http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4963/30770072oj4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Santeria finds a following among baseball’s Latin American players, who’d rather not discuss it for fear of misperceptions.
By Kevin Baxter Times Staff Writer

CHICAGO — On a shelf in the office of Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, mixed in among the family photos, the Roberto Clemente bobblehead and the Napoleon Dynamite figurine, are four small but intimidating religious icons.

“If you see my saints, you’ll be like ‘Golly, they’re ugly,’ ” Guillen had said before inviting a visitor to come in. “They’ve got blood. They’ve got feathers. You go to the Catholic church, the [saints] have got real nice clothes.

“My religion, you see a lot of different things you never see.”

Guillen’s religion is Santeria, a largely misunderstood Afro-Cuba spiritual tradition that incorporates the worship of orisha — multidimensional beings who represent the forces of nature — with beliefs of the Yoruba and Bantu people of Africa and elements of Roman Catholicism. And Guillen, born in Venezuela, is one of a growing number of Latin American players, managers and coaches who are followers of the faith.

How many major leaguers have converted to Santeria is impossible to say because most, aware of the stigma the religion has in the United States, refuse to talk about their faith.

“It’s like the forbidden fruit,” said one player. “It’s something personal. It’s something you don’t talk about.”

But among those who have acknowledged their devotion are Angels pitcher Francisco Rodriguez and Florida Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera — both Venezuelan — and the White Sox’s Cuban-born pitcher Jose Contreras, all of whom have been All-Stars and won World Series rings. Others, such as Cincinnati Reds shortstop Alex Gonzalez and Chicago Cubs infielder Ronny Cedeno, have experimented with it.

With all that spiritual power on his side, you’d think Ozzie Guillen could have gotten a few more walks during his playing career. (Guillen’s name has become a by-word for a player who will not take a base-on-balls no matter how much the team needs it.)

Anyway, it’s all just part of the vibrant future we Americans have to look forward to.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/la-sp-santeria26jun26,1,1019023.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-majorbaseb&ctrack=1&cset=true

It's just a matter of time until they start sacrificing chickens in the locker room before games. And, no, that's not meant as a joke.

Baseball - "America's Pastime." Uh...not anymore. Not since 1949.

It's just a matter of time until they start sacrificing chickens in the locker room before games. And, no, that's not meant as a joke.




I'm only surprised they haven't been doing it all the years they've infested the game.

And if they're niggers, what the hell do they need any sort of shit like that for? They're "God",remember? All their "leaders" tell them that.






Baseball - "America's Pastime." Uh...not anymore. Not since 1949.

1946,you mean. That was the last all-White year.

Meanwhile, the press, in it's infinite wisdumb, will never mock or condemn it, only continue to slander Our religions . You can damn well bet there's 1,000 time more sexual perversity and sleaze ni this abomination than Ours.

And an abomination it is; WE gave them Catholicism,they,being the backward,childish savages they are,didn't believe that was good enough( Read: Not Exciting enough,no kicks,not enough "style" as every nigger activity must have it's kicks,it's excitement,or: niggorilla Religious "style" over Substance )so they combine it with their old,backward,childish susperstitions and sacrificing animals and other things and wa-la! Santaria!

And any Whites that get rightfully outraged and pissed , and begin questioning this shit or want it stopped, will be....anyone?....anyone?...LABLED RACIST!!!! THAT'S RIGHT!!!! And,as always, the Left,from all walks of life,will start flooding TV, to slam Us for being "intolerant" and slandered as another John Rocker,and so on and so on....

What substantive,civilized things don't niggers make an abomination out of?

1946,you mean. That was the last all-White year.Yeah, but '47 and '48 were still pretty good, because everybody hated nigger players - even their White team mates - and weren't shy about expressing that hatred. I certainly wasn't around back then, but it's my understanding that by '49 most White spectators had begrudgingly accepted niggers in baseball. White acceptance of a bad thing is the point where I believe the cause is lost.

More interesting "shrines" and "worshippers" seen at: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=santeria&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

The original link to the L.A. Times article does not work unless you register, but it looks like you nabbed the article here, anyway: http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2007/06/28/do-you-do-voodoo/

where VDare comments:
Confirming that the 1989 comedy “Major League (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097815/),” with Dennis Haysbert as Pedro Cerrano, the slugger who keeps a Santeria shrine in his locker, was ahead of its time...Do you suppose that some modern variant of the Aztec "religion" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture) might be brought to the U.S. by our jew-mandated open borders (and jew-interpreted 1st amendment)? Why, only a "racist gringo" or "Christian supremacist" would oppose (or write disparagingly of) human sacrifice, right? And you're not a "cannibalphobe," are you?

Think that I'm kidding?


