Santería or the Lucumi faith is an
Afro-Cuban religion bought over from Africa by slaves. It consists of Orishas
or gods that represent different elements of nature. The 5 main gods are:
Eleggúa (crossroads), Obatalá (mountains), Oshun (river), Shangó (fire) and
Yemayá (ocean). Santería is considered taboo, but is practiced by millions of
people throughout the world. A botanica is a place where a santero can shop for
religious artifacts, seek spiritual help or simply enjoy themselves with
company of music and other Olorishas. With this blog entry I present to you Iré
Ayé, a botanica located in Orlando, FL dedicated to bring the entertainment
scene of Santería to the community.
Iré Ayé means “blessings of the world.” With
this establishment I want to bring just that, a positive place for people to relax
and enjoy themselves. I want customers to plunge themselves in our culture and
witness firsthand why this faith is so beautiful and how it can be misunderstood.
The botanica will have a spacious setting offering the sales of all your
religious needs as well as live traditional music performances from several
Yoruba groups within the United States. It will coincide with a lounge where
guests can spend quality time together. Our grand opening event will be held in
the summer of 2013. All are welcome to attend.
Our website is currently
ireaye.blogspot.com. We plan on building from this to create a full length
website that will offer the sale of all our products as well as options to rent
out facilities for religious uses. We will also have a YouTube channel that we
will use to broadcast videos from past events as well as have podcasts
announcing future activities. I hope to have ignited your interest with this
first entry in Iré Ayé. It is a concept that has taken many years to develop. Thank
you for taking time to read this, Ashe’o
-Oggún Fumitó
