Category Archives: DCC Events

Living With The Orisha Aganjú

(author unknown)

A serene and quiet atmosphere enveloped the evening when the Diaspora Cultural Center presented the Living with the Orishas roundtable focused on Aganjú. The Master of Ceremonies for the event was DCC President Miguel Ramos. He introduced the three panelists:

Jose Travieso, Maggie Acosta, and Emy Martínez. Each had taken a different direction in their journey toward initiation, but the depth of their feelings about their relationship with Aganjú was identically profound. Continue reading →

Beading Seminar

The Diaspora Cultural Center held another beading class for adults. Conducted by Master beadworker Mannolie Disantos, the class learned techniques on how to make fantastic creations from beads. The end results were one-of–a-kind masterpieces. We would like to thank Ms. Disantos for the dedication of her time to teach the students the intricacies of beadwork. The following are some of the magnificent pieces made by the students of Ms. Disantos.

Living With The Orisha: Yemojá

contribution by Pedro Bonetti

This remains one of the liveliest of the roundtables. All the panelists seemed relaxed, and though they claimed they were nervous, they all seemed to want to talk about their experiences with Yemojá.

The panelists were Valerie Forbes, Bárbara Gutiérrez, Ezequiel González, Poppy Cioffi and his godson Reinol Montes De Oca. Ms. Forbes is originally from Jamaica, while the remainder of the panel were either Cuban-born or Cuban-Americans. Continue reading →