Santeria saint lazarus3/17/2024 In return he promised to spread Babalu’s name around the globe, or so the legend says.ĭepending on tradition, he’s associated with brown, red, purple, yellow, black, and/or white. According to legend, Desi requested three things from Babalu: professional and financial success and a beautiful wife. He is the patron of the humble, outcasts, and those who truly suffer.Ī broom with which he removes illness or sweeps it into the air a club to fell his victims a lance or spear with which he pricks victims to cause pustules, spots, or pox arrows that cause rashīabalu was the signature song of Cuban singer, actor, and television producer Desi Arnaz (2 March 1917–2 December 1986). Those who suffer from any of the illnesses under Babalu’s dominion may consider themselves under his dominion. When African devotees saw the chromolithograph of Saint Lazarus, they recognized Babalu Ayé in his suppurating sores and the faithful, loving dogs. He is syncretized to Saint Lazarus-not the Lazarus who was raised from the dead, but the poor leper whose dogs lick his sores, mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. Babalu Ayé delivers the wrath of God-but he also has the power to save you from it. People are cautioned against walking alone at noon, especially wearing red, lest Babalu add you to his entourage. Sometimes he cloaks himself in raffia to hide the ravages of his disease. ![]() Babalu Ayé strolls with an entourage all dressed in red in the heat of the noonday sun. Always be kind and polite to even the most decrepit, pathetic beggar: it could be Babalu Ayé testing your character. The religion went underground with Baba worshipped as Oluwa, “the lord.”īabalu Ayé strikes down the immoral, arrogant, and wicked. In 1917, British colonial authorities in Africa banned devotion to Babalu Ayé when his priests were accused of deliberately spreading smallpox. He took a broom and, sweeping some sesame seeds into the air, magically created fever, pestilence, and especially smallpox. Unsympathetic people mocked and abused him past his point of endurance. Another legend describes him as a lame beggar. Because people cried so much for him after his death (or because Oshun, his lover, mourned so deeply), the Creator resurrected him, giving him dominion over the disease that felled him. In one myth, he was a handsome, amorous prince punished with smallpox by the Creator for breaking a spiritual injunction. He is venerated throughout Western Africa and, unlike many orishas, is shared by several spiritual traditions, so it is unclear exactly from where he derives. Omo-Olu: Child of the Lord (from whence derives his Brazilian manifestation, Omolu).Babalu Ayé is the most famous and well-known, but there are others: ![]() It is considered dangerous to call him by his true name, no need to attract his attention needlessly, no need to get too familiar, lest he become familiar with you, too. He owns all secrets of death, disease, and cemeteries.īabalu Ayé is a title meaning “Father of the Earth”-not his real name. Babalu Ayé has emerged as the spirit of AIDS and the patron who protects those suffering from this illness. He controls all illnesses that manifest on the skin, like measles or chicken pox. He has dominion over all skin ailments, major and minor, as well as infectious and viral diseases. ![]() Smallpox has become something of a disease of the past, but Babalu Ayé remains relevant. He is a dread spirit who is simultaneously beloved.īabalu Ayé protects against the disease he embodies and carries. Babalu Ayé transcends being a disease spirit: he is a powerful deity who is as adored as he is feared. The simplest explanation of Babalu Ayé is that he is the spirit of smallpox, but that does not do him justice. Obaluaiyé Sagbata Sakpata Omolu Soponnon Asohin Asojano ORIGIN:
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