With several Letters of the Year at their disposal, Cubans no longer know which ’orisha’ to trust
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 2 January 2025 — Cuban Santeros will have to decide this 2025, as in past years, which Letter of the Year they prefer to believe in. Forced by chance and probability, it is impossible for the snails thrown in Havana to offer the same prophecies as those consulted in Miami; or for the babalawos in exile, without the “theological” pressure of the Communist Party, to reveal the same truths as those who stayed on the Island.
The differences between the Letters of various groups of diviners are notable and will become even more pronounced when the “dissident” commissions, both in Cuba and abroad, publish their results. Suspiciously cautious, many babalawos hope that the first move will always be made by the Yoruba Cultural Association, and then accepted by the government and supported by the official press.
As happened last year, the Association spoke first – the meeting was held at dawn at its Havana headquarters, at Prado 615 – and Cubadebate was quick to spread the prophecies on Thursday. The year will be ruled by Changó, the warrior orisha who is associated with Santa Barbara, they say. There will be a season of “sadness and melancholy” and “vandalism and delinquency,” two almost unnecessary warnings: they are the continuation of a black year for Cubans. One of the symbols they use to sum up 2025 is eloquent: the “mass grave.”
One of the symbols they use to sum up 2025 is eloquent: the “mass grave”
The Recommendations, which tend to be the most politicized section of the Letter – and where the “retouches” demanded by the government are most evident – seem to give the orishas the go-ahead for increased surveillance and police activity. “Measures must be taken due to the intensification of criminal acts,” they ask, in addition to “eliminating the accumulation of garbage and breeding grounds that facilitate the proliferation of epidemic diseases.”
As if it were a call for state economic caution, the Letter demands “a careful analysis of economic investments and their consequences.” They also urge greater attention to adolescents and young people, and to “care for and respect the integrity of marriage and family.” The babalawos emphasize that “because of a jar, the grave is opened.”
As if it were a call for state economic caution, the Letter demands “a careful analysis of economic investments and their consequences.
There are other details that do not invite optimism either. All kinds of diseases are predicted, particularly venereal and stomach diseases. There is a warning against eating pork – this meat “is indigestible: respect it” – and there is also a request not to steal money intended for the orishas, to reduce the consumption of alcohol and drugs, to be careful when speaking in front of children and to ask “for world peace.”
The babalawos who created the Letter, headed by the senior priest Antonio Sevilla, reminded believers that they have the support of the Board of Directors of the Association and the Councils of Senior Priests of the Republic of Cuba in all provinces and abroad, since the entity has small groups in several countries in the region, such as Mexico. The message is clear: their Letter is the legitimate one.
In a declared schism with the Association, the Miguel Febles Commission revealed this Wednesday an advance of the Letter that – as has become customary – will be published on January 4. In a handwritten page and published on their networks, they indicate that the year will be ruled not by Changó but by Odua, a powerful but lesser-known deity, who is syncretized with Jesus Christ himself.
The accompanying deity, which for the Association is Oshún, here is her antipode: Yewa, the goddess of cemeteries and the personification of death in Santeria. Despite these two ominous orishas, the Commission assures that 2025 will be a year of “advancement.”
For the exiled santeros, the regency of 2025 will not be in the hands of Changó or Odua, but of Oggún
Meanwhile, in Miami, the Kola Ifá Ocha Commission also published a preview of its Letter. For the exiled santeros, the regency of 2025 will not be in the hands of Changó or Odua, but of Oggún – the blacksmith orisha and rival of Santa Bárbara – and of Oyá, associated with the Virgin of Candelaria, and who, in Yoruba mythology, abandons Oggún for Changó.
Given such a variety of prophecies and recommendations, it will be up to each religious person to be guided by the group of priests to whom they confer the greatest authority. For Cubadebate and other official media, the bet is clear and the strategy is effective: by publishing the Letter of the Yoruba Association first, they put the others in check and take the first step in a confusion that has been repeated for years.
At the end of the day, the Cuban regime cares little about who makes the prophecy as long as it suits them. Cubadebate, which does not discriminate between religions and divination systems, also offers recommendations for the Chinese New Year on Thursday. Anyone who has lost faith in Changó, Oggún or Odua can always turn to the Wooden Snake, which predicts “creativity and adaptability”: qualities that, regardless of what they believe in, Cubans will have a great need of to get through 2025.
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