Altar of My Soul

OLODUMARE THE UNKNOWN IS THE PATH TO KNOWLEDGE The orisha Olodumare, the Supreme God, originally lived in the lower part of heaven, overlooking endless stretches of water. One day, Olodumare decided to create Earth, and sent an emissary, the orisha Obatal, to perform this task. Olodumare gave Obatal the materials he needed to create the world: a small bag of loose earth, a gold chain, and a five-toed hen. Obatal was instructed to use the chain to descend from heaven. When he reached the last link, he piled the loose earth on top of the water. Next, he placed the hen on the pile of earth, and ordered her to scatter the earth with her toes across the surface of the water. When this was finished, Obatal climbed the chain to heaven to report his success to Olodumare. Olodumare then sent his trusted assistant, the chameleon, to verify that the earth was dry. When his helper had assured him that the Earth was solid, Olodumare named Earth "Ile Ife," the sacred house. Before he retired to the uppermost level of heaven, Olodumare decided to distribute his sacred powers--ache'. He united Obatal, the orisha of creation, and Yemay, the orisha of the ocean, who gave birth to a pantheon of Orishas, each possessing a share of Olodumare's sacred power. At last, the divine power of Olodumare was dispersed. Then one day, Olodumare called them all from Earth to heaven and gave Obatal the sacred power to create human life. Obatal returned to Earth and created our ancestors, endowing them with his own divine power. We are all descendants from the first people of the sacred city of Ile Ife; we are all children of Olodumare, the sacred orisha who created the world. It was ten o'clock on Monday morning, August 25, 1997, when I arrived at the home of Dona Rosa, a SanterIa priestess of Yemay. A short, wiry woman, the color of sweet chocolate syrup, Dona Rosa was dressed in blue-and-white gingham in honor of her patron, Orisha Yemay. She often lent her home to my godmother for initiation ceremonies, since her five-room, street-level apartment was large, had a small inside patio, and was centrally located in Havana, Cuba. Dona Rosa greeted me with a warm embrace and then led me into the kitchen to await instructions from my godmother, my madrina, Zenaida, who was in a room off the kitchen, hidden by a white curtain, finalizing preparations for the ceremony that was about to begin. My madrina was planning to initiate a young Puerto Rican ritual drummer, omo aOya, Paco Fuentes, into the SanterIa religion. He was to receive the achE of his patron, Orisha ShangU. Today was the asiento, the ritual that would ceremoniously place the achE of ShangU on the head of the new initiate. Dona Rosa asked that I sit on a high wooden stool to await the portion of the ceremony in which I would participate. She offered me a glass of water and said, "My daughter, it is only ten o'clock in the morning and the heat is already close to ninety degrees." Momentarily cooled by the water, I waited patiently for the ceremony to begin. The apartment was swarming with activity as the priestesses, the santeras, iyalorishas, prepared lunch. I tried to relax in the midst of the mounting excitement as santeras and santeros, babalorishas, the priests, hurried about collecting dishes, placing the sacrificial animals on the patio, and arranging the plants that would be used in the ceremony. During Paco's ceremony, I would be an active participant undergoing the ritual, permitting me to initiate others. One of the rules of the religion is that an initiate musVega, Marta Moreno is the author of 'Altar of My Soul' with ISBN 9780345421371 and ISBN 034542137X.