Afro-American religion

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Afro-American religions are a number of related religions that developed in the Americas among African slaves and their descendants in various countries of the Caribbean Islands and Latin America, as well as parts of the southern United States.

These religions usually involve ancestor veneration and/or a pantheon of divine spirits, such as the loas of Haitian Voodoo, or the orishas of Santería. Similar divine spirits are also found in the Central and West African traditions from which they derive — the orishas of Yoruba cultures, the nkisi of Bantu (Kongo) traditions, and the vodou of Dahomey (Benin), Togo, southern Ghana, and Burkina Faso. In addition to mixing these various but related African traditions, many Afro-American religions incorporate elements of Christian, indigenous American, Kardecist, Spiritualist and even Islamic traditions. This mixing of traditions is known as religious syncretism.

Afro-American Religions
Religion	Developed in	Roots	Also practiced in	Remarks
Candomblé	Brazil	Yoruban orishas		Some elements of Dahomey loa and Kongo nkisi Also called Batuque
Umbanda	Brazil	Yoruban orishas	Uruguay	Indigenous elements added (Preto Velho, Cabolho)
Quimbanda	Brazil	Yoruban orishas		Veneration of ancestral spirits called Exus and Pomba Giras
Santería	Cuba	Yoruban orishas	USA, Mexico	Catholicism Syncretism
Regla de Arará	Cuba	Dahomey vodou
Regla de Palo	Cuba	Kongo nkisi	Puerto Rico	Also called Palo Mayombe, Regla de Congo, Palo Monte
Vodou	Haiti	Dahomey, Yoruba, Kongo	USA
Obeah	Jamaica	Dahomey vodou	Trinidad and Tobago
Kumina	Jamaica	Kongo
Spiritual Baptist	Trinidad and Tobago	Yoruban orishas	Jamaica, USA	Protestantism Syncretism
Hoodoo	USA	Dahomey vodou		Mostly in southern USA

Some syncretic religious movements in Brazil have elements of these African religions, but are predominantly rooted in other spiritual traditions. These include Santo Daime, Catimbo, Jurema, União do Vegetal and Vale do Amanhecer. In addition to these, a number of religions have also been developed primarily by African-diaspora communities in the Americas, but do not derive directly from traditions brought across from Africa, and are not included in the term "Afro-American religion". These include new religious movements such as Kemetic Reconstructionism, Rastafarianism and Nation of Islam.

Other closely related regional faiths include: