Songs dedicated to Old Man San Lázaro as samples of love and faith

Many are the samples of faith dedicated in Cuba to the mighty Saint Lazarus, in a cult syncretized with the Orisha Babalu Aye of the Yoruba religion. Devotees hail deities as givers of health, miracle workers, and healers of disease.

That is why the cult of San Lázaro is one of the oldest and most revered in Cuba, a sample of an extremely important Afro-Cuban identity, which mixes vestiges of beliefs and religions.

San Lázaro is one of the most adored Catholic saints in Cuba.

In his figure there is the confluence of:

Saint Lazarus, friend of Jesus, canonized by the Roman Catholic Church for the miracles he performed in life and
Lázaro, poor beggar represented as an old man who wears rags, a sick man who uses a pair of crutches, his legs are covered in sores and is surrounded by dogs walking with difficulty.

To San Lazaro, Cubans pray and pay devotion, like the Catholic saint protector of the sick.

Thousands of people in Cuba come to him on December 17th, his day, to pray for their health and that of their family, and to shower him with all the displays of affection that the inhabitants of this Island know.

This saint is named and invoked as San Lazaro Milagroso or Patron of the Poor, and is asked for health and prosperity.

How do we ask Saint Lazarus? With prayers and songs we venerate the miraculous old man

Saint Lazarus is asked for the sanitation and cure, mainly of skin diseases and other contagious diseases, including epidemics and pandemics such as Covid-19 that we face today in many of the countries of the world.

For this reason, the religious ask Saint Lazarus with offerings, prayers and songs, the end of diseases and good health for all.

San Lázaro receives great attention for the virtues he grants, and a large number of processions arrive at his temple in El Rincón during these dates. Some decide to go barefoot and on their knees to his altar, others carry offerings of flowers, fruits and candles and thus many decide to fulfill promises made to the saint.

Through art and culture, characteristic of this Island, devotion is rendered to the blessed saint, so that he may always unfold his mantle of blessings over us.

The artists pay homage to him with their art, which is why today there are great, extremely important names in Cuban music such as Celina and Reutilio or Celia Cruz, the Afro-Cuban music performers Miguelito Valdés and Yoruba Andabo, and even international singers such as Yolanda Rayo and Josimar. and his Yambú, who have dedicated their verses, their music and their melodies to entertain and San Lázaro, to the old healer.

Celina and Reutilio sing to San Lázaro and Babalú Ayé

Celina González, dedicated her songs to the Afro-Cuban faith and religion. The undisputed queen of the guajiro point and of the peasant song and her partner in life, Reutilio, added the traditional quatrains of the guajiro song to the themes linked to the spiritual forces of the Yoruba pantheon.

Thus, many of his songs were an ode to the Orishas, such as El son de Eleguá, A la reina del mar, or A la Caridad del Cobre.

Celina included in her repertoire Yoruba cultural expression and recognition of the Rule of Ocha and promoted syncretism and Cuban identity.

His song dedicated to San Lázaro and Babalú Ayé highlights the worship of the deities by combining lyrics in Spanish and others in Yoruba and thus implores him for protection and protection.

Says so:

Eh eh! Ekua… Babalú ayié ekua…!
Ekua old ekua! Babalú ayié ekua…!
Ekua papa ekua!… Babalú ayié ekua!
Ekua old ekua! Babalú ayié ekua…!
That I am going up! And you go low '... With the' monkey shoes' ...
¡Que Chango te '! My monkey ta '… Chango taito and obatalá!
Oh! Babalú ayé! My father Saint Lazarus…!
Oh! My dad! Aeh ... my father, Saint Lazarus ...
An alms in the name of God… My Father Saint Lazarus!
Oh! But let it be from the heart… My Father Saint Lazarus…!
Chango taito and Obatalá ...

Songs by Celia Cruz dedicated to the orisha Babalú Ayé

Celia Cruz, the guarachera of all time, decided with her songs to pay homage to Afro-Cuban religion and culture. In most of her songs she gave an exceptional place to music with African roots.

Thus, he performed songs as popular as Quimbara, Burundanga, life is a Carnival and La Negra has tumbao, and those dedicated to the Orishas that reaffirmed the Cuban identity and the religious syncretism of the Island such as the songs "Yemayá" and "Eleguá wants tambo ”.

His song to Babalú Ayé is a ritual to thank the saint and ask for his blessings.

This is the lyrics of his song "Babalu":

Babaluuuuuu, Babalu, Babalu Ayé, Babalu Ayé
The wake is starting, what do I do to Babalu
Give me seventeen candles, Ay Pa put it on the cross.
And give me a piece of Mayenye tobacco, and a jug of brandy,
Give me some money, mayenye, so that I may be lucky.
I want to asked, that my black love me
That he has money and that he does not die
Oh! I want to ask Babalu
Oh! a very holy black like you
That he does not have another black And that he loves me.
Oh Babalu aye, Babalu aye, Chango-abalu aye
Babalu aye, Babalu aye
Ay give me seventeen candles to water a foot
Babalu aye, Babalu aye
Ay babababa that baba that baba Babalu aye
Babalu aye, Babalu aye

Other musical tributes to the Holy Orisha:

As we explained, many songs and numerous artists pay devotion to Saint Lazarus and call on him to heal the world and bless it.

Other songs dedicated to the blessed saint and healer of the disease are:

Babalú Ayé of the Cuban National Folk Ensemble

The Conjunto Folklórico Nacional is a group that in its music rescues Afro-Cuban roots and brings them to us by invoking deities, offering their songs to Cuban religiosity.

Yoruba Andabo: Babalú Ayé

Yoruba Andabo is an Afro-Cuban popular music group that not only gives us wonderful lyrics but in many of their videos they worship the orishas, exposing their attributes, clothing and qualities that define the deities.

And so comes the old Babalú with his stitched legs and lame, bending his spine, leprous and humble, the miraculous old man of Osha.

Babalú Ayé of the Abbilona Musical Group

This folkloric group in each of its melodies gives us an invocation to our Afro-Cuban roots. In many of their songs they dedicate to the Orishas of the Yoruba religion their touches and songs that are a prayer of faith.