Definition of "santería"

Santería is the name for an Afro-Cuban religious and belief system with origins in the slave era. The survival of santería over many centuries required adherents to conduct their ceremonies and rituals away from the gaze of European slave owners and the Catholic Church.

2007, Paul Allatson, Key Terms in Latino/a: Cultural and Literary Studies, page 209

Although all worshipers of Santería could be called Santeros, the term usually refers to the priests or priestesses.

2008, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft, and Wicca, page 311

Santería is probably the variety of these syncretist religions closest to Catholicism, so that in Cuban Catholicism it is difficult to separate much Catholic practice in the parish churches from Santería, and it is really impossible to put statistics on the number of its practitioners, so all-pervasive is its influence.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 713

Denied her sex by biology, Sandra finds the powers of spiritual transformation in gender in santería, a transcultural religious practice with Catholic elements.

2010, Vek Lewis, Crossing Sex and Gender in Latin America, page 119

Anyway, getting back to the proof of the pudding, I'm sure you will admit that there is something about the supernatural world, in which I include voodoo and santería.

2010, Pedro C. López, Pandemic of Lies: The Exile, page 248