Ebo Boats

The essence of neotribalism is the fusion and incorporation of other esoteric ideas and concepts with traditional practices. Instead of revivalists and Reconstructionists, it is taking the esoteric ideas and concepts of ancient traditions and using the globalization and modern technologies given to us by the 21st century. To simplify it the Yoruban Diasporas of Voodoo, Hoodoo, and Santeria during their evolutionary period kept the concepts of the base Yoruban tradition, but evolved the techniques to suit their needs; creating a dynamic and evolving ancestral faith based culture
One day at a Consortium meeting, Kylara and I were contemplating the use of the Afro-Caribbean belief of ebo (ritual sacrifice) and the 17th century Shinto tradition of Origami. While performing ebo to Ochun, Orisha of the River, I was watching my sweet fruit offerings float down the river; and I thought of Kylara’s work with origami. I so love Kylara’s origami pieces they sit on all my altars and shrines to the Orisha. So Kylara and I thought about creating ebo prayer boats, which are stylized origami boats for Oshun and Yemaya (Orisha of the Ocean) that would carry a small bag of offerings along with a small coiled prayer sheet. These boats would be able to carry your ebo off further into the magical waters, and offer the magical essence of both Shinto and Yoruban cultures. 
I felt that these boats could offer a symbolic journey for your prayer’s to the divine, as the boats would takes them away from the mundane to the divine. Being a neotribalist, I was also very concerned with items chosen for the boats, the prayer bags, and the coils. I wanted to be as eco-conscious as I can due to the fact that the earth is our mother and temple and not to damage or desecrate her beauty. So all paper and ornamentation on the boats would be of natural products that would not hurt the eco system; the small offering bags would be made from cotton material, which would easily breakdown; the prayer coils and ornamentations would also be from natural lead free metals. We wanted these boats to make the greatest impact spiritually, but the least impact ecologically.
Both the Shinto and the Yoruban Diaspora faiths have created ritual boats for specific spiritual needs. The fusion of the two ancestral faiths brings a new colorful life to Santeria and Vodun practices. It opens up a gateway of new types of ancestral sacrifice, and has the opportunity to open up new pathways to the Orishas, rejuvenating the Ase or life force in all of us, and returning new blessings upon us from the divine.