The Santeria, or Regla de Ocha religious tradition, is a result of crossing and mixing with those of other regions of Africa and with the Catholic Saints. The worshipers of Santeria are called santeros, as they venerate the Yoruba deities called orishas or santos, syncretized Catholic saints.
The term Vodou, which means “spirit” or “sacred energy”, was brought to Haiti from Ouida on the west coast of Africa, at the height of the eighteenth-century slave trade. Vodou happens to be the most maligned and misunderstood of all African-inspired religions of Latin America. Its liturgy and rituals revolve around a pantheon of spirits known as loa or lwa, who represent a fusion of African and Creole gods, the spirits of ancestors, and syncretized manifestations of Catholic saints. One of the most important figures of Haitian Vodou is the Black Virgin.
Spiritualism, or Espiritismo, is the belief in the ability of the living to communicate with the dead. Spiritualism rejects key Christian beliefs such as the divinity of Christ, but it stresses charitable acts and Christian morality. The Seven African Powers in Santerismo are syncretized versions of Catholic saints and their powers vary by location.
Obeah, Myal, and Quimbois
Obeah is a “set of hybrid or creolized beliefs dependent on ritual invocation, fetishes, and charms.” Myal is a form of Obeah only practiced in Jamaica. The distinction is made between the two because Myal only practices good magic. Quimbois is another variation of Obeah practiced in the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. http://scholar.library.miami.edu/slaves/Religion/religion.html