Botanicas Offer Sheep Placenta, Quack Medicine And Your Daily Dose Of Love

Put away your Kabbalah string and shove your Tibetan prayer beads aside, ’cause there’s a new religious trend in town! And by town we mean “New Jersey” and by trend we mean “our family has been into this stuff for generations, but white people are only finding out about it just now:”

As Latinos settled into New Jersey towns, so did botanicas. Their products — from tiny bottles of snake oil used to treat asthma, to long and thin vials of purified sheep placenta used as hair conditioner — are so popular, particularly among recent immigrants, that even a few traditional neighborhood pharmacies have been stocking the items.

So exotic. But, come on. We don’t practice Santeria. Ain’t got no crystal ball. We had a million dollars but we spend it all… on crap like “evil eye” bracelets and unicorn foreskin and offerings to the orisha. Or whatever:

For [New Jersey resident] DelValle, who is Puerto Rican and Catholic, but also practices Yoruba, a saint-worshipping religion rooted in West Africa and replanted in Latin American countries during the slave trade, a visit to his favorite botanica also means a consultation with his spiritual adviser.

That’s Victor Valenzuela, a 53-year-old Paterson resident originally from El Salvador who has been dispensing love, career and medical advice at the botanica for more than 10 years. He tosses 16 numbered white shells onto a table to give spiritual readings to a line of waiting customers.

Big deal. There’s a man behind our corner bodega who dispenses love for free.

Latino growth brings more healing botanicas [The Star-Ledger]