Miami Herald

A con man sexually assaulted and robbed a 78-year-old woman last week after she let him into her Little Havana apartment for a ”magic” ritual.

The man posed as a practitioner of Santería, an Afro-Cuban religion, and told his victim her apartment was in need of a spiritual cleansing, police spokesman Delrish Moss said.

The necessary ritual, the man told her: placing jewelry and other valuables in perfumed water.

After performing the brief ceremony, the man sexually assaulted the woman, then fled with her possessions.

Since September, three other Little Havana seniors, one of them a man, have been robbed by a well-groomed charmer matching the con man’s description. Victims described the man as a white Latin, possibly Cuban, with salt-and-pepper hair.

He looks between 50 and 60 years old, of medium build and height. He may be driving a beige car with painted lines on the sides.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Traducido del ingles por Miguel W. Ramos

Miami Herald

Un hombre sexualmente asaltó y robó a una mujer de 78 años de edad la semana pasada después de que ella le permitió entrar a su apartamento en La Pequeña Habana para llevar a cabo un rito “mágico.”

El hombre se hizo pasar por un practicante de Santería, una religión afrocubana, y le dijo a la víctima que su apartamento tenia necesidad de una limpieza espiritual, dijo el portavoz policiaco Delrish Moss El hombre le dijo que el ritual requería poner sus joyas y otros artículos de valor dentro de un preparativo que contenía agua y perfume.

Después de brevemente ejecutar la supuesta ceremonia, el hombre asaltó a la mujer sexualmente, y luego huyó con sus posesiones.

Desde Septiembre, otras tres personas mayores de La Pequeña Habana, uno de ellos un hombre, han sido victimas por un individuo el cual las víctimas describen como un hombre bien vestido y de buena apariencia y presencia. Las víctimas describieron al hombre como un latino blanco, posiblemente cubano, con pelo del sal-y-pimienta.

Parece tener entre 50 y 60 años de edad, de figura y altura media. Maneja un carro color crema con líneas pintadas en los lados.

Se insta a todo aquel que tenga alguna información a llamar a Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

Lagos, Nigeria
Odyssey Of An American Female Babalawo
By Austin Edemodu

IF it were just the affairs of mere mortals, this 59 year old American-Jew would be the most unlikely candidate to be entrusted with the onerous duty of spearheading the evolution of the Orisa tradition of the Yorubas. But then who can fathom the ways of the gods? They pull the strings, mortals fall in line, and today, Dr. D’Haifa Odufora Ifatogun, has behind her a 20-year history of developing Orisa.

Born on November 3, 1943, this Doctor of Clinical Hypnotherapy (DCH), who currently travels around the world teaching Hypnotherapy and Energy medicine , is a registered and certified member of the American Board of Clinical Hypnotherapy as well as the International Association of Counsellors and Therapists. D’Haifa, who has recorded many firsts in the evolution of the Orisa tradition, was initiated into the highest Orisa,(Obatala) on May 12, 1979, slightly over 20 years ago. The initiation was performed by two Cuban Babalorisas, Carlos Gonzalez (Ade Oshun) and Ojubona Benigno Dominiquez (Ifafunmike), and she came out of it with the name “Odufora”.

The New Yorker, on January 22, 1985 after a ceremony conducted by the Chief Priest of Oshogbo, Ifayemi Elebuibon, became the first woman to be initiated into IFA(the Orisa of Divination) in America or the Western Hemisphere. Seven years later, precisely on January 22, 1992 at Ile-Ife, she received the Orisa-Odofin the highest Orisa reserved for Babalawos, becoming the only woman to be so investitured. The initiation was conducted by the Aseda of Ife, Chief Adeyefa Olatunji.

And in January 22, 1995, the prestigious title of Iya Araba-Agbaye was bestowed upon Dr. D’Haifa at Ile-Ife, representing also the first time in history the Orisa devotees have conferred that title on a woman.

