Photo Essay

Afro-Latin Religion

African and African-inspired religions in Latin America and the Caribbean are as diverse as the region itself. But as you will see in these pages, many of them share rituals, beliefs, language and even veneration of the same gods—revealing common origins in Western Africa. To celebrate the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent, which began in 2015, AQ offers this visual panorama of African and African-inspired religions in our hemisphere.

Brazil

Candomblé

Candomblé is a religion of divination, sacrifice, healing, music, dance and spirit possession that originated among Africans and Afro-Brazilians in 19th-century Bahia, in northeastern Brazil. Believers attribute miraculous powers to gods whose adventures, personalities and kinship make up an extensive body of oracular wisdom. Though believers were persecuted until recent decades, today some temples are actively sponsored by the state, and have been officially incorporated into national, state and municipal patrimonies.

 

raul spinasse/agencia a tarde/ap

Devotees make an offering of flowers to Iemanjá, a Candomblé goddess, during celebrations in Salvador, in northeastern Brazil. Iemanjá is considered the Queen of the Seas and the patron of Brazil’s fishermen.

 

 

haroldo abrantes/agência a tarde/ae/ap

A statue of Iemanjá in Rio de Janeiro. Many African-influenced religions, including Candomblé, venerate gods called Orixás, who have dominion over natural and social forces, such as lightning, rivers, love, war and wealth.

 

Venezuela

The Cult of María Lionza

Similar in many respects to Cuban Santería, the Cult of María Lionza incorporates elements of African, indigenous and Catholic customs and iconography. Adherents venerate María Lionza, a goddess born in the 1800s whom they call La Reina. The religion — the second most widely practiced in Venezuela — does not supplant Catholicism for most believers, but supplements it with additional rituals and beliefs.

Haiti

Vodou

Haitian Vodou derives many elements from the practices of enslaved African people, as well as from the indigenous Taíno people of Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). However, it is chiefly inspired by African religions and Roman Catholicism. Adherents identify Bondye as the world’s ultimate creator — a god so inconceivable to humanity that practitioners more directly serve spirits called Iwa, who act as intermediaries. Vodouists seek harmony with the spirits around them that determine their well-being.

Cuba

Santería

Cuban Santería has been profoundly influenced by Western African conceptions of personhood and the divine. The practice, which includes elements of spirit worship based on the rituals of the Yoruba ethnic group, first developed in communities of enslaved African people in the cities and on the sugar plantations of the island in the 19th century. Its influence has since spread throughout the Americas, especially since the Cuban revolution of 1959, when many Cubans, including Santeros, fled the island.

Dominican Republic

Vodou

The rituals and beliefs of the West African Vodun religion have influenced spiritual practice in many parts of the Americas. In Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, the United States and elsewhere, forms of the religion have been syncretized with Christianity and adapted according to local custom. In the Dominican Republic, Vodou (or Vudú) occupies an important but less defined role in spiritual life than it does in neighboring Haiti. While the two practices share common threads, the origins of many Dominican Vudú customs and beliefs are unique to the form of the religion practiced in the country.

Jamaica

Rastafari

Formed during the 1930s in colonial Jamaica, Rastafari has since achieved global recognition thanks in part to the popularity of Bob Marley and Reggae music. Rastas adhere to and reinterpret parts of the Bible and believe in the divinity of Haile Selassie I (Ras Tafari), the late emperor of Ethiopia, who they believe represented God in the flesh. Inspired by their prophet, Marcus Garvey, and Pan-Africanism, they believe in returning to Africa spiritually and physically — particularly Ethiopia, which is considered holy land.