Thanks Frank! But on another note, are you calling me TMC on purpose?
No. Sorry. I was hasty and careless because we were on our way out on one of our daily excursions when I posted. That is also why the humongous caramel stayed up for so long--we have been doing a lot of sightseeing and I check in once in the AM, before we go out, and once in the evening, when we get back.
Yesterday we visited the Cultural Center at Loiza (the PR town that has preserved an astonishng amount of Yoruba culture). I will post about it later. Today we are visiting the 1-km-wide radiotelecope at Arecibo.
Awesome Frank! I didn't know that the Yoruba were ever in Puerto Rico, thats pretty cool. I have some buddies who are Nigerian, but I think they are ebo. Anyway, have fun on your sightseeing.
Awesome Frank! I didn't know that the Yoruba were ever in Puerto Rico, thats pretty cool. I have some buddies who are Nigerian, but I think they are ebo. Anyway, have fun on your sightseeing.
TMK
I actually thought that Yorubas were a late arrival in the Americas coming after the break up of theri various clans due to internecine warfare whcih rendered them vulnerable to be sold as slaves. The reason why Yorubas are such a huge presence in Cuba and Brazil which were the last places in the Americas to abolish slavery.
I didn't know that the Yoruba were ever in Puerto Rico, thats pretty cool.
caribj wrote:
I actually thought that Yorubas were a late arrival in the Americas coming after the break up of theri various clans due to internecine warfare whcih rendered them vulnerable to be sold as slaves. The reason why Yorubas are such a huge presence in Cuba and Brazil which were the last places in the Americas to abolish slavery.
It gets complicated for two reasons: trade winds and lowest-common denominator.
The trade winds brought runaways from many other islands. If you managed to escape any of the (French, Brit or Dutch) Lesser Antilles in raft with a sail, the chances were that you would wind up on the northeast coast of PR. The trade winds would have carried you there. Upon arrival, runaway slaves were welcomed to the Loiza region by the Spanish as long as they switched to the Spanish language and the Catholic religion. Partly this was because they proved to be loyal Spanish subjects, willing to serve in the army. But it was also because it irritated the bejeezus out of the hated Brits, French, and Dutch. And so the PR northeast coast became the de facto terminus of the Caribbean equivalent of the underground railroad. The point is that the inhabitants were not Spanish slaves--everything but.
Second, the Yoruba religion (monotheism but with a pantheon of "Orixas" -- patron saints?, intercessors?) was and is ubiquitous. Candomble, Umbanda, Voudun, Santeria, etc., etc., all share the same rituals and Orixas (Ogun the warrior, Xango the wise, Nana the nurturing earth mother, Iemanja the fertility patron, Oxala, Oxossi, the Ibeji twins, and so forth). They are still venerated throughout the hemisphere, even where no Yoruba ever set foot. The reason, as explained by John Kelly Thornton in Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University, 1998) is because the Yoruba religion just happened to be acceptable to everybody (even the Kongolese, who had long been Christians) during the period when the slaves were hammering out a new syncretic New World culture (whiich borrowed from many sources). It was the religious lowest common denominator. (Sort of the way Swahili is the East African linguistic lowest common denominator--it is no one's native tongue but everyone speaks it.)
In any event, to this day the people of Loiza are much darker than the average Puerto Rican and retain many Yoruba festival customs, even though their ancestors were a mix of many cultures.
The director of the Cultural Center gave me a document that she thought OneDropRule members might be interested in. I have uploaded it as Loiza.doc. I have not yet read it completely, but feel free to check it out. It is quite large (6.6M) with pictures, so you are better off right-clicking and downloading it, rather than trying to view it online.
My discussion with the center's director was interesting. She is a folklorist and so we started by comparing and contrasting the Loiza festivities with the "John Canoe" festivals of the BWI, the shivarees of the Cumberland Plateau, the Charivaris of the Mediterranean countries, and the "rough music" of the British Isles. It is amazing how similar are all such events where the working or peasant class turns the world upside-down for one day and demands trick-or-treat from the wealthy while dancing in the streets in wierd costumes, stopping only to perform traditional skits.
But we ended up talking about visitors and how their pre-expectations of what a West-African folkloric enclave should be are sometimes contested. Visitors from Nigeria are surprised that many of the customs still alive here vanished long ago back there. Visitors from the 'States tend to carry an imaginary picture of African customs in their heads and dislike seeing a mismatch between that picture and reality. U.S. academics, she said, are often the worst in this regard.