The Iya Araba-Agbaye, obviously overwhelmed by her new status ,says she sought answers from the Universe, more particularly Orisa, that same day on the mystery and impact of her historic new title. As always with the gods, the response was to come through the most unexpected source, Orisa -Oya, which D’Haifa defines as the grand female warrior who represents the element of wind, and is the renown guardian spirit of the cemetery.

According to her, Orisa-Oya communicated her answers through an American trance-medium, “who knows nothing about the Orisa tradition and even less of my perplexing questions.”

Through the Trance-medium, Orisa-Oya tells her among other things : “D’Haifa ,Iya Araba, Orisa is merely an African word for the primordial energy, but the energy itself is not African. For that reason Orisa can resonate or manifest through any type of individual in any location throughout (the world).

“We remind you that the Earth is anticipating and preparing for an extraordinary shift in frequency (change of consciousness) in the very near future, and Orisa wants to participate in this evolutionary phenomenon. Thus the Orisas are designating particular individuals across the planet who are situated and capable of preserving the Orisa frequency in this explosive experience.

“When its aspects are dispersed, its chances of survival and expansion are greatly enhanced. In few words, if Orisa were contained amongst its indigenous proponents or immediate relatives (wherever they find themselves in the world today), it would remain the same frequency, perhaps even become extinct in application.

“Inasmuch as the significance or meaning of Iya Araba-Agbaye: it is in essence a vibrational level that has always existed, waiting to avail itself to the woman who could penetrate its frequency. The details of its application will be revealed more and more as you, D’Haifa, realise your purpose without ego or attachments.

“You (D’Haifa Iya Araba -Agbaje) and the Araba Agbaye-Aworeni, as exemplaries, in collaboration with diverse, selective initiates are being charged with transporting the treasured ASE to a higher vibratory level of consciousness, whereby you will leave a new legacy in this era of evolution of Orisa.”

According to D’Haifa, Orisa- Oya further claimed responsibility for instigating her (Iya Araba Agbaye’s) controversial initiations in order to dissolve many untruths or myths that have been impeding the evolution of the Orisa tradition.

Sometime in early 2001, D’Haifa who claims to have Orisas frequently alternate waking her up between 3.30 to 4.00 in the morning hours to give revelations, directions or answers to her personal enquiries, says she received a clear indication to embark on another mission to shatter a myth. This time, to initiate another person into Ifa, a process known as Itefa, to prove that a woman can initiate people into the tradition.

“An individual had repeatedly requested me to be his Oluwo, but until now women had historically been initiated into Ifa, but none had ever made Itefa onto another. It would be another revolutionary, controversial event in the evolution of Orixa, were it to be achieved,” she recalls. “I proceeded to confirm my intentions through divination with the Ifa Oracle by Oluwo Dr. Jose Amaro (Ifanilaye) in Miami, Florida, and the response was positive by Odu-Ifa.”

With this divine confirmation of her intentions by Orisa-Oya, D’Haifa writes an open letter to the Araba Agbaye, Chief Aworeni and the 16 Olodus of the Ifa Temple, Oke-Tase, Ile-Ife. In the letter, dated June 03, 2001, she explains her intentions soliciting their participation. Part of the letter reads: “Oya also alluded to many untruths (not in principle, but in practice), which due to the evolution of Orisa, are now obsolete within the prevailing truth, and that we are heretofor charged to dispel: for example, traditionally, women have been excluded or ignored in their guest to initiate others into the Ifa frequency.

“If I were to relate the most significant benefit that I have received as the result of my many controversial, powerful and historical initiations into Ifa, it would definitely be the fact that it has afforded me the luxury of being humble. Having said that, it is from the Profound recesses of my own ORI that I am impressed to Transcend any and all impediments endured by Iyanifas until now.

“I am requesting you, Honourable Araba (in the very immediate future) to make the following evolutionary concession to this effect: assist me to be the principal Oluwo in the initiation of a gentleman who has requested me to initiate him into Ifa…

“Orisa energy continuously evolves and uniquely re-creates itself through each one of us, and it would be naive and disloyal for anyone to suggest that our tradition is so fragile that achieving my destiny could slatter its foundation!”

