![]() ![]() Babalu Ayé delivers the wrath of God-but he also has the power to save you from it. People are cautioned against walking alone at noon, especially wearing red, lest Babalu add you to his entourage. Sometimes he cloaks himself in raffia to hide the ravages of his disease. Babalu Ayé strolls with an entourage all dressed in red in the heat of the noonday sun. Always be kind and polite to even the most decrepit, pathetic beggar: it could be Babalu Ayé testing your character. The religion went underground with Baba worshipped as Oluwa, “the lord.”īabalu Ayé strikes down the immoral, arrogant, and wicked. In 1917, British colonial authorities in Africa banned devotion to Babalu Ayé when his priests were accused of deliberately spreading smallpox. He took a broom and, sweeping some sesame seeds into the air, magically created fever, pestilence, and especially smallpox. Unsympathetic people mocked and abused him past his point of endurance. Another legend describes him as a lame beggar. Because people cried so much for him after his death (or because Oshun, his lover, mourned so deeply), the Creator resurrected him, giving him dominion over the disease that felled him. In one myth, he was a handsome, amorous prince punished with smallpox by the Creator for breaking a spiritual injunction. He is venerated throughout Western Africa and, unlike many orishas, is shared by several spiritual traditions, so it is unclear exactly from where he derives. ![]()
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