Trinidad and the Wider Caribbean

Apart from Cuba and Brazil, how Yoruba presence deep reach inside Caribbean dey vary plenty, and clear reason dey for this variation: na whether Yoruba people enter there in large numbers late enough, and under conditions where dem fit gather together, to rebuild their institutions. Trinidad na the only place outside the Spanish and Portuguese colonies where dem fit do this one, and the way e take happen no be through slavery but through African immigration after slavery stop. For every other place inside the Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean, the Yoruba contribution real, but na just one part inside system where the main structure come from another place, and correct description must talk am like that.

Trinidad: how the Orisha tradition take reach there

The Orisha tradition for Trinidad start among liberated Yoruba people wey enter there after slavery end, mainly between the 1840s and the 1860s [S1][S2]. Na this important structural fact make Trinidad different from every other case for this section.

Britain stop slavery for inside their colonies in 1834, and apprenticeship come end in 1838. The Royal Navy West Africa Squadron dey intercept slave ships and dem dey carry the people inside go drop for Freetown for Sierra Leone and St Helena. From there, dem come recruit some under indenture arrangements wey get different levels of force, make dem go work for British Caribbean colonies wey dey lack workers. Around 8,385 liberated Africans reach Trinidad during this time: about 3,510 from Sierra Leone and the Kroo Coast, 3,996 from St Helena, and 879 from Rio [S2].

Dem reach there as free people, or at least as people wey no be slaves, enter society after slavery don end, for period when the number of Yoruba people wey dey leave Bight of Benin reach peak for nineteenth century, so plenty among dem na Yoruba. Dem fit build villages, get land, gather together, and practice their tradition. So therefore, no be enslaved people under law wey ban dem build Trinidad Orisha tradition. Free Africans wey get direct and recent knowledge about Yorubaland, and wey still remember how dem dey do the practice for there, na dem build am.

This one come produce tradition wey get special features: strong Yoruba vocabulary, drum rhythms, song lyrics, and set of orisha wey Nigerian fit easily recognise, but e no get the deep priestly hierarchy and initiation setup wey dey Cuba and Bahia, because Trinidad community small pass dem and e no develop that kind heavy institutional structure.

Shango, Orisha, and wetin dem dey call the tradition

The people wey dey practice am now dey generally call the tradition Orisha or Orisa. Plenty people bin dey call am Shango or the Shango cult for most part of twentieth century, name wey become popular through anthropological studies for early to mid twentieth century instead of something wey start from the local people, and people dey often avoid the name now because e dey reduce the whole thing, since Ṣàngó na just one orisha among many [S1].

The public form na the feast or ebo, ceremony wey dey happen every year for many nights inside compound wey get palais (the ceremonial building) and chapelle (room wey dem keep the ritual objects and images). Drums dey call the powers one after the other; spirit possession na normal expectation; dem dey make animal sacrifice. The person wey dey head shrine usually na iya or mongba, or for houses wey get Baptist influence, leader wey carry Baptist title.

The orisha wey dem dey honour include Eshu, Ogun, Shango, Osain, Oshun, Yemanja, Oya, Obatala, and Shakpana, together with figures wey no be Yoruba at all: Mama Latay (earth), and some powers wey dem borrow from Catholic saints, from Hindu deities for some shrines through contact with the large population of people from Indian background for Trinidad, and from Kabbalistic materials wey circulate for twentieth-century Trinidad through printed occult books. Trinidad Orisha really mix different sources together, and e no dey claim otherwise.

How e join body with Spiritual Baptist

Trinidad Orisha join body well well with the Spiritual Baptist faith wey people sometimes dey call Shouter Baptist, and na the same people dey frequently practice the two inside the same compound. Plenty houses dey run Baptist services and Orisha feasts for the same ground, and plenty leaders dey hold position for the two sides. Dem often dey call the combined form Shango Baptist, name wey some practitioners dey reject.

Spiritual Baptism develop for late nineteenth and early twentieth century as Christianity wey face African style, wey mix revival Christianity with possession practice wey come from Africa [S3]. The rites include mourning (period of fasting and staying alone with cloth tie over person eye, wey dey make person see visions and travel in the spirit), and baptism by inside water immersion, with bell-ringing, clapping of hands, and loud shouting wey give am the name Shouter.

Dem pass The Shouters Prohibition Ordinance on 16 November 1917 and ban the faith for Trinidad until dem cancel the law on 30 March 1951 [S3][S4]. The reason wey dem give na noise, say Shouters dey disturb peace with loud singing and bell-ringing. Elton George Griffith wey dem born for Grenada lead the campaign to cancel the law throughout the 1940s [S3]. In 1996, the government of Trinidad and Tobago make 30 March national holiday, Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day [S3].

