South Beach Santeria? (Or not)

From the Miami Herald Posted on Sun, Jan. 06, 2013 South Beach Santeria? Decapitated animals wash up near condo, horrify residents By Marc Caputo The Miami Herald A goat and three chickens were decapitated in an apparent sacrifice and dumped into Biscayne Bay where they washed up behind a luxury South Beach condominium to the horror of residents. “I don’t understand this – the mentality is savage,” said Kathryn Bookstaver, an 11-year resident of The Floridian condominium on West Avenue where the animals were found along the seawall. “It’s disgusting.” Bookstaver and her neighbors, also faulted Miami Beach officials who left the animals to rot throughout Saturday and into Sunday morning. A spokesman for Miami Beach police, Bobby Hernandez, said the department didn’t get involved because the dead animals didn’t appear to be sacrificed as a threat directed against any particular individual. “If this happened on private property and appeared to be targeting someone, we would investigate,” Hernandez said. “Unfortunately, this kind of thing does happen around here with all of the different cultures,” he said. The dead animals were finally attended to by Richard Couto, a founder and investigator of the Animal Recovery Mission, a nonprofit that helps expose and stop animal-abuse cases. He hauled the animals out of the water and waited for the sanitation department to arrive and remove the animals. Couto said the animals appeared to have been killed as part of a Santeria or Palo Mayombe rite. Santeria, which blends West African religious beliefs with Roman Catholicism, revolves around the worship of saints. Palo Mayombe, a more obscure religion, is associated with petitioning the spirits of the dead. Animal sacrifice is legal, protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Since it can’t stop the sacrifices, he said, his group tries to ensure that the animals are treated humanely. But sometimes, before they’re sacrificed, the creatures are hog-tied or kept in plastic bags or sweltering pens, he said. That’s a crime because it’s unlawful to abuse animals, though it’s legal to sacrifice them in a religious ceremony. The dead animals were found blocks from the section of South Beach which has been closed off to traffic to host Notre Dame and Alabama fans in town for Monday’s Orange Bowl game. Just blocks away, in an unrelated South Beach incident Saturday, police arrested a career criminal who shot and killed an acquaintance. Couto said ARM has helped investigate and respond to animal-sacrifice cases throughout Miami-Dade County, from Hialeah to Miami Beach. Nelson Reyes, a police officer who teaches a Miami police course in Afro-Caribbean religious practices, said the South Beach sacrifice could be related to Haitian Voodoo. He said it’s almost impossible to know more about the particulars of this sacrifice because other items associated with the ritual were washed away. Generally, Reyes said, decapitated chickens are associated with a “cleansing” ritual and decapitated goats, rams or other four-legged animals are a sign of a spell cast for a beneficial effect. Reyes said signs of Afro-Caribbean religious sacrifices can be found throughout Miami-Dade, from the Miami River to the train tracks at Flagler Avenue to the downtown courthouse to Sewell Park in Miami, where supplicants place apples near palm trees. Except for the location of the animals in South Beach, “this really isn’t that big of a deal,” Reyes said. But the sight and smell of four dead animals in the turquoise waters of the bay right near a condominium’s pool was a shock for residents of The Floridian. They were also outraged that the police, animal services and the sanitation department allowed the animals to rot for more than a day. “You don’t throw plastic bottles and garbage in the ocean,” said Bookstaver as she walked her adopted Lahsa Apso dog, Lexi, on Sunday morning. “Why would someone do this to animals?” Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/06/v-print/3170090/south-beach-santeria-decapitated.html#storylink=cpy

Cuban Santeros, ignored by John Paul II in 1998, cool to Benedict XVI as his visit nears

Chicago Tribune
Cuban Santeros, ignored by John Paul II in 1998, cool to Benedict XVI as his visit nears

ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
AP
10:49 AM CST, March 4, 2012

HAVANA (AP) — They cast snail shells to read their fortunes, proudly wear colorful necklaces to ward off illness, dress all in white and dance in "bata" drum ceremonies.

But although their Afro-Cuban Santeria religion owes much to Roman Catholicism, many are decidedly unenthusiastic about Pope Benedict XVI's March 26-28 tour of Cuba, even if it is being hailed as a watershed moment for a church seeking to boost its influence on this Communist-run island.

Santero priests still remember the last time a pontiff came to town — and flatly refused to meet with them. They are expecting no better treatment this time, and some are openly disappointed.

Their religion is by far the most popular on the island, with adherents outnumbering practicing mainstream Catholics 8-1. Yet as far as the Catholic church is concerned, "we live in the basement, where nobody sees us," said Lazaro Cuesta, a Santero high priest with a strong grip and a penetrating gaze.

"We have already seen one pope visit ... and at no moment did he see fit to talk to us."

Cuesta's bitterness stems from what many Santeria leaders see as an unforgivable snub by Pope John Paul II during his historic 1998 tour.

Before that visit, Santero high priests, or "babalawo," led a daylong ceremony to ask the spirits to protect John Paul and make his trip a success. As men, women and children danced to the throb of African drums, the priests blew cigar smoke and spat consecrated alcohol to salute the dead.

But while the pope met with Evangelicals, Orthodox leaders and representatives of the island's minuscule Jewish community, he never deigned to meet with the Santeria practitioners who had danced for his good health, nor even to acknowledge their faith.

Experts say as many as 80 percent of islanders observe some kind of Afro-Cuban religion, be it Santeria, which is more properly known as Regla de Ocha-Ifaor, or one of its lesser-known siblings. Practicing Catholics number fewer than 10 percent, and as elsewhere in Latin America, that share is under assault from conversions to Protestant and evangelical denominations.

The 84-year-old pope's schedule is considerably shorter than John Paul's five-day visit was, and it includes no events with Santeros, or leaders of any other religions for that matter.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Benedict's schedule could still be tweaked, but he absolutely ruled out a meeting with Santeria representatives.

Lombardi said Santeria does not have an "institutional leadership," which the Vatican is used to dealing with in cases when it arranges meetings with other religions.

"It is not a church" in the traditional sense, Lombardi said.

A decision not to meet with Santeros is in keeping with Benedict's history of vehement opposition to any whiff of syncretism — the combining of different beliefs and practices — on the ground that it could somehow imply that all faiths are equal.

Some also blame historical racism toward Santeria's Native American and African traditions. The pope may oppose these traditions, but they are an integral part of islanders' daily life, even that of its Catholics. All Cubans know that a woman dressed in yellow honors Ochum, a patron of feminine sensuality related in Catholicism to the Virgin of Charity. Believers crawl on hands and knees in processions of homage to Babalu-Aye, or St. Lazarus, protector of the sick.

Relations between Santeros and Catholics have improved since the early days of the island's 1950 revolution, when Afro-Cuban worshippers were ostracized by both the church and the Communist Party, and those who dared to attend Mass decked out in all-white Santero garb were routinely ejected. However, priests still give homilies critical of Afro-Cuban religious tradition.

The two faiths have arrived at a tense coexistence while inhabiting dramatically different spaces in island society. Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the head of the Catholic church in Cuba, consults with President Raul Castro on weighty political matters; Santero babalawos tend to the spiritual needs of the majority. Neither side talks to the other.

Scholars say Santeria, which was imported to Cuba through slaves brought from the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria, remains on the political margins due to its scattered, nonhierarchical nature, centuries of taboo and the latent racism that keeps Afro-Cuban faiths from being fully accepted in the fraternity of religions.

"Santeria is as much a religion as any other," said University of Havana ethnologist Maria Ileana Faguaga Iglesias. But "its structure is not vertical; it does not have a maximum leader, it has no buildings and it has never been part of any political power."

When it first emerged on the island, prohibitions forced Santeria practitioners to hide their worship of "orishas," or spirits, behind the names of Catholic saints.

During Spanish rule and in the early years of the republic, Santeros had no choice but to accept Catholic baptism since church parishes were the only ones keeping birth registries.

"Historically, at some point all Santeros had some Catholic practice. The Catholic Church was power and was official, and others were persecuted," Faguaga said.

By the end of the 19th century, Santeria began emerging from underground. Today, it flourishes openly and has spread through emigration to the U.S., Puerto Rico, Venezuela and elsewhere.

Santeria "is very extended among the people, more so than when I was young," said Monsignor Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, vicar general of Havana and great-grandson of one of Cuba's founding fathers. "Not just in people of African origin, but also in people of European origin, whites, who today are also Santeros."

In the 1960s and 1970s, as the Communist government promoted atheism, Santeros risked jail if caught practicing rites. Like members of other religions, they were denied party membership until the 1990s.

Lawyers, doctors, engineers and blue-collar workers learned to hide their ancestral beliefs and traditions.

But the 1990s saw a boom in Santero consciousness, and for many it is now a focus of national pride and a fundamental part of the Cuban identity.

Though the Cuban Catholic Church acknowledges Santeria as a mass phenomenon, John Paul's decision not to meet the high priests reflected a judgment that since the faiths overlap, there was no need to treat them separately, according to church expert Tom Quigley.

"At the time of the 1998 visit, the official line of the cardinal, and I think the church generally, was that people who practice Santeria are Catholics," said Quigley, a former Latin America policy adviser at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "They are just another — maybe deviant, but not absolutely heretical or schismatic — form."

Santeros nevertheless took it as just another sign that on an island with a white majority, some still see it as a slave-barracks faith, an idea that goes against Cuban ideals of respect for diversity.

John Paul's decision to ignore the Santeros, Cuesta said, was a decision "to deny our national patrimony ... brought to us by men in chains who arrived as slaves in this country."
___

Associated Press writers Peter Orsi in Havana and Victor Simpson in Rome contributed to this report.

read the story HERE.

Aña La MAGIA del TAMBOR (1994 Cuban documentary)

Silfredo La O Paints and Dances to the Music of the Afro-Cuban Oricha

A cool event on April 3, 2010, the debut of a space in downtown San Diego called The Salon. Cuban dancer, painter, and drummer Silfredo La O danced and painted to the music of the oricha as performed on batá drums and voice. Photos and video by Kevin Delgado.

