Photo Courtesy of WSBTV
WSBTV reported that hundreds of decapitated goats have been found over the years in the Chattahoochee River of Atlanta, Georgia, and could result from rituals practiced by followers of the Santeria religion.
Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston drifted up the river with Jason Ulseth, the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, an environmental group, and inspected for any goat bodies.
When nearing the Fulton County and Cobb County border, they began to locate animal corpses.
“There’s a goat,” Ulselth said. “Lately, it’s become a lot more frequent, and on Friday, we were out here and saw 30 of them floating down the river.”
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A bystander who recorded a cellphone video captured the moment when goats were being thrown into the river from the I-20 bridge.
“He actually hears the body splashing down, not only in the middle of the night, but he told me he hears them in the middle of the day,” Ulseth said. “These goats have to be coming from somewhere, but we haven’t been able to determine who’s buying the goats, who’s providing the goats, or actually how they are making their way here in the river.”
The news outlet previously reported that headless chickens and goats found on railroads in Miami were part of a similar religious ritual for pracitioners and believed the circumstances of the river might be related.
There is a proper way of disposing of animal corpses that does not include public safety hazards. Folks practicing any form of the Yoruba or Santeria/Lucumi traditions in Atlanta dumping goat bodies into the river have not been properly trained by a High Priest/Priestess. And it is a form of disrespect.
Not only is the dumping into the Chattahoochee River an inappropriate form of disposal, but so is the tossing of any other animal corpse in public spaces.
The Georgia State Patrol and Fulton County Police reported that they had not investigated the matter.
“This is drinking water for 5 million people, and we all have to do our part to take care of it,” Ulseth said.
The goat corpses are a public health hazard for people who fish or wander the Chattahoochee River and for most metro Atlanta.
*Writers Note*
As an Iyanifa and initiated olorisa (priestess) of Oshun for 20 years, the Lucumi faith doesn’t encourage this irresponsible act.
Santeria, also known as Lucumi, is syncretized with Roman Catholicism and is the interpretation of the Yoruba tradition brought to Cuba by West African slaves in the early 19th century. Santeria is a creolized term that enslaved Africans created as a method of survival by hiding the religion behind Catholic saints– from their brutal slavemasters.
Animal sacrifice is an essential aspect of the Yoruba and Santeria/Lucumi tradition, as it is in other religions and religious practices. In the religious community, we have a duty and responsibility to keep our sacrifices and rituals as discreet as possible for the safety and respect of others.
The ritual of sacrifice is our way of paying homage to spirit guides, receiving blessings, warding off bad omens and receiving divine protection.