Cuba - Religion - Santeria Ceremony

Various animals (goats, chickens, other birds, a turtle...) are sacrificed at in a Santeria ceremony in someone?s apartment- to propitiate the resident's personal Orisha (god). The man in the tri-color hat is a Santeria priest. The man on the floor is the supplicant. The Santeria religion has its roots in the Yoruba people of West Africa who came to Cuba as slaves, bringing their beliefs in Orishas (personal gods and goddesses) with them, but hiding this from the Spanish by incorporating their beliefs with the Catholic religion and its saints. Although repressed after the Cuban revolution, Santeria is now tolerated and, with the weakening of socialist ideology, is growing in popularity in Cuba. It is also spreading to other countries in Latin America and elsewhere from its Cuban base. (Photo by robert wallis/Corbis via Getty Images)