alez-Wippler, 1989, pp. 13-15). The Yoruba slaves wanted to adopt some of the religious practices of Roman Catholicism without giving up the belief in the magical powers of their own deities. To accomplish such an objective openly, however, would have been an invitation for harsh rebuke and retribution from their Spanish masters. Thus, to shield their actions from the Spanish, the Yoruba slaves identified their traditional deities with various Roman Catholic saints (bascom, 1951, pp. 14-20). This subterfuge on the part of the Yoruba slaves in Cuba is the source of the name Santeria which is derived from the Spanish word for saint, santo, and means worship of the saints (Alonso and Jeffrey, 1988, pp. 1188-1191).
The Santeria religion, therefore, is mixture of the magic and mythology of the original Yoruba religion with some of the traditions and mythologies of the Roman Catholic church (Torrens, 1993, pp. 16-19). The Roman Catholic legends surrounding Jesus and Mary play a prominent role in the religious practices of Santeria; however, the magic and mythology of the original Yoruban religion continues to play and even larger role in the practice of Santeria in both Cuba and Puerto Rico (Mason, 1993, pp. 119-130).
In spite of the efforts of the Yoruba slaves to conceal their merging of their traditional religion with Roman Catholicism, the Spanish occupiers soon discovered what the slaves were doing, and began to persecute all persons who practiced Santeria (Gonzalez-Wippler, 1973, pp. 12-14). This persecution led the Yoruba slaves to become even more secretive in the practice of Santeria. This characteristic of secrecy continues among the followers of Santeria within the Cuban and Puerto Rican populations (Dauny, 1982, pp. 37-54). Thus, Santerian vows of secrecy that once were the difference between life and death in both Cuba and Puerto Rico became intrinsic to the practice of the religion although the need for such secr...