Animal sacrifice all in a day's work (http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/religion/animal-sacrifice.htm)
Police get lessons in religious rituals
BY DAVID OVALLE
When Miami-Dade County police were called to a home in South Miami-Dade, they found people slicing up chunks of goat meat and plucking feathers from chickens. Blood spattered the feet of some of those in the house. ''You're killers! You're all going to jail!'' one officer yelled as the elderly residents began to panic.

The commotion and threats didn't end until a call was made to a local anthropologist and a police detective who explained to the officers on the scene that what they had encountered was a routine and legal Santería ritual.

No arrests were made and police left.

The followers of religions whose practices such as animal sacrifices, the casting of spells and use of ''magic'' powders can seem alien to many officers.

''We really need more cultural sensitivity,'' said Jackie Ben, a longtime Santería priestess. ``Officers need to be educated in all these religions. Many of them tend to think that being a part of this religion means you are involved in criminal activity.''

Hoping to promote greater sophistication among South Florida law enforcement agencies, anthropologist Rafael Martinez and Nelson Reyes, a North Miami Beach police detective, led a weeklong course on ritualistic religions at Miami police headquarters last month.

Officers from around the county learned about Santería, Palo Mayombe and Haitian vodou, religions with roots in Africa fused with Christian traditions. The influx of exiles and other immigrants has brought tens of thousands of practitioners in these religions to South Florida.

PARAPHERNALIA
The first day of the class, Martinez and Reyes laid artifacts on a table in a training room of Miami police headquarters: a three-foot high doll found in the bushes of Sewell Park, on the Miami River near the Orange Bowl, dressed in red and black. Machetes used in rituals of Palo Mayombe -- a Congo religion which worships the dead -- still smelling of chickens. Seashell-studded heads of Elegua, an important Santería deity.

The vast array of artifacts surprised Assistant State Attorney Stephen ImMasche, a longtime Miami resident who knew only casually about the mix between old African faiths and Christian iconography.

Now, he can rattle off the names of Santería deities such as Ogun and Changó.

Like many who have taken the class over the years, ImMasche has dealt with the religions sporadically because he did not how to recognize the faiths.

''I've had cases where people were hesitant to talk about it but I didn't explore it,'' said ImMasche, who specializes in domestic violence.

``And I didn't explore it because I didn't have that knowledge to cross the cultural barrier.'' :rolleyes:

A LITTLE RESPECT
Ben, the Santería priestess, visited on the third day of class. Officers need to respect the religions, she said, as they would Christianity or Judaism.

For example, Ben said, some Santería ceremonies cost in excess of $5,000.

And at these ceremonies, officers may encounter worshipers in a trance. To the santeros, the worshiper is possessed by an orisha, or deity.

Martinez teaches officers to not directly question the possessed person, but to ask an elder priest to break the trance -- or ''dismiss'' the orisha. Otherwise, it may offend the practitioners.

''Many times, officers are judging the rituals according to their perceptions, their upbringing as Christians,'' Martinez said. ``They immediately equate it to devil
worshiping.''

There are up to 100,000 Santería practitioners in South Florida, according to Mercedes Sandoval, a professor of anthropology at Miami-Dade Community College.

BORN IN CUBA
Born among the slave population of colonial Cuba, the religion combines elements of Catholicism with practices of African nations. It not only outlived slavery, it spread among Cubans of all backgrounds.

In South Florida communities, even more people have become initiates -- including many non-Hispanics and even some police officers, Martinez said.

Sandoval said it is harder to estimate the number of practitioners of Palo Mayombe or Haitian vodou because these faiths are much more secretive.

Martinez estimates that the number of those who worship Palo Mayombe, or paleros -- perhaps about 30,000 -- has grown exponentially with Santería because many people practice both faiths.

The number of practitioners of Haitian vodou also likely has grown to the tens of thousands, Martinez said.

About the religions
• SANTERIA: Brought to the Caribbean by slaves, it is a mix of Christian and West African native faiths. A 1993 Supreme Court ruling protects animal sacrifice in the religion as long as the goats and chickens are cut in a precise part of the neck, similar to the way kosher meat is prepared.

• PALO MAYOMBE: With origins in the Congo basin, it is considered darker than Santería because worshipers believe they are empowered by the remains of the dead. Those remains are kept in an urn called the Nganga. Remains often are brought into the United States illegally or stolen from graves.

• HAITIAN VODOU: It is also considered more mysterious than Santería. Ceremonies often include machetes as props and magic powders. During the faith's day of the dead, worshipers often dress up as Baron Samedi, the deity of death. Thanks, Jews!

Hoping to promote greater sophistication among South Florida law enforcement agencies

LOL. Yeah. Tolerating santeria is insane, not sophisicated. The sophisticated man shoots savages when they invade his country.