CUBA: John Paul II to Crown Symbol of Religious Syncretism

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

LA HABANA, Jan 23 1998 (IPS) - Whatever the name, Ochun or the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, the “Cachita” of the majority of Cubans is a beautiful, smiling mulatta, goddess of love and protector of the family.

Even the most incredulous have thought at some time of travelling to the sanctuary in Santiago de Cuba where the most venerated image in the country is kept, and this Saturday, fulfilling a long-standing desire of believers and non-believers alike, the Virgin will be officially crowned by Pope John Paul II.

Ths sanctuary, “the Chapel of Miracles,” is a place of deep synthesis, said father Jose Conrado Rodriguez where “the collective memory of a difficult history is shown in the simple and humble testimonies of faith.”

In the enclosure around the image, kept in semi-darkness, the visitor can see medallions, military insignia – relics of those who fought against the Spanish colonialist army – university diplomas, letters and photographs of rafts found empty in the waters between Cuba and the United States.

“It is only a question of language, father. Ochun is Virgin of Charity in the language of my ancestors and Yemaya is Virgin of the Rule. A question of language, nothing more than that,” said an old mixed-race woman to the vicar-general of Havana, Carlos Manuel Cespedes.

However, Cespedes himself said the phenomenon in Cuba goes much further than a simple linguistic translation based in the deep cultural, and consequently, religious syncretism.

“Syncretism is still present and is probably increasing across the entire continent, be it with the characteristics of syncretism with indigenous culture, or sycretism with African roots,” he said.

The religious synchrony arose in Cuba, as in Haiti and Brazil, with the arrival of the African slaves, who identified their “orishas” or saints with the images on the Catholic altars.

Meanwhile, in countries with a large indigenous population, like Bolivia, Mexico, Peru and all of Central America, the synchronism occured between the indigenous gods and the Christian saints with the arrival of the colonisers.

Thus, in Cuba, the Virgin of Charity of el Cobre was identified with Ochun, lady of the waters of the rivers, of love, gold, coral and amber, who is attributed powers over family security and the capacity of solving amorous and erotic difficulties, and even sexual malfunctions.

The faithful, even if they claim not to believe – those who islanders describe as “thinking of God only when the storm clouds gather” – ask her for protection in difficult moments, like trying to stop their partner from being unfaithful or, even, to help them take someone else’s.

According to the most widely told legend, the mulatta image was found in 1608 floating on the waters of the northeastern bay of Nipe by two indigenous people and black slave boy, who had been sent out in search of salt.

The virgin was taken to the town of El Cobre, on the outskirts of Santiago de Cuba, 971 kilometres from Havana, and was consecrated on September 8, 1916 on the request of veterans of the wars of independence.

In 1936, Pope Pius XI declared the coronation of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre and, in 1977, Paul VI consecrated the National Sanctuary of El Cobre, where the image is kept, as a Minor Basilica.

“Like the Virgin of Guadelupe for the Mexican people, the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre is a symbol of national sovereignty for Cuba,” explained Catholic intellectual and journalist Juan Emilio Friguls.

Historians say Antonio Maceo, one of the key figures of Cuban independence, always wore a medallion of the Virgin inside his vest. At the end of the war with Spain, in 1898, a “Mass for the Free Cuba” was held in the sanctuary, an event considered the first public act in liberty.

On September 8, 1957, the priest Guillermo Sardinas, commander of the rebel army which was to be led by today’s president, Fidel Castro, held mass in the hills near El Cobre for a crowd of guerrillas dressed in olive green, wearing medallions of the Virgin on their chests.

More than 5,000 people travel to El Cobre each year for the festivities on September 8 and others also come throughout the year. And the tendency appears to be increasing with the religious revival seen this decade.

Research by the Department of Socio-religious Studies of Cuba quoted the testimony of a parish priest who said in this country “the Catholics with a grounding in Catholic doctrine are few and far between, as the majority of the faithful only pray to the Virgin and the saints and commemorate the significant Catholic saints’ days.

The most important Catholic festivals on the island are, in order, Saint Lazarus, or Babalu-Aye for the Afro-Cuban cults, the Virgin of Charity (Ochun), the Virgin of the Rule (Yemaya), the Virgin of Mercy (Obatala) and Saint Barbara (Chango).

“Cuban society at the end of this century has once again become, or continues to be, as in the past, basically religious. But it would not be right to say it is a Catholic society” (nor predominantly Catholic), said researcher, Aurelio Alonso, who defined the religiousness of the island as “mixed-race.”

The Catholic hierarchy stated the amount of children attending catechism had increased 500 percent, and Church baptisms, confirmations and weddings, 250 percent, while 70 percent of the people who die in Havana receive the Catholic prayer for the dead.

Social studies show 85 percent of the Cuban population are believers, but the vast majority take part in a popular religiousness with syncretic elements, and only 14.2 percent have a high level of religious development, be it Catholic, Afro-Cuban or Protestant.

And even if “at the beginning there was only a syncretism of the external forms,” nowadays “a syncretism of the religious and ethical contents” can be seen, said Cespedes.