Her logic accepted, D’Haifa and Hermes Torres II are summoned to Ile-Ife for the epochal ceremony, and are celebrated on July 20, by Chief Obadio of the Oduduwa Grove. The next day, they are blessed by the Chief Obalesun and Chief Obalale of the Obatala Shrine, and then on Sunday, July 22, the epochal initiation of Torres II as “Ifaraba”, by the first Female Oluwo, Iyanifa Dr D’Haifa, Chief Yeye Araba Agbaye assisted by chief Aworeni Aroyemi Adisa (The Araba Agbaye).

The event is rounded up on Sunday, July 29, with a feast at the Ifa Temple to celebrate, according to D’Haifa “our milestone accomplishments, particularly that of Chief Maiyegun-Awo, Ifaraba and Yeye Araba-Agbaye (Iyadu) D’Haifa Odufora Ifatogun having received Orisa-Odu.”

Last September 22, D’Haifa formally completed the requirement of sacrifice and one year of silence, to put a final seal on her reception of Orisa-Odu.

An Ifa faithful and lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, enthusiastically breaks this news, same day, in an e-mail to Ifaraba and other adherents in the U.S:

“Today, 29 September, 2002 is to be one of the most remarkable days in the Evolution of Orisa Tradition. Chief Yeye Araba-Agbaye Dr. D’Haifa Odufora Ifatogun has officially and historically completed the ceremony as the first female Oluwo to receive Orisa-Odu, by the hands and Ase of the Araba-Agbaye Aworeni at Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Witnessed: Chief Maiyegun -Awo Agbaye, Adebayo Ogundijo…”

On October 6 in the town of Ilobu, Osun State, the Orisa-Odu is carried out by Chief Babalola Ifatogun. After the necessary divination, according to D’Haifa, Chief Ifatogun pronounces categorically that there is no Odu-Ifa that ever prohibited women from receiving Orisa-Odu, nor to initiate another person into Ifa.

“This was done to relieve the Araba of Ife of any unjustified criticism or censorship for having the courage to allow Orisa to evolve in our time,” the Yeye Araba-Agbaye declares.

But who is actually Dr. D’Haifa? Any attempt to talk about her person, outside the Ifa tradition, is politely discourage. “I don’t really like to talk about myself,” she is quick to explain. “It’s not me. It is about the evolution of Orisa.”

Is she aware, though, that being a Babalawo has some uncomplimentary commutations? Definitely, she says. It is something she has happily lived with. But it also helps that she does not belong to any society or group that can ostracize her for pursuing her destiny, she observes.

Matter of Extreme Importance
We reprint this bizarre and offensive story from London’s Guardian Unlimited: Observer about the unfortunate murder of a young boy that experts are attempting to link to Yoruba religion. This incident reminds us of the case in Matamoros, Mexico from the late 1980s when the Lukumí religion was blamed for the activities of a psychotic drug dealer and murderer. The current matter is further complicated and becomes even more offensive when the scholar that was consulted for “expert” testimony on African religion appears not to be an expert on the Yoruba but an “Africanist.” To make matters worse, adding offense to offense, a Yoruba, Temi Olusanya, asserts that this murder was the work of “African religion!”

Martin Bright and Paul Harris
Observer

A young boy whose mutilated torso was discovered floating in the River Thames last September was the victim of a gruesome West African ‘religious’ sacrifice intended to bring good luck, and was trafficked into the country expressly for the killing.

Genetic tests on the boy – who was found with his head and limbs removed and wearing only a pair of orange shorts – point to a West African origin, probably Nigeria or a nearby country such as Togo or Benin.

Further analysis of stomach contents and bone chemistry show the child, whom police have named Adam, could not have been brought up in London. Detectives are now working on the horrifying theory that he was bought as a child slave in West Africa and smuggled to Britain solely to be killed.

Experts on African religion consulted by Scotland Yard believe Adam may have been sacrificed to one of the 400 ‘Orisha’ or ancestor gods of the Yoruba people, Nigeria’s second-largest ethnic group. Oshun, a Yoruba river goddess is associated with orange, the colour of the shorts, which were placed on Adam’s body 24 hours after he was killed as a bizarre addition to the ritual. The body was then stored for a further 24 hours before being offered to the Thames.

