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Ifa-Orisha religion: all about family?
It's often said (and to a certain extend correctly) that the Ifa-Orisha religions, from Africa to Santeria, Lukumi and Candomblé, are all about "family" and "community"... everything centers around it, and under no circumstances should this aspect be removed from it. I hold a more nuanced view of the subject, which I will explain from my own position as a Dutchman, inhabitiant of one of the smallest countries in the world: The Netherlands. Are "we Dutch" looking for an extended family, for a community, for a group? I guess not... Most of us here would love to leave parts of our damn claustrofobic family life behind us (grin)! Nobody in my country lives more than three hours driving away from parents, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and in-laws. Exactly five minutes walking (even with my bad legs) away from my house lives a cousin with his wife. Three minutes walking the other way lives another cousin. Ten minutes driving from here (in different directions) live yet five other cousins, a bunch of nephews and nieces, and an aunt. My sister lives less than half an hour driving from here. My fathers only surviving brother lives less than an hour and a half from here. About ten minutes walking from my house is the local cemetary, where my grandparents are buried and about a dozen other relatives. My parents are buried less than half an hour from my house. My great-grandparents are buried about an hour driving from here. Another thirty minutes and I visit the graves of earlier generations, my folks from the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Then we go back to Ede where I live, taking an hours detour to visit the graves of my 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th century ancestors. When I finally arrive home, half of my living family is waiting on the doorstep inquiring where the hell I have been: didn't I remember that they had announced their visit? Heeeelp! LESS family please, not MORE! And to top it off, we Dutch are in the habit (possibly retained from our distant African ancestors) of teaching our children to call adult neighbors and adult family friends: "auntie" or "uncle"... God help us, there's nothing BUT family here! The whole of this minute country of Holland functions and behaves like a traditional African village. Decades ago I couldn't, and my children to a certain extend still can't, put a bloody foot wrong without some "uncle" or "auntie" (either by blood or by "honorary title") calling the brat to order or walloping an ear. Well, you won't hear me complain: at least my wife Caroline and I don''t have to raise them all by ourselves! And if Caroline and I are both away when dinner time is coming up, there's always somebody along our road where they can, and do, succesfully invite themselves to dinner. So: it does have its advantages, but puhrleeese: no MORE family! Although modern influences tend to diminish the old ways, this whole country is still far too bloody much like a traditional village, far too much for comfort! I don't think that the RELIGION is all about family and community: the African CULTURE is. And so, God help us, is the Dutch. When my American Babatobi was in the Netherlands for my initiation, he was quite surprised that I took him to meet my parents (they were both still alive then): none of his other omo's had ever done that. I, on the other hand, considered it a normal thing, and my parents would have been kind of insulted if I hadn't. Then Baba invited my (very Christian!) mother to the feast (bembe) after the initiation, and he almost came in his spiritual pants of pure excitement when indeed she showed up (as did my mother-in-law)! His religious orgasm was complete when, after I had in good African tradition asked my mother for her blessings, she blessed me, raised me up and congratulated me on my initiation. Having a staunchly Christian woman partake in an Ifa-Orisha bembe and giving her "heathen" son her blessing, was something he never thought he would encounter! Well, I dunno about others, especially when they're living in other countries. But for myself here in Holland, I never encountered any shortage of family life and/or religious support. On the contrary: we're a bloody African village here, and it's claustrofobic as hell. What we need is more divorces, more disfunctional families, and longer distances. Without all that, there's no escape from the chains and shackles of family life.
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Contributor's Note
Ifa as a divination method is found in many countries in West Africa. However, the Yoruba peoples have perfected it.
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