El Babalao

If you speak to Cuban-Americans about a bit of bad luck you're having, they might suggest, "tienes que ir al Babalao." You don't really have to see someone named Babalao; it's an old expression that dates back to the colonial times, when African slaves worked on Spanish sugar plantations in Cuba. A Babalao was an African priest, and people who had bad luck could go to the Babalao for a ritual that would free them of the evil spirits that caused the bad luck.