One correction dey necessary because this mistake dey common for Trinidad itself: dem no ban Orisha worship under the 1917 Ordinance [S3]. Na Shouter Baptists the Ordinance target. Na other laws control Orisha practice, especially the obeah legislation and the Summary Offences Ordinance, wey be different legal history entirely. To mix the two together make sense since the two traditions join body well, but e no correct.

Since that time, Orisha for Trinidad don get plenty official recognition. Orisha marriages dey legally valid, dem don discuss about Orisha public holiday, and government don give land to Orisha organisations. Trinidad still get strong relationship with Nigeria wey active well well, including visits from Ọ̀yọ́ and Ifẹ̀ personalities and travel back and forth, wey dem discuss for the return circulation file.

Haiti: the Nago rite, wey dem explain carefully

Haitian Vodou no be Yoruba religion, and di common claim say na Yoruba religion wey dey hide under Creole name na mistake. How dem set am up mostly come from Dahomey, from di Fon and Ewe tradition-dem for Slave Coast, with big Kongo part and also local Taíno and French Catholic layer join am. Di word vodou sef na Fon.

Even with dat, di contribution wey Yoruba make get name and place inside am. Di lwa, wey be di spirit-dem, dem group dem into nanchon, wey mean nation-dem, and dis include Rada, Petwo, Kongo, Ghede and Nago [S5]. People understand say di Nago nation come from di people wey French people call Nago, dat is people wey dey speak Yoruba, and e carry im own rhythm, song, dance style, and set of lwa, with Ogou in im many forms as di main central complex [S5].

Nago rite inside Vodou ceremony na just one part: particular drum pattern, series of song wey use language style wey get Yoruba words inside, and how Nago lwa take dey arrive. Na recognized category inside one bigger liturgy, no be separate religion inside Vodou.

Di plain truth be say: Yoruba people na minority among di people wey enter Saint-Domingue, wey carry majority of dem slave captives come earlier and from broad part of di coast, with plenty Kongo people especially for di last decades before 1791. Yoruba things inside Vodou na original and person fit clearly see am for di Nago nanchon, inside di Ogou complex, and for di vocabulary of rites and songs, wey get words from Fon, Yoruba, Ewe, Igbo, and Kikongo among others [S5]. And di theological structure of Vodou, di priesthood of oungan and manbo, di asson rattle, di vèvè ground drawing, di lakou organisation, and di division between Rada and Petwo, no be Yoruba forms and e no make sense to explain dem as Yoruba forms.

Di common mistake wey dis one dey correct na specific one, and e dey show up regularly for popular writing: because Yoruba òrìṣà religion na di African tradition wey dem document pass for Americas, e turn to di default template wey people dey use interpret any oda religion wey come from Africa. Haitian Vodou, Cuban Palo, Jamaican Kumina, and Central African traditions in general dey suffer from dis tin. Dis correction still apply again for di Benin and Togo file.

Jamaica

Di African religious heritage of Jamaica mostly come from Akan and Central Africa, no be Yoruba, for simple reason say most of di captives come from Gold Coast and West Central Africa, and majority enter before di time wey plenty Yoruba start to come. Obeah and Myal na di older complex-dem; Kumina na Central African tin wey Kongo indentured immigrant-dem bring after slavery end for middle of nineteenth century, with ritual language wey come from Kikongo; Revival Zion and Pukumina na Afro-Christian formation-dem of di nineteenth century.

Yoruba presence dey, but e small and dey only for some specific place. Small number of liberated Africans land for Jamaica under di same post-emancipation immigration arrangement wey supply Trinidad, and dem document some communities of Yoruba descendants for Westmoreland area wey still keep some songs and words. No institutional Yoruba tradition dey Jamaica wey person fit compare to Trinidad own, and di claim say Jamaican Revival or Rastafari come from Yoruba no get any evidence to support am.

Grenada, Carriacou, and the smaller islands

Grenada and Carriacou receive liberated Africans under di same nineteenth-century scheme. Grenada get documented Shango tradition wey relate to Trinidad own, and movement of practitioners between di two islands don dey for long time, and Elton Griffith Grenadian origin na one example of dat movement [S3]. Carriacou Big Drum ceremony na nation-dance where dem dey call African nations including Nago and dance dem one after di oda, and na one of di clearest surviving example anywhere wey show say dem dey perform di nation categories instead of just to record dem down.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico own African heritage no come from Yoruba. Di local Afro-Puerto Rican religious tradition na espiritismo, Kardecist Spiritism wey dem adapt from French and give strong Puerto Rican popular form throughout di twentieth century.

