Lucumi is recognized as a divine language by the Santeria because it is unintelligible to the general public, yet it is said to be perfectly intelligible to anyone with sufficient knowledge. Instantly, the image of the Emperor's New Clothes comes to mind in which a large group of people are persuaded to believe something is true because of the positive connotations that come with believing that it is true. The next thought comes to mind is, why do people believe in something that they cannot even understand?
Wirtz states, "Unintelligible speech may simply be iconic of different kinds of speakers – for example by sounding like an animal, a spirit, or a foreign tongue." Perhaps unintelligible speech is so appealing is because we do not know what it is that we are trying to find; it then makes sense that an unintelligible language will be used to describe an intangible answer. It seems as though religions will use intangibility to cover up a lack of content. By content, I mean answers to the questions of devotees . For many religions, lack of content is countered by faith and lack of faith means that one is lacking. If one is lacking in faith then one is not part of the esoteric group. In this case, the esoteric group is that which understands Lucumi. Those you do not understand still deem the language divine, for the reasons stated above.
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