Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Hialeah Library free of the Evil Eye!


I got in to work today at the JFK Library in Hialeah only to discover a bunch of bananas tied in a red ribbon near the entrance. Someone left "un trabajito" on our stoop! Everyone was freaking out about it since they don't really know what it means and who ever left it is keeping mum on the subject. I thought it was actually kinda cool (enough to blog about it) so I did what any self-respecting librarian would do... I Googled it!

It seems this is an Ebo of the Santeria religion to remove the harsh effects of the dreaded Evil Eye from a specified area. The bananas absorb the bad juju while they rot. So you see, there's nothing to worry about. It was actually a beneficial trabajito or Ebo, as the case may be.

I think it's safe to say there aren't many other libraries in the United States that get ritualistically cleansed of the Evil Eye. To put this into perspective Hialeah has the largest population of Santeros in the U.S. and this sort of thing is quite common.