SANTOS CUBANOS
The “Santos cubanos” are part of a neo-African religious tradition that appeared in the Caribbean, specifically on the island of Cuba.
Catholics, Protestants, practitioners of Afro-Cuban religions, Santería and Ifá worship (both Yoruba-influenced), Palo Monte (Bantu-influenced), Syncretic Spiritism (European-north-Cuban American and African) are found everywhere and at all levels of Cuban society.
In the living room of a house of mixed spirituality, there are dolls installed on the armchairs or above the television. They are orishas, incarnations of the deities of Santería. Soup tureens, too. Some trinkets also correspond to spiritual entities such as this object, called a "pilón", which serves as a seat for aspiring santeros during their initiation.
Orishas are strongly associated, almost identified, with Catholic saints, with Catholicism being the only permitted religion.
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The very mythology of Santería invites practitioners to build a very colorful place of worship, each orisha being associated with one or more colors. Yemayá, the goddess of the sea, is represented by blue and white; Obatalá, the god of wisdom who dominates the houses, is distinguished by the immaculate whiteness of his ornaments... Red, green, black, brown are also used. Santeros altars usually house the entire pantheon. These orisha dolls wear the colors of the saint they embody.
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The domestic space can thus be saturated with religious objects.
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