er. After Eshu's ejection, the worshipers invite other powers to the ceremony by drumming the powers' favorite rhythms. Singing, drumming, and dancing are intended to placate the ancestors of the family giving the ceremony, and some participants become possessed by the spirits of their deceased ancestors, as occurs in Kumina and Convince in Jamaica, the Big Drum in Grenada and Carriacou, and Kele in Saint Lucia.
Neo-African Cults These cults developed during the early stages of cultural contact between persons of European and African origin, because members of the subordinate group could neither acquire the religion of the dominant group nor participate as comembers in the historic Christian denominations. Although in recent years Santer ía has declined in Cuba, the presence of Cuban refugees has stimulated the worship of Shango and the other Yoruba orisha in the. The confusions and contradictions in the beliefs about these beings are due in part to contradictions in the Fon religious system that the Haitians adopted, and in part to the merging of the Fon system with that of the Yoruba Courlander, 1960. . Most Kumina dances are memorial services held to pay respects to the dead ancestors of the participants, but ceremonies are performed on other occasions, such as betrothal, marriage, burial, the naming of a baby, the anniversary of emancipation, and Moore, 1953; Schuler, 1980.
Various reasons are given for organizing a festival: to counter the ill health or misfortune of a friend or relative, to dedicate a tombstone for a deceased family member, to start a critically important undertaking, or to launch the marriage preparations of a son or daughter. Sacrifices of food and drink are offered periodically to the spirits of the ancestors; some offerings are taken out to sea and thrown into the water. In many areas of the , however, a number of hybrid religions have attracted large numbers of followers. They were pre-eminent in creating new cultural forms such as , and within the Caribbean. Columbus was originally attempting to reach the country of Indian by heading west instead of heading east. Kumina ritual ends with the sacrifice of a goat and the dance of the Queen of the Kumina and her attendants.