Ancestor Reverence

The heart and soul of our religion encompass many things, however, what was then and ordained by our African predecessors, in many cases, is not what is now or what will be to come. Torn from the shores of their African homeland, millions of slaves were dispersed all over the so-called New World. We all know the appalling facts about the African slave trade along with all of its atrocities; however, on the flip side there is another fact. This fact is extraordinary because with every attempt made to keep the enslaved people from continuing with their African spirituals, traditions and rituals, the concept of nature, spirit, and ancestor veneration has not only survived but has evolved and been embraced by many on a global scale. And although their journey was heart wrenching, it is extraordinary that we are able to be here today, in this forum speaking openly about this beautiful faith. Although we have made great strides, this is not to say that we are out of the woods yet, because around the world many of our brothers and sisters still suffer from oppression, alienation and separatism. We still have a ways to go but for today, we are here and we are in celebration.

We celebrate and we pay homage to Olodumare, Olorun, Olofi, Obatala as the creator and Orunmila as the witness to our destinies. We pay homage to all the Orisas (Orishas) as natural forces and their roles in the assistance and evolution of man kind. We pay homage to the universe and all that lives within in death and in life. We celebrate and pay homage - not only to our African ancestors of North America but we celebrate the ancestors from Caribbean areas like Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and the other parts of the world where Orisa (Orisha) worship is being venerated.

Let me tell you a quick story. I had an Ifa reading where Obatala spoke strongly to me and to make a long story short, Obatala said that I needed to live my life in a hut. That I needed to practice traditional old-fashioned religion. Now this stumped me for a few days because I said to myself, how am I going to live as if I’m living in a hut in this day and age. I said to myself, how am I going to be old-fashioned when I only know new-age things. So I pondered and pondered. I said to myself, Obatala must be telling me to take the perspective of the hut. Now, let’s think about this. A hut is made out of straw; I’m used to living in brick-typed housing. A hut is hot; and I’m used to A/C. The floors in most cases are dirt; and I’m used to carpet. To me, a hut is basically uncomfortable although it’s plain and simple. So I’m thinking, is Obatala serious? How am I to revert? I go to my godfather and I say, “what does Obatala mean?” My godfather says, Obatala wants you to give up the brick house for a hut (figuratively and in some ways literally).

Now, I’m bothered. Why?, because in actuality I don’t want to give up my comfort but for the time being, I will stop over thinking and over analyzing this because I was driving myself crazy. Then one day while cleaning, it hit me. I understood a part of what Obatala was telling me. I must live simple to have more but more importantly, I must go back. Go back near the beginning and learn all I could about the traditions and how the religion was practiced from within the hut. As I thought about this, I figured the only way I could accomplish this is to go back HOME to Africa where it all began. I said to myself it all makes sense now. So now my brothers and sisters, lets take a few minutes to go back HOME. Some of you have been there and will be able to relate to what I have to say but others have not. I also know and have to believe that I am not the only one who has to go back. There are many who are being pulled and are gravitating back to mother Africa to learn the ways of the old. Either way or whatever your position, let’s look at the perspective from the hut.

Before we can even talk about quote – unquote religion, we must first revisit and acknowledge three words rather concepts that were of extreme important to the villages of Africa and are equally important today. These words are: community, culture, and tradition.

Community meaning a body of people living near one another as in a village community; sharing common interests. So here you cannot practice religion without first having a community where everyone is on the same page. Once the community is established, the laws, the moral code, the restrictions, taboos, do’s and don’ts of that community are developed and then the traditions and customs or culture that stems from the community as a whole are then passed on to be upheld by each generation to come.

Now, Culture is the social and religious structures and intellectual and artistic manifestations that characterize that village or community. The training or development of the mind would be for instance: certain rites of passage during various stages of one’s life, a certain language is spoken, a dress code, certain types of art, certain tribal markings, etc. These are all customs and cultural aspects that describe or identify a community.

And then Tradition is how we continue those customs and cultures of the village or community. Tradition being a religious law or teaching held to have been received originally by oral transmission. Everything being structured to ensure some sort of central order and synchronized action within the community.

