We are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition as human beings.
Malcolm X
Kabiyesi! Kabiyesi! O!
Special honor and praise is given to Oba Adefunmi I
King of the Yorubas in North America
I stand in your footsteps Baba
Ashe O~
Iya Songofunmilayo Ademidemeji
Giving Honor And Praise To Those Who Walked Before
"Draw near to each other
Value your race
You were paid for dearly
In another place
The hell you have lived through
And live through still
Has sharpened your senses
And toughened your will….
I look through your anguish
Down into your soul
An d I know that together
We can be made whole
I look through the posture
And see past your disguise
And I see pride of race
In your big brown eyes…"
~~~ Maya Angelou~~~
The Yoruba believe in the existence of their ancestors. We do not believe life ends with death, but continues on in a heavenly realm. This realm is actually home home for us and we only return to earth to accomplish specific tasks or to learn lessons.
Before leaving our heavenly abode, Orun, each Ori or soul goes to the Creator, Olodumare for permission to return to earth, (aiye), and consult with Ifa. Ebo is prescribed and in many cases performed and the Ori enters into a pact with Olodumare on what he will do on Earth. It is this pact that a diviner can "unlock" and is contained in our consciousness or Ori. An Afrikan Traditional Religious Diviner can access not only the pact made prior to the child's incarnation into this life, but consult with the ancestors as well. Contact with the returning ancestor can be made prior to incarnation, during gestation in the mother's body and again, just after birth during the esentaye or naming ceremony. We can find out all the details or access the "roadmap" of the life of the newborn to assist him on continuing his journey here.
It is not uncommon for ancestors to return to this realm to work on issues prevalent in their blood lineage, such as addictive behaviors, and even illnesses. Such ancestral issues can hinder the growth of a blood lineage and this lineage is important if the ancestors are to continue to incarnate.
We are recycled
souls who have returned for a specific purpose to
accomplish. We have a mission my brothers and sisters. We come from
the indomitable spirit of the Afrikans, and not from the crying,
wailing, people of the white man's god. We should celebrate today,
my Afrikan family, for we are a "going on people, on the rise
again." I shall give a few ideas on how to adapt the following to
your own needs.
The first
prayer is what we call the Iba (Eeba) called the giving of
respect. In Yorubaland we always pay respect to those that are
responsible for our very existence, that would include our Mothers
and our Fathers before us. It includes our very Head, or Ori which
is in fact a deity all it's own. THIS my brothers and sisters is WHY
you, as Afrikans cover your head. You are covering a deity that
answers only to God himself. Did you ever know this? I bet you did
not. This is part of the culture stolen from you.
The second part of the prayer, is the part where we pour libations.
Did any of you EVER know WHY you poured that 40 in the streets? Or
if they "got" it? You begin with cool water. That is standard. You
can then pour oti or liquor. Or even that "40," if you do it right.
You can also feed your ancestors and be prepared with a list of your
own ancestors if you wish that you wanted to honor and praise on this
day. This list should not include babies, and those who died violent
deaths, such as fire, lightening, gunshot, or car accidents. Please
just light a candle for their souls, and pray only for smooth
transitions for them. Please contact me personally for ways to
elevate the souls of your family members who died in these ways.
Otherwise, have food that is normally in your family lineage, if you
wish. You can have a candle and flowers. Set outside your home,
with pictures of your Ancestors. Wear white clothing, cover your
head. And you are set to begin! The food should be left and the
candle should be firesafe for it would be left burning.
I give honor
and praise to Olodumare, God, the Creator of all
existence
As I give honor and praise to the Ancestors, may my praise be
accepted and confirmed by Olodumare, God himself.
I give honor and praise to all of the biological living mothers in
footsteps I stand, and that make up the mother that I am and ever
hope to be
I give honor and praise to all of the biological living fathers in
whose footsteps I stand, and have fused the person I am and ever hope
to be
I give honor and praise to all of the spiritual Mothers who make up
Spiritual Mother I am and ever hope to be
I give honor and praise to all of the spiritual Fathers who make up
the Spiritual Mother I am and ever hope to be
Much respect!
May it be so.
The pouring of Libations
I am giving cool water
I am giving cool water so that our path and home will be refreshed
I am giving cool water
Olodumare, God, I give honor and respect to you.
I call upon all the 401 Irunmole
Olodumare, God, I give honor and respect to those Ancestors who sit
at your feet in counsel
Eshu, I call upon you the divine messenger
Ogun, I call upon you to open my path
I give praise to all the Mothers who preceded me into this world
I give praise to all the Fathers who preceded me into this world.
I give praise to all the ancestors that have escaped having to be
reborn.
I give honor and respect to the Original Yoruba Ancestor, Oduduwa.