THE SANTERIA HOUSE OF MOSCOW

In the Moscow Times:

THE SANTERIA HOUSE OF MOSCOW (La Casa del Santo) is a nonsectarian social association of worshippers who are interested in Santeria (Afro-Cuban religion). We have several celebrations and spiritual activities related to our Orishas (gods). Our place is at Ul. Klimashkina Bldg. 22, M. Ulitsa 1905 Goda. Contact Carlos A. Reyes, e-mail: aoddun@yahoo.com. Phone: +7-963-616-3498.

Santeros have neighbor problems

MH
Posted on Tue, Aug. 14, 2007
Santeros have neighbor problems
BY TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE
The clash between Santeria practitioners and their suburban neighbors in Coral Gables is not an isolated incident.

Consider:

• Last year, a veteran Miami-Dade firefighter was arrested on felony trespassing and animal cruelty charges after a confrontation with a Redland neighbor who caught him dumping a goat on his property.

The firefighter, Adolfo Perez, said he removed the animal carcass -- as well as other animal remains -- from the man's property after he realized it was private property, and provided him a business card identifying himself as a priest.

The neighbor, Art Valencia, a retired schoolteacher, turned the business card over to police. ''I don't care what they do, but I shouldn't have to smell dead animals at my home,'' he said.

The animal cruelty charges eventually were dropped, and Perez pleaded guilty to the felony trespass charge -- a conviction that also got him a formal reprimand from the fire department last month, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Calzadilla-Fiallo.

''I thought I was going to lose my job,'' said Perez, who is two years from retirement.

• In December, Juan Cabrisas hosted a gathering for fellow practitioners at his home at 6025 SW 35th St. He hired two off-duty Miami-Dade police officers to help handle traffic and ensure they were in compliance with local codes.

Another county officer, however, arrived at the home to investigate noise complaints and vehicles parked along the sidewalk. The homeowner was not cited; the incident report notes only that Cabrisas was asked to turn down the music.

But the ceremony was disrupted, the priests' ritual space invaded and worshipers were put on the defensive, said Santeria priest Ernesto Pichardo. ''It was overkill,'' he said.

• In an August 2006 ordination, three practitioners, including the newly ordained priest, were arrested during a Santeria celebration in the block of 17000 SW 182nd Ave and charged with animal cruelty. Those charges were later dropped, according to the state attorney's office.

• Residents living off Bird Road and Southwest 129th Avenue, where home prices have recently soared above $1.5 million, have complained of a neighboring home purchased by a Santeria church -- claiming the sounds of livestock, crowds of worshipers and parked cars blocking the street are a nuisance. The county's Team Metro, which handles such complaints, has visited the home several times since 2001. The cases were closed after the owner provided permits for the gatherings.

• Complaints about an area off of Miller Drive and Southwest 82nd Avenue Road -- a favorite dumping ground for sacrificed animals thanks to its proximity to a rail line that has religious significance to santero practitioners -- prompted the county to install cameras to catch illegal dumping and strike a special deal with railway executives to help clean up the piles of dead animals.

For santeros, religious freedom is anything but

BATTLE VAUGHAN/MAIMI HERALD STAFF
Practitioners of Santeria, most notably Ernesto Pichardo, the South Florida priest who won a landmark Supreme Court decision sanctioning animal sacrifices, say the complaints -- and official reaction to those complaints -- come from a misunderstanding of his religion at best, outright bigotry at worst.

Posted on Tue, Aug. 14, 2007
For santeros, religious freedom is anything but
BY TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE AND ELAINE DE VALLE
Noriel Batista has had little peace since a swarm of Coral Gables police officers burst onto his property, disrupting a Santeria ritual intended to initiate him into a special order of his religion's priesthood.

''It has ruined my life,'' said Batista, a Cuban-born pharmacy owner who bought the home on Casilla Street nine years ago.

Business at his Coral Way pharmacy has suffered, he says. Neighbors expressed outrage that animal sacrifices -- in this case, 11 goats and 44 fowl -- were taking place in the City Beautiful.

Shortly after the June incident made the news, Batista received a handwritten note, scrawled in the margins of a Miami Herald article: America has become a dumping ground for trash like you. Go back to Cuba and take your animal sacrifices with you.

The incident, which brought television cameras and patrol cars to the quiet, tree-lined neighborhood in early June, highlights the tension between adherents of a religion most notorious for its practice of animal sacrifice and neighbors in the increasingly affluent suburban areas where the religion is spreading and taking root.

Practitioners of Santeria, most notably Ernesto Pichardo, the South Florida priest who won a landmark Supreme Court decision sanctioning animal sacrifices, say the complaints -- and official reaction to those complaints -- come from a misunderstanding of his religion at best, outright bigotry at worst.

''When we hear about Santeria in Coral Gables, it's as if Santeria doesn't have a right to be in Coral Gables,'' said Pichardo, the head of the Church of Lukumí Babalú Ayé. His members were performing the disrupted June ritual to initiate Batista into the order of Balogún, entitling him to conduct animal offerings, a sacred precept of the religion that traces its roots to West Africa.

NOT IN MY BACKYARD

''But it's OK if it's in Little Havana, or it's all right if we do it in Hialeah,'' said Pichardo. ``As long as it is marginalized, and only appears in the lower strata of society, then it's OK.''

Pichardo has asked Coral Gables mayor Don Slesnick for an official apology and religious sensitivity training for the department's police force. Slesnick, who drew kudos from scores of residents for speaking out against the sacrifices, said he is respectful of santeros. ''I have requested that the city attorney do an exhaustive investigation of the current status of the law,'' he said.

''We not only have to observe the constitutional right for religious freedom, but we have to also concern ourselves with the quality of life in our neighborhoods,'' he said. ``There is the safety and health issue, sanitation issue dealing with dead animal carcasses.''

Santero priest Jesús Suárez, who helped officiate the ceremony at Batista's home, said he tried to explain to officers that they were interrupting a religious event. It was only after several hours and a consultation with the Miami-Dade state attorney's office that police allowed Suárez and another priest to continue.

''They ordered us out of the house, desecrated a holy space, treated us like criminals,'' he said.

Neighbors said that while they respect Batista's right to practice his faith, they wish he would not be so public about it.

''I just think they should do those things away from neighborhoods, where there are no kids and nobody can see those things,'' said Ricardo Celiz, a sports anchor for Univisión's Spanish-language broadcast network, TeleFutura. His family, including two small children, lives four houses away.

NO `DEAD ANIMALS'

''And definitely I don't want them to see any dead animals at that house,'' he said.

The tensions are understandable as second- and third-generation adherents, most of them from Cuba and other Latin countries, move up the economic ladder and out of the old neighborhoods, said Miguel De La Torre, author of Santeria: The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America.

The popularity of Santeria, also called Lukumi, among non-Latins is another factor -- notably black Americans embracing their African roots, he said.

''There is a fear that is rooted in racism,'' said De La Torre, an associate professor of ethics and director of the Justice and Peace Institute at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. 'This religion is practiced by Latinos, or people of African descent. It's an element of `Oh, look at these primitive people sacrificing animals.' ''

Those fears echo the early days of the religion, which arose as African slaves in Cuba masked their religion from colonial masters by masking their orishas, or gods, with the faces of Catholic saints.

''For some people, moving up the economic or social ladder means assimilation, putting away the old religion,'' he said. 'But then you have a generation that says, `I will live in an upscale neighborhood, but I will also have my santos, thank you very much.' ''

De La Torre has experienced that ambivalence firsthand.

A Cuban-born child of santeros, he broke away from the religion to become an ordained Southern Baptist minister. He has since made peace with his parents' faith.

''It's part of my cultural DNA,'' De La Torre said.

Battles over Santeria have sprung up in places far from the big-city botanicas of Miami and New York.

In the town of Euless, Texas -- a city of about 50,000 outside of Fort Worth -- a Puerto Rican santero priest is fighting City Hall for the right to kill animals in his home, located in a quiet suburban cul-de-sac.

The priest, Jose Merced, filed a federal discrimination suit.

STRANGE COMPROMISE

Euless officials offered a compromise: He could kill chickens but not goats.

Merced rejected the offer; the case is still pending.

In South Florida, the cases rarely reach beyond that of nuisance complaints -- although several of Pichardo's acquaintances have been arrested on charges related to their Santeria practices. They include a Miami-Dade firefighter -- and fellow priest -- who was charged with felony trespass and animal cruelty after dumping an animal carcass in a Redland neighborhood. The animal cruelty charges were eventually dropped.

For Batista, the incident at his Gables home has been deeply unsettling.

''I thought this was a free country,'' said Batista, becoming visibly upset. ``But I don't feel like a free man.''

Letra del Año en Español e Inglés - 2007

Letra del Año en Español e Inglés - 2007
Sign of the Year in Spanish
and English - 2007 (see below)

Reposted from:
Folkcuba.com Homepage


Predicciones de Ifá para el año 2007
Para Cuba y el mundo

A los sacerdotes de Ifá, a los hermanos Oriates, Babaloshas, Iyaloshas e Iworos.
Pueblo religioso en general

El pasado 31 de Diciembre del 2006, se reunieron 950 Sacerdotes de Ifá en representación de la inmensa mayoría de las ramas o familias de Cuba. En la casa templo situada en Ave. 10 de Octubre # 1509 e/ Josefina y Gertrudis, Víbora, Municipio 10 de Octubre, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba.

Esta ceremonia fue presidida por el sacerdote de Ifá Guillermo Diago “Ogbe Weñe” y saco la letra el sacerdote mas pequeño.

Signo Regente: Ofun Otura (Ofun Topola)- Ofun Lame el Corojo.

Oración Profética: Ire Ashegun Ota lese Oshosi (Beneficio de vencer las dificultades y enemigos al pie de Oshosi.

Ónishe: Frutas variadas, su coco y sus velas.

Divinidad Regente: Oshosi: Esta palabra se deriva de O,-quien, -So,- vigilar,- SII.- a una distancia, algún tiempo. Osha de los cazadores (Ode) y de los conocedores de las propiedades mágicas de las plantas. Es un Orisha guerrero, por tener una especial habilidad de ver a gran distancia y escuchar el mas mínimo sonido, así como el actuar con increíble rapidez.- Uno de los hijos de Yemaya, como su hermano Orgun, el es el Patrón de los Cazadores. Su asistencia se desarrolla llevando a los animales a las trampas o huecos que los atrapen; colabora con su hermano dándole la ayuda necesaria a los cazadores.- Tiene 2 formas de representación, una es simplemente un Arco y la otra, un hombre con un Arco.

