Virgin Caridad Del Cobre Summary

There are two main ethnic and cultural influences in Cuba that would be the protagonists of the unique religious combination that people practice to this day. The influence of the Spanish colonialists and their eagerness to convert souls into Catholicism brought to the island their Catholic beliefs and practices. When Spain started to transport Africans to Cuba as slaves, Africans would continue to practice their religion on the island as well.
In 1975 the Communist Party declared the island an atheist state, only to revoke it after three years and giving place to the sixty percent of the population to worship freely. The clash started at the beginning of Cuba’s revolution. Catholicism was connected to the people in power and who also
The Virgin Caridad del Cobre or the Lady of Charity is considered the patron saint of Cuba. It does not matter if the person is Catholic, Santero, or other religion if you go to any house in Cuba you will see an image or a statue of the Virgin in it. It has being told that an image of the virgin was found floating in Cuban waters after a great tempest by three workers in search of salt. There were two aborigine brothers and a black slave (today they called them the three Johns). To their amazement, they saw a statue of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus floating in the water. The story goes that even after the big storm and the statue was floating in the water on a small plank, the statue’s vestments were dry. On the plank it read, “I am the Virgin of Charity”. Santeros will link her with Ochum, the goddess of love, beauty, and prosperity. She is also known as yemaya or the mother of salt waters.
The cult of St. Lazarus is another way to see the two religions intertwine. Lazarus was a poor man who Jesus mentions in one of his stories of conversion. His feast is celebrated on December 17 and many travel from every part of the country to visit the Sanctuary of Saint Lazarus, in a place called El Ricon (about 25 kilometers south of the