Reference
Gage, J.
(2010, October 29). Science of Santeria: Do a little happy trance. nbcnews.com.
Retrieved November 26, 2013, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39915165/
Review
For practitioners of santerìa,
trance states are a way of connecting with the spirits. The space between the
living and the dead is a liminal one and the combination of chanting, music and
dance is a way of breaking down this barrier and literally communing with the
spirits. The spirits of this Afro-Cuban practice are an adaptation of Catholic
saints and African orishas. When
slaves were forced to convert to Catholicism, many recognized that Catholic
saints resembled their own ancestral spirits. The resulting blends have spawned
several popular religious ideologies including Cuban santerìa, Haitian vodou
and Brazilian candomblé. Each of these evolved under the oppression of French,
Spanish and Portuguese colonization.
Some followers of santerìa
literally believe that the music can channel important messages from the gods.
When the drumming and chanting occurs in a particular sequence, some of the
listeners go into a trance state. Armenteros, the founder of a Miama band
called Los Herederos states that all
of the right elements must be present in a ceremony for trancing to take place.
Dr. Peter Naish, a senior lecturer in cognitive psychology, has determined that
certain types of people are more prone to trance behaviour than others. His
research demonstrates that “those whose two hemispheres process information at
disproportionate speeds are more capable of playing the hallucinatory tricks
indicative of hypnosis and trance” (Gage). Furthermore, he asserts that based
on the social expectations of the ceremony, if there is an assumption of
entering the spirit world, that is what will happen. Thus, there are some
physiological factors to trancing, but also some learned behaviours.
Lastly, this article describes how the stereotypes of
Afro-Caribbean religious ceremonies are not always accurate. Many of the
stereotypes that especially stem from Vodou ceremonies preceding the 1791
Haitian revolution to overthrow the French frightened the slaveholders of the
time. While some practitioners perform animal sacrifices and cast spells, there
is still a moral code attached. All of these religions still espouse a basic
concept of respect and leading an upright life. Ultimately, trancing serves as
a way of getting messages from the spirits out to other people by becoming
enraptured in the song and music – a type of high.
Review
Though many aspects of these
Afro-Caribbean trance practices may seem outlandish and primitive from a
Western perspective, we have similar aspects in some of our own religious
practices. When I first began research for my final paper, I was initially only
interested in trance and experiences of ecstasy in charismatic Christian
communities. My research lens expanded when I started seeing connections to
other religious trance experiences. The role of trancing in santerìa – to relay
direct messages from the orishas or spirits
– isn’t unlike the Christian practice of speaking in tongues. In the original
context of this practice, tongues simply meant “language” and referred to the
God-given ability to evangelize in languages that were foreign to the speaker.
Tongues started to appear in the church context as a direct revelation from God
which was interpreted by another church member. In the santerìa context, this
is perhaps done in a more orderly fashion: often a ring of people envelop the
spirit-possessed person while in the state of trance. The Pentecostal practice
often looks much more chaotic with many people entering and exiting states of
trance while speaking in tongues simultaneously. Whether the contemporary
practice of speaking in tongues is faithful to the first-century practice is
debatable[1], but
the connections of trance to both Christianity and Afro-Caribbean religions are
clear.
Dr. Andrew Newberg, a researcher
at the University of Pennsylvania, used MRI scans to identify what is happening
in the brain while people pray in tongues. He used a variety of participants in
this study including a pastor and a congregation member. Based on the pastor’s
brain scans, the results show that while praying in English, the frontal lobe
was activated as a result of the intense focus. While praying in tongues, the
frontal lobe was not activated as much since the frontal lobe also stores the
speech centre of the brain. This quieting of the frontal lobe is consistent
with the experience of transcendence that people purportedly feel while praying
and the resultant glossolalia. Other study participants entered a trance state
while listening to music and began speaking in tongues. The pastor is perhaps
able to speak in tongues without requiring music since it is a habitual and
learned behaviour for him. This parallels Dr. Naish’s suggestion that part of
trance inducement can be learned and conditioned.
By contrast, an earlier study by
Dr. Newberg focused on Buddhist monks and Franciscan nuns. This study showed an
increase in frontal lobe activity while praying as a result of the intense
focus and mindfulness they use in prayers through repetitious phrases or
mantras. This is a stark contrast to the trance-induced states that result in a
drop of frontal lobe activity. In my understanding, other types of meditation
may also result in a quieting of the frontal lobe since some meditation
practices seek to quiet the mind by getting rid of conscious thoughts. Here is
a link to a YouTube video which presents Dr. Newberg’s work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZbQBajYnEc.
Thus, some of the trance practices of charismatic
Christianity are reminiscent of the practices of other religions. This discussion
also falls into the gray area where faith can’t be entirely explained by
science. However, an understanding of the underlying neurological processes
involved in these trance-like states gives us a clearer idea of what is
actually happening in moments of transcendence.
[1] A
good theological overview of the problem with tongues: http://www.yuriyandinna.com/ten-hard-questions-about-speaking-in-tongues-glossolalia-and-xenoglossy/.
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