Asegura la comida en nuestras casas y muchas veces se le vincula con la policía, por lo que no pocos religiosos tratan de ensalzarlo para escapar de las persecuciones y persecuciones de las autoridades.- Oshosi lleva las sentencias de Obatala, por lo que muchas veces se le confunde y se le vincula con las cárceles y prisiones.

Su planta fundamental es la ciruela.- Esta Osha esta relacionada con Esi, especie de fetiche que se pone detrás de la puerta, para proteger la casa del ataque de las fieras.- Este fetiche es un arco con 3 flechas, el cual es consagrado en el culto (Esin) a Oshosi.

Su collar es de cuentas azules y color miel (ámbar) recibe los mismos sacrificios y ofrendas que Orgun.- En Cuba se sincretiza con San Norberto; en Brasil con San Sebastián, y los Amerindios con Aimore.- Oshosi llego al mundo acompañado del Odu Ifa Oshe Kana para proporcionar el alimento a las comunidades humanas....

Nota Importante: cuando el devoto de Oshosi se desarmoniza con esta Osha o no toma en cuenta sus tabúes, ni acata los requerimientos que se exigen, son afectados con problemas en los negocios y con la pobreza.

Divinidad Acompañante: Oya, Divinidad de las tormentas y de los suaves vientos. Identificada con el espíritu de los antepasados. Es la diosa del río Níger (Odo Oya), el cual ha recibido su nombre por esta divinidad. Se supone que sea la primera esposa y favorita del Orisha Shango. La tradición nos dice que el río se formó originalmente por las copiosas lagrimas que ella derramó el día que murió su esposo.

Bandera del Año: Mitad Azul y mitad Amarilla con ribetes en morado.

Ebbo: Un pollon, una flecha y una trampa y los demás ingredientes.

La distribución de éste documento es gratuita y esta Comisión no es responsable de la venta que hacen personas inescrupulosas, con ánimo de lucro.

Enfermedades de cuidado.

* Enfermedades Contagiosas. Cuidado con la Lepra o enfermedades que presenten lasEnfermedades Contagiosas. Cuidado con la Lepra o enfermedades que presenten las mismas características sintomá
* Enfermedades Neurológicas
* Trastornos en la garganta y las cuerdas vocales
* Marca impotencia en el hombre

SUGERENCIA ESPECIAL PARA LOS CIENTIFICOS E INVESTIGADORES
Estudiar los principios activos medicinales del Jobo y Ponasí

Acontecimientos de interés social.

* Grandes epidemias que pudieran propagarse a una extensa Grandes epidemias que pudieran propagarse a una extensa área o Nació
* Modificaciones en el sector de la agricultura
* Alteración de las relaciones interpersonales y tragedias entre vecinos
* Rupturas de convenios entre países amigos por maquinaciones de un tercero
* Intervenciones militares

Recomendaciones

1. Mejoramiento de los sistemas hidráulicos en general y en especial en los sectores urbanos. Tener cuidado con la contaminación de las aguas potables.
2. Analizar los métodos y procedimientos en el sector agrícola
3. Incrementar presas y embalses para garantizar el consumo de Agua
4. Se recomienda evitar el Tabaquismo
5. Incumplimientos de los Pactos y compromisos.
6. Se mantiene la sequía y enfermedades por falta del agua
7. Hacer limpieza con granos y demás ingredientes
8. Cumplir los compromisos religiosos adquiridos
9. Consolidar el matrimonio.- Se hace un llamado a la cordura.
10. Incremento del espionaje – Signo de sentencia.- Continua el peligro de Guerras
11. Realizar sacrificios para lograr propósitos
12. Signo que advierte confabulaciones
13. Solo la fe y la oración salva.

Refranes del Signo

1. Cabeza verde, cabeza hueca
2. Cuando hay cabeza el sombrero no se lleva en las manos
3. Saco vacío no se para
4. Inútil mostrar argollas de oro al que no tiene orejas
5. La lengua habla más rápido que lo que la cabeza piensa

Mensaje

Seguir los modelos ejemplificantes del Año 2005 y tomar referencias de los aspectos negativos del propio año como experiencia y cambios oportunos. (http://www.folkcuba.com/aa_la_letra_del_ano_2005.htm).

Sacrificio Colectivo en Beneficio de la Comunidad

Se recomienda el Sacrificio de un Carnero a Eggun y Shango con los demás ingredientes

Nota: Se recomienda dirigirse a sus respectivos padrinos en busca de orientaciones individuales.

Feliz y Próspero Año 2007 le desea la Comisión Organizadora de la Letra del año.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sign of the Year in English - 2007


Folkcuba.com Homepage


IFÁ DIVINATION FOR THE 2007 YEAR
FOR CUBA AND THE WORLD

To the priests of Ifá, to our brothers and sisters— the Oriatés, Babaloshas, Iyaloshas, and Iworos— and the general religious public.

On the 31st of December of 2006, 950 priests of Ifá gathered in representation of the great majority of the religious branches or families of Cuba in the casa-templo situated on Avenida 10 de Octubre, #1509, between Josefina and Gertrudis, Vibora, Municipio 10 de Octubre, City of Havana, Cuba.

The Ifá priest Guillermo Diago Ogbe Weñe presided over the ceremony and the most junior priest took out the sign of the year.

Reigning Sign: Ofún Otura (Ofún Topolá). Ofún laps up palm oil.

Orientation of the sign: Iré Ashegún Otá elese Oshosi (the fortune of overcoming difficulties and enemies at the foot of Oshosi).

Onishe: Varied fruits, coconut, and candles.

Reigning Deity: Oshosi. The name is derived from O (the one who); S[h]o (to conduct vigilance); Sii (from a distance, over time). He is the orisha of the hunters (odé) and belongs to the specialists in the magical properties of plants. He is a warrior orisha by virtue of having the special talent of seeing over great distances and hearing the slightest sound, as well as, acting with incredible speed. He is one of the sons of Yemayá, and as is his brother Ogún, is the patron of hunters. His presence leads animals to hunters’ traps or the holes that trap them. He collaborates with his brother, giving hunters the help they need. He is represented by two forms: a simple bow and the bowman. Oshosi ensures food in our homes and often he is linked to the police, because no few religious practitioners try to propitiate him in order to escape persecution and persecution by the authorities. Oshosi carries out the judgements of Obatalá, for which reason there arises the confusion that Oshosi is the orisha associated with jails and prisons.

His foundational plant is the ciruela [plum].

Oshosi is related with esi, a species of power object that is placed behind the door in order to protect the house from attacks by brutes. This power object is a bow with three arrows, which is consecrated within the worship (esin) of Oshosi.

Oshosi’s necklace is made of blue and honey-colored (amber) beads. He receives the same sacrifices as Ogún. In Cuba he is syncretized with Saint Norbert, in Brazil with Saint Sebastian and among the Amerindians with Aimore.

Oshosi arrived to the world accompanied by the Ifá odu Oshé Kana so that he could distribute nourishment to the human community.
Important Note: when the followers of Oshosi fall out of harmony with this orisha or don’t take into account his taboos, nor comply with the requirements Oshosi demands, they are afflicted with problems in business and of poverty.

Accompanying Deity: Oyá, deity of storms and gentle winds. She is identified with the spirits of the ancestors. She is the deity of the River Niger (Odó Oyá), which received its name from this deity. It is believed that she was the first and favorite wife of the orisha Shangó. The tradition tells us that the river was originally formed by the copious tears she shed when her husband died.

Flag of the Year: Half blue and half yellow with purple trimming.

Ebbo: A young rooster, an arrow, a trap, and the rest of the ingredients.

The distribution of this document is free and the Commission is not responsible for its sale by unscrupulous people driven by profit.

ILLNESSES TO WATCH OUT FOR

* Contagious illnesses. Be careful with Leprosy or sicknesses that present the same characteristic symptoms.
* Neurological diseases.
* Disorders of the throat and vocal chords.
* It marks impotence in men.

A Special Suggestion for Scientists and Researchers
Study the active medicinal principles of jobo and ponasi [plants].



Events of Social Concern

* Great epidemics that can proliferate throughout a large area or nation.
* Changes in the agricultural sector.
* Disturbances in interpersonal relations and tragedies amongs neighbors.
* Breaks in treaties between friendly countries because of machinations of a third party.
* Military interventions.

Recomendaciones

1. Improvement in water resource systems generally and specifically with the urban sector. Be vigilant about the contamination of potable water.
2. Analyze the methods and processes of the agricultural sector.
3. Add dams and reservoirs in order to guarantee water consumption.
4. Avoiding smoking is recommended.
5. There will be non-compliance in agreements and obligations.
6. Droughts and sickness because of lack of water will continue.
7. Perform cleansings with grains [including all kinds of dried beans, etc.] and other ingredients.
8. Comply with the religious obligations you have acquired.
9. Strengthen your marriage.
10. Use common sense.
11. There will be an increase in espionage; this is the sign of condemnations; the danger of wars continues.
12. Carry out sacrifices in order to achieve goals.
13. This sign warns of plots
14. Only faith and prayer save.

Proverbs of the Sign

1. Green [newcomer’s] head, empty head.
2. Where there’s a head, the hat is isn’t carried in the hands.
3. The empty sack doesn’t stop.
4. It’s useless to show big gold earrings to someone who has no ears.
5. The tongue speaks faster than the mind thinks.

Message

Continue the models exemplified in 2005 [same sign] and take note of the negative aspects of that year for experience and opportune changes. (http://www.folkcuba.com/aa_la_letra_del_ano_2005.htm).

Collective Sacrifice to Benefit the Community

The sacrifice of a ram [carnero] to Eggun and Shangó with the rest of the necessary required ingredients is recommended.

Note: All of you should go to your respective godfathers for individual orientation.

The Organizing Commission of the Reading of the Year Wishes you a Happy and Prosperous Year 2007.

