One of my biggest issues with people who decide they want to travel to Cuba, Africa, etc. to get initiated is that they don’t really think through the obstacles involved when coming back with their orisha. No matter how much you might dislike the travel restrictions imposed on flyers in the United States, try dealing with the airport security in Cuba or Africa… lol. If there’s even the smallest amount of blood (which is common, no matter how much everything is cleaned after receiving your orisha) will typically result in your stuff being thrown out — at the very least. They don’t care how many thousand dollars you paid to fly there, receive your orisha, etc. They care about the health risks of your transportation of things with blood on them…

To a lesser extent, initiated santeros/santeras who are moving to another state or taking their orisha with them for a vacation have to deal with the same thing. Unless you’re coming back from a ceremony where your orisha had been fed, you probably won’t have to worry much about having blood on anything. You will still need to be aware of various airport regulations, though.

Especially with all of the post-9/11 changes to airport security, you should use common sense when transporting your orisha.

First off, don’t bring unnecessary attention to yourself. If someone from the airport wants to go through your stuff, you can’t tell tell them they can’t. What are you able to do, however, is let them know that they are religious artifacts. The orisha know you don’t have a choice in the matter and aren’t going to hold it against you…

Secondly, just as you have to pack when you’re going on a trip, sometimes your orisha will need to as well. Don’t try lugging Ogun around with his heavy metal cauldron filled with railroad spikes and stuff. Kept separately, the items might seem a bit unusual, but they will likely raise a lot less suspicion than having everything together. Feel free to label the various packages as “Fragile” and “Religious Artifact” to help discourage the tools, containers, etc. from being messed with.

Lastly, consider travelling with the otanes and (if free of blood) the cowry shells in a backpack or whatever, so you can keep it with you during the flight. This way, even if the containers and tools are destroyed, lost, etc., you still have the otanes and cowry shells. The rest can all be replaced fairly cheaply and you won’t need to do much else.

If they cowry shells are taken away from you (because they had blood on them, for instance), your orisha will not be able to speak until the shells are replaced. As long as you still have your otanes, though, it’s not a HUGE ordeal. Without the otanes, though, you essentially need to have all of the various ceremonies done over again and that can take a lot of time and money. Just be sure to keep the otanes safe. Everything else can be replaced.

Good luck and happy travelling!

I’ve always keep my personal and religious life separate. As more people begin to find out, it’s become a bit harder to keep that separation intact.

Originally, just my family and close friends knew I was in the religion. Now, there are at least a handful of casual friends and even a few co-workers who know. Nothing bad has happened from it so far, but it still feels a bit awkward.

I’ve got a small watermelon with Ogun… And I’ve left a coconut and a banana with Elegua… What can I say? I just got back from grocery shopping

I’m always a little self-conscious when people come over to my house, though. What must they think when they see a “rock” on the ground, surrounded by fruits and toys… next to a “witch’s cauldron” filled with horse-shoes, railroad spikes, and other large metal things….

Oh, and don’t even get me started on dating people outside of the religion… They are either really supportive and interested in it (and crazy) or they are dismissive and disinterested (and think I am crazy)… Just can’t win.

Thankfully, this is the modern day, and pretty much anything and everything can be found online. There’s a site called Santeria Love Connection, which is geared towards people in the religion who are looking to for people with similar beliefs. I love the idea, but the implementation sucks. Partly, my issue is with the base platform it runs on, Ning, which severely limits how functional and useable any site built on there can be… But my other gripe is just with how many people on there are married, in a relationship, or in some other way attached. So annoying.

I’m not really looking for someone who necessarily practices the religion. But it’d be nice to at least find someone who understands the gist of it and respects it for what it is…

This issue obviously isn’t unique to Santeria/Lucumi… But, c’mon, if people found out I practiced Buddhism, Judaism, etc., they wouldn’t have a second thought about it. Unfortunately, there’s a stigma attached to this stuff… People associate it with devil-worship, black magic, witchcraft, etc., etc. So what can you do, right? Many of the biases come from two main groups of belief. First are those who feel that any religion other than their own is wrong. Typically, these folks won’t change their mind no matter what, so they aren’t worth worrying about one way or the other. The other group of people simply don’t know enough about it to make an informed opinion. So those are the ones I’m focusing on… even if it’s just to show them that not everyone in the religion is a crazy witch doctor looking to sacrifice a chicken at every opportunity