Orishas against the virus: Afro-Cuban cults, cyberspace and the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The article is devoted to the activity of Afro-Cuban cults, mostly Santeria and Palo, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and tackles issues of sacred visualization as well as the symbolic representation of the epidemic experience. While combining information from digital communities with data collected from informants the author considers the religious and magic rites which are practiced to protect health from the infection. The author analyzes them in the context of traditional spiritual visions. Analysis shows that the main sacred addressee of believers in this process is orisha Babalu Aye, syncretized with the Catholic Saint Lazarus and mpungu Kubayende. At the same time believers turn to other forces for protection, especially to the ancestral spirits, the so-called egguns. Field materials indicate the emergence of network rituals designed to unite believers during the ban on group religious practices. In this regard, the reflection on the ritual space by Santeria and Palo followers is interesting. The author pays special attention to the activities of the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba which are intended to form the religious and mythological perception of the pandemic as well as to support governmental measures of sanitary control and social distancing.