The heart and soul of this religion are many: the belief in one God, belief in Orisa (Orisha) as lesser Gods, belief in the ancestors, divination, offerings and sacrifices, herbal medicines, libations, rituals and ceremonies and all stages there of, various rites of passage, and priesthood whether that be Kari ocha, Babalawo, or Iyanifa initiations. Each aspect is important in its own way depending on time, place/location, each individual person and the various stages of our lives. When we factor in religion not just as a doctrine but as a belief or faith in something higher than ourselves; it brings or binds the community, the cultures, and traditions together. Religion re-enforces acts of faith, inspires hope, good character, moral behavior, respect, diplomacy, humility and social harmony within the community. In various parts of Africa and in other rural areas around the globe, the fear of God, Orisas (Orishas), the ancestors, and being ostracized was and in many cases still is so intense that it encourages good ethical and moral behaviors within society. Before the middle passage – slavery to the New World, before the institution of Islam & Christianity by missionaries, and before urbanization and/or colonization in many cases, the general consensus of African villages was that the elders, the Orisas (Orishas) and the ancestors would impose harsh punishments on all who were considered a threat to the well-being of the community.

Over the past century, there is one major fact besides slavery that has been a double-edged sword in the degeneration and uplift of our religion. This is urbanization. Some families (particularly the youth) left the confines and controls of their rural families, in search for jobs to escape the hardships of rural life and to enjoy better social amenities such as better drinking water, good education, medical and recreational facilities, or just better standards of living in general. This would be considered on one side of the blade as upliftment, however, the flip side of that blade was that as urbanization grew people forgot or in some cased refused to adhere to the standards and expectations of the culture and traditions of this religion as originally intended and as a result, mayhem has and is continuing to brew in our communities, here and aboard. Central order has and is continuing to diminish around the globe. As awareness grew through education of science, technology, hospitals and medicines, slavery and the institution of Christianity and other religious beliefs forced upon the indigenous, fear of the Gods and ancestors eroded immensely. With this erosion came immoral practices such as prostitution, stealing, pick-pocketing, robbery, etc., all so that individuals could make ends meet. The very circumstances that were once feared as punishments from the Gods could now be explained. Poor harvest wasn’t a punishment from the Gods, it was a circumstance caused by the lack of fertile soil. Medical technology provided cures for many infections and diseases that were not caused by the Gods but by a germ. Construction of infrastructure has resulted in the destruction of sacred shrines, cemeteries, sacred forests and temples of the Gods and ancestral spirits. And the fact that these sacred places were destroyed by bulldozers without any misfortune, people have discarded their belief that the Gods are powerful; contributing to a decline in traditional religious beliefs. This is a feeling that still exists today.

In the plight of slavery to New World lands so much was lost. In the face of urbanization and/or colonization even more was lost. And those Elders who held on to their religious structure for dear life…we understand why they had to improvise or hide their beliefs. We understand it was necessary for our predecessors to mix and mingle with other religious and spiritual systems. We understand that by any means necessary, our ancestors saved what they could to the best of their abilities. But thank Olodumare, the Orisas (Orishas), and the ancestors that this religion in no matter what form it is practiced has survived, obviously because we are here celebrating it. Now this is extraordinary and proof to all of us that the Gods are truly powerful.

So now where are we today? On one side of the sword, the world as a whole has made humongous strides in the upliftment of our lives through education, science, technology and medicine. We can educate ourselves, go to doctors, protect ourselves from life threatening disease, with machinery we can produce foods in mass production, we have computers to think for us, and we can communicate almost instantaneously even if at a distance. However, even with all of this that science and technology has provided, as a society many are increasingly unhappy, increasingly unsatisfied, and even more unfulfilled than our predecessors could ever imagine. With this unhappiness, many people feel that they can be fulfilled by using alcohol or drugs, by obtaining wealth, sex, power, marriage, family, or love. Then, as each day progresses into another, they realize that they live in a perverted society that is plagued with famine, disease, crime, and illness. They see family structures are breaking down, communities are breaking down, and even Earth is breaking down. Though people surround them, they feel lost, confused, and alone. They reach out, but they see nothing or feel nothing. They search for answers, for solutions—but nothing. Why is this? Well I believe it’s because the soul is unhappy. For many, this is a condition directly linked to the severed connections of the past and the soul is seeking the spiritual home that will bring it peace.

