Babalu Aye oil
Price range: $3.25 through $80.25
For the orisha known as Saint Lazarus · Available in 3 sizes
A devotional oil for Babalú Ayé, the Lucumí orisha of the sick and the poor, known in Cuba as Saint Lazarus, used to dress his candles.
Quick Uses
- Candle offerings: anoint a purple or white candle and set it before his image with grains and bread.
- Prayer: dress a candle when asking Babalú Ayé to watch over a sick person or a household.
- Saint Lazarus: dress a candle before his statue on his feast of 17 December.
- Promises: anoint the candle when making a promesa, a vow to the saint in return for help.
How to Use It
Santería & Lucumí
- Candle offerings: anoint a purple or white candle and set it before his image with grains and bread.
- Prayers for the sick: dress a candle when asking Babalú Ayé to protect a sick person or to lift illness from a household.
- Initiates and their godparents keep his consecrated objects; lay devotees use the oil for candles and prayer.
Folk Catholicism & Spiritism
- Saint Lazarus: dress a candle before his statue, with crutches and dogs, on his feast of 17 December.
- Promises: anoint the candle when making a promesa, a vow to the saint in return for help.
A Simple Working
- Set an image of Saint Lazarus or Babalú Ayé on a purple cloth.
- Anoint a purple candle with Babalu Aye oil.
- Place a small dish of dry grains beside it.
- Light the candle and say the name of the person you are praying for.
- Ask plainly for protection from illness and for strength.
- Let it burn out and leave the grains outdoors for birds.
Pairs Well With
- A purple candle: his colour in Cuban devotion.
- A Saint Lazarus statue: the image through which he is approached.
- Cascarilla: for protective marking.
- Florida water: for spiritual cleansing.
What You Receive
Babalu Aye oil, available in 2 dram, 1 oz and 16 oz sizes.
Origin & Lore
Babalú Ayé is an orisha of smallpox and epidemic illness, who came to Cuba from the Arará and Yoruba peoples of West Africa. He is both the one who brings disease and the one who takes it away, a father to the sick, the poor and the outcast. In Cuba he is closely tied to Saint Lazarus, the beggar with sores and dogs of the parable in Luke 16. The oil is a modern devotional blend.
Every December, pilgrims make their way to the sanctuary of El Rincón outside Havana, some crawling for miles on their knees, to honour Saint Lazarus and Babalú Ayé.
Babalú Ayé’s roots are in the Dahomean earth deity Sakpata and the Yoruba Ṣọ̀pọ̀nná, so feared that people avoided speaking his name. In Cuba he is dressed in sackcloth and accompanied by dogs. The national sanctuary of El Rincón hosts its great pilgrimage on the night of 16 to 17 December.
Did You Know?
The song “Babalú”, written by Margarita Lecuona, became famous worldwide through Desi Arnaz, who sang it as Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy.
| Weight | N/A |
|---|---|
| Size | 2 dram, 1 oz, 16 oz |
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