ORI BIBO
1-se arrodilla a la persona en la estera con la cabeza cubierta con un gorro blanco. 2-El sacerdote se arrodilla frente al cliente con el Obi en un plato blanco, y una jícara de agua. 3-El sacerdote Moyubba a las deidades y da cuenta a Orunmilla de lo que va a hacer. 4-Se hace la invocación a ORI.
•
RESO (
Ogunda
Me
ji
)
Ori baba Olofin, Ori baba Olodde, Ori pele ateteniran atetewe nipo osaKoso sati dani we, leñi Ori eni. Ori pele Ori abiye, eni Ori, Bawe bore koyo sese.
TRADUCCIONOri yo lo alabo, quien siempre se bendecirá rápidamente a sí mismo. UD. Es quien bendicea una persona antes que cualquier divinidad, ninguna divinidad bendice a una persona sin el Permiso de su cabeza. Ori nosotros te saludamos, cabeza destinada a vivir, persona cuyoOri escoge aceptar el sacrificio permítale regocijarse, Ase.
•
RESO ALABANZA A ORI
TRADUCCION Ori mi yeo yaya fumi, Ori por favor lucha por míEda mi yeo yaya fumi. Ase tú eres el creador, lucha por mí. Ase
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RESO (Iwori Owedda)
Iwori owedda eda agbogun,Ebo lori je adifafun oni wo oriEyo to ma weri eda Ori owo we,Awe egbo ni u Ori owo weIwori owedda eda agbogun.
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RESO (Ogbe yeku)
TRADUCCIONOgbe yeku baba amulu, Ogbe Yeku padre de los menoresAje baba teni teni. Aje padre de todosAdifafun Ori, hicieron adivinación para la Cabezati nbe lohun nikan soso cuando esta se encontraba solaOyu se keke oyu bori duro kere kere. Vino el ojo y se quedo con OriOri ndi eleni. la cabeza se multiplicoBogbo ara se keke, Vinieron todas las partes del cuerpobogbo ara bori dur o kere kere todas las partes se quedaron con lacabezaOri mamandi eleni. La cabeza se multiplico
RESO (IROSUN TURA) TRADUCCION
Adewimbi lawo jingin ariky Adewimbi es el sacerdote que se saluda allevantarseEmina lawo jingino irigin ariyo Yo soy el sacerdote que la gente se pone contentaal
vermeBabalawo Ori, Lodifafun Ori Sacerdotes de Ori, hicieron adivinación para OriOri nsunkunpe ohun ko leyin Ori estaba llorando porque no tenía dientesWon ni toba leyin tan ko, ¿kini ofise? Le dijeron que si los tenia que haría con los dientesOri ni ohun omaafi sanyan ni Ori dijo que iba a estar favoreciendo a la genteGbogbo eniti ohun basitifisan Toda la gente que favoreciera se haría ricosiré gbogbo omaade funwomOri losan Oya, Oya donile Nira Ori favoreció a Oya, Oya fue dueña de NiraOri losan Sango, Sango donile Koso Ori Favoreció a Sango, Sango fue dueño de Koso Ori losan Ogun, Ogun donnile Nire Ori Favoreció a Ogun, Ogun fue dueño de NireOri losan Osun, Osun donile Ijomu Ori favoreció a Osun, Osun fue dueña de IjomuOri losan Orunmilla, Ori favoreció a OrunmillaOrunmilla donile Loke Igeti, Orunmilla fue dueño de Loke IgetiOri sanmi kindade owoOri sanmi kintepa ilekeOri sanmi kingbese le Obirin, kinse bi ObaOrunmilla atete daye koni agbaEni Ori basan Niké amaaje baba
•l
Sacerdote le da cuenta a Ori del sacrificio que va a hacer. Coge los Obi en la mano y Se los presenta al cliente y los tira encima del plato blanco.
•Si
eboda el Awo coge una vista y la mastica hasta hacer una pasta con la que rogara aOri con la siguiente invocación.
ORIKI ORI: (cabeza) Ori mi makuada leñi mi irawo ki kuada leñi ozun.ORI INU: (ombligo) Ori inu mi mamba todeyeOMPORIN: (dedo pie) Atelese mi konibi omo araye ni nu, ese wobi rere kosi mi ire.
