Houston, USA - A religion founded more than 500 years ago is growing in popularity, not only in the United States but also in Houston. Practitioners call it "the way of the saints," while others call it sacrilege. The KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters gave an in-depth look Tuesday into the world of Santeria.
There is no bible, no text, and no written accounts of any kind -- only hundreds of years of rituals and legends handed down orally to each generation. It's a religion growing in popularity across Houston, raising eyebrows and fueling a theological debate.
"The Catholic Church has consistently expressed deep concerns about Santeria," said Monsignor Frank Rossi, with the Galveston-Houston Catholic Diocese.
"What people don't understand they are scared of, and they don't understand Santeria," Santeria follower Mercedes Rios said.
But to understand this debate you have to understand Santeria's roots. The religion took shape in the 1500s, when the Spaniards kidnapped tribesmen from the area of Nigeria, and then settled in the Caribbean states.
The Spaniards would punish, even kill any slave caught worshipping the African gods. So, to avoid persecution, the slaves took their pantheon of gods, called Orishas, and hid them underneath the names of Catholic Saints. That was the birth of Santeria.
"When I came in 1976 here to Houston there was a handful of Santeros. Now there's a whole community," Rios said.
For nearly 30 years, Rios has run a botanica on Bissonnet in southwest Houston. Rios is also a practicing Santera, which is part priestess, part healer and part counselor.
"Santeros are here to heal naturally and to help people cope better with life -- to give them a sense of hope," she said.
"The Santera in this case, she's in a trance," Alberto Godoy said.
Godoy is an internationally known painter living in west Houston.
"They brought me one day, I was very little. It was nighttime, I remember, into this ceremony," he said.
But he was born in Cuba where Santeria is much more prevalent.
"She had a machete and she was, you know, (with) the cigar on her mouth, and she was swinging the machete," Godoy said.
Even though Godoy does not practice Santeria, that childhood memory is so profound he's spent his life reliving the ritual on canvas.
"That impressed me to the point that I've painted it several times, you know, that scene," he said.
To understand the images in Godoy's mind, the Troubleshooters obtained a video of a Santeria ritual performed in Cuba. It was a ritual of song, drums and rhythmic dances. It shows a man apparently going into a trance. Those who practice Santeria believe he was channeling one of the Orishas, or gods.
But what this ritual doesn't include is the one aspect of Santeria outsiders find the most objectionable -- animal sacrifice, which is a key component of almost all Santeria rituals.
"Santeria deals with nature. Everything that is Santeria is nature," Rios said.
Rios blames part of the negative image on lingering fears from the murder of Mark Kilroy, the University of Texas student who was dismembered during what many thought was a Santeria ritual.
But was that Santeria?
"No, that was Palomyumbe. But it's still another phase of what came over from Africa. So, they all put it under the heading Santeria," Rios said.
Misconceptions aside, Santeria is also the source of an intense theological debate.
"It takes what is obviously very holy and precious to us as Catholic Christians and mixes it with non-Christian pagan ritual," Rossi said.
"I go to church. I still read my Bible. I still say my prayers every night and I teach my children to do that," Rios said.
She argues those who practice Santeria still believe in one supreme God and the belief in Orishas is no different than Christians' belief in angels.
"There's only one God, they're just called by different names," Rios said.
"It's been sadly clear to me that their knowledge and understanding of Catholic theology is fairly weak," Rossi said.
Despite it's growing popularity it's difficult to pinpoint how many people practice Santeria. Some estimates put it as low as 22,000 in the United States. Other estimates have it as high as 5 million. Since many people are still afraid to admit they practice this religion, it would be difficult to come up with an exact number.
The Houston area has more than 20 stores devoted to the practice of Santeria, according to the phone book.