Reflecting on Religion (and Taste)

Not even getting into matters of taste, I was quickly and rapidly fascinated by the Ilé Laroye. Maybe I’m so used to the idea of inherited, compulsory religion common in white, and especially Southern white, families. My father was a Christian, specifically a Baptist (I believe? Or, at the very least, the church I remember us going to is Baptist, according to Google), and I assume his parents were also the same, and so I was also expected to fall within that faith. I never took to it, of course, something which I’m sure my father has not informed the rest of my family of given they never mentioned it and I definitely feel they would have. Then again, that isn’t the only thing in my life they would disapprove of, so I guess that might be the least harmful thing for them to bother me over. In any case, that’s the religious experience I was used to, with children being forced to go along with their parents’ beliefs and many were just unquestioning of their Christianity because it was what their parents had instilled in them, and many had not thought to think of anything else. The amount of religious diversity within the Ilé Laroye is amazing and somewhat comforting, as many of them seem to have come from backgrounds they didn’t feel they entirely fit within and found something that made their lives better. Ashabi’s quote of “what religion does is help give validation to our reality. You find things to help you give a frame of reference to cope with everyday living” is something that also struck such a deep cord in me, since that’s what I ended up doing as I grew older, and something that I feel should be inherently true of religion (Pérez 34).

The other thing that fascinates me is the detail, precision, and mindfulness in their ritual. I will admit I have not been Pagan for long, and I have not formulated or settled on a lot of my own rituals, but even what little I have done and decided seems trivial when compared to everything the Ilé Laroye do. I know some part of this is just time established and the passing of traditions, both of which I lack, but it’s been a thing for me to introspect on a lot in my own practices. When I finally get in a time and space when I can look at my own practices again, I’ll remember the Ilé Laroye and what I’ve learned from reading about them and keep it in mind when I figure out what feels right for me and for the deities I decide to worship. I think something that will be especially important for me to remember is that the preparation is just as important as the ritual and the result; the preparation is also where I can show care and reverence and is also part of the religious experience.

As far as the sense of taste… I’ve always had a complicated relationship with food, most of which I won’t get into because it’s a mixture of trauma and mental illness and all things unpleasant, but the summary of it is that food can be difficult to me. I’m sensitive to tastes and textures and so I tend to be picky, so things tasting and feeling good to me is important. I’ve always been very transactional with food, especially currently, because otherwise I feel I wouldn’t eat as much as I need to. So, I guess, I understand the pickiness of the orishas because I am similarly extremely picky at points in time is what all this is saying.