I give honor and praise to Oranmiyan, Ancestor of Shango, the Thunder
god, my father, I thank you.
I give honor and praise to Shango Kabiyesi, mo juba Baba mi!
I give honor and praise to all of my honored blood ancestors who sit
at the feet of the Creator.
I give a special honor and thanks at this time to those blood
Ancestors of mine, who were fortunate enough to be buried on the
shores of Afrika.
I also give a special honor and respect to those blood Ancestors who
died in the Middle Passage. To you I say much praise.
I all those blood Afrikan Ancestors of mine who survived the horrors
of the Middle Passage to be brought to this side of the Atlantic only
to be sold and never again see their homeland, I pay my humble and
total respects to you, for I am the embodiment of all of you, for I
am who you fought so hard to survive for under such horrific
conditions and I ask your blessing upon me as I do this work for all
Afrikan Amerikans who may come after me for all eternity to remember
you all on this day.
I pay my respects to my mother, who gave me life in more ways than one, I thank you
I pay my respects to my maternal grandmother, who sheltered me in times of storm, I thank you
I pay my respects to grandpa, who taught me how to laugh, I thank you.
I pay my humble and deep respect to my uncle Alan, who watched over us and left when we were safe and his work was done, I thank you.
I pay my humble and deep respect to my uncle Danny, I thank you.
I pay my respects to my maternal granny, who taught me to love my beautiful black skin, I thank you in so many ways for so many things.
I pay my respects to my maternal great grandmother, I thank you
I pay my respects to my paternal great grandmother, I thank you
I pay my respects to my paternal grandmother, whose eyes shine brightly through mine, I thank you
I pay my humble and deep respect to all of my paternal honorable blood ancestors in whose footsteps I stand today. I thank you
I pay my humble and deep respect to all of my maternal honorable blood ancestors in whose footsteps I stand today. I thank you.
I pay my humble and great respect to those blood ancestors who continued to call on the name of those of my blood lineage who were taken from their homeland and therein returned through me. I thank you
I pay my humble respects to my dear brother, who loved me unconditionally and laughed with me after our tears. I thank you, Soar dear brother and I pray you are seated at the feet of Olodumare. I'm awite (smile)
See you at the crossroads! Ase
I pay respect to Frederick Douglas, I thank you
I pay respect to Salem Poor, I thank you
I pay respect to Sojourner Truth, I thank you
I pay respect to Bill Pickett, I thank you
I pay respect to Jim Beckwourth, I thank you
I pay respect to Matthew Henson, I thank you
I pay respect to Paul Lawrence Dunbar, I thank you
I pay respect to Harriet Tubman Davis, I thank you
I pay respect to Scott Joplin, I thank you
I pay respect to Henry O. Tanner, I thank you
I pay respect to James Weldon Johnson, I thank you
I pay respect to Booker T. Washington, I thank you
I pay respect to Madam C.J. Walker, I thank you
I pay respect to Jan E. Matzeliger, I thank you
I pay respect to Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, I thank you
I pay respect to Homer Plessy, I thank you
I pay respect to Ida B. Wells, I thank you
I pay respect to Bessie Smith, I thank you
I pay respect to Ma Rainey (Gertrude Malisa Nix Pidgett), I thank you
I pay respects to Marcus Garvey, I thank you
I pay respect to Jelly Roll Morton (Ferdinand Joseph), I thank you
I pay respect to George Washington Carver, I thank you
I pay respect to Harry T. Burleigh Bojangles (Bill (Luther) Robinson)
I pay respect to Percy Lavon Julian, I thank you
I pay respect to Dr. Allison Davis, I thank you
I pay respect to Leadbelly (Hudson Ledbetter, I thank you
I pay respect to Carter G. Woodson, I thank you
I pay respect to Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., I thank you
I pay respect to Mary McLeod Bethune, I thank you
I pay respect to Billie Holiday, I thank you
I pay respect to Zora Neale Hurston, I thank you
I pay respect to Medgar Wiley Evers, I Thank you
I pay respect to William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, I thank you
I pay respect to Dinah Washington, I thank you
I pay respect to Sam Cook, I thank you
I pay respect to Nat King Cole, I thank you
I pay respect to Baba Malcolm X (Malcolm Little, I thank you
I pay respect to Dorothy Dandridge, I thank you
I pay respect to Tammy Terrell, I thank you
I pay respect to Father Divine (George Baker), I thank you
I pay respect to Langston Hughes (James Mercer), I thank you
