EWE was a sheep with a feel for wheels. AYE was a lemur with a thing for wings. BUT it wasn't until Ewe and Aye found one another that things really got off the ground. Whimsical word play and heartfelt humor work hand-in-hand in this irresistibly vibrant celebration of the unlimited possibilities of togetherness.

An introduction to the spiritual source of the beliefs and practices that have so profoundly shaped African American religious traditions. Most of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Americas were from the Yoruba nation of West Africa, an ancient and vast civilization. In the diaspora caused by the slave trade, the guiding concepts of the Yoruba spiritual tradition took root in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, and the United States. In this accessible introduction, Baba Ifa Karade provides an overview of the Yoruba tradition and its influence in the West. He describes the sixteen Orisha, or spirit gods, and shows us how to work with divination, use the energy centers of the body to internalize the teachings of Yoruba, and create a sacred place of worship. The book also includes prayers, dances, songs, offerings, and sacrifices to honor the Orisha.

HISTORY OF THE COCONUT Olodumare saw in Obi (coconut), a just and humble person, therefore he placed him high in a coconut tree, and made him white inside, and out. He also gave him an immortal soul. Elegba who was always a true and trusted servant of Olodumare is also at the service of Obi. That is why Elegba knows all the friends of Obi, and Obi knows all the friends for Elegba, the poor, the rich, the clean, the dirty, the straight and the crooked. One day, Obi had feast for his birthday, and entrusted Elegba to invite all his friends. Elegba seeing how pretentious and arrogant Obi had become invited all the beggars, and dirty people of the town. When Obi arrived and saw in his house all the beggars and dirty people in his house, he became very angry, and asked the beggars who had invited them there. They replied Elegba who had invited them. At that Obi shouted, Ah, so it was Elegba who invited you was it, but dirty, and with those rags for clothes! Get out of here! He shouted, and with that all the embarrassed guest left, and with them went Elegba, Obi soon realized his error, and called Elegba, but Elegba did not listen, and kept walking. One day Olodumare asked Elegba to go to the house of Obi. However, Elegba refused and told him to send him anywhere else, and we would go right away beside the house of Obi he would not, and should not go. Olodumare pretending that he knew nothing of what had transpired, asked Elegba what he had against Obi. After hearing Elegba the details of the incident at Obis house, Olodumare transformed himself into the disguise of a beggar, and went calling at the door of Obi. When Obi saw that who was calling was a beggar, he indignantly said, Take a bath and get dressed before calling at my door, can you not see that you are dirty, do you want to dirty my furniture too? and with that, he slammed the door in the face of Olodumare. Olodumare took a few steps from Obis house, and then with a strong voice called Obi; Obi Meye Emi Ofe which means, Obi see who I am. When Obi was seen aware that it was Olodumare who had come calling at his door, he tried to excuse himself, and beg forgiveness but Oloduma said to him Obi it is too late, I thought you were natural and unpretentious, that is why I placed you high in the coconut tree, making you white inside and out. But having placed so high, you have to become vain, and have thrown the beggar from your house. Obi, those are my children too. I am going to leave you in the coconut tree, so that you may realize that no matter how high you are placed, you can never be higher than myself, Oloduma the creator God, or my divine laws. Therefore for as long as the earth exists, you will roll on the ground, and be transformed to green and black on the outside, but to remain white on the inside for your immortal soul. The black to remind you of the offense you made to the beggars and the green for the hope that someday you will be forgiven when you come to understand that all persons are my children. Meanwhile, you will predict the good and bad, and the death that will occur on earth. And with that began the tradition of reading the Obi at the feet of Elegba, and the other Orishas.

Born the youngest of three, in London, England, Rainbow has always been an aAmericaphilea, loving all things American, especially chrome and fins on cars! At 15, he left academia and enrolled in the University of Life. He traveled to America in the a70s and again in the a80s, although that rock-and-roll dream ended in him returning to England, totally broke and alone. He turned for comfort and companionship to his ascratching pada and wrote, always coming out in verse, when the muse struck, his expressions and observations on what he fondly calls the upright biped species that infect this planet, as well as his own thoughts and experiences. He slowly became convinced that he was not from this planet, even if that only meant he seemed alien to most people! However, U.S. Immigration finally confirmed it when they stamped his passport as a legal permanent resident and issued him with his official alien number! Thank you, U.S.A. Now itas official! I come in peace, but please, donat take the peace!

Orphan Tom has been sent to live in the Scottish Borders with an uncle and aunt he's never met. But a remote sheep farm in Scotland is a different world from his home in London. Tom is lonely and struggles to fit in with strange new people and their odd ways, until his uncle gives him a sheep dog puppy called Flash. Flash is loving, clever and brave and Tom is determined to make him the best sheepdog he can be -- perhaps even a champion! But when the day of the competition arrives Tom faces a difficult decision -- will he leave his new life, and Flash, behind? In this true classic by much-loved children's author Kathleen Fidler, a young boy discovers friendship, acceptance and a new home in the Scottish Borders through his love for his best friend, Flash. Adapted for the big screen in 1966, Flash the Sheepdog remains an unrivalled portrait of rural Scotland and is a story that has been loved by generations of children.

First published in Cuba in 1954 and appearing here in English for the first time, Lydia Cabrera’s El Monte is a foundational and iconic study of Afro-Cuban religious and cultural traditions. Drawing on conversations with elderly Afro-Cuban priests who were one or two generations away from the transatlantic slave trade, Cabrera combines ethnography, history, folklore, literature, and botany to provide a panoramic account of the multifaceted influence of Afro-Atlantic cultures in Cuba. Cabrera details the natural and spiritual landscape of the Cuban monte (forest, wilderness) and discusses hundreds of herbs and the constellations of deities, sacred rites, and knowledge that envelop them. The result is a complex spiritual and medicinal architecture of Afro-Cuban cultures. This new edition of what is often referred to as “the Santería bible” includes a new foreword, introduction, and translator notes. As a seminal work in the study of the African diaspora that has profoundly impacted numerous fields, Cabrera’s magnum opus is essential for scholars, activists, and religious devotees of Afro-Cuban traditions alike.