With all due respect. I must gracefully bow away from this blog. Santeria is something that goes against my grain. My interest is a free Cuba, I respect your freedom to pursue other areas of interest to you and the readers. May Cuba be free!

Sheesh pototo,

We dont practice santeria or anything like that. Nor do I have a San Lazaro in my home or any other icons. I know about San Lazaro because of my grandparents and the older genration, none of whom were santeros or anything even remotely related to that.

Im just telling a story.

Pototo, please get a grip on yourself.
We have just heard (or read) about a strange, unusual, rather wonderful experience. Val is merely letting the rest of us share it in a vicarious way.
If it isn't the thing for you, just let it go without your needless "aguaje" and whining.
After all, it's the Season to be Jolly.
Affectionately,
Julio
PS: Val, are we going to hear more about your adventures in "The City"?

So you left candles burning while you went out to a birthday party?

And incidentally, Val, it's "v'ispera," and not "vispora."
Unless you were trying to coin a new term, in which case, please forward it immediately to the Ruling Magullahs of the Real Academia de la Lengua Espa~nola in Madrid and apply for copyright protection with the Library of Congress in Washington, so you can start earning royalties on its use and retire a rich man.
Julio

LOL Julio. I just realized it was mispelled.

What I find a bit disturbing is how some folks prefer to ignore what is a part of our culture.

Scott,

Luckily, San Lazaro didnt let my buddy's apartment catch fire. :-)

I don't believe this post is in support of, or an expression of belief in santeria. I've had inexplicable experiences myself and have an open mind about these things. Remember that, if you take San Lazaro, or Lazarus, at face value, as a saint according to the definition of saint, someone who "made it" to the right sphere and is close to God, this has nothing to do with "santeria."

Beautiful, Val; gave me the shivers...
All the best,
Marlow

Pototo, before you go away half-cocked about this, read this passage from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 16:

19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

This is the origin of the "Cuban" St. Lazarus. While santeria has coopted the saint, not recognizing it as part of our culture is silly.

I am not a believer of Santeria, therefore I have never embraced icons such as San Lazaro. However, as Val mentioned, the Cuban culture is peppered with Santeria influences, especially in the older generation. Even those who don't believe in Santeria can accept some of the positive aspects of the religion.

Que Cuba se despoje pronto....

Dear Julio,
I think you should start to sign your posts a bit more accurately, because some folks are starting to confuse the two of us. And I sure don't want to be put on the spot for *your* opinions.
I sign my posts as Julio, too, but my tag line includes my full name, Julio C. Zangroniz. I would like you to start doing the same, if you don't mind.
And don't you EVER soil our noble name!
Affectionaly,
(The first) Julio

If the pope, the leader of the largest and oldest christian church in the entire world, says there's no problem with San Lazaro then let's face it: he's a saint and he's part of our lives and we don't have to get into any hairsplitting on santeria, he's one of us.

Tell me about St. Lazarus. is burning candles supposed to summon him? Personally, I'm not catholic. I'm First Baptist. But I've got a lot of Catholic friends. Now baptists learn about the saints, but they never pray to the saints. I suppose a purist would say that catholics don't necessarily pray to the saints, but ask the saints to carry their prayers to the head honcho. But I digress, we don't do that sort of thing. But something weird changed my perspective a little. There was an occasion, a few years ago, when I lost my car keys at the office. One of my co-workers, a catholic, told me to say a ask Saint Anthony to help me find my keys. She told me to say, "Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony. Look around. Something's lost and can't be found." Lo and hehold, I found my car keys moments later. Since then, just as an experiment, mind you, I've used it every time I've missplaced something, and I always have found it, shortly after I spoke the prayer. On one occasion, one of my co-workers swiped my wallet. I spent hours looking for it. I went home and spoke the words, and didn't find it. But soon, I started to get this hunch, that Sheila (my co-worker) had something to do with it. I called Emily, who was still at the office, and told her I suspected Sheila. So Emily, against my wishes, confronted Sheila on the phone. Sheila admitted that she had taken my wallet as a prank and hidden it behind a filing cabinet at the office. This after I cancelled all my credit cards!! Needless to say, I was pissed. But still, it seems that Saint Anthony came through! Perhaps there is some validity to all that saint mumbo-jumbo.

Val,

Your post here reminded me of something that had happened to me last year; in fact, it caused me to dig out the photos of the rather possible interesting phenomena I caught on film.

I have a very good friend who is a immigrant from Cuba, and a practitioner of Santeria (in fact, I wear three bracelets and a necklace for protection she has given me during the time we've known each other). One time, she asked me to take some pictures of the shrine she had set up to Santa Barabara in her bedroom. I did so, and much to my surprise, when they were developed, the pictures were grainy, washed out, and the whole of the shrine and surrounding area appeared to have a white aura. Now the film was new, and of decent quality, the camera settings were all correct, they were not the last shots on the roll, and most importanly, *none* of the other pics on the roll came out like that.

Now, one could say it was an effect caused by the fact that her "altar" was covered in a white cloth, and the walls surrounding it were white, and there were various shiny objects on the altar, but that does not explain the fact that the "halo" bled significantly over onto her *dark* bedroom curtains.

I admit I'm not a photographic expert, but I have no "rational" explaination based on what I know of photography for why what happened, happened. As to what it *really* was, I have no idea. My feelings about Santeria are similar to yours, Val. I'm not sure I believe it, but I do respect it.
In any case, I would be more than willing to e-mail copies of the photos to any interested parties who wish to look at them.

Santoria aside...suppose you live in nyc...suppose you know the guy whose birthday it was... suppose you know the blogger from miami...suppose you were there...