Posted on 09/15/2015 1:33:12 PM PDT by keat
HAVANA (Reuters) - The air was choked with smoke from incense and cigars while the faithful sipped sugarcane liquor from a gourd at the altar and spat mist over the crowd.
Niurka Mola 50, stood at the altar in the cramped living room of a downtown Havana walk-up, calling on the spirits of ancestors to give guidance. Later, with followers enthralled by the arrival of the spirits, one man fell into a brief fit of convulsions.
Mola is a "godmother" in Cuba's Santeria tradition, which has its roots in the Yoruba religion imported to Cuba from West Africa by slaves.
Like many Santeria practitioners, she is also a Roman Catholic who goes to church twice a month, and she is delighted that Pope Francis will visit the Caribbean island on Sept. 19-22.
But she would like the pontiff to give formal recognition to the role of Santeria in Cubans' spiritual lives.
"Catholicism is present in all manifestations of Santeria. In the end, they have the same purpose: getting closer to God," said Mola, a teacher at a daycare center in Havana.
About 60 percent of Cuba's 11 million people are baptized Catholic, the Church says, but experts say at least an equal number practice Santeria or another form of Afro-Cuban religion.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...
with this Pope ANYTHING is possible.. I guess...
Does the Pope get to slaughter his own chicken and drink its blood?
Santeria is voodo, nothing more, nothing less, and is found throughout Latin America, always involves cigars, burnt offerings, and assorted mysticism that has NOTHING to do with Catholicism nor any other remotely Christian religion. It has African roots of course, and THAT is what they’re trying to legitimize.
Oh yeah, and chickens. Always chickens...
This thread is going to get interesting.
Book marked.
This article is short on facts and big on assumptions - Not all Catholics are Santeros, no where near that. This claim is Castroite BS at its finest.
It’s Santeria in Cuba, and Vodun (voodoo) in Haiti.
Same Yoruba rituals & animal sacrifices, same claim to “supplement, not supplant” Roman Catholicism. Same demands for official recognition & same yells of “racism!!!” if that is not granted.
OBTW, I’m Catholic.
Sounds like my uncle Bernie!
These syncretist cults are death to their members. They take the Gospel and drown it under the superstitions, practices and terror of pagan religions.
The Inquisition in early Latin America dealt mainly with clergy and mainly sentenced them for moral faults (enslaving the Indians, sexually exploiting them, stealing from them, etc.). However, syncretism was a major failing, because the Church knew exactly what it would lead to: a deceptive image of a few Christian figures brushed on over pagan beliefs and practices, which still kept their power to terrify, paralyze and even kill. So syncretism was also punished very severely.
One of the reasons Protestants have been successful in Latin America is that they don’t have a left wing that things santeria or voodoo is ok. It wasn’t OK in the Catholic Church until the left took over at Vatican II, and now this Pope is full steam ahead on syncretism.
Heck, he had one of his cardinals out in Bolivia offering incense to the “pachamama,” a bundle of rags in the street. And he’s going to have an Indian sage blessing of the Cathedral in DC before he celebrates mass there.
So, alas, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gave a nod to Santeria.
Completely agree!
I wish he were just a moron-moron, though, because I actually think he’s an ill-intentioned moron.
“Is very bad to drink Jobu’s Rum.....very bad.”
He has to be an ill intentioned moron...as a well intentioned moron couldnt be as far OFF the MARK as he is..week in and week out.
Lovely.
>> Does the Pope get to slaughter his own chicken and drink its blood?
And dump it on the railroad tracks afterward like they do in Miauba? The dumping grounds were 1/2 mile from our old house (northwest of the intersection of Bird Rd. and Ludlam). The stench of rotting flesh was unbearable.
“...a deceptive image of a few Christian figures brushed on over pagan beliefs and practices...”
I’m afraid you’re right in the case of Santeria/Vodun.
That Palo Mayombe stuff is nasty as well; from my hometown:
“In 1999, Kearny police charged a Palo priest and several of his followers with stealing the 83-year-old remains of an infant from a crypt in Arlington Cemetery. Detective Thomas Silkie, who handled the case, said the priest had been using the cemetery for midnight rituals with severed animal tongues and other bizarre items.”
IIRC in Brazil it is called Candomble. Weird sick stuff.
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