More later. Gotta go.
Last edited by fwsweet on Sat 16 Jun 2007 01:35; edited 1 time in total
I didn't know that the Yoruba were ever in Puerto Rico, thats pretty cool.
caribj wrote:
I actually thought that Yorubas were a late arrival in the Americas coming after the break up of theri various clans due to internecine warfare whcih rendered them vulnerable to be sold as slaves. The reason why Yorubas are such a huge presence in Cuba and Brazil which were the last places in the Americas to abolish slavery.
It gets complicated for two reasons: trade winds and lowest-common denominator.
Second, the Yoruba religion (monotheism but with a pantheon of "Orixas" -- patron saints?, intercessors?) was and is ubiquitous. They are still venerated throughout the hemisphere, even where no Yoruba ever set foot. The reason, as explained by John Kelly Thornton in Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University, 1998) is because the Yoruba religion just happened to be acceptable to everybody (even the Kongolese, who had long been Christians) during the period when the slaves were hammering out a new syncretic New World culture (whiich borrowed from many sources). .
I guess that is a decent explanation and explains why Yoruba based religions have survived in a much purer form than other African based religions, say out of Ghana as an example which have become much more creolised, as cumfa out of Guyana and kumina and pocomania out of Jamaica suggest. As well as the ubiquitous obeah which was once a religion in Ghana, so I am told, but has since degenerated into witchcraft.
I guess that is a decent explanation and explains why Yoruba based religions have survived in a much purer form than other African based religions...
Yes. Thornton does a good job of showing how it all unfolded. One odd thing that I have noticed is that, although the Orixas and their traits are consistent throughout the hemisphere, their syncretic associations with Catholic saints varies.
For example, Ogun the warrior, and Exu the trickster are the two most prominent in Loiza. Exu wears red and black robes and is usually associated with Catholic paintings or statues of Satan or Lucifer (although the mythological character is no more evil than, say, Loki, or Hermes). In Loiza, Exu is the one wearing the mask with all the horns.
But more interesting than Exu is Ogun the warrior. In the New World he is depicted as a knight on horseback. In Brazil they use paintings or statues of St. George slaying the dragon (St. George is the patron saint of Portugal as well as of England). But in Loiza they use paintings and statues of Santiago Matamoros (St. James the moorslayer) slaying Moors.
It gets confusing in Loiza because ordinary folks in Loiza say that the warrior role-players are commemorating Santiago Apostol (St. James the Apostle), a different saint entirely, and nonviolent. The local priest points out that they have the wrong Saintiago. And the folklorists point out that they are actually depicting Ogun. To make things even more confusing, the town hall publishes a tourist pamphlet explaining that the celebrants commemorate St. James the Apostle is because he is the patron saint of the town. But if you visit the church you will see that the patron saint's statute is a man with a shamrock in one hand and a shilleilagh in the other with which he is chasing away snakes. The local priest explained that the town's patron saint is St. Patrick and that he had no idea where they got the notion to dress up like St. James the Moorslayer while claiming to honor St. James the Apostle.
Joined: 10 Mar 2006 {Posts: 235 } Location: Atlanta
Posted: Sat 16 Jun 2007 17:53 Post subject:
caribj wrote:
TheMulattoKid wrote:
Awesome Frank! I didn't know that the Yoruba were ever in Puerto Rico, thats pretty cool. I have some buddies who are Nigerian, but I think they are ebo. Anyway, have fun on your sightseeing.
TMK
I actually thought that Yorubas were a late arrival in the Americas coming after the break up of theri various clans due to internecine warfare whcih rendered them vulnerable to be sold as slaves. The reason why Yorubas are such a huge presence in Cuba and Brazil which were the last places in the Americas to abolish slavery.
But then how do you explain the presence of significant elements of Yoruba culture, such as Vodun worship of the Orishas, in Haiti?
Joined: 10 Mar 2006 {Posts: 235 } Location: Atlanta
Posted: Sat 16 Jun 2007 17:55 Post subject:
fwsweet wrote:
caribj wrote:
I guess that is a decent explanation and explains why Yoruba based religions have survived in a much purer form than other African based religions...
Yes. Thornton does a good job of showing how it all unfolded. One odd thing that I have noticed is that, although the Orixas and their traits are consistent throughout the hemisphere, their syncretic associations with Catholic saints varies.
