Toasted cornBlack beansPalm oilBurlapCoins for the poorCare for the sick
Invocation Approach
Tone
Compassionate awe
Address
Babalú-AyéFather of the EarthSan Lazaro
Relationship
The one who owns the epidemic and can withhold it
Warning
He is contagion itself and is never approached casually
Resonance
The sick the poor and those who tend them
Symbols
RaffiaBroomFly whisksCrutchesDogsThe earth
Mythology Summary
Obalauye, called Babalu Aye ('father, lord of the world'), is the orisha of smallpox and epidemic disease, of the earth and of the poor; the raffia that hides his face, the broom and the fly whisks are the tradition's. Smallpox shaped his cult, and the tradition's account is that he owns the disease and can be asked to withhold it. In Cuba he is syncretised with San Lazaro, the beggar of Luke 16 whose sores the dogs licked, not Lazarus raised from the dead, and 17 December is the feast. In Brazil he is Obaluaie, and the Afro-Brazilian and Cuban forms have their own emphases.
Modern Practice
Babalú-Ayé is served with toasted corn, beans, palm oil and burlap, and his feast is a pilgrimage of the sick and the poor. The practice is care for the contagious and the outcast, and it is not a healing technique to be borrowed: his priests keep the taboos of the disease and the earth. The broom is used, and the earth is his.