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!
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