Yoruban Religion in Cuba

Cuban slavery has a long history that spans from 1517 until its abolishment in 1880. During this time the greatest number of African slaves was Yoruba brought from what is now mostly southeastern Nigeria. Cabildos helped to preserve the roots of Yoruba belief and cosmology in Cuba. Cabildos were nation-specific mutual aid societies for Africans that were run under the auspices of the Catholic Church and modeled on European ones already operating in Cuba. A priest was assigned to oversee each cabildo. As early as the 1700s, African tribes were allowed to form cabildos, and by the mid-1700s there were already more than 20 cabildos operating outside the Cuban capitol city of Havana. Cabildos served as the locus for celebrations, the practice of medicine as ethnobotany, and the practice of ritual.

Lukumi religion emerges out of a cultural milieu where Roman Catholicism is the official state religion, yet tribal identity is preserved to a great degree through membership in a cabildo, while...