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Voodoo Mysteries, The Gods | Culture – Planet Doc

Documentary “Voodoo Mysteries. The Gods”
All the rituals of santeria start with the smoking of herbs such as basil or siempre viva (everlasting flower). Apart from the purification of the participants, the spirits of plants, animals and men must always be present in Santeria. They wear white and worship the same deities as in the Haitian voodoo.

The slave ships also arrived in Cuba, thereby creating another large African population. Here the rebel slaves were called “cimarrones” and they also had to win their freedom. Their dominant beliefs were Yoruba, which when syncretised created what is known today as santeria or “Regla de Ocha”. A religion, which to a greater or lesser degree, is practised by most of the population.

On these altars we can see the African Gods: OKUN, the warrior. SANGO the OREXA of thunder and lightning, or St. Barbara in syncretism. ORULA, intermediary of OLOFI, the sun, and above this, OBATAIA, the Lord of the minds, equivalent to Our Lady of Mercy.

The Yoruba IFA uses a very complicated prophecy technique. More than a thousand deities may appear in the form of mathematical combinations. The babalawo must interpret them correctly and identify the final answer to the consultation, which will be the decision and order of ORULA. The person  officiating the ceremony shakes the seeds and marks one or two lines of different length, depending on the number of seeds that are left in his left hand. When ORULA appears all get down on their knees. Now the Oracle can be consulted.

Voodoo Mysteries | https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_xnDE04X2MdpGYhyIIo5ghHSv9i4Q0up
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