The first publicly organized church of Santeria, an Afro-Cuban sect whose
ceremonies include ritual sacrifice of chickens, turtles, pigeons, doves, and
goats, is suing the town of Hialeah, Fla., to challenge the town's ban on
animal sacrifice.
Ernesto Pichardo, priest of the church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye in the Miami
suburb, claims First Amendment protection for the animal sacrifices, which are
performed to initiate priests, during faith-healing, and for heavenly aid in
love, business, and family concerns.
The sect is a folk religion based partly on African beliefs and combined with
Roman Catholic traditions. Usually secretive, it has an estimated 50,000
adherents in the Miami area and was mistakenly linked to the drug-cult killings
of multiple victims in Matamoros, Mexico. Pichardo's church is the first
openly organized Santeria congregation in the United States. A different
Afro-Caribbean cult known as Palo Mayombe has been associated with the
discovery of a bisected goat on a Miami Beach street and several cases
involving the boiling of human bones from cadavers. The practices of both
sects have been rolled into the growing folklore of a "Satanic conspiracy" in
America by fundamentalists and others.
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End of SubGenius Digest
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