•Al
terminar se le pone el gorro blanco, y se pregunta con Obi si recibió el sacrificio.. PARA ROGAR CON ANIMALES
•Después
de hacer todo lo anterior y poner el Obi, el Awo presenta el animal a Ori y procede a sacrificarlo en un plato blanco (representación de Ori)Sujere: Ori dekun Rta. Eran de kunje.Olori eje, Olori eje. Rta. Eje Olori eje, eje.
•Con
el dedo del medio le ruega a Ori del cliente haciéndole una raya por el medio de lacabeza desde el frontal hasta el occipital, se tumba el OBI. Se le pone el gorroSe ruega el ombligo y el dedo gordo del pie izquierdo. Con las mismas invocaciones.
•
Se pregunta con Obi si recibió el sacrificio.
vermeBabalawo Ori, Lodifafun Ori Sacerdotes de Ori, hicieron adivinación para OriOri nsunkunpe ohun ko leyin Ori estaba llorando porque no tenía dientesWon ni toba leyin tan ko, ¿kini ofise? Le dijeron que si los tenia que haría con los dientesOri ni ohun omaafi sanyan ni Ori dijo que iba a estar favoreciendo a la genteGbogbo eniti ohun basitifisan Toda la gente que favoreciera se haría ricosiré gbogbo omaade funwomOri losan Oya, Oya donile Nira Ori favoreció a Oya, Oya fue dueña de NiraOri losan Sango, Sango donile Koso Ori Favoreció a Sango, Sango fue dueño de Koso Ori losan Ogun, Ogun donnile Nire Ori Favoreció a Ogun, Ogun fue dueño de NireOri losan Osun, Osun donile Ijomu Ori favoreció a Osun, Osun fue dueña de IjomuOri losan Orunmilla, Ori favoreció a OrunmillaOrunmilla donile Loke Igeti, Orunmilla fue dueño de Loke IgetiOri sanmi kindade owoOri sanmi kintepa ilekeOri sanmi kingbese le Obirin, kinse bi ObaOrunmilla atete daye koni agbaEni Ori basan Niké amaaje baba
•l
Sacerdote le da cuenta a Ori del sacrificio que va a hacer. Coge los Obi en la mano y Se los presenta al cliente y los tira encima del plato blanco.
•Si
eboda el Awo coge una vista y la mastica hasta hacer una pasta con la que rogara aOri con la siguiente invocación.
ORIKI ORI: (cabeza) Ori mi makuada leñi mi irawo ki kuada leñi ozun.ORI INU: (ombligo) Ori inu mi mamba todeyeOMPORIN: (dedo pie) Atelese mi konibi omo araye ni nu, ese wobi rere kosi mi ire.
•Al
terminar se le pone el gorro blanco, y se pregunta con Obi si recibió el sacrificio.. PARA ROGAR CON ANIMALES
•Después
de hacer todo lo anterior y poner el Obi, el Awo presenta el animal a Ori y procede a sacrificarlo en un plato blanco (representación de Ori)Sujere: Ori dekun Rta. Eran de kunje.Olori eje, Olori eje. Rta. Eje Olori eje, eje.
•Con
el dedo del medio le ruega a Ori del cliente haciéndole una raya por el medio de lacabeza desde el frontal hasta el occipital, se tumba el OBI. Se le pone el gorroSe ruega el ombligo y el dedo gordo del pie izquierdo. Con las mismas invocaciones.
•
Se pregunta con Obi si recibió el sacrificio.
