i frankly havent approached too much this topic before, but i found a good article on the matter. its in spanish, though you can probably use a translator and will work fine.
Argyriadis, Kali. (2005). Religión de indígenas, religión de científicos: construcción de la cubanidad y santería.
Desacatos, (17), 85-106. Recuperado en 09 de enero de 2025, de
Religión de indígenas, religión de científicos: construcción de la cubanidad y santería.
i translated a part i find relevant for this thread:
Nowadays, the capital offers the observer numerous manifestations of religious faith of all kinds. Many faithful attend pilgrimages and visit Catholic churches with the purpose of fulfilling promises to the saints, offering them flowers, coins, sometimes fruit and tobacco, presenting dolls for the priest to bless, taking a little holy water ("to carry out works and jobs"), or giving masses to the dead "so that they develop." There are also many Havana residents who light a candle weekly to the images or statues of saints and virgins that they have in their homes, to ask them directly. Several spiritualists and/or mediums "do charity": they use their grace or ability to communicate directly with spirits to allow people to meet their deceased protectors, dead of light, "placed by God" in each individual to guide them in exchange for attention that will help them develop: making an altar or spiritual vault, receptacle dolls, spiritual masses where one converses with the dead through clairvoyance or possession, offerings of candles, tobacco, flowers, perfume, liquor, parties…
To protect oneself from harm and witchcraft, and just in case one sends some hard work to an enemy, one is always recommended to scratch oneself in Palo (Palo-monte, mayombe, briyumba or the variant kimbisa), that is, to go through an initiation ritual in which spirits that were abandoned, nfumbes and "dark dead who work for you in exchange for a little bit of light" (attention) are incorporated. and feeding through offerings and animal sacrifices). These dead are also domesticated and developed, taking advantage of their repeated manifestations through their children who (are) mounted, dismounted or passed dead. Higher degrees of initiation can be reached, the last consisting of the manufacture of a nganga, a receptacle that contains various natural elements embedded with forces: sticks, stones, earth, water, herbs, insects, animal blood, as well as the skull or some bones of the main dead person of the palero, machetes and swords, and a crucifix when one wants to show that one works for good. From it will be born the garments (simple receptacles, often a stone) of the future godchildren. Each nganga is based on one of the so-called African powers, whose names are usually presented, for some, as equivalent to the main orishas, since they reign over a set of similar natural forces, as is the case of Siete Rayos and Changó, both owners of thunder and fire. However, the similarity ends there, because when a palero refers to Siete Rayos it is always about his dead person who is based on that non-anthropomorphic power.
Apart from the dead, each person can also go to the orishas, commonly called saints, since some Catholic saints correspond to some avatars of these divinities, who have many paths. This is the case of the Virgin of Regla, patron of the port district of the same name, closely linked to Yemayá, mistress of the sea and motherhood. Each person is usually the daughter of a main oricha called guardian angel, who sits at the head during the initiation ceremony (called asiento), and is accompanied by others who are only received. Some santeros have the faculty of passing as a saint. However, the arrival of an orisha is less frequent than that of a dead person, and to communicate with them various divinatory techniques are used: the most common is that in which four pieces of coconut are thrown on the ground and five combinations are obtained; the diloggun or snail, where 16 cowries are thrown; and other more complex ones, which belong to the orisha Orula and require a special initiation (to perform Ifá), open only to men, called babalaos. The saints are asked, they are given offerings and animal sacrifices and work is also done with them, but many people consider that they grant things in the long term, always for the benefit of their children, while, on the contrary, "the Palo works quickly but is dangerous because it can turn around."
there's a nice salsa song you'll probably find interesting, by the great héctor lavoe, probably the best salsa singer in history:
