Santería, also known as Regla de Ochá or La Regla de Ifá, is a syncretic religion of Caribbean origin that developed in the Spanish Empire among West African descendants. Santería is influenced by and syncretized with Roman Catholicism. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumí.
History
Santería is a system of beliefs that merges aspects of Yoruba mythology that were brought to the New World by Yoruba slaves, along with Christianity and Indigenous American traditions. The slaves carried with them various religious customs, including a trance and divination system for communicating with their ancestors and deities, animal sacrifice, and sacred drumming and dance. The need to preserve their traditions and belief systems in a hostile cultural environment prompted slaves in Cuba, starting from as early as 1515, to merge their customs with aspects of Roman Catholicism.
This religious tradition evolved into what we now recognize as Santería.
In order to preserve and shield (mask) their traditional beliefs, the Lucumí people syncretized their Orichás with Roman Catholic saints. (As a consequence, the terms "saint" and "orichá" are commonly used interchangeably among practitioners.) Spanish colonial planters who saw their African slaves celebrating on saints' days did not know that they were actually performing rituals related to Orichás, and assumed that they were showing more interest in Catholic saints than in the Christian God—hence the derisory origin of the term Santería.
"Santeria" is a song by American rock band Sublime on their 1996 album Sublime. The song was released as a single on January 7, 1997. Despite the fact the song was released after the death of lead singer Bradley Nowell, Santeria along with "What I Got" are often considered the band's signature songs.
Composition and context
The song includes the bassline and guitar riff from Sublime's earlier song "Lincoln Highway Dub" off the 1994 album Robbin' the Hood.Santería refers to the religion practiced in the Caribbean in which Yorùbá orishas are syncretized with Roman Catholic saints.
The song tells the story of a jealous ex-boyfriend who is planning to take revenge on the man who stole his girlfriend. The man then decides to find a new girlfriend, instead. However, the man then mentions using violent force as he speaks of "popping a cap in Sancho" and "putting that barrel straight down Sancho's throat" if he ever sees him again. The lead singer of Sublime, Bradley Nowell, refers to the man as "sancho" and his ex-girlfriend as "heina." In Mexico, a man who steals another man's girlfriend is often referred to as "sancho" while a man's woman or girlfriend is referred to as "heina," which is adapted from the Spanish word "reina," meaning queen in English.