I pay respect to John Coltrane, I thank you
I pay respect to Otis Redding, I thank you
I pay respect to Martin (Michael) Luther King Jr, I thank you
I pay respect to Jimi Hindrix, I think you
I pay respect to Benjamin O Davis Sr., I thank you
I pay respect to Sonny Liston, I thank you
I pay respect to Whitney M. Young, Jr., I thank you
I pay respect to Louis Armstrong, I thank you
I pay respect to Ralph Bunche, I thank you
I pay respect to Mahalia Jackson, I thank you
I pay respect to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr, I thank you
I pay respect to Jackie Robinson, I think you
I pay respect to Roberto Clemete, I thank you
I pay respect to Duke Ellington (Edward Kennedy Ellington), I thank
you
I pay respect to Julian "Cannonball" Adderly, I thank you
I pay respect to Jackie "Moms" Mabley, I thank you
I pay respect to Elijah Muhammad (Poole), I thank you
I pay respect to Josephine Baker, I thank you
I pay respect to Paul Robeson, I thank you
I pay respect to Florence Ballard, I thank you
I pay respect to Minnie Ripperton, I thank you
I pay respect to Godfrey Cambridge, I thank you
I pay respect to Ethel Waters, I thank you
I pay respect to Asa Philip Randolph, I thank you
I pay respect to Jessie Owens (James Cleveland), I thank you
I pay respect to Roy Wilkins, I thank you
I pay respect to Thelonious Monk, I thank you
I pay respect to Satchel Paige (Leroy Robert), I thank you
I pay respect to Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), I thank you
I pay respects to Count Basie (William Bassie), I thank you
I pay respect to James Baldwin, I thank you
I pay respect to Sugar Ray Robinson (Walter Smith), I thank you
I pay respect to Huey P. Newton, I thank you
I pay respect to Sarah Vaughn, I thank you
I pay respect to Ralph Abernathy, I thank you
I pay respect to Pearl Bailey, I thank you
I pay respect to Alvin Ailey, I thank you
I pay respect to Miles Davis, I thank you
I pay respect to Dizzy Gillespie (John Birks), I thank you
I pay respect to Red Foxx, I thank you,
I pay respect to Sammy Davis, Jr, I thank you
I pay respect to Reginald Lewis, I thank you
I pay respect to Tommy Dorsey, I thank you
I pay respect to Arthur Ashe, I thank you
I pay respect to Roy Campanella, I thank you
I pay respects to Whitney Moore Young, I thank you
I pay respect to Marian Anderson, I thank you
I pay respect to Ralph Ellison, I thank you
I pay respect to Cabell "Ca" Calloway III, I thank you
I pay respect to Carmen McRae, I thank you
I pay respect to Wilma Rudolph, I thank you
I pay respect to Butterfly McQueen, I thank you
I pay respect to Barbara Jordan, I thank you
I pay respect to Ron Brown, I thank you
I pay respect to Carl B. Stokes, I thank you
I pay respect to Ella Fitzgerald, I thank you
I pay respect to TuPac Shakur, I thank you
I pay respect to Eldridge Cleaver, I thank you
I pay respect to John Henrick Clarke, I thank you
I pay respect to Dorothy West, I thank you
I pay respect to Florence Griffith Joyner, I thank you
I pay respect to Flip Wilson, I thank you
I pay respect to Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Toure), I thank you
I pay respect to Curtis Mayfield, I thank you
I pay respect to Stanley Turrentine, I thank you
I pay respect to Carl Rowan, I thank you
I pay respects to Patricia Roberts Harris, I thank you
I pay respect to Hosea Williams, I thank you
I pay respect to Gwendolyn Williams, I thank you
I pay respect to Wilt Chamberlain, I thank you
I pay respect to Thurgood Marshall, I thank you
I pay respect to Nina Simone, I thank you
I pay respect to Gregory Hines, I thank you
I pay respects to Barry White, I thank you
I pay respects to Ray Charles, I thank you
Ipay respects to Babatunde Olatunji, I thank you
I pay respects to Fela Kuti, I thank you
I pay respects to Robert Sobukwe, I thank you
I pay respects to Isabel Sanford, I thank you
I pay respects to Nell Carter, I thank you
I pay respects to Richard Biggs, I thank you
I pay respects to Shirley Chisholm, I thank you
I pay respects to Oba Adefunmi I, King of the Yoruba's in North America, I thank you
I pay respects to Ossie Davis, I thank you
I pay respects to Johnny Cochran, I thank you.
I pay respects to Rosa Parks, Mo juba
I pay respects to
Stella Obansojo, mo juba
May the Ancestors kiss your eyelids.
Ashe, may it be so.
Our Ancestors,
Please, call today
And drink palm-wine
Ancestors! Fathers!
Please come
That you may accept and split the kola nut
Our Ancestors
Please Call
~~~~ Yoruba Ancestor Prayer ~~~~
I pay homage and
respects to all the Mothers and Fathers who walked
this earth before me, I thank you
Princess Ademide Adinasse
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