, some brush their path with a branch, and some cannot make the journey on their knees, so they walk (Santeria, n.d.). The video follows the journey of Norma Pedroso who already has several

3 SANTERIA 3 spirits in residence (Santeria, n.d.). According to the narrator, each time a new spirit is brought into the house, the others must be fed or they may grow angry (Santeria, n.d.). The spirits live in sacred stones, but have needs like other beings, such as hunger (Santeria, n.d.). Norma s journey is a three day succession of ceremonies, including the pilgrimage to El Rincon and animal sacrifice (Santeria, n.d.). She enlists the aid of her Santeria godfather, Jorge, to arrange the sacrifice (Santeria, n.d.). Two goats and several chickens are delivered and inspected. As Jorge explains, the animals must be in good health, for their sacrifice will transfer their health to the people in the ceremony (Santeria, n.d.). Each of the participants is cleansed and prepared for the sacrifice, including a brushing of the legs with the chickens (Santeria, n.d.). One by one, the animals throats are slit, the blood spraying into the bowls containing the sacred stones that house the spirits (Santeria, n.d.). An interesting quirk of this particular example is that Norma Pedroso is a retired nurse (Santeria, n.d.). As a former healthcare practitioner, one would think her medical knowledge could sustain her, but as uncertainty creeps in, religion and magic tend to the psychological needs of its participants (Perry, 2003). The duality of Catholic saints and Yoruba spirits is an obvious nod to the historical aspect of the forced relocation of African slaves, as well as the human tendency to resist change. Functionalism, as Malinowski defined it, is about society supporting the individual, and how it can reduce the anxiety of the uncertain. As Norma gets older, she worries for her children and grandchildren who still rely on her, so she wants to make sure she does everything in her power to stay in good health long enough to provide for them (Santeria, n.d.). The uncertainty of old age, disease, and injury causes anxiety for Norma, so she turns to religion to soothe her, asking Babalu Aye to come into her home and protect her (Santeria, n.d.). She probably knows

4 SANTERIA 4 the value of good diet, vitamins, and so on, since she was a nurse, but perhaps she feels that she needs just another tiny bit of help from the spirits of her ancestors. Perhaps it also provides a tie to her heritage, offering some form of comfort to her as it did for the slaves centuries ago.

5 SANTERIA 5 References Santeria. (n.d.). Beliefs and Traditions. Retrieved from Perry, R. (2003). Five Key Concepts in Anthropological Thinking. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.