The cultural clues fit neatly with the forensics as the Yoruba are found in Benin, Togo and Ghana as well as Nigeria. Thousands of Yoruba slaves were also taken to the Caribbean, where elements of their religion formed the basis of voodoo rituals.

A close examination of the cuts where the head and limbs were sliced from the body shows that they were carried out by an expert using extremely sharp knives specially prepared for the purpose. In a horrific operation reminiscent of animal sacrifice, the flesh around the limbs and neck was first cut down to the bones, which were then slashed with a single blow from an implement much like a butcher’s meat cleaver. Adam would have been stretched out horizontally or upside down during the sacrifice and kept in position while the blood was drained from the body.

Officers working on the case believe that the level of expertise involved could show the perpetrators imported a magician or priest to carry out the ritual. They also believe the amputated body parts will have been kept as powerful magical trophies.

Richard Hoskins, a lecturer in the Study of Religions at Bath Spa University, who has studied ritual killings across Africa, said: ‘This looks like a deviant variety of a West African religion. Someone would have done it to gain power. But the vast majority of Africans would find this abhorrent.’

In an unprecedented missing-person investigation, the police have even tracked down the origins of the orange shorts, which were made exclusively in China for German Woolworth stores. Police believe Adam may have arrived in England from Germany, a common route for people traffickers.

Police are now awaiting final results of the forensic tests, which should identify a specific country or ethnic group, before moving their investigation to Africa. Scotland Yard officers working on the case then plan to launch appeals to the parents of missing children in Adam’s country of origin.

Commander Andy Baker of the Metropolitan Police, who is heading the investigation said: ‘All we have is the trunk of a little boy and a very small pair of shorts. But when the work on the forensics identifies his home, we will go to that country and make direct contact with the government involved.’

Investigators have now discounted the theory that Adam was the victim of a so-called muti killing, where body parts are taken to be used in medicine. It is a practice widespread in areas of South Africa, and detectives travelled to Johannesburg to speak to experts. But all the evidence is now pointing to West Africa as holding the answers to the riddle of Adam’s slaughter. It now seems clear it was not body parts his killers were after.

Expert forensic analysis of mitochondrial DNA – the first time such a test has been used in a criminal investigation – shows that Adam was almost certainly West African. Other gruesome evidence is the fact that Adam’s genitals were left on his body. In muti murders the genitals are seen as powerful medicine; not so in West Africa where the ‘luck’ of an individual is believed to lie in the blood. Adam’s blood was drained from his body after he was killed, but his genitals were undamaged. A further clue lies in the fact that Adam, who was between four and seven years old, was also circumcised. In southern Africa circumcision happens as a passage to adulthood. In West Africa it occurs shortly after birth.

The case has prompted a continent-wide alert that African ritual killings have been imported to Europe. Last Monday an international conference was held in the Dutch city of The Hague to discuss the phenomenon, and several countries’ police forces are investigating deaths involving mutilations. Even Police believe that rich West Africans imported Adam from West Africa, probably using a specialist witch doctor for the task. The witch doctor would have procured the boy in West Africa, perhaps paying a fee to his family, a fee who may have expected him to be put to work abroad. He would then have been ‘trafficked’ to Europe.

Adam was well-treated before he was killed.. Traces of a common over-the-counter cough medicine were found in his stomach, indicating someone wanted him in good health for the day of his execution.

Could it happen again? Whatever business Adam’s killers wanted to bless has already started. It is unlikely his killers will strike again. ‘If another one happens then it is likely to be a different group of people involved. The ones who killed Adam are already satisfied with what they have done,’ said Dr Hendrik Scholtz, an expert at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand.

Temi Olusanya, the Nigerian vice-chair of the African Caribbean Development Association said Adam’s murder had deeply shocked the West African community. ‘This is a crime that cannot be tolerated in African religions. Murder is murder and we should work together to find the people who did this,’ he said.

