samedi 25 mai 2019

A VISITOR FROM THE SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF REGLA

For those wondering about the above named entity, it is not the newest nation in Africa but perhaps it is one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere..

En otros contextos esta religión cubana de origen africano y que hemos documentado a lo largo de más de 30 años, es denominada “Religión Lucumí”, “Regla de Osha”, “Regla de Ifá”, “Religión de los Orishas” o “Santería”. Nosotros nos referimos a ella como “La Religión Osha-Ifá”.

Regla is a small township which lies across the bay from the City of Havana. A quaint launch connects the old with the new, the modern with the ancestral.
A church dedicated to the Virgin de Regla attract hundreds of faithful. But Regla is the home of the Cuban Religion of African Origin . OSHA IFA
While the slaves brought over from Africa were forced to adopt the "white man's" religion, only in Cuba especially in its epicentres you see white man who have adopted the 'black man's" religion. Most Cubans are aware of the pantheon of the Orishas who represent Health Life and Death in every day life.
I had a visitor from the Sovereign state of mind of REGLA.. Ernesto Valdes who had worked for the last 30 years on this subject, after graduating in Anthropology from the University in Leningrad (the current day St Petersburg). He jokes, not unreasonably enough, that all his teachers were Jews!

We walked over a little restaurant which boasts of various cuisines (much more like dishes) from other Latin American country. My friend was eager to try la bandeja Paisa (the national dish of Antioquia in Colombia)

I settled for a a humble vegetarian dish..
I am a novice at what he is an expert at. he is a humble man and we hope to cultivate each other's friendship. He has invited me to his temple at his home in Regla, something very important I feel that I must do.

We continued our conversations and he would instruct me in various plants that we encountered along the walking path right in the middle of the city.
This religion is much about HELING (a visiting anthropologist from Houston, reiterated that all religions are about Healing). Each of the plants he pointed out, he had a spiritual connection as an explanation.
This plant is good for gastritis and a tea before going to bed calms you down.
The plant he was pointing out was OREGANO, but to him the symbolism was to Obatala one of the Orishas and thought to be the creator of human bodies.
For those of us interested in human microbiome, we know that Oregano is good to combat Helicobacter Pylori which is seen as causative of gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.

He was very keen on a plant growing by the roadside, he hadd seen it before at certain altitudes and humidity, and the plant is known in Cuba as Corazon de Hombre even though this medicinal plant is widely spread all throughout the tropical regions.

This plant has distinct heart shaped leaves appearing very fresh and very translucent stems. He was so happy to have encountered this plant far away from its habitat.

I wanted to find out who might have planted these plants at the entrance to the alley that leads to my apartment.

PS
this is not related to the blog, perhaps it is .
The building where my apartment is situated was built and owned by a polish jew by the name of Itzhak Gurewich .

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