Letra del Año

El Nuevo Herald
Posted on Wed, Jan. 03, 2007

CUBA
Cuba's Santería priests predict 'funereal' future
Two Havana groups of Santería priests issued their predictions for 2007, eagerly awaited by the many Cubans who practice the mixture of African and Catholic religions.
BY RUI FERREIRA
El Nuevo Herald

In separate and virtually competing new-year predictions, two groups of Cuban Santería priests are predicting a ''funereal'' future but also an ''ideal'' moment for an economic recovery.

The island's babalawos have long been split into several groups, with one group relatively loyal to the government. But their annual predictions nevertheless are anxiously awaited by the many Cubans who practice the mixture of African and Catholic religions.

This year, the predictions were awaited with special interest because of Fidel Castro's still-unknown ailment, which has kept him out of the public eye since July 26 and sparked speculation that he's seriously ill.

On Monday, the Yoruba priests who make up the relatively independent Commission for the Year's Letter announced that 2007 would be marked by wars and ''military interventions'' although the island will see an economic improvement based on the discovery of oil and mineral deposits.

While they refused to speak specifically about Castro's health, babalawo Lázaro Cuesta, who read the year's prediction, made comments that seemed to be directed at the Cuban leader's ailment.

''The panorama that presents itself to us is a little funereal,'' he said. ``When one doesn't leave his place at its proper time, one runs the risk that unpredictable things happen.''

Castro surrendered power for the first time in 47 years after undergoing intestinal surgery in late July. A Spanish surgeon who visited him two weeks ago said Castro was recovering from ''complications'' following ``very grave surgery.''

The 80-year-old Castro turned over most of his power temporarily to his younger brother Raúl, who is believed by many Cuba-watchers to be more willing than his brother to open the island's economy to more market forces.

''I was powerfully impressed that they [the babalawos] were so categoric on this,'' said María I. Faguaga Iglesias, a Havana anthropologist who took part in the process of developing the commission's predictions.

Although the Cuban babalawos usually avoid making statements with political implications, this year they raised eyebrows when they called for more care and attention to the island's youth ``because today's youth will be called to rule from a house to a country in the not-too-distant future.''

The babalawos' comments coincided with recent statements by Raúl Castro that the generation that fought in and led the Castro revolution is reaching the end of its time ``and we must give way to new generations.''

Meanwhile, the Cuban Council of Senior Ifá Priests, considered to be more loyal to the government, said its predictions ``speak of legal problems and their repercussions, which could bring as a concequence an increase in corruption and crime.''

A third group of babalawos in Miami, which will make its own predictions public today, said the true forecast falls somewhere between the two Havana groups. ''If we take a piece of each letter to make up one real letter, if out of all this mess we take a little bit of each, this year, simply put, the letter is predicting something bad,'' said Miami babalawo José Montoya.

rferreira@herald.com

Miami Santeros and Animal Sacrifice Dumping

Miami Herald
Posted on Sun, Apr. 02, 2006

UP FRONT | SANTERIA
A Kendall hot spot for Santeria
In an East Kendall neighborhood, graceful homes along a quiet suburban street stand in stark contrast to the Santeria-inspired animal sacrifices that take place nearby.
BY TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE
tfigueras@MiamiHerald.com

Mornings bring a certain kind of dread to the neighbors along a quiet Kendall road off Miller Drive -- even to those who long ago resigned themselves to the piles of dead roosters and disemboweled goats and the unearthly odors that have become a constant fixture in this suburban enclave.

''It's Halloween every day,'' said Carla Savola, pointing at a roadside tree where a headless chicken hangs from a branch, spinning on a black ribbon like a macabre piñata. ``And everywhere, there is the smell of death.''

The stretch of road along the CSX railroad line, and the tracks themselves, have evolved over the years into a hot spot for Santeria practitioners to dump sacrificed animals that are a cornerstone of their AfroCaribbean religion.

Joggers on their way to nearby Tropical Park sidestep the familiar bundles of plastic shopping bags, knowing that they contain blood offerings to Santero gods, or orishas. Neighborhood dogs and adventurous children have been known to bring home the odd skull or jawbone.

And on a recent afternoon, the carcass of a snow-white goat -- gutted, drained of blood, sun-bleached bones poking through the hide -- disappeared into a cloud of chalky dust and fur as several thousand tons of locomotive came barreling down the rails.

Neighbors say they have nothing against Santeros, just the furred and feathered relics they leave behind.

''I've known Santeros, and I've had Santeros as clients,'' said real-estate agent Larry Salas, who has lived across the street from the tracks for more than a decade. ``But you have little old ladies pulling up in cars with a trunk full of dead animals, tossing them onto my street. It's disrespectful.''

Some neighbors are taking the matter into their own hands. A few have made a point of confronting the mysterious visitors who show up with drums and bags of dead animals in the dead of night.

Others, like Savola, who sits on the Kendall Community Council, have peppered railroad and county officials with pleas to clean up the rotting livestock and piles of pottery shards, with spotty results. And still others have learned to avail themselves of the dubious perks that come with living within a stone's throw of this particularly Miami-Dade County phenomenon.

UNEXPECTED PERK

Salas, who has invested several hundred thousand dollars to build a dream home on a second lot next to the CSX line, makes a point of collecting the cloth-wrapped coins that litter the area behind his back yard.

Then he walks to his neighborhood coffee joint, plunks the pennies on the counter -- and offers a sardonic thanks to his nighttime visitors.

'I say, `Gracias, babalao!' '' said Salas, laughing. ``And then I drink my cafecito.''

It's not the babalaos, the high priests of Santeria, however, who draw the faithful to Southwest 82nd Avenue Road.

''It's Ogun, the god of war and iron -- and therefore rails,'' said Rafael Martinez, a professor of anthropology at Barry University.

Martinez has created a course for local law-enforcement people to foster better understanding of ritualistic religions such as the Santeria of Cuba, Brazil's Palo Mayombe and Haitian Vodou. All are amalgams of West African belief systems brought to the New World by enslaved blacks and the Christian beliefs of colonial masters.

Martinez is familiar with the neighborhood off Miller. He often takes police officers enrolled in his classes to the site for field trips.

''We pick up specimens, as long as they don't smell too bad,'' he said.

Train tracks, and the mystical powers attributed to the iron in the spikes and rails, are integral parts of Santero symbology. Sacrifices to Ogun are often left along the railroad tracks. And the actual railroad spikes are popular items at both brick-and-mortar botanicas and online purveyors of Santero paraphernalia.

Reports of religious offerings interfering with rail lines have made sporadic headlines over the years, usually in places less accustomed to Santeria than Miami.

A commuter line in New Jersey was briefly shut down in 2003 after a pin-studded gourd, believed to be a religious offering, was discovered along a CSX track -- triggering a response from several emergency agencies and bomb technicians.

A bag of beefsteak and pennies held up a train in Palm Beach county for more than an hour in 1996 after a police officer spotted a woman, a practitioner of Santeria, leaving it on the tracks to rid herself of illness. And a few years ago, a spate of headless animals -- chickens, doves, goats and pigeons -- found on several rail lines prompted extensive newspaper coverage in Portland, Ore.

UNIQUE TO MIAMI-DADE

In Miami-Dade, however, the offerings to Ogun generally pass unnoticed.

''I've heard stories, but it's not something that comes up on a frequent basis,'' said Brian Nicholson, spokesman for the Florida East Coast Railway, which, like the CSX rails, runs through Miami-Dade.

CSX spokeswoman Meg Scheu said the Miller Road neighborhood is the only site along the company's 1,700 miles of Florida rails that has a problem serious enough to warrant complaints from neighbors.

''We operate in 23 states east of the Mississippi,'' Scheu said. ``We have issues like debris, or wild animals. But this is obviously different.''

So what makes Savola's and Salas' neighborhood so attractive?

DRIVE-THROUGH RITUAL

It seems that in fast-paced Miami-Dade, even those who practice ancient rites covet convenience.

''It's right by a major roadway,'' Professor Martinez said. ``You drive in, do your sacrifice, and you're out in 10 minutes. A lot of Santeros will try and be discreet, and go to an isolated place. But some people are just in a hurry.''

The U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned animal sacrifices in 1993 after a landmark legal challenge from a well-known Santero priest and Hialeah activist, Ernesto Pichardo.

Pichardo says that live sacrifices made to Ogun on the rail lines are rare, and that even then, practitioners should take pains to travel to an isolated area -- for religious and practical reasons.

''This should be done in a remote area,'' said Pichardo, noting that the deity is also considered a god of the woods. ``A few trees doesn't cut it.''

There are strict rules that govern the disposal of animals sacrificed, Pichardo said. Some are cooked and offered to the gods at an altar, or eaten by the faithful. Others, like those that appear in Savola's neighborhood, must be placed at significant sites.

That can prove tricky, Pichardo said, quoting a Santero adage: ``Do not invoke the wrath of the supernatural, nor that of thy neighbors.''

But religious mandates always take precedence, he said.

''If the cost of throwing a chicken at a railroad is that I get arrested, fine,'' he said. ``It's not something I'm going to waver on. That's the struggle of balance. This is very much a Miami story.''

Both Pichardo and Martinez note that some items found on the tracks, such as the headless chicken dangling from a tree, are not typical of Santeria, but could be garden-variety hexes or spells.

Dumping animals is a misdemeanor under the county code, and violators typically have to be caught in the act, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Savola says residents frequently call police, but the visitors take off long before officers arrive.

CLEANUP DUTY

Neighbors complain that their requests to have the area cleaned up on a regular basis get mired in red tape. While CSX is responsible for maintaining the area along the tracks, its crews are not equipped to dispose of dead animals. And county workers technically are not allowed to clear out private property, although Miami-Dade's Team Metro unit has done sporadic cleanups along the tracks, Savola said.

Scheu, the CSX spokeswoman, said the company is trying to work out a deal with the county that would allow county workers to access the train tracks.

That would still leave the issue of animals disposed along county roadways, such as the the plastic-wrapped creature discovered by Monday-morning commuters March 14.

Listed only as a ''large animal'' on the police report, the sizable bulk and strong odor prompted fears that it was human remains.

''I just wish that they find somewhere else to do it,'' said neighbor Kurt Olson, whose wife stumbled on the police scene.

She wasn't the first in the Olson household to encounter Santeria firsthand. Olson's school-age daughter, enamored of animals and aspiring to become a veterinarian, once brought home a goat skull.