But guess what, we are the lucking few that belong to a religion that has and continues to help us to bring our soul to a place of peace. There are 256 odu that helps us to do this. That’s approximately 430,000 stanzas/messages together with their related sacrifices, rituals and taboos can that can bring us peace, turn evil to good, loss to gain, disadvantage to advantage, untimely death to long life and prosperity. However, this only works if 1) the diviner is proficient with years of study and practice and 2) the client whether priest or non-priest is ready to accept the advice given and ready to carry out the proper offerings and sacrifices. We have access to a powerful spiritual system that can solve any and every problem known to man. However this can only happen if one connects to it. You have to see it, breathe it, taste it, feel it, live it or experience it in some way. Once an individual opens to embracing this religion, its culture and traditions, its history, its arts, its clothing and its language, only then can one wholeheartedly understand this religion. You won’t understand it if you have one foot in and one foot out still expecting to receive full benefits.

The whole purpose of the hut is to go back to the basics and fill in what was lost so that we can function within the religion at full capacity. We live in a time where some of our Orisa (Orisha) communities are full of falsehood, unskilled priests and priestesses who lack religious knowledge and offer mediocre services. And because religious knowledge is so limited to many; the information continues to get watered down as it is passed down from godparent to godchild even to a point where our religion (in the indolent way that it is practiced) does not function for many. There are even instances where people are letting egun (the spirits) run the show and not the Orisas (Orishas). There are many who believe that just because they are good “spiritualist”, this can substitute for having the proper knowledge on odu/letter, ebo, ritual, and ceremony whether through Ifa or Dillogun. This should not be. Once a person gets a title of priesthood or some fraction of knowledge; they feel this gives them the right and the green light to go out into the communities to practice half trained and unsupervised by an elder.  In Brazil, a priest or priestess must be in training for at least 7 years and in Africa  Half-trained priests or priestessess fail to realize that they are ruining lives and turning people against the religion and because so many do not know any better, priests are getting away with this lazy way of practicing and the clients or in many cases the godchildren are suffering for it. After going through this enough times and suffering for long periods, many clients and/or practitioners give up on the religion because they keep running into brick walls; not understanding why they can’t get their lives on track after spending thousands of dollars and doing massive ebos (offerings). over 6 years.

What now? It is up to qualified and trained priests and priestess to continue spreading knowledge of what is right and what is wrong without giving away too many secrets. To me, there is something wrong when the bad priests outweigh the number of good priests. We the good priests and priestesses have to work hard to tip the scales back the other way. We have to bring back old principles of policing our communities; enforcing moral code and behavior surrounding our religion including the enforcement of standards and expectations. We live in a time where we have an opportunity to enhance what was brought to the New World, fill in the gaps and correct many of the wrongs. Since we in the United States do not necessary have to practice in hiding, we have two choices: we can either practice our religion right or wrong, full or incomplete.

Case in point – let’s take Bembe for instance as practiced in this country. As an Orisa (Orisha)-community there should be unwavering consensus about how a bembe should be conducted in terms of dress code, protocol, etc. I understand that there are many iles/houses that do different things and to me this is okay when you’re in your own home but when the various ile/house come into or attend a public function; there should absolutely be strict protocol on something so simple as dress code especially if we are to follow the rules of what was ordained by our predecessor. By not adhering to the protocols we as priests have left ourselves and the Orisas (Orishas) open to disrespect and humiliation. Many elders have allowed others to attend bembe in falsehood with their fake possessions of Orisa (Orisha), false messages, while others attend dressed improperly. I say anyone dress improperly should not be in the presence of the Orisas (Orishas) and we should bring back the throwing of Obi to find out if someone is faking and embarrass them. This will teach them to disrespect.

In cases like this, what are outsiders or aleyos as upcoming priests supposed to think? Well, to me, the outsiders do not take our religion serious and the aleyos begin to think that they can do whatever they want because this is what’s being presented to them. How would you feel is you went to an Orisa (Orisha) function and every single person in the room was dressed in white and you weren’t. Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable and out of place? No one would have to say anything to you and you would automatically feel uncomfortable and because of this you would know better for the next time. Anyone going to an Orisa (Orisha) function, ceremony, or ritual should feel uncomfortable if they are not in formation or unprepared. The standard should be adhered to, and it is up to the elders to enforce the rules.

In summation – the perspective of the hut is about going back to recapture what was once lost but I also think it’s more about upholding standards, ethics, moral code and character as was initially intended.