Tania Quintero, Cuba Press
HAVANA, February - Traditionally, Cuban women were the ones that would go to church on Sundays, consult spiritualists or Afrocuban cult santeros, had the cards or their palms read, or consulted their horoscopes. Today, one can see an equal or higher proportion of men involved in these beliefs.
Alejandro, 29, a technician and an atheist, has decided to become a Mason. "Because at the lodge you find gentlemen, and I'm tired of the rabble you have to deal with elsewhere," he says.
Juan José, 34, a Communist Party militant and a Mason, was a determining factor in Alejandro's conversion. Yanelis, 25, Juan José's wife, says: "My husband's three m's make him the perfect man: military, militant (Communist) and Mason."
She did not have a good relationship with her previous husband, Miguel Ángel, 30, "devoted to (Afrocuban deity) Shangó; every month he spent a fortune because his advisor was continually asking for things."
For Rosa María, 28, things are looking even better. Her husband quit the Communist Youth and became a Jehova's Witness. "Now he doesn't drink or go to meetings or parties with the floozies from the Youth; instead he's working at home so he can have time to read and meditate."
Rafael, 58, seller of herbal remedies and aspiring Afrocuban cult priest, also decided to become a Jehova's Witness. "In santería, the stress is on speculation and profit and I was living only to make money." Now he says he is at peace with himself and with his god.
There are renegades, like Fernando, 34. Before going to prison for social dangerousness, he tried to become a santería priest "because they live well and make good money." His fondness for women and drink made him desist from that endeavor.
He found a very Catholic lady, became baptized and married her. She hoped to change him and he hoped to live off his youth; he is 20 years younger than she is. When they split, he ended up in the streets and eventually in jail.
In prison, he had homosexual experiences. Once out, he reverted to type and started pimping. He had a few girls working for him and a loose hand ready to slap some respect as needed. "Because my manhood could be questioned, but I am macho." Lately, he is thinking he would like to join
the Afrocuban Abakuá sect.
Ramón, 62, saw an equally drastic change. He had always believed in reincarnation and the occult, until he came across a flyer on the life of Sai Baba, born in India November 23, 1926. At home in Prashanti Nilayam, Sai Baba receives the visits of thousands of followers from around the
world. That was what Ramón had been looking for, a representative of a live god. And he found it in Sai Baba.
Rolando, 52, has never heard of Sai Baba, but when he arrived in Havana in 1962 he didn't want to know about religion. He had been raised in a home in Pinar del Río province in which spiritualism was everything one would need to know. His agnosticism evolved into blind obedience to his
wife's santería priest. Rolando works "in the dollar economy and if you are not careful and follow the dictates of the beyond, you're history, because all the hexes they put on you there are designed to get you out of circulation."
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