''I let her keep it, but only after I dumped it in a bucket of bleach,'' Olson said. ``She took it to school for show-and-tell.''

© 2006 MiamiHerald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com

Santero in Seattle

Father of Secrets
A Seattle Santero Speaks of the Mysteries
by Sylvana SilverWitch
interview
Cameron "Frank" Howard (Efun Moyiwa in the religion) is a priest of Obatala in the Santería religion. He is a godchild of Yolanda Rivera, priestess of Oshún, Guillermo Diago in Santo and Pete Rivera and Julito Collazo in Ifá. He has been seriously involved in the religion for over 13 years. He is due to be initiated as a babalawo or "father of the secrets" (high priest) at the beginning of June.

Santería, or more properly La Regla Lucumí, is the traditional religion of the Yoruba people of what is now Nigeria, which was brought to the shores of Cuba with the slave trade. It has certain similarities to the well-known but seriously misunderstood Afro-Caribbean religion of Voudon, though Voudon is more of a mixture of the Fon, Kongo and Yoruba religions whereas Santería is strictly of Yoruba descent.

Sylvana: How did you first become interested in Santería?

Frank: I was planning a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, to study the Mazatec Indians who live in the mountains there. I had learned their language, even the way they shook hands.... I was prepared. I had read that some of the Mazatecos who lived far up in the mountains practiced a type of divination using corn kernels, so thinking I might get some insight into the way their system worked, I made an appointment with a santera to be "seen" with the shells. Little did I know it would change my life forever.

S: You're a white person; isn't this traditionally an African/Cuban religion? How do you fit in? Do the people accept you? I am a white person; I am interested; how do I pursue it?

F: Though the religion is Afro-Cuban, I run into very few problems fitting in. Though there was suspicion at first because many Anglos come as tourists to the religion, looking to get a few quick initiations, and then they start inventing things. I am accepted and respected because the other santeros know I respect the religion on its own terms, and that I have worked hard in the religion and have knowledge that only comes with hard work, devotion to the orishas and experience. They know that I am not a "fair weather santero." In this religion respect, knowledge and love and devotion to the orishas and the religion is everything. Nowadays, the relationship between our godparents and us is exactly the relationship between a mother and her child or a father and his child, and that's a great blessing. Usually the first step is to be "seen" with Eleggua's shells by a competent santero. Then you take what Eleggua says and go from there. Everything we do in the religion is through following the counsel and with the permission of the orishas. And the orishas are certainly not racist.

S: I have been interested in Santería for a very long time, but I have had a difficult time finding actual people who were willing and able to answer my questions. Why is that? Are there any books you recommend?

F: Well, my wife and I are the only working santeros here in Seattle. And again, in other places Anglos often encounter suspicion because all too often they come in thinking that the santeros are going to sit down and give away all their secrets just for the asking - secrets that have taken a lifetime to accumulate. Without doing the work and paying your dues like everyone else, you won't get very far in this religion. This is not a religion learned by seminar. For instance, I have been in the religion for 13 years now. A good book for starters is Walking With the Night by Raul Canizares. There is a new cassette set out now called Pataki that is also very good. Patakis are the histories of the orishas and much of the wisdom of our religion is contained in them.

S: Why does there seem to be even more secrecy about Santería than about witchcraft? And the secrecy around witchcraft is a lot!

F: There are two reasons for this. One is the religion has been persecuted for centuries, and there is no sign of the persecution stopping any time soon, even in America. The other reason is the religion opens itself to a person slowly and in its own time and its own pace. You don't learn something until you're ready. For instance, you won't learn how to use the shells until you are an initiated santero, because until then the knowledge would be useless or worse. You have to have been given the ashé or spiritual energy of the orishas.

S: What did you do prior to becoming initiated as a priest of the orishas?

F: I have done many things. I was in a punk band and made a couple of albums; I taught martial arts, studied anthropology.... I have a very checkered past.

S: Can you charge for your services? Is this your "work" now? I understand it is different from the Craft, in that the priests are supposed to be supported by the people. Are there enough of the "people" here in Seattle to support you?

F: Santeros always charge for their services. Everything has its derecho or fee, both in respect and in owo or money. Otherwise you would lose your ashé, because you would be giving away what the orishas gave you. You pay your dues, both financially and with hard work, and you have to respect that. You'll find if you give things away too easily people won't respect what you have to give them, or respect you for that matter.

I also work at Microsoft as a software test engineer right now, but that's quickly changing as I find that I have less and less time to devote to that. My wife, who is a priestess of Oshún, and I are opening a botanica or Santería store, and I suspect it won't be long before I will be devoting all my time to the priesthood exclusively.

S: Did you ever think, as you were growing up, that you would one day be an orisha priest?

F: No. It was the last thing I thought I'd be.

S: How did the orishas "choose" you?

F: From the first time I was seen with the shells, Eleggua pointed me out as a person who had to "make the saint," to become initiated as a santero. But it took me years to get there.

S: Which orishas, if you don't mind, are the primary ones you work with?

F: I am a priest of Obatala and my mother is Yemayá, but I work with all the orishas. Soon, very soon I will be initiated as a babalawo or high priest in the religion.

S: Are there different orishas to work on different issues?

F: Certainly. Usually we work with Oshún for matters of love or money, Obatala for justice or perhaps to separate a person from drugs, Eleggua to open a person's roads. But during divination, any orisha may speak up for a person.

S: What is the difference between a santero, a bruja and a babalawo?

F: A santero is a person who has been initiated as an orisha priest and is entitled to work with the orishas as well as the spirits; a brujo is a person who works with the spirits; and a babalawo is a priest of Orunmila, the orisha of wisdom and knowledge. Orunmila was the only witness to the creation of the universe. A babalawo is a sort of high priest in the religion, the name babalawo meaning "father of the secrets."

S: One of the culturally controversial things about the religion is that there has been animal sacrifice; is this still a part of it? Are you able to use the sacrificial aspects in this culture, and how?

F: Ahhh... animal sacrifice. How did I know this was coming? Animal sacrifice is indeed still part of the religion; it always has been and always will. It is the orishas who make the rules, not the people. But this is where the greatest misunderstanding of the religion comes from, and where the continuing persecution of the religion comes from in this country. This is the case even though the poultry industry kills many more animals in one day than all the sacrifices done in the history of this religion. And their methods are less than humane.

You have to understand that death is an inescapable part of life. We all need to feed on other lives in order to survive, whether it be plant or animal. To us all life is the same whether plant or animal. If we are taking a plant to make a bath to help a person, a life is taken. If we feed a chicken to an orisha, a life is taken. And if we have a salad or a chicken sandwich, a life is taken. And one day our lives will be taken. But we must be mindful and thankful for the little plant or animal that has given its life for your survival or betterment. In the religion, an integral part of the ceremony is a ritual where we acknowledge the taking of the animal's life, and at the same time we acknowledge that one day our own lives will be cut short in much the same way. It is still a problem area for us, and the persecution continues despite the fact that in 1993 the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed our right to sacrifice animals.

S: What about the powerful experience known as being "ridden" by the orishas; what is that like?

F: I don't have any personal experience here, because it is my path to become a babalawo, and a babalawo can never have been ridden by an orisha. It is a beautiful experience for those who are blessed with becoming a vessel of an orisha in that way.

S: Is this any different than "channeling" or "invoking" the god forms?

F: Well, when an orisha comes down and rides a person, that person's body is completely taken over by the orisha. The person doesn't even remember what happened. In a sense, that person is told to "go shopping" and the orisha acts through the person's body, often performing acts that defy the laws of physics, at least as they are presently understood by this culture.

S: How or why do the orishas "choose" you?

F: Usually, a person finds out through divination or when an orisha, while riding someone, tells them. But you only know for sure which orisha is the owner of your head when you go for a special ceremony called a planta, where several babalawos use the Table of Ifá to bring down a guardian angel. The Table of Ifá is the deepest form of divination there is.

S: Is there anything that has been a misconception that you would like to clear up for people?

F: I think the issue of animal sacrifice is probably the biggest misconception that we face.

S: Any last words of wisdom before we end?

F: Well, if you are thinking of approaching this religion you must do it with all your heart, with respect... and with patience. Knowledge, wisdom and power are all gained over time. If you watch a hen feeding, you see it peck little bits at a time, but she keeps pecking and pecking, and before long she is full. You can't get everything all at once.

S: Would you like to say anything about your Web page, OrishaNet? It is really great! Let people know how to find you, if you like.

F: I created OrishaNet to give people easy access to accurate information about the religion. If it gives a few people a glimpse of the beauty and wisdom that is this religion, I consider it a success. The address on the World Wide Web is: http://www.seanet.com/~efunmoyiwa/welcome.html

My wife and I will also be opening a botanica soon, Botanica Lucumi. Its grand opening will be from noon to 4 p.m. June 16. Botanica Lucumi, at 8016 15th Ave. NE (phone: 729-1000), is the first store of its kind in Washington.
Copyright © 2006 by the article's author

Miami santero/drummer faces deportation

From miaminewtimes.com
Originally published by Miami New Times 2005-09-29
©2005 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved.

Exit Philbert
Immigration wants to deport a well-known santero/drummer over five stolen shirts
By Mariah Blake


Jonathan Postal
Armenteros ain't crooning at Krome


Who / What:
Philbert Armenteros
Three-year-old Jorge Armenteros giggles and shrieks as he patters around barefoot on the tile floor of a Burger King in Little Havana. His brother Eric, a lanky six-year-old, happily wolfs down Chicken Tenders. French fries are scattered on the table in front of him, and ketchup is smeared on his white tank top.

Neither of them, nor Jorge's twin sister Raquel, knows that their dad Philbert might never come home again. And their mom, Luz Preciado, wants it to stay that way. "I tell them that their dad went on a trip," she says. "I want them to keep the good image they have of him. He's their role model."

Philbert Armenteros is a singer and percussionist best known for his throbbing, hypnotic rhythms rooted in Afro-Cuban tradition. He has performed and recorded with internationally renowned acts such as Don Dinero and Yerba Buena. And his burly six-foot-three frame and gold-tooth smile are fixtures in Miami's Latin music scene, where he has played with numerous groups, among them Palo!, the Nag Champayons, and his own band, Aina.

