Travel life - Cuba
Cuban Maracas
Woman playing maracas at a bar in Havana, Cuba.
Solo performers, duets, bands; I was really surprised at how much live music there is everywhere in Cuba. Most play classics like “Guantanamera”, “Chan Chan”, “Dos gardenias”, but this band in particular also played newer songs like “Despacito”, and of course the crowd went crazy.
Club Caribe
A retro looking sign in the city of Cienfuegos.
I really like the old school aesthetics that signs and billboards have in Cuba, many of which are still hand painted.
Havana Windows
In Cuba you can find some of the most gorgeous colour palettes ever. There’s just beautiful pastel and bright colours everywhere! This particular house is in Havana, but in other cities such as Trinidad or Cienfuegos you can also find lovely architecture.
Cuban Santera
Regla de Ocha, also known as the Lucumí religion or Santería, is an Afro-Cuban religion, which merges Yoruba traditions from West Africa with Roman Catholicism. It’s an example of religious syncretism, where different religious belief systems are blended into a new religion.
The Yoruba religion was brought to Cuba by enslaved Africans from present-day Nigeria and Benin, who continued to practice their ceremonies and rituals. The Spanish colonial authorities forced enslaved Africans to convert to Roman Catholicism, so in an effort to preserve their beliefs, they syncretised the orishas, or deities, of the Yoruba religion with Roman Catholic saints.
An iyalosha or babalosha, also known as santera, or santero, is a priest or priestess of Santería. The colourful beaded necklaces are called elekes, each orisha is represented with a necklace of specific colours and designs.
The red and white necklace represents Changó, an orisha syncretised with Saint Barbara. He’s the orisha or war, fire, thunder, dancing and music.
The yellow and amber necklace represents Ochún, the orisha or love, beauty and pleasure. She’s syncretised with Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba.
The blue and white necklace represents Yemayá, one of the most powerful orishas and mother of all living things. She’s syncretised with the Virgin of Regla.
The green and black necklace represents Ogún, the orisha of metals and minerals. He’s syncretised with Saint Peter, Saint Paul and others.
The fourth one was was quite hard to figure out from the blurry picture I took, so I went for the light pink and turquoise necklace representing Orisha Oko, the orisha of fertility, agriculture and farming. He’s syncretised with Saint Isidore.
The Yoruba religion was brought to Cuba by enslaved Africans from present-day Nigeria and Benin, who continued to practice their ceremonies and rituals. The Spanish colonial authorities forced enslaved Africans to convert to Roman Catholicism, so in an effort to preserve their beliefs, they syncretised the orishas, or deities, of the Yoruba religion with Roman Catholic saints.
An iyalosha or babalosha, also known as santera, or santero, is a priest or priestess of Santería. The colourful beaded necklaces are called elekes, each orisha is represented with a necklace of specific colours and designs.
The red and white necklace represents Changó, an orisha syncretised with Saint Barbara. He’s the orisha or war, fire, thunder, dancing and music.
The yellow and amber necklace represents Ochún, the orisha or love, beauty and pleasure. She’s syncretised with Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba.
The blue and white necklace represents Yemayá, one of the most powerful orishas and mother of all living things. She’s syncretised with the Virgin of Regla.
The green and black necklace represents Ogún, the orisha of metals and minerals. He’s syncretised with Saint Peter, Saint Paul and others.
The fourth one was was quite hard to figure out from the blurry picture I took, so I went for the light pink and turquoise necklace representing Orisha Oko, the orisha of fertility, agriculture and farming. He’s syncretised with Saint Isidore.
