Babalawo Is One of the Fastest Growing Religions in The Americas – Reno Omokiri
Recently, I went on a tour of the Southern parts of the United States, and there is a very famous African American soup called Gumbo, which is popular there. It is made from okra and other ingredients. And they also have a dish called red rice.
When I asked why they called the soup Gumbo, nobody knew. Because of my travels, I know that the Door of No Return is in Senegal, from where literally millions of West Africans were taken into slavery in America.
The most widely spoken African language in Senegal is Wolof. 72% of the population speak it. Now, guess the Wolof word for okra? You got it! Gombo. That is the origin of the African American Gumbo. The only difference between the two words is that Gumbo is spelt with a u, and Gombo, with an o.
As for red rice, it is actually Wolof Rice. Wolof Rice is the actual name of what Nigerians and Ghanaians erroneously call Jollof Rice. Wolof Rice, like Jollof, is red. Hence the name red rice.
I purposely go around the Americas and Caribbeans to help Black people in the diaspora establish their African roots. And the connections are there. We as Black folk, just have not made the connection.
For example, believe it or not, Ifa Babalawo is one of the fastest growing religions in the Americas. It is the meat of the religion now known as Santeria. 5 million Americans in the United States are adherents of Santeria. And Babalawo shrines are all over states like Florida. They do not hide it.
In the attached photo, I am at a Babalawo shrine in Florida, owned by a white American named Uriel.
Sadly, many white Americans who patronise Babalawos believe it originates from Brazil. And Nigerians are shocked when I tell them that there are actually more Yoruba people in Brazil than in Nigeria. Brazil has 120 million Black people, of which the majority are of Yoruba descent. In contrast, the Yoruba in Nigeria are about 45 to 50 million. If even that.
And the purest form of spoken Yoruba is not even spoken in Nigeria. It is spoken in Cuba. Yoruba is even taught in Cuban schools and used in churches there. The reason their Yoruba is so pure is because they were enslaved and taken to Cuba before colonialism. And after they were taken to Cuba, that nation became the most isolated country on Earth after North Korea. And so there was little linguistic interference.
And then I went to Tobago, where they use Efik and Igbo words, like Kaiso, and Dibia, and never knew that those were Nigerian languages.
And I went to Barbados, Antigua, Jamaica, Haiti, Belize, Turks and Caicos, Saint Lucia, Bermuda, The Bahamas, and other Caribbean islands. And they are all crazy over Nollywood movies.
I urge Nigeria’s Ministry of Culture to sponsor notable literary figures like Professor Wole Soyinka and or Chimamanda Adichie (I am begging you Nigerians, please do not turn this into a tribal war; help me in this mission to unite the Black race) to tour the Black diaspora, with prominent linguists and Nollywood celebrities, to help our brothers and sisters in the Americas and Caribbeans find their African roots.
Let the Black man be united, and you will see our sufferings terminated. And this is an excellent beginning point in kickstarting that unity that brings community.
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Globetrotter. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022.