Music is not only a job but also a form of worship for Armenteros, a Santería priest who has played regularly at drumming ceremonies, where he beckoned the gods to Earth with fierce batá rhythms.

Now Armenteros, who has a green card and has lived in the United States for more than a decade, has been detained by immigration officials and is facing deportation. The 28-year-old has been at the Krome Detention Center since this past August 10. The apparent reason: He pled guilty to stealing three polo shirts and a couple of sweater vests from a Dillard's department store more than seven years ago.

"It's really ridiculous," says Anna Bryant, who tends bar at Jazid, a hip South Beach club where Armenteros played regularly. "So many people who live in this country do much worse things and only get a slap on the wrist. If he leaves, we're losing a really amazing person and a great musician. And what for?"

Armenteros was born in late Seventies Havana and early on discovered his twin passions -- Santería and music. His family was made up of santeros, or Santería priests. And his great grandmother, Mercedes Alfredo, danced and sang with the well-known rumba group Clave y Guaguanco, as well on Radio Cadena Havana and at Santería ceremonies. She served as Armenteros's spiritual guide and taught him music and dance while he was still a toddler. By age five, he was performing at ceremonies and festivals. He continued to drum and sing his way through Cuba until moving to Miami eleven years ago.

Almost as soon as he arrived here, Armenteros began getting into trouble. In December 1995, police picked him up for shoplifting, but the charges were eventually dropped. Seven months later, police charged him with possession of one joint and a small package of cocaine, according to court documents. This time he was released without a trial on the condition that he complete a drug treatment program, which he eventually did.

For a while Armenteros steered clear of the law. Then, on January 16, 1998, he walked into a Dillard's department store in Broward toting a gift box covered in green Christmas wrapping. The box had a slit on one side, and Armenteros shoved three polo shirts and two sweater vests, valued at $365, into it. He then attempted to leave, but an officer nabbed him outside the store. In March of that year, Armenteros pled guilty to grand theft and received three years' probation. Grand theft is considered an aggravated felony, a deportable offense, according to a 1996 federal law.

Homeland Security spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez wouldn't specify why Armenteros has been detained, but Preciado says it's because of the Dillard's incident.

In August 1998, Armenteros was arrested again for violating probation by smoking marijuana and failing to pay fines. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail. During this turbulent period, Armenteros met Preciado at a Santería drumming ceremony in Naples, Florida. She was seventeen years old and pretty, with soft, almond-shape eyes and a smattering of freckles sprinkled across her round face. "We started talking, and we hit it off right away," Preciado says. Within months, she was pregnant. And in July 1999, when Armenteros was 21 years old, their eldest son, Eric, arrived. In August 2002, Preciado gave birth again, this time to the twins, Jorge and Raquel.

For the first five years, the couple's relationship was bumpy, but Preciado says Armenteros was always a deeply devoted father. There were no new criminal charges, and his musical career flourished. He also began helping to organize music showcases, such as the Afro Roots World Music Festival, and became involved in projects to educate people about traditional Cuban music and culture, particularly his religion, Santería. He wrote regularly for Olofin.com, an online Santería magazine, and he recently made a presentation at Florida International University. "His goal is to dissolve fear," says José Elias, who plays guitar in Armenteros's band.

Armenteros began teaching his own children Afro-Cuban music and dance while they were still in diapers, and took them to Cuba to be initiated as santeros when Eric was three and the twins were five months old. He returned to Cuba with the children in May 2004 for ritual animal sacrifices, which he believed would protect them. During the trip, Preciado says, thieves broke into Armenteros's rental car and snatched his Sony digital camera along with his passport and green card.

When he returned to the United States, Armenteros was issued a temporary green card, which was good for only one year. In late June of this year -- less than two months before he was detained -- he bought a three-bedroom house on NW 56th Street near Eighteenth Avenue for his family. Around the same time, his band, Aina, found a weekly gig at Jazid. Employees there describe Armenteros as a sort of gentle giant. "He's a great big guy with almost frighteningly large hands," says bartender Anna Bryant. "But he's always smiling and polite, and he never drinks."

On August 10, Armenteros went to an Immigration Services office to renew the temporary green card, according to Preciado. That's when he was detained. Hours later, he called Preciado and told her, but she didn't believe him. "I thought it was a joke," she says. "He told me he was serious, and I burst into tears. But I still didn't believe it was really true."

Soon, Preciado says, she was flooded with phone calls from Armenteros's fans and fellow musicians, some of them strangers, offering help. Many who had hired him to play at Santería drumming rituals offered to postpone their events until Armenteros was free. Aina continues to play its weekly Jazid gig but has drawn sparser crowds.

Armenteros's fate remains an open question. His first deportation hearing, held September 22, was inconclusive. It's unclear what will happen if the judge rules against Armenteros, since the United States rarely deports people to Cuba.

Meanwhile, Armenteros missed the twins' birthday August 24. Preciado is struggling to keep the family afloat while holding down a job as a receptionist. Finances are tight. And she says all of the children have begun wetting their beds again. "Everybody makes mistakes," Preciado remarks wearily. "Philbert's paying for his. But it's not just consequences for him. It's a consequence for everyone."

Santeria used for travel license

The Miami Herald
Sun, Feb. 27, 2005

IS SANTERIA USED AS PLOY TO SKIRT TRAVEL RULES?

A Santeria group with a religious license to travel unimpeded to Cuba reports a boom in the size of its congregation, drawing criticism and scrutiny.

BY OSCAR CORRAL

Despite the Bush administration's crackdown on exiles' trips back to Cuba, there are still ways to travel to the island without restriction.

One seems to be increasingly popular: Go as a Santero.

Religious groups can get licenses with little trouble. And the head of at least one group that says it practices the Afro-Cuban religion Santeria acknowledged that his congregation has exploded in size since the new travel restrictions kicked in.

Jose Montoya, head of the Sacerdocio Lucumi Shango Eyeife in Miami, said that between 1996 and July 2004, he took about 60 people to Cuba under his religious travel license. Since the restrictions took effect in July, he has taken about 2,500, he said.

''Before, people didn't have a necessity, and Afro Cubans who practice our religions could travel to Cuba without a license, but now they need a license,'' Montoya said. ``This is a ticking time bomb. They will give a religious license to anyone.''

Exiles who support the restrictions -- which cut exile trips to Cuba from once a year to once every three years -- say the Santeria groups are abusing their religious privilege.

The U.S. Treasury Department allows unimpeded travel to Cuba for legitimate religious reasons. The department has issued more than 200 licenses to religious groups for travel to Cuba, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, R-Miami.

Díaz-Balart, a supporter of the new limits, has called for an investigation, which he said is being conducted by the Treasury Department.

''There is abuse and it needs to stop,'' he said. ``It is wrong for someone to say that they are seeking a license for religious travel and then to use that license commercially to promote tourism, and I think it's happening.''

Treasury Department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise and other department officials could not be reached for comment.

Tom Cooper, CEO and chairman of Gulf Stream International Airlines, one of the biggest companies still operating flights to Cuba, said he has also noticed a recent increase in the number of people coming to his airline with religious licenses.

RESOURCEFULNESS

''I have my own questions about it,'' Cooper said. ``I think the Cuban people are very industrious and ingenious, and I think that they really will find a way to visit their relatives in Cuba.''

During a recent interview in his office at 4315 NW Seventh St., Montoya told The Herald that he has an established track record in Miami's Santeria community and is not abusing his travel license.

Montoya acknowledges that he has no church or temple, and his office is plainly decorated, with no evidence of Santeria. His church, the Sacerdocio Lucumi Shango Eyeife, is listed in Florida corporate records as a for-profit company. He brands himself ''Maximo Sacerdote General,'' or Maximum High Priest.

Montoya said the Treasury Department's religious license places no restrictions on the number of people allowed to travel to Cuba under that license, or the frequency of visits. He provided The Herald a copy of his license.

He also provided The Herald a copy of an application people must fill out if they want to travel to Cuba under his religious license. Applicants must swear that they are part of his religion and get the letter notarized. The application named Heidy Gonzalez as an applicant and showed a telephone number. When The Herald called the number, a man named Braulio Rodriguez said Heidy Gonzalez was a 1-year-old baby and that he was her grandfather.

Rodriguez said he had no idea how her name came to be on an application for travel to Cuba and that as far as he knew, she would not be traveling to Cuba as the application stated.

When quizzed about potential abuses, Montoya pointed to another supposed Santeria group that has a religious travel license, Santa Yemaya Ministries. Montoya said his own research shows that many of the people traveling to Cuba under religious licenses today travel through Santa Yemaya.

Florida corporate records show that Santa Yemaya Ministries was established in October 2003 by Fabio Galoppi. The principal place of business address, according to corporate records, is 9741 NW 31 St., a house in a gated community in Doral. It is listed as a nonprofit company.

The official explanation given by Fabio Galoppi to incorporate Santa Yemaya, according to corporate records, is ''to spread the word of God across the world.'' Santa Yemaya Ministries' website boasts a 15-day travel itinerary in Cuba filled with Santeria tourist stops at places such as Casa Templo and The Yoruba Center.

A woman who described herself as Fabio Galoppi's wife when phoned by The Herald declined to comment. She referred questions to a Pierre Galoppi.

Pierre Galoppi, who owns Estrella de Cuba Travel in West Miami-Dade and PWG Trading Corp., confirmed that Santa Yemaya has a religious travel license. He declined to describe his relationship to Fabio Galoppi.

''I can assure you that our agency and our ministry are in full compliance with all regulations,'' Pierre Galoppi said.

`SENSITIVE INDUSTRY'

When asked how many people travel to Cuba under Santa Yemaya's license, or whether Fabio Galoppi is a Santero, Galoppi declined to comment.

''It's a very sensitive industry,'' he said. ``I have no idea how many people we're talking about.''

Pedro Gonzalez-Munne, owner of Cuba Promotions, an agency that promotes travel to Cuba, said he has done business with Pierre Galoppi and is familiar with his enterprise.

''Since the new restrictions kicked in in July to now, PWG Trading has 33 to 34 percent of the total market of people that travel to Cuba,'' Gonzalez-Munne said. ``Is this a situation of freedom of religions, or are they using their religion for travel and profit?''

