Julia Altshuler wrote:
>
>
[email protected] wrote:
>
> > If you think I am kidding, go to
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-948.ZO.html and read
> > up on Santeria and the Lukumi Church of Babalu Aye.
> >
> > And do read up on Obatala:
http://www.cubanmotives.com/English/orishas.asp?listID=8
>
> Thanks for good memories! I took a class taught by the Pichardos back when I lived in Miami. For
> all the exotic weirdness of the religion, Ernesto and his wife are nice, down to earth, people.
> Ernesto can be wickedly and self-deprecatingly funny. If you're expecting to find sanctimonious
> seriousness, look elsewhere. These folks are great. Once I learned about Santaria, I started
> seeing signs of it all over Miami. Where I used to see a flower arrangement, a glass of water and
> small statue as decorations in a restaurant, I started recognizing offerings to an orisha. (When I
> was up on it, I knew which colors and flowers corresponded to which orishas.) A man wearing beads
> was no longer making a fashion statement but was associating himself with an orisha. The class
> gave me a good feeling for how odd every religion looks to outsiders.
>
> --Lia
I met the Pichardos once at a conference in FIU. Nice people. I wish I had taken some of the courses
in Afro-Cuban religion, especially one that dealt directly with santeria, specially sincretismo. But
the courses were not offered every semester or I would have taken my electives in that instead of
beginning anthropology. Interesting also but I really could have used some info on things that I had
been seeing all my life.
Ever walk into a botanica and smell all the different essences with all the interesting names? They
were also associated with orishas. "Seven African Powers", "Open the Way", the one that smells like
orange blossoms, I forget the name.
There was an interesting program in the local NPR station where they described all the different
rythms played with the drums, each dedicated to a different orisha. You can hear them in all
Caribbean music. They are called "toque de santo".
I have a recipe for goat ragout (chilindron de chivo) but it calls for a 2 month old goat. Do you
think I should post the recipe to keep OT?
Nice meting you!
Bert