Original article

Statement re. Observer Article by Martin Bright and Paul Harris 2nd June 2002

Dr Richard Hoskins

It has come to my attention that part of the article which appeared in The Observer on June 2nd has caused offence to some practitioners of Yoruba and Yoruba-derived religions, and specifically those connected with Oshun.

I wish to make clear that I am not responsible for the contents of the article by these journalists, and the piece was not written by me.

The journalists in question appear not to have been present at the Europol conference in The Hague. During my presentation to that conference I presented a number of possibilities in connection with the case. I stressed that:

1. these were only possibilities
2. there were other possibilities, including non-ritualistic motives
3. in every case, were they proved to indeed be right, they would be deviations
4. the press must NOT go away and report that I think ‘such and such’ is the deity invoked
5. ritual killing is no more a part of African traditional beliefs than Satanism is a part of Christianity
6. 99.9% Africans would utterly abhor the killing of Adam
7. but a terrible murder has been committed with what appear to be ritualistic elements

Following my presentation, the police commented that my obvious passion for Africa really came through. I have no intention in causing offence to any section of a people I love and know well.

In the briefings I subsequently gave I summarised my talk. Martin Bright was one of many who contacted me for such a briefing.

Martin Bright assured me that he would call me before going to print to show me the contents of the article. This he did not do. Had he of done so I would have immediately requested him to remove, or substantially change, the references to Oshun, which were taken out of context and distorted. Most of the rest of the article seemed to me to have been fine.

It may, nevertheless, be of interest to those who have been asking that none of the possibilities raised by me originated with me. All have been first suggested by world-wide specialists in the field, and have been debated between me and them over several months. I do repeat that were any of the suggestions that I mentioned indeed proved to be correct they would be deviations, and in no way a part of the traditional beliefs of the practitioners. Were Oshun used in a sacrifice of this nature it would be a complete distortion of her true nature (especially as lover of children – which I mentioned in The Hague). But just because something is a deviation does not mean it didn’t happen. We must be balanced about this.

Finally, and more importantly than anything, a horrific murder has been committed. This is not the time to be side-tracked from finding the perpetrators of Adam’s killing. If the media attention has caused any offence, then I urge those people to come forward and help give their expertise to help the police in this investigation. I am not interested in academic point-scoring: I am only concerned that we catch Adam’s killers. I am still convinced that the killers of Adam can be found if we all pull together. I urge that we all do this for Adam, and for the good name of Africa.

Dr Richard Hoskins
11 June 2002
All further correspondence in this matter should be referred to Kate Campbell at Scotland Yard press office: 020 7230 1750.

Recent Update from the BBC

From the Philadelphia Enquirer
An advocacy group for African religions contends that the Sci Fi Channel series degrades the religion.
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

A Philadelphia-based advocacy group for African religions yesterday sued Universal Studios and producers for cable’s Sci Fi Channel, contending that a forthcoming “reality series” demeans and misrepresents the voodoo religion.

The federal lawsuit filed by the National African Religion Congress Inc. against Universal Studios Inc., USA Cable Entertainment, and House of Eleven Productions seeks a court order requiring the producers of Mad Mad House to change their advertising and programming.

“People already have negative feelings about this religion without a program like this exacerbating things,” said George Ware, president of the five-year-old congress. The congress claims 4,500 members representing such religions as Akan, the Orisa Tradition of Trinidad and Tobago, Ifa, Santeria-Yoruba, voodoo, Candomble and Lucumi, including 500 in the tristate Philadelphia area.

In promotions in print and on cable, Sci Fi describes Mad Mad House, premiering March 4, as a reality series in which “10 everyday people” move into a house run by “five genuine practitioners of alternative lifestyles.”

The “Alts” – a vampire, Wiccan, naturist, voodoo priestess and modern primitive – put their 10 guests through “tolerance testing activities,” one promotion says, and then vote weekly to decide who is banished and who ultimately wins a $100,000 prize.

The lawsuit contends that the program’s voodoo priestess, Iya Ta’Shia Asanti, is actually a priestess of “Yemoja in the Ifa tradition,” a faith of the Yoruba people of Africa.

