Santera, Caracoles, and Oshun

by Rachel Ropella

Bea's CaraColes in Portland stage's ProduCtion. In Sweet Goats & Blueberry Señoritas, Bea uses her mother’s caracoles, also known as cowrie shells, to seek out answers for both herself and her friend Georgie. While Bea says that she is not a santera (a priestess of Santería) nor does she practice Santería, she still performs this ritual that has been passed down within her family. But what is Santería? How does one learn their future through caracoles? Below, we’ve created a quick guide to help you learn more about this African diasporic religion that is found in Cuba.

Santería:

Santería as a religion developed in Cuba during the late 19th century and came out of the West African diaspora, emerging among Afro-Cuban communities that resulted from the Atlantic slave trade. The practice combines elements of the Yoruba religion of West Africa, Roman Catholicism, and Spiritism, and is a practiceoriented religion with rituals happening in the casa templo, a house of worship, hosted by a santera or santero. While a 2015 Univision survey found that only 13% of Cubans stated they currently practiced Santería, Cuban anthropologist Rafael López Valdés suggested that “many who are not [Santería] initiates still turn to local santeros and santeras in their community for assistance on practical or personal matters,” and that it is still deeply infused into the Cuban culture.

Orishas:

Santería is a polytheistic religion, having multiple deities called the Orishas (also known as Orichas) that serve Olodumare, who created the earth. In the practice of Santería, a patakí is a story told about the Orishas in the oral tradition and gives a moral lesson to the listening audience. For example, in Cuban Santería, Oshun (or Ochún) is an Orisha known as the patron of love, maternity, and marriage. In a patakí of Olodumare creating the earth, he realized that the world needed the qualities of love and sweetness as that would make life better and more meaningful. Therefore, Olodumare created Oshun and sent her to earth to help people learn to cultivate these qualities in themselves.

Divination with Caracoles:

Divination is a key part of Santería with a santera or santero reading the caracoles. One might think that this form of divination is like fortune telling, but that is not the case; this is a sacred ritual in which the reader is following specific procedures and intensive training to interpret what the Orishas are saying. In the divination, the reader will use 16 caracoles, and depending on how many are facing up (open) and how many are facing down (closed), the reader will know what message the Orisha has sent. Bea explains this to Georgette in Sweet Goats & Blueberry Señoritas, saying, “The Orishas trust you’ll know how to interpret their messages. You just have to take it all in and see.”