Florida has long been a hotspot for practitioners of African diasporic religions (Santeria/Lukumi, Vodou, Umbanda), due to its proximity to Cuba, Haiti, and other nations where these faiths first took root. In recent years, these religions have also been co-existing with a growing number of African immigrants who bring their own native faiths with them, most notably Yoruba Traditional Religion. While the Yoruba religion provided some essential spiritual DNA to the diasporic religions, the gulf between them in traditions, practice, and behavior can cause frictions and misunderstandings.  These differences became very pronounced when two Lukumí priests were re-ordained by a group of traditional Yoruba priests in Miami.

“I sincerely believe that those Lukumí olorishas that actively participated in these ordinations consciously mocked our Lukumí forebears and our religious heritage. Their direct participation in these initiations is reprehensible, irresponsible, and by all means unforgiveable because they perpetrate a direct and outrageous affront to us as a religious community. Their actions constitute a deplorable transgression against our religious legacy because they question and cast doubt on our validity and orthodoxy as a growing world religion. As such, I am not willing to sit idly while a misguided and injudicious group of people maliciously burrow at the foundations of our community, disregard its historical plight, destroy its stability, and question its legitimacy and validity, something that has taken the Lukumí and their descendants almost two hundred years to accomplish! We cannot allow the seeds of discord and instability to sprout among us—Traditionalists, Lukumí, and all Diasporan traditions—because instead of promoting understanding and mutual cooperation, these seeds will only evolve into confusion, tension and intolerance. Sadly, instead of seeking unification and cooperation, these initiations will only contribute to the further fractioning of the Orisha religion in Africa and the Americas.” – Obá Oriaté Willie Ramos, Ilarí Obá

This began a debate between the two communities, and culminated in the formation of a council of Oba Oriates in South Florida, who ratified an accord in June concerning initiations and relations between Lukumi practitioners and Yoruba Traditional Religion practitioners. Here’s a brief excerpt.

“Those priests ordained in the Lukumí Religion that for whatever reason wish or are desirous to be ordained by and/or convert to the practices of the Traditional Yoruba Religion will abandon and renounce any and all rights – hierarchical and practical – within the Lukumí Religious system. We will not recognize nor validate the consecration or the privileges of those priests that abandon Lukumí worship to adopt those of the Yoruba Traditionalists. If they decide to abandon Lukumí Religion and are ordained in the Traditionalist rites, they will lose the religious status they acquired through their Lukumí ordination.”

In short, you can be Lukumi, or you can be a Yoruba Traditionalist, but you can’t be both. The document emphasizes that though both faiths share a common heritage, they are too different to co-mingle.

“We emphatically reiterate that the practices of the Lukumí Religion and those of the Traditional Yoruba Religion are completely and unequivocally different. As such, we do not currently share any common ritual practices that link us. We consider both religious systems to be totally and unequivocally separate and independent of each other.”

This accord is supported by noted figures within the movement like author Ócháni Lele (Stuart Myers), and Oba Ernesto Pichardo, who was involved in the famous Supreme Court case Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. Yoruba practitioner Ifakolade Sangobunmi Obatalayemi (Christian Carrazana) has rejected the accord and is encouraging “all Orisa worshippers” to do so as well.

“So in conclusion, the core of the problem lies within Lucumi community; there are those who accept the reality of the situation and are open to learning from the Yoruba; but on the other hand, there are those who are not, and insist on keeping their tradition as they were taught—but are doing so by waging a campaign of falsehoods, insults and isolationism. This Accord is an instrument of that on-going campaign; and it does not fix the problem; but instead, it exacerbates it.

For all the reasons set forth herein,  I encourage all Orisa worshippers, regardless of whether you are traditional Yoruba, Lucumi, Candomble, Vodoun, to deliberate upon this matter; and join together to reject this Accord as an instrument of discrimination and hate.  Most of all, I sincerely hope that for the next up coming conference in Miami(and there will be one soon)  that Ernesto Pichardo, Willie Ramos, and especially all who agree with them, have the courage to attend so we can sit down as adults and discuss our differences so that we can find a way to peacefully co-exist with one another.”

Will tensions cool and relations normalize between the two camps in South Florida? Are there similar tensions in other regions as well, or is this development due to South Florida’s unique concentration of practitioners? If one cannot be Lukumi and a Yoruba Traditionalist at the same time, does this hold true for any other faith as well? Specifically, as more modern Pagans explore and initiate into African diaporic religions will they have to stop practicing whatever traditions they were previously initiated into? I welcome input and feedback from any of my readers involved in African diasporic or traditional African faiths on this matter.