Asanti does not dress as a voodoo priestess, the lawsuit continues, and a commercial showing participants being placed into a pit and covered with animal parts and entrails does not represent voodoo or Ifa.

A spokesman for producers Arthur Smith and Kent Weed in Los Angeles referred questions to Universal’s offices for the Sci Fi Channel in New York. Kat Stein, a senior vice president for communications, said she could not comment on the suit before consulting with the channel’s lawyers.

The lawsuit contends that producers reached an agreement with Asanti only after Gro Mambo Angela Novanyon, a recognized Haitian voodoo high priestess in Philadelphia who founded the congress, refused to participate in Mad Mad House.

The lawsuit asks for a federal judge to require the producers of Mad Mad House to properly identify Asanti as an Ifa, not a voodoo, priestess and prohibit them from “airing any episode… that falsely portrays any practice of African-based religions.”

Nuestra religión, a través del tiempo, no ha dispuesto de una estructura central reguladora de la doctrina ni de la liturgia, si no que se ha mantenido constituida por grupos independientes entre sí, aunque en algunos momentos ha habido agrupaciones con tendencias unitarias, pero a pesar de esto la religión muy extendida en la población, se mantiene la dispersión de grupos independientes o en ramas o familias religiosas pero sin alcanzar una estructura centralizada.

Esta dispersión es la causante, en no pocos casos, de una decadencia estructural de base y da como resultado que tenemos muchos factores negativos pera combatir entre nosotros.

Hay muchos Babaloshas (santeros), Iyaloshas (santeras), Babalawos, creyentes, no iniciados y personas cultas que tienen mucho amor y respeto para esta religión y se afanan por su mejoramiento, lo que nos obliga a difundir documentos como este que promuevan la culturización de los religiosos y creyentes a todos los niveles culturales y sociales.

La constitución del Consejo de Sacerdotes Mayores de Ifá en Cuba, surge como una necesidad en nuestro país ya que debido a la ausencia de una organización de este tipo que una de sus principales funciones era preservar los lineamientos éticos de los religiosos permitió que surgieran ramas y subramas distante de su origen, creándose la anarquía y quebrándose en no pocos casos la ética de nuestra religión sin que existiere un mecanismo que les pusiera freno a tales conductas.

En algunos casos esta anarquía ha dado por consecuencia que se crearan ceremonias de propia inspiración y que otras fueran mutiladas o distorsionadas, así como permitir la consagración religiosa de personas que por tener un poder pueden empararse de cosas mal hechas o cometer actos delictivos que atenten contra la sociedad, y otros, para fines desmesurados de lucro.

En los 16 Mandamientos de Ifá está determinado que los creyentes respeten las leyes y disposiciones legales del país en que se encuentren.

El Consejo de Sacerdotes Mayores de Ifá realizará todas las gestiones necesarias para alcanzar la unidad de todos los religiosos y creyentes de esta religión en nuestro país y en este empeño de rescatar el honor y las tradiciones religiosas de nuestros antecesores, se trazarán los siguientes objetivos:

1. Establecerlos niveles jerárquicos de la religión en nuestro país.
2. Crear una adecuada dirección religiosa en los distintos niveles de la organización.
3. Tratar de eliminar las malas conductas y la anarquía existente en los preceptos del culto.
4. Crear una unificación de los creyentes y religiosos existentes en nuestro país.
5. Trabajar en la difusión de la filosofía de la religión unido a la divulgación de su historia.
6. Difundir los 16 Mandamientos de Ifá a todos los religiosos y creyentes de nuestra religión.
7. Establecer comunicación y relaciones con religiosos Yorubas de otros países.
8. Establecer una Letra del Año única de acuerdo a la tradición de nuestros antecesores.

Somos creyentes de una de las religiones más antiguas con que cuenta la humanidad y es en nuestro país donde mejor se conservan las tradiciones culturales y religiosas Yoruba.

Esta religión en nuestro país se establece por testimonios de esclavos traídos a nuestra tierra por los colonizadores.

