Tag: santeria

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Babalu Aye ~ Saint Lazarous

Babalu Aye, San Lazaro, Azojano is one of the most loved, respected, feared, and venerated Orishas in the Cuban Santeria tradition.
Babalu Aye is the Orisha who reigns over all matters related to health, psychical, and spiritual.
Babalu Aye is the protector of the sick, the weak, the hurt, the injured.
Babalu Aye is a miraculous and humble Orisha, the Orisha of healing and disease.
Babalu Aye appears as a sick man with sores and trembling arms and legs that is why it is syncretized with Saint Lazarus in the Cuban Santeria tradition.

Babalu Aye teaches compassion, love, and responsibility.
Babalu Aye is worshipped and respected for all the miracles he performs, he is particularly known for his healing powers.
Babalu Aye is accompanied by two dogs and wears cloth made of burlap with purple adornments.
In the Lukumi tradition, Babalu Aye was punished by Olofi (God) with sickness & afflictions. He lost his health, riches & prosperity for not having good character and for being disobedient. Babalu Aye’s trials on earth are a lesson of humility; perseverance, integrity, and good character.
Babalu Aye is also the protector of all animals, especially dogs. Dogs were his only companion (besides Elegua) when he was suffering his trials & tribulations.
Babalu Aye is loving but stern, no one wants to be on his bad side and meet his wrath. Babalu Aye is loved, respected, and feared.

Babalu Aye’s colors are royal purple, yellow and brown. His sacred number is 17. Burlap is sacred to him and used in his offerings & items made for him.
December 17th is a day we honor Babalu Aye, many celebrations are done on December 16th waiting for midnight.
In the Santeria tradition, the ceremonial for worshiping Babalu Aye is called The Awan

In this ceremony, Babalu Aye is placed next to a basket lined with burlap material with offerings are placed around it. At nighttime, the lights go down, the only lighting used are the candles, everyone gathers around the basket and cleanse each one with the contents of the plates to remove negativity, for protection, health, and prosperity. After cleansing, the items are cast into the main basket. 

This ceremony brings the Ashe of Babalu Aye to the lives of those present.

Babalu Aye represents health and sickness, humility and pride, abundance and scarcity, love and fear.

PRAYER TO BABALU AYE

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Who are the Santeria Orishas?

orishas

There are many Orishas in the Santeria tradition, some are very known: Elegua, Ogun, Ochosi, Obatala, Chango, Oshun, Yemaya, Oya, others are not as popular, but not least powerful.

Anyone can call the Orishas for help, the Orisha Spirits are everywhere and you do not need to be initiated to call for their help or favors.

You can prepare small altars, make offerings and pay homage to any Orisha, however, you must understand and acknowledge the fact that that building an altar or having an amulet done for any Orisha does not mean that you have that Orisha, you cannot self-initiate to Santeria. Santeria initiations and consultations must be done in person by a qualified Santero or Babalawo!

It is always a good idea to discuss what you want to do with an initiated priest, sometimes the Orishas may not want what you are offering or there may be other Orishas willing to come and help you.  In the Santeria Tradition, initiated priests have the tools to ask the Orishas what they want for every situation and we always ask them before we set any offerings. Sometimes the Orisha you feel attracted to may not be your guardian or ruling Orisha.

The Orisha’s energies are part of nature, Elegua is everywhere, but always work for him in the bushes, if you want to talk to Oshun, you go to the river, if you want to talk to Yemaya, go to the ocean, to reach for Obatala, go to the highest mountain close to you, works for Ogun are best if done in the railroads, for Oya in the Cemetery and so on ..

But It is not wise to invoke the energy of any Orisha if you are not initiated, even initiated priests have to train themselves how to work with their own Orishas, this is living energy and can cause huge problems in untrained hands or unprepared bodies.

The energy of the Orishas is everywhere, just look around you, they always protect and hear you even when you think they may not.

Ashe
Yaya Maria

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The Important Role and Legacy of Women in Santeria

Women were the shapers of the Santeria traditions we practice today.

Nowadays Santeria, The Ocha Rule, is practiced all over the world, Santeria originated in Cuba, every single Santeria Priest anywhere in the world has a link of origin to a Santeria house in Cuba and most of those houses have a woman at its root, it is very important to learn to respect our religion, its roots and the women who made it possible.

Up until the mid-1930s, women wielded tremendous power as heads of almost all of the most influential Santeria houses and almost all of Santeria’s family trees have a woman as the root.

Women, in fact, held most of the power in the religion, ruling as heads of houses and as Oriatés until well into the 20th century.

It was relatively recently that men have come to take over the roles that were exclusively held by women. Since the 1800s most houses of Santo were formed and ruled by women.

Women were the real movers and shakers and they were the main force who shaped Santeria and its initiations into what it is today. Almost all the branches of the religion were founded by women.

Today I want to honor tribute and my respects to all the women who created the legacy of the Santeria religion, the famous and the not so famous, they are an important part of our history and I feel empowered and honored every time I name them in my prayers.

Today I Mojugba (I give praise) to the effort, hard work, and contributions of all the important Santeras (Santeria High Priestess) who left their legacy to the new generations and I hope the new generations of Santeros do not forget their roots and learn to respect the role of women and the roots of the Santeria tradition.

Aurora Lamar (Obá Tolá) – Founder of Branch La Pimienta
Timotea “Latuán” Albear – Founder of the Branch La Pimienta.
Ña Belén Gonzales (Apoto) – Root of the pimienta, culo verde, and trapito branches
Rosalía Gramosa (Efuché Warikondó) – Founder of La Rama de los Millonarios- The Reformer of the Religion
Susana Cantero (Omí Toké) Founder of the Rama Coral
Ña Margarita Armenteros (Aina) Founder of the house San Jose 80
Ña Caridad Argudín founded the Cabildo Africano Lucumí
Josefa Herrera ruled The Cabildo de Yemayá in Regla
Susana Cantero ruled another Cabildo de Yemayá.
Fermenita Gómez (Ocha Bí), founded the Cabildo de Ferminita Gómez, one of the great centers of Olokun worship.
Ma Monserrate Gonzales (Obá Tero) a core foundation of the religion in Matanzas

And so many more…..

The founders and leaders of most of the Santeria houses were women who ruled entirely or shared that rule with their Babalawo husbands.

Women traditionally led all the major ceremonies and performed all the rites involved in the initiation of new Santeros that are now the province of the Oriaté and the role of Oriaté was first held by women.

Notorious woman oriatés wereTeresita Ariosa Eni Ochún and Guillermina Castel.

Timotea Albear (Ayayí La Tuán) was the Oriaté used by almost all of the houses up until the time of her death. She, in fact, was the one who trained the first male Oriaté Octavio Samar Rodriguez (Obadimeyi).

It was only after the death of Timotea Albear in 1935 that Obadimeyi began to gain power as an Oriaté, but before long all the Oriatés were male.

But now we are beginning to see more women training to become Oriatés. Perhaps before long Santeria will be ruled over by women once more.

Ashe
Yaya Maria