AKAMARA E A CRIAÇÃO DO UNIVERSO
Solagbade Popoola No corpus de Odu Ifá em Osa Gunleja (Osa Ogunda), Ifá afirma que existem cinco fases de criação antes da existência do universo, especialmente até o planeta Terra alcançar o estágio de perfeição. É na quinta etapa da existência que tudo está completo. Neste Odu, Ifá diz: OSA OGUNDA Iri tu tu wili wili Iri tu tu wili wili Iri tu wili-wili Koo tu Reke-Reke Dia fun Origun Ti nlo s'eda ibu orun ati Ayé ni'gba ijinji Iri tu tu wili wili Iri tu tu wili wili Iri tu wili-wili Koo tu Reke-Reke Dia fun Olu-Iwaye Ti nlo p'ero si ibu orun ati Ayé in kutukutu owuro Iri tu tu wili wili Iri tu tu wili wili Iri tu wili-wili Koo tu Reke-Reke Dia fun Baba-Asemuegun-Sunwon Ti nlo yan ipa fun ibu orun ati aye ni'gba Iwase Iri tu tu wili wili Iri tu tu wili wili Iri tu wili-wili Koo tu Reke-Reke Dia fun Olofin-Otete Ti yoo tuu iwa wa si'le aye
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Ni'jo to nlo gba ado iwa l'Owo Olôdumare Ni'jo ti won yoo tu iwa s'aye Horo eepe kan soso O wa di agbon eepe kan Agbon eepe kan lo da aye Iri tu tu wili wili La fi da aye Oun la bu da ile Ki ira susu o waa su piripiri Ire gbogbo wa d'asuwa Origun lo bi Olu-Iwaye Olu-lo Iwaye bi Baba Asemuegun-Sunwon Baba Asemuegun-lo Sunwon bi Olofin Otete Olofin Otete gbe ru agbon eepe wa sile aye Olofin Otete gbe agbon eepe da Ile-Ife Ire gbogbo wa d'asuwa Sikan ni mogun Agiriyan ni Morere eerun Asuwa ni Morere eeyan Asuwa da Aye Asuwa da Orun Asuwa da sile Asekun-Suwada ni'gba iwa a se Asekun-Suwada nigba iwa a gun Asuwada ni'gba iwa um ro Irun pe susu won gb'ori Irun agbon pe susu won adi ojontarigi di Omi pe susu won uma Okun d' Odo pe susu won um osa d' Igi pe susu, won um di'gbo Eruwa pe susu, won um odan d' Irawo pe susu, won um gb'orun Agbon pe susu f'owo t'ile Ita pe susu bo'le Giri-giri o tan ni'le aladi Giri-giri o won l'agiyan eerun Asuwa ni t'oyin Asuwa ni t'ado
Akamara, a criação do univers
O orvalho eclodiu rapidamente O orvalho eclodiu continuamente E veio a ser tão grande em toda a extensão Estas foram as declarações de Ifá para Origun Quando ia coordenar a criação da imensidão do Universo Na aurora do tempo O orvalho eclodiu rapidamente O orvalho eclodiu rapidamente O orvalho eclodiu continuamente E veio a ser grande em toda extensão Também foi jogado Ifa para Olu-Iwaye Quando ia acalmar e pacificar o universo Na aurora da vida O orvalho eclodiu rapidamente O orvalho eclodiu rapidamente O orvalho eclodiu continuamente E ser grande em toda a extensão E também foi jogado Ifá para Baba Asemuegun Sunwon Quando estava indo para assumir funções de governo Para a vastidão do universo No início da criação O orvalho eclodiu rapidamente O orvalho eclodiu rapidamente O orvalho eclodiu continuamente E veio a ser tão grande em toda a extensão E também foi jogado Ifa para Olofin Otete Que comandaria a existência na terra Quando ele estava indo pegar a cabaça do destino, de Olôdumare Para comandar o barco da existência na terra Um grão de areia transformou-se em uma cesta cheia de areia Um cesto cheio de areia foi usado para criar a terra
“Que o orvalho ecloda rapidamente”
Esse foi o comando usado para criar o Universo Também foi usado para criar as terras Para que todas as coisas boas ficassem juntas Para que todas as coisas boas vivessem em harmonia Origun gerou Olu-Iwaye Olu-Iwaye gerou Baba Asemuegun-Sunwon
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Baba Asemuegun-Sunwon gerou Olofin-Otete Foi Olofin Otete que carregava a cesta de areia para a terra Olofin Otete criou Ile Ife para habitação ( Olofin Otete é um nome primordial para Oduduwa ) Na verdade, todas as coisas boas deveriam viver em harmonia É o sikan (pequenos insetos) que cobrem o brilho de Ogun Um formigueiro é a morada das formigas Grupos de seres humanos se agrupam As criações dos planetas são feitas aglomeradas Da mesma forma que vemos os céus Todas as criações são feitas em conjunto desde o início do tempo Cabelos humanos são ajuntados na cabeça Pelos humanos ajuntam-se na barba Gotas de água ajuntam-se nos mares poderosos Riachos ajuntam-se para formar as lagoas Árvores ajuntam-se para formarem a floresta Moitas e gramíneas formaram os cerrados Estrelas se espalham pelos céus Marimbondos se ajuntam para morar na parede de uma casa As formigas vermelhas se ajuntam no chão O ninho de insetos Aladi nunca é desprovido de ocupantes Um formigueiro nunca é vazio de formigas Abelhas ajuntam-se como enxames Ado ajunta-se como enxames As gramíneas crescem juntas no quintal Elegiiri geralmente voam em bandos Um grande número de pessoas que se deslocam em conjunto é um exército Plantas são encontradas em tufos Os gafanhotos devoram as plantas em pragas. Vermes são encontrados juntos na carniça Insetos são igualmente encontrados juntos nos ninhos As formigas brancas são encontradas juntas no formigueiro Ekunkun também são encontrados juntos na água As plantas são encontradas em grupos na beira do rio Libélulas mover-se em bandos A planta Adosusu não cresce sozinha, mas em tufos Sítios de terra são vistos em grupos
