Dances of the Santeria Tradition

Join Yemaya Folklore Group for a workshop and demonstration of Santería's musical and dance traditions.

Through this workshop, participants will be introduced to Afro-Cuban percussion and its various drumming techniques and rhythm patterns, with some dance steps which are culturally significant to Santería.

With roots in slave history and oppression, Santería is a syncretic religion of the African Diaspora in Cuba. Based on the beliefs and traditions of the Yorubas, one of the first West African ethnic groups to be introduced to Christianity on a large scale, Santería is a fusion of the worship of semi-divine spirits or deities called orishas, with elements of Spanish Catholicism.

Music, chanting and dancing became central to worship, with percussion playing an especially vital role. Consecrated batá drums play interlocking rhythms, with each type of rhythm invoking different deities. Worshippers sing call-and-response songs in archaic Yoruba, led by the lead singer known as an apón, in an attempt to reach out to the spiritual world.