The Orishas Collection: Afro-Cuban History and Culture in Jewelry
Delving into the world of the Yoruba religion and its influence on Cuban culture
My Orishas collection is perhaps the most narrative of all my creations. To understand what it represents, one must first understand what the Orishas are, and why Cuba is one of the places in the world where this tradition is most alive.
The Orishas: deities of a millennia-old cult
The Orishas are the deities of the Yoruba cult, a religion originating in present-day southwestern Nigeria, in the region corresponding to today's Yoruba states. The Yoruba cult is one of the oldest religious traditions in sub-Saharan Africa, with a rich cosmology, a pantheon of hundreds of deities, and complex rituals transmitted orally from generation to generation.
Each Orisha is associated with a domain of human life and specific attributes. Yemoja is the Orisha of the sea and motherhood. Shango governs lightning and justice. Oshun presides over love and rivers. Ogun is the warrior, master of iron and the forge. Each has its colors, symbols, and feast days.
How the Orishas came to Cuba
The transatlantic slave trade deported millions of West Africans to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries. Among them, many Yorubas were brought to Cuba to work on sugar plantations. They brought with them their language, traditions, and beliefs.
Facing Spanish colonial repression, which imposed Catholicism on slaves, Cuban Yorubas developed a remarkable cultural survival strategy: they associated their Orishas with Catholic saints, creating a religious syncretism called Santería, or Regla de Ocha. Shango became Santa Bárbara, Yemoja became the Virgin of Regla. Practices continued under Catholic cover.
Santería today
Today, Santería is deeply rooted in Cuban culture. It cuts across all social classes and coexists with other religions. Its ceremonies, marked by the music of batá drums, Yoruba chants, and offerings to the Orishas, are moments of collective communion of rare intensity.
Beads (Santería necklaces) play a central role in this tradition. Each Orisha has its own bead colors: blue and crystal for Yemoja, red and white for Shango, yellow and amber for Oshun. Wearing these beads means placing oneself under the protection of a particular Orisha.
My collection: a cultural tribute
My Orishas collection is part of this tradition in a respectful and documented way. The multicolored beads that adorn these jewels directly evoke Santería necklaces, but in a contemporary interpretation accessible to all. It is not a superficial appropriation of an exotic aesthetic: it is the testimony of a woman who lived for two years in Cuba and who was deeply touched by this culture.
Wearing a piece from the Orishas collection means wearing a symbol of cultural resistance, of creativity in the face of oppression, and of the vitality of a tradition that has survived.