The Santeria travel wars have spilled over into local media. Montoya said community leaders and radio commentators have singled him out for criticism on Miami's Spanish-language radio stations. That has prompted Montoya to buy four full-page ads in El Nuevo Herald since November, defending his travel practices.

''We continue to deny the disinformation campaign that some radio stations have established that intend, for politics, to violate our religious rights,'' said an open letter from Shango Eyeife published in El Nuevo Herald on Jan. 24. ``Our institution has nothing to do with other people who possess licenses for our religious practices issued by Treasury.''

RELIGION AS PLOY

Ernesto Pichardo, Miami-Dade's best known Santero, who once took a case about animal sacrifices to the U.S. Supreme Court, said the groups ``are not authorized, legitimate religious organizations in Cuba or here.''

''We've started doing homework,'' Pichardo said. ``I've gotten people from New York, D.C., all over. They have bought into this little deal of buying into [Montoya's] membership . . . to fly to Cuba on a religious visa.''

Cooper, the Gulf Stream CEO, said air travel to Cuba plunged after the restrictions kicked in. For example, his company used to fly five planes a week with 600 seats to the island. Now he flies only about 123 seats a week. However, in the past month, he said, business has picked up again, partly because of religious-license travel.

Pichardo said a signal that Shango Eyeife and Santa Yemaya may not be legitimate religious groups is that neither has a church or temple in Miami.

He said that he doubts they have churches in Cuba, because the Cuban government has never authorized Santeria.

Gonzalez-Munne said the trend shows that people will do whatever it takes to get to Cuba, and business people are thinking creatively to make it happen.

''People are not traveling because they are Babalaos, let's speak clearly,'' Gonzalez-Munne said, using a term meaning priest. ``They are traveling because they have no other way to get to Cuba.''

Ocha history in NYC

The Yoruba Orisha tradition comes to New York City
African American Review, Summer, 1995 by Marta Moreno Vega

The work of Katherine Dunham, Zora Neale Hurston, and Pearl Primus - building on the research of Melville Herskovits and W. E. B. Du Bois - introduced an intellectual perspective of the African Diaspora into the arts. These artists worked studiously to incorporate an international racial and cultural legacy into an African-based aesthetic which could serve as a unifying link for Africans in the Diaspora. Dunham, for example, insisted that the members of her dance company understand the cultural traditions of creative expression in their respective countries, and her school at 43rd and Broadway nurtured developing and accomplished artists who embraced the African Diaspora in their creative expression. "Our school," writes Dunham in an unpublished autobiography,

became the popular meeting place of Caribbean, Central and South American diplomats, painters, musicians, poets and the like. At our monthly "Boule Blanches" we usually presented new and untried Cuban orchestras such as Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria and Bobby Capo. Cuban Julio Iglesias toured with us for a couple of seasons. Celia Cruz came to these affairs both as a guest and entertainer. Among our regular participants and followers were Helen Hayes and her daughter, Lena Home, Xavier Cougat and many others. (2)

Dunham's work with the Maroons of Jamaica and with traditional African communities in Haiti, along with research in Cuba, Martinique, and Senegal - among other locations - filled the productions she staged for international audiences with images, symbols, music, dance, instruments, and ritual practice of the African Diaspora. But Cuba held a special attraction for her.

On Dunham's first trip there, in 1938, she met the families of the drummers Julio and LaRosa, and performed rituals that they had been unable to accomplish in New York City. And to maintain an African Diaspora focus in her dance company, she incorporated the expertise of researchers like Fernando Ortiz and Lydia Cabrera; the writing of Afro-Cuban poet Nicolas Guillen; and the music of the composer Lecona in her productions. "Cuban music and ritual," she writes, "were inextricably interwoven into my life - both personal and professional."(1)

When Dunham could not find drummers for her company in 1952, she returned to Cuba and recruited Julito Collazo and Francisco Aguabella, renowned percussionists in the Latino, jazz, and popular music communities who had been trained in the Orisha tradition.(2) Julito Collazo would become one of the pioneer members of a small group of Yoruba traditional practitioners who were instrumental in establishing Orisha worship in New York City. He settled in New York in 1955 when Dunham's touring company ran out of engagements,(3) and along with Francisco Aguabella, he performed the songs, dances, and music of Afro-Cuban traditions and spread these traditions to international audiences.

In 1955, there were approximately twenty-five people in New York City who were believers in the Orisha tradition (Collazo interview). The founding member of the Orisha tradition in New York City was Babalawo Pancho Mora (Yoruba name, Ifa Morote), who arrived in New York in 1946 and, soon after, established the "first ile, or house of the orishas" there (Murphy 50). Mora had been initiated as a high priest of Ifa in Cuba on January 27, 1944, by Babalawo Quintin Lecon, a renowned Cuban Ifa priest, and was the first babalawo in New York to practice Ifa divination (Murphy 49-50).

Mora's belief in this ancient tradition and his desire to maintain his belief system motivated him to found the first Orisha community in the city. From his pioneering work, the tradition has grown to include thousands of initiates from all walks of life and ethnic groups. He has initiated several thousand godchildren from varied professions and international backgrounds, and has traveled extensively to Latin America and nationally to perform rituals and spread the practice of Santeria (Mora interview).

On December 4, 1955, Francisco Aguabella and Julito Collazo attended their first Santeria ritual in New York, a celebration to Chango (Santa Barbara) by santero Willie, also known as "El Bolitero" ('the numbers runner'), an Afro-Puerto Rican initiated in Cuba by Pancho Mora's sister. Aguabella and Collazo found out about the ceremony, which took place at 111th Street and St. Nicolas Avenue in Harlem, at the world-famous Palladium night club, where many Latin musicians gathered and played.(4)

After observing for a time the ceremony at the home of Willie "El Bolitero," Collazo and Aguabella joined in the singing. They attracted much attention, since few people at the time knew the Yoruba chants to the orishas. As the son of the renowned santera Ebelia Collazo del barrio San Miguel in Cuba, Julito Collazo had grown up in the Orisha religion and learned the intricacies of this African-based tradition (Collazo interview).(5) At the age of fifteen, he was accepted into a neighborhood bata drum group and began his professional career. Simultaneously, Julito became more involved with other Afro-Cuban religions and increased his knowledge of the philosophies and rituals of each sect. Under the guidance of the renowned traditional bata drummer Pablo Roche of Cuba(6) and of master traditional drummers Raul Diaz, Trinidad Torregrosa, Nicholas Angarica, and Miguel Somodeville, Julito Collazo became omo Anya, initiated in the secret knowledge of the Orisha Anya, owner of the drum.

The Yoruba community between 1955 and 1959 included important figures in the entertainment field who helped promote the songs and music of the Santeria tradition. The presence of Cuban musicians like Frank "Machito" Grillo and Mario Bauza, founder of the Afro-Cubans Orchestra, influenced Afro-American jazz as well as Latin music. Bauza's introduction of master Afro-Cuban drummer Chano Pozo to Dizzy Gillespie, and the incorporation of Chano Pozo - an initiate of Afro-Cuban religions - into Dizzy's orchestra, opened new musical horizons in African American jazz.

The continued collaboration among Chano Pozo, Mario Bauza, and Dizzy Gillespie further served to popularize traditional Afro-Cuban music. Gillespie continued throughout his career to incorporate the music of Santeria, the rhythms of Abakua rituals (nanigos), Kongo music, and others, because of his close association with these Cuban musicians. Together, they developed "Cubop," the integration of two African-based musical styles:

Chano taught us all multirhythm; we learned from the master . . . . He'd teach us some of those Cuban chants and things like that . . . . You have different ones, the Nanigo, the Arrara, the Santo (music to the Yoruba Orisha) and several others, and they each have their own rhythm . . . . They're all of African derivation. (Gillespie 319)

The percussionists Patato Valdez, Candido, and Mongo Santamaria were also very influential, and the affinity of the Puerto Rican musicians culturally and musically with Afro-Cuban music and musicians established a strong bridge of exchange. Tito Puente, the internationally known Puerto Rican musician, left the Afro-Cubans Orchestra during this period to establish the Tito Puente Orchestra. The circle of musicians that were part of his group included Puerto Ricans Willie Bobo and Ray Barretto, and Cuban Vincentico Valdez. Although few of the Cuban musicians were initiated (Collazo interview), they were surrounded by Santeria practice in Cuba, and so they brought the philosophy, belief system, and rituals with them to New York City. The passing on of these traditions to Puerto Ricans during the early days of Santeria practice in New York City was critical to its growth. In fact, the first initiates in New York City were Puerto Ricans. The similarity of languages, histories, geographic location in the Caribbean, and racial and cultural expressions provided the basis for easy communication and exchange.

The center of Orisha activity was located on the Upper West Side, where most of the Afro-Cuban and Afro-Puerto Rican community resided. The Rendezvous Bar at Lenox Avenue between 113th and 114th Street, where stowaways from Cuba "hung out," and the beauty parlor of Illuminada at 110th Street and Madison were popular meeting places among Orisha believers. The concentration of Latinos in these areas enhanced the familiarity between the two cultural groups and nurtured the growth of the Orisha belief system.(7)

In 1956, the Afro-Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaria organized the first public performance of Orisha music and dance at the Palladium night club, in tribute to the Yoruba Orisha Chango. Julito Collazo performed songs and dances for the Orisha Chango and made a broad audience aware of this ancient African belief system.(8)

The music of Santeria continued to receive popular exposure when Tito Puente asked Julito Collazo to participate in recordings of his orchestra. These recordings introduced Yoruba chants for the first time in contemporary commercial recordings in New York City. Latin Percussions, one of Tito Puente's classic albums is considered the first commercial recording of Santeria music (Collazo interview).

Another traditional leader who advanced Yoruba tradition in New York City was Cuban-born Mercedes Nobles (Yoruba name, Oban Yoko), who traveled to New York in 1952. Yoko's mother was eight years old when her Afro-American grandparents moved to Cuba during World War I. In 1958, Yoko returned to Cuba and was initiated into the Yoruba tradition on March 9 as a priestess of Chango. Julito Collazo played for her first cumpleano de Santo, her Orisha birthday celebration, on March 9, 1959 (Collazo interview).