Los negros traídos a Cuba por los españoles vinieron en calidad de esclavos y sirvientes, siendo en su mayoría procedentes de Nigeria (Yorubas).

Es necesario señalar que los colonizadores utilizaron el sometimiento a la religión católica de todos los esclavos, tratando con esto de evitar que se mantuviera la unidad religiosa de las distintas etnias en la isla y así evitar las insurrecciones.

Como resultado de este movimiento se creó Ael sincretismo afrocristiano@

En la lucha por sus derechos los religiosos, los africanos crearon nuevas formas para conservar sus ritos litúrgicos y divinidades africanas y estas nuevas formas consistieron en darles a sus deidades (santos africanos) Adoble condición@ adjudicandoles los rasgos de santos cristianos, pero en forma oculta mantenían a sus deidades de origen.

Surge ALa casa templo@, la casa de santo cuyo símbolo más externo era la imagen de un santo católico, sus miembros asistían a la Iglesia, quedando compuesta Ala fachada@ pero lo más preciado para el religioso Yoruba era el cuarto sagrado en donde se adoraban las legitimas divinidades de la religión.

La religión Yoruba es el culto a la divinidad suprema: AOlordumare@ y a las deidades AOrishas@ que pertenecen a esta religión. Su principal objetivo es:

Asegurar el favor de Olordumare y de los Orishas (santos) para alcanzar el bienestar físico, mental y espiritual de los creyentes.

En la religión Yoruba universalmente la más alta divinidad en adivinación es Orunmila.

El sacerdote que actúa con Orunmila y trasmite las profecías que señala el Oráculo de Ifá se nombra Babalawo que quiere decir Adueño de los secretos.@

La filosofía de la religión Yoruba requiere años de estudio y esta enseñanza debe realizase en consulta asidua con los mayores religiosos, tanto en la santería como en Ifá, para no incurrir en errores de interpretación, de procedimientos ni faltar a la ética religiosa.

Orunmila determina que los Babalawos tienen la responsabilidad de comportarse con honor, ética y cumplir sus mandamientos.

Orunmila ha establecido que los sacerdotes Yorubas que no cumplan con los 16 Mandamientos de Ifá, morirán en el corazón de los creyentes.

By Biaggio Talent
Translated by W. Ramos

Salvador- The atabaques (drums) of Bahia’s Candomble terreiros (Orisha temples) will beat for world peace, to prevent a confrontation of great ratios between the United States and the Muslim peoples. Tomorrow, 40 olorishas, followers of the afro-Brazilian religions, representatives of the most important Candomble terreiros of Salvador, will congregate in the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Homens Pretos, in the Pelourinho district of Salvador, to ask the African deities for protection and world-wide peace.

One of the organizers of the gathering, Ozeas Santana, of the Terreiro Luan-Deua, situated in the Railroad Suburb of the Bahian capital explained that the leaderships of the Catholic Church, Judaism and Islam had congregated to defend the peace, but at no moment were representatives of the African religions invited. “We decided, then, to take this initiative, condemning the terrorist attacks and in solidarity with the families of victims, so that pacific solutions against terrorism are found,” he said. The Candomble clergy have chosen Oxala, the father of all orixas, as the deity to which the ceremony will be directed. He is the orixa called upon by all who seek peace.

As a temple where celebrations of Bahian syncretism are traditional, the Church Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Homens Pretos was chosen for the meeting because it is considered a historical symbol of the social insertion of Africans and their descendants into Brazilian society. African slaves built the church, constructed in the 18th century, during their moments of rest from their long workdays. The expression “to rest carrying rocks,” originated during the period in which the church was constructed, accurately describing the endeavor, as in the evenings, slaves carried the rocks that were taken from a nearby quarry to the place where the temple was raised.

The 40 leaders of the Afro-Bahian religions already congregate regularly on Wednesdays, in the headquarters of the Bahian Anti-AIDS Center to discuss ways of preventing sexually transmitted diseases among the people affiliated with Bahian terreiros.

Copyright 2001 State agency. All rights reserved.