With a call to redouble hygiene, avoid public crowds and the warning of plots “where several come together to harm a person”, has been published this Sunday Letter of the Year that the independent elaborates Miguel Febles Padrón Commission. It is their first solo performance after they parted ways with the unofficial Yoruba Cultural Society.
In the Casona de Cuquita on Diez de Octubre avenue, in the Havana neighborhood of Lawton, a score of babalaos, followers of the Yoruba religion on the Island and several journalists met this January 2 to receive the document printed with the Letter corresponding to 2022 and participate in the press conference organized after reading the document.
“I ask you not to ask questions of politics or problems or situations,” Angela Lorenzo clarified before the start of the event. The woman explained that the babalaos were very happy with the return to the large house in the Diez de Octubre municipality, where they had traditionally spread the predictions for the new year, and gave the floor to Lázaro Cuesta, who read the text.
As the ruling divinity of this year is Obatalá, creator of the earth, owner of intelligence and thoughts, while the accompanying divinity is Oshun, an orisha who is syncretized with the Virgin of Charity of Copper, patron saint of Cuba. Thus, the 2022 flag will have a white half, alluding to Obatalá, and the other yellow, due to the representative color of Oshun.
Distributed free of charge, this time includes five recommendations for Cuba and the rest of the world, which include “respect for diversity, to achieve a harmonious coexistence”
Cuesta clarified that due to the current economic situation in the country, the priests tried to make recommendations for the ebbo [ofrendas y trabajos de limpieza que deben realizarse]that were accessible to the family. “However, among the ingredients are eggs, an increasingly scarce product in the island’s markets.
The Letter of the Year, distributed free of charge, this time includes five recommendations for Cuba and the rest of the world, which include “respect for diversity, to achieve a harmonious coexistence”, “greater use of green and alternative medicine” and the “rescue of the ethical and moral values of the society”.
The document includes among the events of social interest, the need to avoid domestic violence, although it announces that there will be an increase in it “in interpersonal relationships.” The call to extreme measures in the training of minors and a call to “preserve the family unit” are also part of the list.
Cuesta also alluded to the frustrated union between the Commission and the Yoruba Cultural Society that took place in 2016. “We made all possible attempts to seek a unity that was never achieved,” he said, adding that after several years, “we renounced our space and we unite in search of unity, not only of the religious family but of the Cuban family. We seek to unify the Letter. “
“Unfortunately things did not work out as we had agreed. Misalignments and disrespect for the issues raised arose (…) but we decided that it was necessary to get back on track and that is why we are here. Not to fight against our brothers but to give you our opinion from the beginning. religious point of view to the population “, detailed Cuesta about the rupture. “We are not emulating with anyone,” he said.
“This Commission has been censored many times, by personalities from here, there and from there. Religious and politicians,” Cuesta lamented about the entity that emerged in 1986. “Politics like religion, viewed fanatically, generates conflict,” he specified and He clarified that for two years the commission did not publish its own Letter, but “what happened” in 2021 was the punchline to retake it, he assured, in reference, but without naming the events that were unleashed on the Island, especially the protests of the past. July 11. The babalaos David Cedro and Víctor Betancourt also took part in the press conference.
Asked by 14ymedio Regarding the prisoners, who grew in number in Cuba last year, especially political prisoners, Lázaro Cuesta pointed out the saying included in the Letter “the head always triumphs over bad fortune.” “When we see things differently, unfortunately those with power and control take all the possibilities at their fingertips to limit the possibility of developing the ways of thinking they have for others.”
“When we see things differently, unfortunately those with power and control take all the possibilities at their fingertips to limit others”
“Live together and in harmony even if you think differently”, with that phrase ended the conference this Saturday in the neighborhood of Lawton.
In 2016 the Organizing Commission of the Letter of the Year Miguel Febles Padrón and the Yoruba Cultural Society, closer to the ruling party and located a few meters from the Capitol of Havana, joined for the first time to carry out the opening ceremony of that year and make the letter. But the confluence was short-lived and was the subject of harsh criticism.
After joining, the controversy did not focus more on the differences between predictions that characterized the years in which two Letters were published, but on the content of the consensual document. The unusual enthusiasm that the official press began to show in spreading the predictions also generated suspicion.
On several occasions, the Letter agreed by both groups called for “not to conspire or take part in any way in any conspiracy”, a point to which was added not to fall into “gossip against anyone so as not to be exposed to great misfortunes and to end Making a fool of yourself”.
Critics came to classify the document as a “Police Letter” for its calls for social passivity and strict respect for all authority, which were read as a call to avoid civic actions or popular demonstrations against the Government. The Letter of the Year published this January 1 by the Yoruba Cultural Society has already provoked numerous complaints and memes.
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