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In the Afro-Cuban Lukumi religious tradition-more commonly known in the United States as Santería-entrants into the priesthood undergo an extraordinary fifty-three-week initiation period. During this time, these novices-called iyawo-endure a host of prohibitions, including most notably wearing exclusively white clothing. In A Year in White, sociologist C. Lynn Carr, who underwent this initiation herself, opens a window on this remarkable year-long religious transformation. In her intimate investigation of the "year in white," Carr draws on fifty-two in-depth interviews with other participants, an online survey of nearly two hundred others, and almost a decade of her own ethnographic fieldwork, gathering stories that allow us to see how cultural newcomers and natives thought, felt, and acted with regard to their initiation. She documents how, during the iyawo year, the ritual slowly transforms the initiate's identity. For the first three months, for instance, the iyawo may not use a mirror, even to shave, and must eat all meals while seated on a mat on the floor using only a spoon and their own set of dishes. During the entire year, the iyawo loses their name and is simply addressed as "iyawo" by family and friends. Carr also shows that this year-long religious ritual-which is carried out even as the iyawo goes about daily life-offers new insight into religion in general, suggesting that the sacred is not separable from the profane and indeed that religion shares an ongoing dynamic relationship with the realities of everyday life. Religious expression happens at home, on the streets, at work and school. Offering insight not only into Santería but also into religion more generally, A Year in White makes an important contribution to our understanding of complex, dynamic religious landscapes in multicultural, pluralist societies and how they inhabit our daily lives.

Priesthood --- Priests --- Santeria --- Christian priesthood --- Ordination --- Pastors --- Clergy --- Lucumí (Religion) --- Lukumi (Religion) --- Ocha (Religion) --- Regla de Ocha --- Regla Lucumi --- Regla Lukumi --- Santeria (Cult) --- Santeria (Cultus) --- Cults --- Santeria. --- Training of

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Honorable Mention, 2019 Barbara T. Christian Literary Award, given by the Caribbean Studies AssociationWinner, 2017 Clifford Geertz Prize in the Anthropology of Religion, presented by the Society for the Anthropology of Religion section of the American Anthropological AssociationFinalist, 2017 Albert J. Raboteau Prize for the Best Book in Africana Religions presented by the Journal of Africana ReligionsAn examination of the religious importance of food among Caribbean and Latin American communitiesBefore honey can be offered to the Afro-Cuban deity Ochún, it must be tasted, to prove to her that it is good. In African-inspired religions throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States, such gestures instill the attitudes that turn participants into practitioners. Acquiring deep knowledge of the diets of the gods and ancestors constructs adherents’ identities; to learn to fix the gods’ favorite dishes is to be “seasoned” into their service.In this innovative work, Elizabeth Pérez reveals how seemingly trivial "micropractices" such as the preparation of sacred foods, are complex rituals in their own right. Drawing on years of ethnographic research in Chicago among practitioners of Lucumí, the transnational tradition popularly known as Santería, Pérez focuses on the behind-the-scenes work of the primarily women and gay men responsible for feeding the gods. She reveals how cooking and talking around the kitchen table have played vital socializing roles in Black Atlantic religions.Entering the world of divine desires and the varied flavors that speak to them, this volume takes a fresh approach to the anthropology of religion. Its richly textured portrait of a predominantly African-American Lucumí community reconceptualizes race, gender, sexuality, and affect in the formation of religious identity, proposing that every religion coalesces and sustains itself through its own secret recipe of micropractices.

Blacks --- Cooking --- Santeria --- Lucumí (Religion) --- Lukumi (Religion) --- Ocha (Religion) --- Regla de Ocha --- Regla Lucumi --- Regla Lukumi --- Santeria (Cult) --- Santeria (Cultus) --- Cults --- Cookery --- Cuisine --- Food preparation --- Food science --- Home economics --- Cookbooks --- Dinners and dining --- Food --- Gastronomy --- Table --- Negroes --- Ethnology --- Religion. --- Miscellanea. --- Customs and practices. --- Black persons --- Black people