The Orisa Community Development Corporation is proud to have been featured in the documentary Sacred Journeys now airing on PBS. Sacred Journeys is a new six-part series that takes viewers on some of the most celebrated, challenging, and spectacular religious pilgrimages in the world. From Japan, to Mecca, to India, to Nigeria, viewers follow modern […]
Eriwo Ya! (e-mag)
Orisa Stories: My Journey in the Orisa Tradition
Written by Baba Faseye Sangobukunmi (Jamel Cherry) | Edited by Darasia Selby-Adebisi | April 1, 2014 I began my spiritual journey in the church. Yet as I got older, my soul still searched for something more. During my high school years I delved into Islam where I learned how to read and write Arabic, yet still […]
Interview with Basha Alperin and Joe Quinones on the premiere of Sango Gunmi: The Emergence of Yorùbá Tradition in the African-American Community
by Darasia Selby-Adebisi | November 1, 2013 On December 7, the Orisa Community Development Corporation and ZEYBRAH are proudly featuring the 14th annual Moment in Time Festival, featuring a staged reading of Sango Gunmi: The Emergence of the Yorùbá Tradition in the African American Community. Written by Essence best-selling author Karen E. Quinones-Miller and directed […]
Our Esteemed Elders: Featuring Iya Aina Olomo
Eriwo Ya! had the privilege of interviewing Chief Iya Aina Olomo, priestess of Sango and author of The Core of Fire: A Path to Yoruba Spiritual Activism for this edition’s Our Esteemed Elders column. We thank Iya for her time and her insightful words. Eriwo Ya!: Iya Aina, as a Yorùbá chief and priestess, you […]
What is a Priest?
By Kemba Mchawi Twenty-two years ago I copied a definition of “priest.” I amply displayed it on the empty wall space between the double-mirrored dresser in my Bronx bedroom. I wanted to know exactly what was I getting myself into. Having recently been initiated into the Yoruba religion, I was an iyawo, yet I knew […]
Orisa Communities Around the World: Yoruba Study Group of Detroit
The Yoruba Study Group of Detroit (YSGOD) was founded on July 17, 2009 by Kefentse Akim Bandele. Kefentse, an omo Sango, felt led by his ancestors to form a group to provide fellowship for Ifa/Orisa practitioners in particular and anyone interested in learning introductory information about different African cultural traditions in general. Participation in group […]
Call for Papers: Sacred Healing & Wholeness in Africa & the Americas
This dynamic, interdisciplinary one-day symposium will explore themes of healing and the various meanings and interpretations of health, harmony, wellness and wholeness within African, Afro-Diasporic and American Indigenous (AADAI) Religions. Sponsored by the Center for the Study of World Religion at Harvard Divinity School in partnership with the Department of African & African American Studies, […]
Orisa CDC Responds to Pope’s Negative Comments on African Religion
Pope Benedict XVI recently visited Ouidah, Benin to address the public and unveil his most recent exhortation entitled Africae Munus. Upon reviewing the decree and the Pope’s accompanying commentary, the Orisa Community Development Corporation found some of the Pope’s remarks and portions of Africae Munus deeply disturbing, reminiscent of the Catholic Churches’ early rationalization for […]
African & Diaspora Studies? Do it at CUNY BA!
It’s an unfortunate fact: there has been a lot of downsizing within ethnic studies programs at universities throughout the nation, including in New York City. Slashes in funding and other considerations have meant that the City University of New York (CUNY), among other institutions, has scaled back African and Diaspora Studies programs at many of the […]