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Peixe Akaraba quando se alimenta na água Todos os outros peixes o seguem em massa Lo, o criador da ordem perfeita, Alasuwada, peço-vos Por favor, envie um monte de coisas boas E traga bênçãos abundantes para mim Se um Ori é bom Ele vai estender-se a outros 200 O Ori de Origun, o Criador, é abençoado E isso me ajuda positivamente Se um Ori é abençoado Ela estende-se a 200 outros Meu Ori é abençoado E me ajuda positivamente Seu Ori que é abençoado Da mesma forma me ajuda positivamente Se um Ori é abençoado Ajudará 200 outros. Tradução A rocha teimosa E a raiz teimosa É a teimosia da raiz, que lhe permitiu viver no meio da rocha A mensagem de Ifá para as estrelas cintilantes Quem eram os guerreiros do céu Nós não podemos ser vítimas de guerra Entre as estrelas cintilantes Não há guerra no céu Nesta estrofe, Ifá descreve as estrelas como guerreiros do céu. A atribuição dada a Baba Asemuegun Sunwon era para assegurar que não houvesse colisões no céu. Essa foi a missão que Baba Asemuegun Sunwon vem fazendo até hoje. O padrão de rotação anti-horário que todas as estrelas e outros corpos celestes seguem hoje são obra de Baba Asemuegun Sunwon. Baba Asemuegun Sunwon também criou planetas e outros pequenos corpos celestes, a partir das estrelas. Foi assim que todos os planetas do universo foram criados: a partir das estrelas.
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A Narração de Osa Ogunda - Neste Odu, Ifá explica a sequência da criação do universal. No início, que significou o fim. Foi o começo do começo e o princípio do fim. Era o início da existência e o fim do nada. Tudo começou de forma esporádica, mas gradual. Tudo começou em uma época que era atemporal. Tudo começou de uma forma que era em si mesmo sem forma. Tudo começou com um Ser que não pode ser descrito com qualquer adequação. Este Ser não é nem um "Ele", nem um "Ela". O Ser não é nem humano, nem sobre-humano. Não tem nem carne nem sangue. Não tem água. Ele existe em um corpo que é em si mesmo sem corpo. Ele é o espírito universal do universo. Esse é o Ser que começou o universo do nada. Não é o vazio como algumas pessoas dizem, porque o vazio já é alguma coisa. O universo começou do nada, absolutamente do nada. O Espírito Universal que
começou o universo é conhecido e tratado como “AKAMARA”.
Fase 1: A criação do grão de areia cósmica. A criação dos gases cósmicos. A explosão cósmica. A criação de Orígun. A formação das estrelas
O surgimento de AKAMARA no universo e na aurora da vida está envolta em mistério. De acordo com Osa Gunleja, assim que AKAMARA emergiu, a primeira coisa que AKAMARA criou foi um grão de areia. Ele soprou Seu hálito forte para o grão de areia, que foi, antes de tudo, desenvolvido em uma cesta de areia. Desta cesta de areia, gases quentes em forma de orvalho começaram a escorrer para fora com uma forte explosão por um período incontável de tempo. O universo inteiro foi engolido nestes gases e orvalhos. Não havia nenhuma matéria física ou líquido em existência naquele período. Os gases e orvalhos são partes integrantes do AKAMARA. A potência de todo o universo hoje é apenas o fôlego de AKAMARA. A implicação disso é que, apesar de vasto e poderoso como é o universo, ele é apenas uma
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infinitesimal de AKAMARA, o espírito universal do universo, que surgiu a partir da respiração do Ser! A segunda tarefa foi a criação de um outro Ser universal que pode ser chamado de um Irunmole Maior, para iniciar o processo de coordenação dos gases e orvalhos para formar as estrelas. Este Irunmole maior é conhecido como Origun. Foi através dele que as estrelas foram criadas em várias formas e tamanhos. A Origun foi dada a tarefa de fazer a formação de estrelas continuamente até hoje. A expansão de solidificação e formação de gases e orvalhos, em estrelas, é um processo contínuo desde a aurora da vida até hoje. Esta foi a atribuição que AKAMARA deu a Origun, e que continua sem fim. Esse foi o trabalho que foi realizado no estágio 1.
