Three babalawo groups agree: An ‘optimist’ year ahead for Cuba
Three babalawo groups agree: An ‘optimist’ year ahead for Cuba
Posted on Thursday, 01.02.14
By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
For the first time in memory, New Year’s predictions issued by three groups of Cuban Santeria priests — two in Havana and one in Miami — have agreed: The communist-ruled island faces an “optimistic” year.
Now the babalawos are trying to figure out exactly what the prediction, or “letter,” means.
In Havana, the Council of Senior Ifá Priests, considered close to the Cuban government, and the independent group of babalawos known as La Casona de Lawton had the same overall positive prediction as a group of Miami babalawos.
“There is no precedent for the three being identical,” said Ernesto Pichardo, head of the Lukumi Babalu Aye Church in Hialeah and part of the group that issued the Miami “letter.” “Now the question is what road to follow … More precision is needed.”
Pichardo said the word “optimism” came up in all three “letters,” in essence compilations of cryptic comments, proverbs and counsels derived during ceremonies held through the night of Dec. 31and the mornings of Jan. 1.
Putting it in political terms, he added, the letters agree that Cuba’s governing system “does not work” and will be changed but do not explicitly say how — for instance, through ruler Raúl Castro’s market economic reforms or his ouster.
More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/02/3849142/three-babalawo-groups-agree-an.html