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Meeting Minutes
Torch Club of the Fox Valley
8 February 2018
Atlas Coffee Mill & Café

Notes taken by: Sofia Wilson, Secretary
Attendees:  Karen Bachhuber, Sue Bennett, Nancy Bodway, Dave Debbink, Marcia Debbink, Mary Flanagan, Paul Frieberg, Jean Jepson, Barbara Kelly, William Kelly, Jude Kuenn, Cam Maurice, Richard Schoenbohm, Katie Shaw, Jan Smith, Robert Swain, Helen Thiel, Peter L. Thiel, Scott Valitchka, Donna Weis and Sofia Wilson

 

BUSINESS MEETING

Meeting called to order at 6:35pm.

Old Business:

New Business:

Announcements:
A. Barbara K. – Spring Primary is February 20th. Get out and Vote.
B. Jan – Searching for Excellence Exhibit at the Bergstrom Mahler Glass Museum in Neenah ends Sunday, February 11th.
C. Bill – Home and Garden Expo this weekend, Feb. 9-11th in the new Fox Cities Exhibition Center. Has coupons for $1 off/ 1 Senior free.
D. David – Pecha Kucha is March 6th, at 6:30p at the Timber Rattler’s Stadium. Speakers get 20 seconds per slide with 20 slides for their presentation. Free and open to the public, with a silent auction that benefits the Valley New School.
E. Richard – More cases of gerrymandering in the news. North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania have cases.
F. Sofia – Paine Art Center is having Rooms of Blooms, March 1-4 and March 8-11.


Business segment adjourned at 7:05pm for dinner.

 

Karen Bachhuber – Santeria Religion

Initially, I didn’t know anything about this religion, other than the little bit that was in the news that Jennifer Lopez got in trouble for having a chicken killed.
I traveled with a group organized by Lawrence University and lead by Erin Zinsli (a professor and curator at Wriston Art Galleries and a recent LU graduate Eli Edelman, who is currently studying drumming at IU. 
Many areas in Cuba were being restored including the Catholic Church pictured. There were a lot of Catholic Churches in ruin and but only once did we find one that was active. The person I traveled with was interested in finding Catholic Churches to visit. This is what we found.
Our guide, Gretel, wore a religious metal. It was her Santerian Orisha, Santa Barbara.
Here begins my search - What is Santeria
In the 19th Century over 165,000 new slaves were brought to Cuba.  At that time 370,000 slaves were dedicated to work on sugar plantations. These slaves were forced to worship with their Spanish masters in Catholic Churches.

In their barracks they formed societies and to practice their Yoruba based religion.  Calibos were fraternities that acted as mutual aid societies for Cuba’s slave population (Hearn, 20018) and encourage Orisha followers to maintain their cultural identity.

During the Spanish American War (1851) these Calibos formed the basis of an underground challenge to Spanish rule (Lefever, 1996).  When slavery was abolished in Cuba 1898, the white ruling class became increasingly concerned that the black and mulatto segments of the population would demand equality (Lopez-Sierra, 2012). As a result, the government ended relationships with the Calibos and attempted to wipe out the organizations and their influence (Clark, 2007).  This caused, the Santeria to go underground and grow stronger. Santeria does not encourage its followers to identify themselves.

Santeria is a Syncretism - A blend of two or more religions belief systems into a new system. Two or more religions because the Yoruba tribe was exposed to Islam and Christianity in Africa.

Here is a bit of a Yoruban Creation Story:
At first there was only the sky above and a watery, marshy waste below.  No land existed for humans.  In four days, all was completed and the fifth day was set apart for rest. Olodumare brought into existence the planets, stars, plants and animals. Olodumare formed the first man, in his own image out of mud.  When finished, he breathed immortal life into this man whom they called Omo Oba.  In time Omo Oba became conceited because of his beauty and strength, believing himself equal to Olodumare. Offended Nzame set out to destroy the earth with lightning bolts, but forgetting that Omo Oba was immortal. Life on earth was destroyed and Omo Oba attempted to find refuge in the bowels of the earth became trapped in the smothering fire of Nzame’s fury.  Yet every so often he is able to escape his fiery confinement and tempt humans to abandon the ways of Olodumare.  (LaTorre, 35)

There was a second birth after the world was reduced to scorched desert.  For centuries, nothing existed but smoldering fire. Smoke filled the skies, forming dense, impenetrable clouds of fire.  Olodumare eventually desired to re-create the earth. He converted the clouds into water, which fell on the fire and extinguished it.  Where the fires burned most fiercely, the grounds were left with lower elevation.  As the rains fell the low points were filled with water, creating great oceans.  In the huge crevices between the cooled rocks, the Orisha Yemaya was born. Yemaya laid her body across the earth and exclaimed, “My womb is hurting” Then from her womb came forth all the rivers, orishas and creatures great and small.

Both faiths (Catholic and Yoruba) acknowledge one high God (Olodumare/God). And this is how they blended to become Santeria.

One important difference is that in Yoruban tradition and in Santeria humans do not speak directly to or about Olodumare, their creator God.  They always implore help and guidance only through their community, dead ancestors and Orishas.

Santeria adopts elements of Spanish imposed Catholicism while maintaining the central beliefs of Africa’s Yorban folk religion.  It is a faith system of marginalized people.

Santeria Hierarchy:

Santeria Commandments:

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