Fase 2: A criação de Olu-Iwaye. O resfriamento das estrelas.
A solidificação de gases e orvalhos em estrelas e outros corpos celestes trouxe um outro desenvolvimento. Descobriu-se que estas estrelas e outros corpos celestes eram muito quentes, e não seriam capazes de cumprir a missão que AKAMARA havia projetado para eles. Estas estrelas precisaram esfriar a partir da sua temperatura ultra elevada, para uma temperatura normal. Esta foi a razão pela qual AKAMARA criou outro Ser superior para esfriar a temperatura nas estrelas e outros corpos celestes. O nome deste ser superior é Olu-Iwaye, outro espírito universal. Olu-Iwaye foi bem sucedido nesta tarefa, tornando assim possível para as estrelas esfriarem e solidificarem-se muito rapidamente.
Fase 3: A criação de Baba Asemuegun Sunwon. O equilíbrio do movimento estelar. A rotação antihorária. Criação de novos planetas e cometas. Ayé e a criação de 801 Irunmales. Osumare e o nascimento de Olôdumare. Orúnmila. Fracasso dos Orixás enviados à Terra. Vitória de Orúnmila. Formação dos oceanos. O surgimento do homem. O dilúvio.
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Assim que as estrelas e outros corpos celestes estavam estáveis, a criação do universo passou para a terceira fase. Nesta terceira fase, muitas coisas aconteceram. A primeira coisa foi a criação de um outro Super Irunmole chamado Baba Asemuegun Sunwon. As estrelas e outros corpos celestes criados naquele tempo não tinham padrão de movimento. Isso fez com que as estrelas colidissem e batessem umas nas outras, resultando em explosões poderosos. A função deste Irunmole foi basicamente fazer todos os corpos celestes girarem de forma anti-horário, a fim de parar o que chama de Ifá "
A guerra das estrelas
". Quando isso foi feito, as estrelas e outros corpos celestes pararam de colidirem-se. Isto é confirmado em estrofe onde Ifá diz em Ogbe Òfún: Ota Agidi Gbongbo Agidi Agidi gbongbo ni je laarin Apata Adifa divertido Irawo saasaa Ti nse Ologun lalade orun Kogun ma ja waa o Irawo saasaa Ogun o jorun Este trabalho de Baba Asemuegun Sunwon continua até hoje. O resultado disso é que os gases e orvalhos continuam a se espalhar até este momento. O resfriamento e solidificação dos gases e orvalhos para se tornar estrelas continuam até hoje, formando planetas e estrelas. Assim como as obras de Origun e OluIwaye, as funções dadas a Baba Asemuegun Sunwon continuam até hoje, e continuarão para sempre. No nosso sistema solar, que é a nossa própria estrela, Baba Asemuegun Sunwon criou inicialmente sete planetas. O sistema solar, especialmente o planeta Terra, foi entregue a uma grande mulher Irunmole chamada Aye. O planeta Terra foi " a casa de Aye " Ile Aye e não Ayé, como muitas pessoas erroneamente referem-se a ela.
