BABALU-AYE
(Chopono, Taita Cañeme)

Saint: St. Lazarus.
Day of the Week: Sunday. Wednesday is also popular.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes):
White with blue streaks. The collar is made up of white beads with blue streaks strung out to the desired length.
Sacrificial Animals:
Gelded goat, spotted rooster. Also, chickens, guinea hens, snakes, quail and wild pigs.
Sacrificial Foods:
Fermented corn meal. Babalu-Aye loves to drink aguardiente and to smoke good cigars. Coconut butter (ori) is his favorite condiment. His water should come from a pond.

Babalu-Aye is an Orisha with simple tastes and will accept with a piece of stale bread and a glass of milk or water, dry wine and a few peanuts if the petitioner cannot afford anything better.
Herbs:
jayabico, ateje, hierba vieja, hierba nina, tengue tengue, angariya, Guava, balsam apple, thistles, all types of beans and seeds, peanuts, guaguasi (Loetia Apelata) tree native to Cuba, Virginia creeper, pigeon peas, agave, heliotrope, caroba, bastard feverfew, basil, sage, pine nut, caisimon (Pothomorphe peltata L. Mig.) medicinal plant native to Cuba, yaya lancewood, cowhage, broom, rose of Jericho, datura, cocillana bark, sabicu, olive, sesame, cactus pear, and butterfly jasmine among others.
Ornaments:
Babalu-Aye always has his crutches and his two faithful little dogs. On his altar there is always a charara, a broom made from the fruit clusters of the palmetto, used to sweep away evil influences.

Jute sacks also belong to him. Devotees who have been cured due to his intervention wear clothing made from jute in gratitude.

In his African guise of Chopono, he brought smallpox and leprosy to the tribes, but now, he cures. His cures are always miraculous, especially among persons who are unable to walk. Babalu-Aye is full of compassion towards human suffering and misery. He knows more about pain than any of the other Orishas.

When he takes over the body of a believer, the trance is characterized by muscle cramps. The individual walks with difficulty and, at times, rolls on the floor, feeling all of Babalu-Aye's sores burning into his skin. If the pain gets to be too much for the person possessed, the head and feet are sprinkled with water.

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