During the late '50s, as the Orisha community expanded in New York City, believers would return to Cuba to perform initiations. In 1961, Oban Yoko, with the consent of her Orisha, performed the first initiation of Orisha ('mounting of the Orisha,' or hacer Santo) on the head of Julia Franco, at 610 W. 136th Street in Manhattan. Yoko went on to establish a casa de Santo ('House of Orisha') in New York City. When I interviewed her in 1981, she had initiated thirty-two people into the Orisha tradition, and as the first santera to initiate a recognized Orisha godchild in New York City, she established precedents for performing initiation ceremonies there. The reaction to this pioneering move was much criticized (Collazo, Scull). However, Oban Yoko's pioneering spirit gave Orisha a permanent home in New York, and the presence of Babalowos Pancho Mora and Bebo sanctioned this first step in initiating devotees in New York City. Not only did Yoko's courageous and pioneering action validate New York City initiations, but local initiation allowed people who could not afford to travel to Cuba to become recognized members of the Orisha community.

The influx of Cubans escaping the Cuban Revolution of 1959 further accelerated the belief in the Orisha tradition in New York City, as Joseph Murphy points out:

Since the Cuban revolution of their 1959, the United States has seen a reinfusion of Africanity into its melting pot. Thousands of santeros have come as exiles, bringing the orishas to America again. This has meant a second, if less brutal, transplantation and a second acculturation of Yoruba religion. This time an entirely new set of ethnohistorical factors has come into play as santeros acquire North American culture and Americans feel the impact of santeria. (115)

The growing community of Latinos, the establishment of botanicas, where ritual products could be sold, and the creation of Latino neighborhoods served to facilitate the practice of the religion, and as a consequence the presence of Orisha became increasingly public in the Latino community. The handful of practitioners in New York City in the early 1950s were joined by several thousand others by 1964, the year Pancho Mora held a public drum ceremony that attracted three thousand people, including Latin music stars Julio Collazo and Machito (Murphy 50). During the 1960s, Mongo Santamaria also held public celebrations to the Orisha Chango in Latino teatros.

During this period, re-creations of Cuban bata and conga drums were used. The first bata de fundamento was brought to New York City from Cuba in 1979.(10) These drums were ritually prepared, given voice (dar le voz al tambor) by Papo Angarica in Cuba, a babalawo, omo Anya, musician, son of a famous santero, oriyate, and historian. Sacred drums receive the same ritual birth as people: Just as initiates are born from believers - thus maintaining and extending ritual family ties through the community - the drum is born from another sacred drum, thus establishing historical and traditional linkages.

Since there were no sacred drums in the U.S. before Ornelio Scull acquired his, it was not possible to "give birth" to sacred drums developed in New York City. Now various sets of sacred bata drums exist outside Cuba. One set belongs to Orlando "Puntilla Rios," omo Chango, omo Anya, who came to the United States during the Mariel Boatlift in 1981. He is one of the most influential ritual drummers and performers of the Afro-Cuban Yoruba tradition in New York City. Once he established himself in the Orisha community, he had a set of sacred bata drums consecrated. Another set belongs to Puerto Rican percussionist and omo Anya, Louis Bauzo, who, as a traditional musician and leader of a traditional dance company, has helped promulgate the Orisha tradition.

The first African Americans to initiate into the Yoruba belief system were Oba Sergiman and Christopher Oliana in 1959. Already versed and initiated into the Haitian system of Vodun, they sought to expand their spiritual knowledge and cultural centeredness. Pursuing Black Power strategies to empower the African American community, Oba Sergiman opened the first African American temple in West Harlem devoted to the loas (divinities of Dahomey) of West Africa and Haiti and the orishas of Cuba (originally of Yorubaland West Africa).(11) He notes that his pride in the reclamation of Africa as part of the African American experience came with much struggle.

African Americans and Cuban Americans had to confront cultural barriers and racist attitudes before the orishas could encompass both communities. The participation of the African American community in Yoruba traditions increased Orisha exposure, but publicity made the Cuban traditional community uneasy, since many of its members were illegal aliens trying to maintain a low profile. The images of Catholic saints in Cuban/Puerto Rican Yoruba practice created another point of conflict between Latinos and African Americans, who wished to remove all images of Western European oppression from the tradition. These issues motivated African Americans to look increasingly towards Nigeria for their development in the Orisha traditional belief system.

African Americans actively sought to incorporate the orishas of Cuba and 1oas of Haiti into the Black Power Revolution as a means of confronting the division between the African American and Latino communities. The inclusive vision of santeras Asunta Serrano, Mercedes Nobels, Juana Manrique, along with Babalawo Pancho Mora, helped embrace African American initiates. In the Harlem community, African Americans discovered the gods of Africa at their back doors. The Cuban and Puerto Rican communities had brought and preserved the orishas and made them available to the African American community. The work of anthropologists and artists like Zora Neale Hurston, Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Percival Borde, W. E. B. Du Bois, and others had provided culturally grounded principles which guided the thinking, work, and practice of cultural activities of the late sixties and seventies. And Black Arts activists, in turn, incorporated the symbols, languages, images, rhythms, songs, and dress that connected our Diaspora experiences to our root cultures. The work of Puerto Rican visual artist Jorge Soto incorporated the symbols of Orisha Chango, the thunder-god. The work of African American artists Amiri Baraka, Larry Neal, and Barbara Ann Teer reflected the understanding of Yoruba philosophy and practice. The works of cultural nationalists connected political struggle to cultural expansion, providing creative expressions directly connected to our historical legacies and continuity.

Notes

1. Dunham adds, "I am definitely Yemanja. She is my guide and my mother, unless I happen to be involved in Buddhist research. Fortunately, there is not conflict between Yemanja sent out to sea in her gift-laden barque on the shores of Corcavado in Brazil, or a river whose name I do not know in Ibadan, Nigeria, or a leaky, Haitian boat sent out to sea, hardly seaworthy, with a time-worn Yemanja lying on the prow on her sequine-covered bedspread, or on my balcony at Leclerc in Haiti, or right here on my small altar in East St. Louis, Illinois. Frankly, I feel as much Cuban as anything else" (Durham 3).

2. All of the leading performers who have been instrumental in the promulgation of Orisha tradition were part of the cultural aesthetic movement nurtured by Katherine Dunham. Before they became major performing artists in the Latino community, Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Perez Prado, Julito Collazo, and Francisco Aguabella all exchanged information and ideas in the nurturing environment Dunham established. The interrelationship of the cultural experiences of the African American and African Latino communities dates to the mid-thirties, and the music of Tito Puente, Celia Cruz with La Sonora Matancera, and Celina would educate New York audiences in the songs and celebratory messages and practices of the Orisha tradition of Cuba.

3. In Cuba, December 4 is the feast date of Chano, and of Santa Barbara, the catholic saint, who is used as a camouflage for the African Orisha Shango.

4. Conga drums were played at the ceremony in 1955 by the Afro-Cuban musician Arsenio Rodriquez, who came to New York City around 1949, and his brother Kiki, who was initiated with the Orisha Ogun in Cuba, before coming to New York City (Collazo interview). During this period, the sacred bata drums used in Yoruba ceremonies had not been introduced to New York City. The toques (drum ceremonies) were played with conga drums solely. Collazo's account differs from Robert Farris Thompson's statement: "Julito Collazo and Francisco Aguabella brought bata to the United States in 1955" (170). Actually they brought their skill in playing the bata drums and their knowledge of toques. Omelio Scull introduced the first set of Cuban fundamento drums to New York City. The first set of sacred bata drums arrived in New York City in 1979 (Scull interview). When Collazo first started playing toques, he played solo with conga drums and sang simple Yoruba chants, so that people could follow the call and response necessary in ceremonies that provide the energy to call the orishas to earth to manifest themselves.

5. Collazo's mother had been initiated in Cuba by an African named Dominga Latuan.

6. Pablo Roche was a major informant for anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in his research documenting African traditions in Cuba.

7. In the early sixties, the courts became aware of the practice of Orisha: A santero accused of manslaughter killed a chicken in court before the judge who was to decide his sentence, and the judge became so irate that he had the santero deported to Cuba. In Cuba, the santero was freed, since the laws of the United States did not apply to Cuba. The man is still living there (Collazo interview).

8. Robert Farris Thompson says that the first time he saw Julito Collazo perform for the orishas was at the Palladium night club during the Chango presentation. They were formally introduced by the orchestra leader of the Afro-Cubans, Frank "Machito" Grillo, child of the Orisha Chango.

9. Ornelio Scull also participated in this first initiation lavando Elegua and Obatala ('washing the Orishas Elogua and Obatala'). This is part of the Orisha ritual of initiation and rebirth into the Yoruba belief system.

10. According to Ornelia Scull, Olu Anya de Oba De'e (a Yoruba name indicating ownership and name of the sacred bata drum set), a master traditional drummer, bought the drum to New York City.

11. In a presentation to the Caribbean Cultural Center in New York City, Oba Sergiman recognized the need to connect the Black activist movement to a culturally grounded philosophy and lifestyle. He identified a division within the Black Power Movement between political activists and cultural activists. Sergiman's cultural activism led him to develop the first temple in West Harlem and later to establish Oyotungi Village, a Yoruba community in South Carolina.

Works Cited

Gillespie, Dizzy, with Al Fraser. To Be, or Not . . . to Bop. Garden City: Doubleday, 1979.

Dunham, Katherine. Autobiography-in-progress.

Murphy, Joseph M. Santeria: An African Religion in America. Boston: Beacon, 1988.

Thompson, Robert Farris. Faces of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas. New York: Museum for American Art, 1993.

Collazo, Julito. Telephone interview. Feb. 1995.

Mora, Pancho. Personal interview. New York, May 1981.

Scull, Ornelio. Personal interview. Puerto Rico, Mar. 1994.

Sergiman, Oba. "History of the Orisha Tradition in New York City." Caribbean Cultural Center, New York, Feb. 1994.

Yoko, Oban. Personal interview. New York, May 1981.

Marta Moreno Vega directs the Caribbean Cultural Center in New York City. She recently received her Ph.D. from Temple University in Philadelphia and developed this article from her dissertation on Yoruba philosophy.

COPYRIGHT 1995 African American Review