Читать книгу 100 Places in Cuba Every Woman Should Go - Conner Gorry - Страница 15

ONE OF CUBA’S DISTINGUISHING CULTURAL features is the omnipresence of Afro-Cuban religions and their adherents: offerings to the saints can be found strewn around town, and the hypnotic thumping of drums used to invoke the deities heard for blocks. Born out of necessity (like much in Cuba), slaves were prevented from practicing their religion, but were permitted to keep and play their drums. In order to continue worshipping their saints or orishas without incurring even more mental and physical abuse from their overlords and other authorities, they masked their native beliefs by overlaying these orishas with saints from the Catholic canon. Similar syncretic systems exist in Brazil (candomblé) and Haiti (vodou).

One of the most striking manifestations of the practice of Yoruba, Santería, Ifá, and other faiths falling under the rubric of Afro-Cuban religions, are initiates clad in white from head to toe—down to their parasols, Bic lighters, and iPhones. You’ll see children as young as two years old dressed as initiates. The rites for initiation are strict and last a year. Technically. Cubans are born rule breakers so many tend to view the rules and rites as suggestions rather than dictums. You will also see people already initiated wearing the beaded necklaces in the colors of their saints (white and red, the colors of Changó, and blue and white, those of Yemayá, are common). Several Havana sites are regular spots for making offerings and supplications to the orishas, including the Bosque de la Habana in Parque Almendares, La Puntilla in Miramar, and along the coast at 1ra and 36A, also in Miramar. Folks walking around town toting chickens or baby goats are on their way to make their offerings.

According to Cuba’s syncretized nomenclature, Saint Barbara is Yemayá, while Saint Lazarus is Babalú Ayé. The best place to learn about how this all works is the Asociación Yoruba de Cuba, a museum and cultural center dedicated to Afro-Cuban religions. There are altars to each orisha explaining a bit of the creation myths behind each, with which Catholic saint they are related, and what offerings they prefer and why. You can hire a guide (likely only Spanish-speaking) at the museum and they have regular tambores, drum ceremonies, where it’s not uncommon for a practitioner to fall into trance and start speaking in tongues. A visit to this museum gives a great overview of the religions and is complemented well by a visit to the black Virgin housed in the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora in Regla. You can have your shells read here and buy flowers to offer to the virgin, who represents Yemayá in the Afro-Cuban canon. Another opportunity to see the mixture of beliefs as they play out in the Cuban context is to join the pilgrimage to El Rincón each December 17th, Saint Lazarus day. On the orishas’ holy days—June 29 (Oggun), September 7 (Yemayá), 8 (Oshun), and 24 (Obatalá)—there are ceremonies, known as toques del santo all over town. The syncopated drumming is hypnotic and runs all night long on these days; you can only enter if you are specifically invited. If you receive an invitation, take it.