Cuba’s Yoruba Priests forecast violence, separation for 2004

The year 2004 will be ruled under the sign of Ogunda Meji, the one that spawns aggressive actions, the science of war, tragedy and bleedings caused by knives. That was the reading of the 2004 Letter of the Year disclosed by the Cuban Council of IFA Higher Priest huddled last week in Havana.

The witness sign will the one of Baba Ejiobe, the one that begets separation, breakups, and divisions among people. The entire twelve-month period will be ruled by Ochun, the deity of love, femaleness and rivers, hand in hand with Obbatala, a symbol of purity and authority.

Priests from Cuba´s Afro- Caribbean Yoruba religion on Wednesday predicted a dramatic year of tragedy and crisis in 2004 for the world, ranging from coups and war, to disease and flooding.

The priests, also known as babalawos, issued an apocalyptic "Letter for the Year" recommending that these evils be warded off by various means, including abstaining from pork, painting homes white, avoiding violence and anger, having bad teeth timely pulled, and keeping children from seas and rivers.

"It´s a very strong ´Letter´ this year. When the babalawos told me, I started to light candles, because this letter doesn´t augur well," said Natalia Bolivar, a Cuban investigator of Afro-Caribbean religion on the island.

The priests´ nine-point list of predictions for the year began with mortal diseases, coups, the spread of war, economic sanctions and corruption and breaking of treaties. It also included seawater flooding, maritime accidents, problems with merchant ships and loss of life at sea and/or in rivers.

There were no specific, detailed predictions for Cuba, where many traditionally read into the "letter" interpretations of how President Fidel Castro´s 45-year-old rule may develop during the year.

Bolivar said the 2004 predictions reminded her of those in 1994, when Cuba suffered a turbulent year with many seeking to flee the impoverished island by raft dying at sea, economic hardship and the only serious outbreak of public unrest since Castro´s 1959 revolution.

The Yoruba religion first reached Cuba via African slaves in the 17th century. It is one of various Afro-Caribbean cults widely practiced on the island of 11 million inhabitants.

Cuba now has 3,000 Yoruba babalawos, according to figures provided by organizers of the "Letter for the Year."