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Do I have to sacrifice animals to practice Orisha traditions?

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Do I have to sacrifice animals to practice Orisha traditions?

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That’s a pretty sore spot when it comes to discussing our religion with “outsiders” Time upon time again we have to defend our position on this subject, for yes: although probably not absolutely necessary, you’ll hardly find an Ifa/Orisha, Santeria or Lukumi House that does not sacrifice animals, either frequently or not so frequently. My own experience is that ritually snuffing the odd chicken or such, raises an enormous amount of Ashe, that would be rather difficult to raise otherwise. Yet I don’t do it very often, for the simple reason that, when I divine on the subject, my Orishas hardly ever ask for blood sacrifice. Their tastes seem to change, or rather adapt to the culture and circumstances one lives in. In Africa it was, and to a large extend still is, customary to slaughter ones own food, and the blood and some parts were more or less automatically offered to the Orishas. That means meals for humans and for Orishas were kind of “integrated”: when the humans ate, the Orishas at

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