The hidden and fundamentally mysterious nature of Babalú-Ayé is nowhere more obvious for me than at the secret of San Lázaro , planted in the house of Armando Zulueta--Omí Toké by his teacher Octavia Zulueta--Jundesi. While I have participated in the worship of the secret and Armando's people do engage it every year as part of their annual festival for Babalú-Ayé, there is little understanding of its particular use or the specific conditions that led Jundesi to mount it. As I recently reread Herskovits's book on Dahomey, I came across his compelling discussion of the diversity of perspectives in the religious life there. He takes as one example a spirit called aizan . Some people say it is a vodou and some say it is not, but everyone seems to agree on a few ideas: This translates as "mat of the earth." There are aizan for compounds, villages, lineages, markets, and vodou temples. The aizan are treated like any other spirit, beseeched for support and rewarded f
Who is Lukumí Babalú-Ayé? Santería's San Lázaro? Asojano Arará?