"Hi.
I see that you invite people to ask questions, so I am taking advantage. I wanted to know if you are practicing the same Orisha as in Hispanic Afro-Caribbean culture?Thanks alot for your time.
Peace,
Mariam "
"Orunmila says there should be a gathering together like trees do to form a forest
Ifa says we should gather together and not walk alone"
Holy Odu Oyeku Meji
The above odu provides the explanation as to why human beings form societies. Societies were called egbe by our Yoruba Ancestors. Egbe, in the West has come to mean a gathering of believers, a group of individuals who worship the Orisha. Those of us who have returned to the ancient way of our Ancestors have a responsibility to participate in what I call the Global Egbe, those all over the world who worship the Orisha.
NOW you would think, that because of the perceived smallness of our numbers and the pervasive nature of Christianity within the modern world that we would be more than happy to align ourselves with all others who know and revere the Orisha and their Ancestors...
HOWEVER
The tyrannical force of colonialism continues to keep us from uniting.
Let me pause here to give creidt where it is due and pay homage to Ancestors...during the time of the Maafa (enslavement of our Ancestors) and after our Hispanic bredren and sistren kept much of the song and dance and ritual of the tradition alive...it remains a integral part of their culture today. We must respect and honor this reality. Without the tenacity of those of our Ancestors who were enslave by the Spaniards we would not have much of the music and the oral history of the tradition that we have today.
And that being the case, it is important to note, and I quote here from Ona Agbani
"from the West Coast of Afrika, to the shores of the Americas and the islands of the Caribbean we were all polluted by the Western mentality that attempted to turn us into chattel. There is NO form of Ifa that remains untainted by the stain of the Maafa...we must see the differences in our ways of practising the tradition as ecological necessities due to the circumstances our Ancestors found themselves in. Did the Yoruba captive see himself as more or less Yoruba if he were taken to Cuba instead of Haiti? History suggests not. Were you more Yoruba than me because your colonizer forced you to speak Portuguese while mine beat English into my tongue? Our shared culture says no. Then we cannot continue to argue that Santeria is better than Lukumi or Voodoo more sacred than Shango Baptiste. We cannot say that one is not truly initiated unless his or her spiritual leaders come from Nigeria or Cuba or Brazil. This is essentially an argument over WHO HAD THE BEST OPPRESSOR! When we compartmentalize the tradition in this way we are saying " MY SLAVE MASTER WAS BETTER THAN YOURS!" If we look at this huge controversy from the perspective of our Ancestors, those who are responsible for creating the Western forms of practising the tradition, it is clear that they did not see slavery in one place as being better or worse than slavery in another place! Our Ancestors created these forms of the tradition to achieve the goal of NO SLAVERY AT ALL! In which THEY SUCCEEDED! All praises to their couragous spirits!"
Adupe, Sistah Mariam for recognizing the global egbe!
