Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santeria to Obeah and Espiritismo » (1st Edition)

Margarite Fernández Olmos is Professor of Spanish and Latin American Culture at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert is Professor of Caribbean Cultural Studies at Vassar College. Among their many books, they have together co-edited Sacred Possessions: Vodou, Santería, Obeah, and the Caribbean and Healing Cultures: Art and Religion as Curative Practices in the Caribbean and its Diaspora.

Margarite Fernandez Olmos is Professor of Spanish at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

Library Journal

Creolization, or combining various beliefs and practices to form new ones, is a phenomenon in Caribbean religious history. Caribbean peoples drew on the Christianity brought by European colonizers, as well as African religious traditions, to form religions such as Santeria, Regla de Palo, the Abakua Secret Society, Vodou, Obeah, Myal, Quimbois, and Espiritismo. Here, Olmos (Spanish, Brooklyn Coll., CUNY) and Paravisini-Gebert (Caribbean literature and culture, Vassar Coll.) have joined forces to provide a scholarly introduction to the various Creole religions of the Caribbean. Common roots and comparative aspects are explored, and chapters on each religion cover historical origins, major rituals and deities, and their divination in current culture. Broad historical information on the Caribbean region is also given. Unique to such a study, this book uses extracts from novels, such as an account of the making of an Nganga from Leonardo Padura Fuentes's Adios Hemingway y La cola de la Serpiente, to illustrate some points. Extensive notes and a bibliography round out this fine text. Recommended for scholarly collections.-L. Kriz, West Des Moines P.L. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.