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Entretanto, Aye não faz parte dos 401 Irunmole que viajaram do céu à terra e voltaram para o céu. Para governar o sistema solar, AKAMARA criou 801 Irunmole. As funções principais destes Irunmole são o desenvolvimento, a paz, a harmonia, o progresso ea sustentação do sistema solar. História de Ayé Aye estava no planeta Terra sozinha e solitária. Esta foi a razão pela qual Aye procurou
o serviço de um dos 801 Irunmole então conhecido como “Forankun kan soso Owu”
cujo nome foi mais tarde conhecido como Orúnmila, para vir e fazer a consulta de Ifá para ela. Neste período de tempo não havia Ikin, Opele ou Iyerosun. De fato, não havia
nenhuma planta ou animal no planeta. Quando “Fo n rankun kan soso Owu” chegou,
ele disse à Aye para colocar a palma da mão
no chão
. Fazendo isto, o Odu Oyeku Logbe apareceu no terreno. Neste Odu, Ifá diz: Fonrankun kan soso Owu Awo Aye Aye eis divertido dia Ayé nbe Loun Nikan soso girogiro Ebó ni ni ko ganhou waa si Tradução Fonrankun kan sos Owu O Awo de Aye, lançou Ifá para Aye Wyen Aye estava vivendo uma vida solitária Ela foi aconselhada a oferecer ebó
“Forankun kan soso Owu”, Orúnmila jogou para Aye no dia que ela pediu para
consultar Ifá porque ela estava se sentindo solitária e sem companheiro em sua casa. Ela foi informada de que um outro Ser, que seria maior do que ela e maior do que
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todos os 801 Irunmole, logo apareceria. Ela foi aconselhada a oferecer ebó. Ela obedeceu. O conteúdo do material do ebó não é necessário agora. A coisa importante sobre o ebó que foi oferecido, foi que: No tricentésimo terceiro dia, um Ser Todo-Poderoso, surgiu a partir do vaso onde os materiais do ebó foram colocados. Do pote, neste dia, surgiu Oxumarê. O poder, a força, a influência e a autoridade deste Ser todopoderoso era totalmente irresistível.
Ambos Aye e “Forankun kan soso Owu” inclinaram suas cabeças em súplica para este
ser. Qual é o nome que esse Todo-Poderoso como seria chamado? O nome era "Olodu-
Ikoko ti ntan Oxumarê" que significa, “o proprietário do pote que traz a luz do arco
-
íris”. Este nome foi mais tarde abreviado para
Olôdumare, o Todo-Poderoso. Assim que Olôdumare emergiu, uma consulta a Ifá foi realizada. Como Aye, Olôdumare colocou a palma da mão no chão e o Odu Idin Aisun (Odi Irosun) foi revelado. Neste
Odu, “Forankun kan soso owu” explicou que em todo o sistema solar, não haveria
ninguém para comandar com tanto poder, força, energia, autoridade ou influência como Olôdumare.
“Forankun kan soso owu” também afirmou que
Olôdumare não teria filho, e que não dormiria nem cochilaria nem por um momento. Neste Odu, Ifá diz: Olosun idi l'omode nda Omode kekere kii da Idin Aisun Idin Aisun Ifá kifa Dia fun Olôdumare Agotun Oba um t'eni ola legelege f'ori s'apeji Ni kutukutu owuro Ebó ni ni ko ganhou waa si Olorun nsunkun
Omo araye sebi ojo eis ro Ekun Omo Olorun l'nsun o Tradução Olosun Idi é para a criança Idin Aisun não é para uma criança Idin Aisun é um Odu delicado Estas foram as declarações de Ifá para Olôdumare Agotun Aquele que espalhou o tapete de honra sobre o mar Na aurora dos tempos Ele foi aconselhado a oferecer ebó O céu chora Os seres humanos confundido com chuvas É a questão da falta de filhos que os céus estão chorando Este Odu deixa claro que Olôdumare não consegue dormir, e ele não pode gerar filhos. Em vez de Olôdumare gerar filhos, ele normalmente derrama lágrimas de chuva que possibilitam todos os habitantes da Terra gerarem filhos. Olôdumare chamos os 801 Irunmole à Sua presença. Ele dividiu-os em três grupos: 200 Irunmole permanentemente no lado direito, 200 permanentemente em seu lado esquerdo, 401 restantes para viagens ida e volta do céu para a terra. Após isto, o trabalho de povoar o planeta Terra começou. Olôdumare enviou Ogum, o Irunmole encarregado de metais, a fim de tornar o mundo habitável. Quando Ogum estava vindo, ele veio com outros Irunmole: Ija e Oxossi. Eles trouxeram muita madeira e varas do céu para o planeta Terra. Quando eles começaram a sua missão, eles não tinham nada para comer. Em pouco tempo, por causa da fome, eles começaram a comer a madeira e varas que eles trouxeram. Isto não podia sustentá-los em tudo,
