To: alt.magick.tyagi
From: catherine yronwode <cat@luckymojo.com>
Subject: Human Sacrifice
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2000 02:39:27 GMT

OmiJuba wrote:
> 
> In Yorubaland, human sacrifice was a regular part Orisha worship. The
> orishas gladly took the blood of human sacrificial victims, usually 
> these victims were from opposing tribes that were captured in battle 
> and even members of the same tribe itself were offered to the Orisha 
> in times of drought, disease and disaster. There is an excellent book 
> entitled, "Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites" by Omosade Awolalu, 
> the head of the religious study department for the University of 
> Ibadan for the past 18 years. When I mentioned on another list that 
> the Orishas do indeed take human blood as part of the sacrificial 
> offering, with the practice dating back to early Yoruba civilization 
> until the early 1900's and in some parts, still practiced secretly 
> today, I was slammed or it and cursed out, but the facts speak for 
> themselves. This is a practice of our religion, some people may
> not want to admit it and think it is barbaric, but it doesn't change 
> the fact that it is indeed part of our religious culture. Anyone who 
> wants to debate this simply has to look at the religious history of 
> the Yoruba and the answers are there.
> Yes the Orisha do accept human blood.

Now i have a question: 

In the Constanzo case (the Matamoros killings), the officiator, Adolfo
Constanzo, had been raised in Santeria and dedicated to Ogun, but added
Palo Mayombe to his ractice when a teen, being dedicated to Zarabanda. 

Would you say that human sacrifice was uniformly distributed among the
Orishas or more likely to be associated with one or more, due to their
nature? 

And, if the latter is the case, would Ogun be an appropriate Orisha to
whom to sacrifice humans, in contradistinction to some other Orisha? 

cat yronwode 

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