Santos were first created in Spain as incons whithin paintings depicting religious tales and history in Catholic and Orthodox churches. As Spain's empire expaned throughout the Americans and Polynesia, Catholicism became the dominating religion and mixed with the traditions and religious practices of the indigionous and African slaves residing in these Spanish colonies. Specifically in Puerto Rico, the tradition and meanings behind the practice of creating and using santos is deeply rooted in Catholicism, Taino and African religious and traditional practices (Pier, 2023).
Santos are wooden figures carved by hand by artists known as santeros. Santos are depictions of religious and biblical figures that are important to the Catholic faith. Santos are both decorative figures, as well as items used during prayer and worship. Santos are carved with serine and peaceful countonanced as a method of portraying the holiness and heavenliness of the sants and figures. Typical figures will depict the three wise men or the virgin Mary, and often times the patron saints of a particular parish or household. Each Santos is defined by the craftmanship of the piece of folk art and the creator themselves (Pier, 2023). While the Santos are often religious figures they are not items that are prayed to, but rather a vesel in which a person uses to pray to God or as a means of accessing a "higher power" (Pier, 2023). In Puerto Rico, Santos where particularly imporant in rural areas that did not have churches or priests. There figures filled the place of churches and priests to allow for the religious Puerto Rican community to practice and worship as they saw fit (Merin, 1990).
The tradition of carving Santos and being a Santeros is one of great importance and those who are Santeros receive much respect and are important to the Puerto Rican community. Some families begin the tradition of Santos carving and pass it down through generations to become a great Santeros family (Pier, 2023). Santeros are often described as sincere and mystical, an not engaging in unhealthy competition or jealousy, and supportive of others within their craft (Pier, 2023). Most Santeros work on communition and many historical statues and Santos have not been signed by the Santero, instead, they are well maintained by their communities (Merin, 1990).
While traditional Santeros carve depictions of religious figures, contemporary Santeros are not all religious. Many still use the techniques passed down through generation of Santos carving, specifically handcrafting the Santos from start to finish. Others, will use power tools to cut out the inital shape of the Santos before ccompleting the carving by hand (Merin, 1990). While the majority of Santos figures are religious, Santeros work on commision and are will to carve no religious figures for their patrons (Merin, 1990).
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