For example, Ogun the warrior, and Exu the trickster are the two most prominent in Loiza. Exu wears red and black robes and is usually associated with Catholic paintings or statues of Satan or Lucifer (although the mythological character is no more evil than, say, Loki, or Hermes). In Loiza, Exu is the one wearing the mask with all the horns.
But more interesting than Exu is Ogun the warrior. In the New World he is depicted as a knight on horseback. In Brazil they use paintings or statues of St. George slaying the dragon (St. George is the patron saint of Portugal as well as of England). But in Loiza they use paintings and statues of Santiago Matamoros (St. James the moorslayer) slaying Moors.
It gets confusing in Loiza because ordinary folks in Loiza say that the warrior role-players are commemorating Santiago Apostol (St. James the Apostle), a different saint entirely, and nonviolent. The local priest points out that they have the wrong Saintiago. And the folklorists point out that they are actually depicting Ogun. To make things even more confusing, the town hall publishes a tourist pamphlet explaining that the celebrants commemorate St. James the Apostle is because he is the patron saint of the town. But if you visit the church you will see that the patron saint's statute is a man with a shamrock in one hand and a shilleilagh in the other with which he is chasing away snakes. The local priest explained that the town's patron saint is St. Patrick and that he had no idea where they got the notion to dress up like St. James the Moorslayer while claiming to honor St. James the Apostle.
St James the Moorslayer and St James the Apostle are the same fellow. There are plenty of Spanish legends of Santiago appearing in battle against the 'Moors', and even the English. That's why the apostle whose bones are said to rest in Compostela acquired the name 'Matamoros'.
St James the Moorslayer and St James the Apostle are the same fellow.
Really? How 'bout that? I always thought that they were different guys! I shall do penance by hanging scallop shells from my hat brim and hiking to Compostela.
I guess that is a decent explanation and explains why Yoruba based religions have survived in a much purer form than other African based religions...
Yes. Thornton does a good job of showing how it all unfolded. One odd thing that I have noticed is that, although the Orixas and their traits are consistent throughout the hemisphere, their syncretic associations with Catholic saints varies.
For example, Ogun the warrior, and Exu the trickster are the two most prominent in Loiza. Exu wears red and black robes and is usually associated with Catholic paintings or statues of Satan or Lucifer (although the mythological character is no more evil than, say, Loki, or Hermes). In Loiza, Exu is the one wearing the mask with all the horns.
But more interesting than Exu is Ogun the warrior. In the New World he is depicted as a knight on horseback. In Brazil they use paintings or statues of St. George slaying the dragon (St. George is the patron saint of Portugal as well as of England). But in Loiza they use paintings and statues of Santiago Matamoros (St. James the moorslayer) slaying Moors.
It gets confusing in Loiza because ordinary folks in Loiza say that the warrior role-players are commemorating Santiago Apostol (St. James the Apostle), a different saint entirely, and nonviolent. The local priest points out that they have the wrong Saintiago. And the folklorists point out that they are actually depicting Ogun. To make things even more confusing, the town hall publishes a tourist pamphlet explaining that the celebrants commemorate St. James the Apostle is because he is the patron saint of the town. But if you visit the church you will see that the patron saint's statute is a man with a shamrock in one hand and a shilleilagh in the other with which he is chasing away snakes. The local priest explained that the town's patron saint is St. Patrick and that he had no idea where they got the notion to dress up like St. James the Moorslayer while claiming to honor St. James the Apostle.
I suspect some of this difference might be that Brazil, Cuba, and a lesser degree Trinidad have had more recent contacts to Yorubas, due to substantial arrivals of these peoples in the 19thC, and therefore may have symbolism closer to the original form. Whereas elsewhere more creolization has occurred as there was less slave importation in the 19thC.
Awesome Frank! I didn't know that the Yoruba were ever in Puerto Rico, thats pretty cool. I have some buddies who are Nigerian, but I think they are ebo. Anyway, have fun on your sightseeing.
TMK
I actually thought that Yorubas were a late arrival in the Americas coming after the break up of theri various clans due to internecine warfare whcih rendered them vulnerable to be sold as slaves. The reason why Yorubas are such a huge presence in Cuba and Brazil which were the last places in the Americas to abolish slavery.
But then how do you explain the presence of significant elements of Yoruba culture, such as Vodun worship of the Orishas, in Haiti?
I have read that its because the Dahomey peoples have had connections with the Yorubas. Haitian voodoo comes from the Dahomey regions which neighbor Yoruba lands. I cant remember the term they use but I know that its not orisha.
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