Òrìṣà religion for Puerto Rico na twentieth-century import from Cuba, wey enter as Cuban people dey migrate and come plenty pass after 1959, and e develop there as one special combined form wey dem dey usually call santerismo, where dem join Cuban oricha practice and Puerto Rican espiritismo together, with boveda, wey be di spirit table wey dem cover with white cloth, standing side-by-side with di oricha. Puerto Rican and Nuyorican practitioners na major part of òrìṣà religion for New York and dem treat dem for di United States file.

Venezuela

Di main popular religion for Venezuela na di cult of María Lionza, wey center on Sorte mountain for Yaracuy state, with spiritual hierarchy of courts wey include indigenous, African, and historical figures [S6]. E no come from Yoruba.

From di 1960s, Venezuela receive plenty Cuban and Haitian immigrants, and these people wey enter adapt to María Lionza practice and also add Yoruba elements from Santería and elements from Vodou join am [S6]. Santería for Venezuela now dey generally practiced alongside or inside di María Lionza system instead of separately, and dem recognize am inside im spiritual hierarchy [S6]. Independent Cuban-lineage Ocha houses still dey, and di economic collapse and emigration from Venezuela since 2015 don carry di two traditions go far across South America.

What the pattern shows

When person look across di Caribbean, di institutional presence of Yoruba dey strong for only two conditions: late concentrated arrival into urban slave society wey get legal associational cover, wey be Cuba and Bahia, or post-emancipation free African immigration, wey be Trinidad and to a lesser level Grenada. For oda places, na just one strand inside another structure, or twentieth-century import, or e no dey at all. Dis no be ranking of which one authentic pass. Na description of wetin different history produce.

Source-dem [S1] "Trinidad Orisha," dey tok about how di tradition take start among Yoruba pipo wey gain freedom afta emancipation, di period between 1840s to 1860s wey dem take arrive, how "Shango" take popular for twentieth century through anthropological study-dem, and di plenti different source-dem for contemporary Trinidad Orisha. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Orisha [S2] Maureen Warner-Lewis and related academic work-dem on how liberated African settlement take dey arrange for Trinidad c. 1838 to 1870, wey show sey na about 8,385 liberated African pipo arrive, where about 3,510 come from Sierra Leone and Kroo Coast, 3,996 from St Helena, and 879 from Rio. Check "The Yoruba and Orisha Worship in Trinidad and British Guiana: 1838-1870," African Studies Review. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/abs/yoruba-and-orisha-worship-in-trinidad-and-british-guinea-18381870/DBBCAAFCCDCDF73184079E7188E29D18 ; and "The Orisa House That Afro-Catholics Built: Africana Antecedents to Yoruba Religious Formation in Trinidad." https://www.academia.edu/40976483/ [S3] "Shouters Prohibition Ordinance," Obeah Histories, and NALIS, National Library and Information System Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, dey tok about di Ordinance wey dem pass on 16 November 1917, di reason about noise wey dem give, di ban wey last reach when dem cancel am on 30 March 1951, Elton George Griffith campaign, how dem take establish di national holiday for 1996, and di point sey dem no ban Orisha/Shango under di 1917 Ordinance, contrary to wetin plenti local pipo believe. https://obeahhistories.org/shouters-prohibition-ordinance/ and https://www.nalis.gov.tt/resources/tt-content-guide/baptist-liberation-day/ [S4] "Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day," dey tok about di 30 March 1951 repeal and di remembrance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_Baptist/Shouter_Liberation_Day [S5] "Haitian mythology," dey tok about di nanchon classification of di lwa wey include Nago alongside Rada, Petwo, Kongo and Ghede, how dem take link di Nago nation with Nigeria, and di presence of Fon, Yoruba, Ewe, Igbo and Kikongo word-dem inside Vodou ritual-dem and song-dem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_mythology [S6] Dey tok about María Lionza, di Yaracuy centre, and Cuban and Haitian immigration for 1960s wey add Yoruba element-dem from Santería and element-dem from Vodou put inside María Lionza system, with Santería wey pipo dey generally practice inside di spiritual hierarchy of María Lionza. https://www.occult.live/index.php/Mar%C3%ADa_Lionza and https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2015/11/20/whats-the-deal-with-santeria-and-espiritismo/

Note on confidence: dis file get medium mark. Di material on Trinidad and Haiti stand on solid academic work. Di section-dem for Jamaica, Grenada, Carriacou and Puerto Rico summarise general knowledge wey dey well-established for di field, but dem use fewer direct source-dem here pass di file-dem for Cuba and Brazil; make person double-check specific claim-dem about Westmoreland Yoruba community-dem and Carriacou Big Drum nation category-dem against Maureen Warner-Lewis, Guinea's Other Suns and Central Africa in the Caribbean, and Lorna McDaniel, The Big Drum Ritual of Carriacou, before dem trust dem.