porque madeiras eram intragáveis. Isso fez com que eles voltassem para o orun, e relatar sua falha a Olôdumare. Em seguida, Olôdumare enviou Obatalá para vir e tornar o mundo habitável. Obatalá trouxe muita água. Ele também veio com outros Irunmoles: Alaaanu, Oloore, Sungbemi, Magbemiti, Losootoro, Eroko, e Larogbe. Eles começaram o trabalho, mas em pouco tempo perceberam que só a água não podia sustentálos no planeta Terra. Ele voltou a Olôdumare, e informou o seu fracasso. Depois disso, Olôdumare enviou Orúnmila para vir e fazer da terra um planeta habitável para os outros seres. Quando Orúnmila estava prestes a partir, ele foi consultar Ifá na casa de um grupo de awo chamado Agba dudu Orimo. Durante a consulta Ifá, Eji Ogbe foi revelado. Neste Odu Ifá diz: Agba dudu Orimo Dia fun Orúnmila Baba nlo se ile aye Nigba ijinji Ni kutukutu owuro Ebó ni ko ganhou waa si O gb'ebó o Rubo Tradução Agba Dudu Orimo Lançaram Ifá para Orúnmila Quando vai fazer a terra habitável No início Na aurora do tempo Ele foi aconselhado a oferecer ebó Ele obedeceu
Akamara, a criação do universo - Solagbade Popoola
15
Todas as águas com Olokun e Olosa formaram mais de três quartos da superfície do mundo. Muitos dos Eniyan tentaram fugir e salvar-se. Alguns subiu para as montanhas mais altas do mundo, outros se esconderam nas cavernas, e outros subiram para os buracos de árvores, etc. Alguns destes Eniyan sobreviveram. Em outras palavras, nem todos eles morreram. E algumas destas Eniyan ainda vivem no planeta.
Fase 4. Fracasso de Obatalá em repovoar a Terra. Sucesso de Oduduwa. Ayé faz ebó para ter filhos. Nasce Ayin, a criança ruim. Ela vende os planetas de Aye para Oduduwa. Criados mais dois planetas. O próprio Olôdumare cria a mulher e dá a Oduduwa como esposa. Nascem dezesseis filhos. Vários orixás criam mais seres humanos. Pangeia. Criados os continentes.
O mundo estava cheio de água e Olôdumare decidiu reconstruir o planeta. Olôdumare decidiu enviar Obatalá novamente para tornar o planeta habitável. Obatalá aceitou o trabalho, mas não conseguiu realizar a tarefa novamente. Olôdumare, então, ordenou uma Irunmole chamado Olofin - Otete, também conhecido como Oduduwa para tornar o planeta habitável. Antes de iniciar o trabalho, Olofin-Otete decidiu consultar Ifá com Orúnmila antes de ir para o planeta. O Odu que foi revelado foi Òkànràn Ajagbule (Òkànràn Owonrin). Neste Odu, Ifá diz: Òkànràn Ajagbule Onile eis l'aare Ajeji o m'ese ile e para Dia divertido Oodua NIjô ti baba nr'aye omi Ebó ni ni ko ganhou waa si O gbebo, o Rubo Tradução Òkànràn Ajagbule O proprietário da terra está sempre certo sobre a terra
OrunmilaISEFA... PRÉ INICIAÇAO DE IFÁUma mão de Ifá tem 16 inkine! "#e $ o n%me&o e'ato de emente ne(eá&ia )a&a "#a*"#e& adi+in,a-ão Ifa. E*e )odem e& mai de 16 no inte&io& da )*a(a! "#e ão #a&dado! ma não de+e e& infe&io&. /á d#a &a0e )e*a "#ai )ode e& mai do "#e 1623 O Ikin )ode e& m#ito &ande o# m#ito )e"#eno )a&a a mão da )eoa "#e +ai fa0e& adi+in,a-ão4)ode! )o&tanto! e& ne(eá&io "#e o 5a5a*a e(o*,e& a"#e*e "#e e en(ai'am )e&feitamente )a&a o &e5an,o de #a )a*ma do &e(i)iente. 7#e e en(ai'am )e&feitamente $ #m (&it$&io im)o&tante )a&a a )e&feita adi+in,a-ão (omo m#ito do Ikin )ode e& tão )e"#ena "#e todo o 16 ão (o*etado fa(i*mente )e*a mão di&eita +ai )a&a a e"#e&da em emente4 o# demaiado &ande e "#e mai do "#e d#a emente )e&mane(em em)&e )a&a m#ito ae. Em (ada e'em)*o! o ina* de Ifa não e& *ido (omo #m o# doi inkine de+e )e&mane(e& na )a*ma de Od# *e8+e*.3 A*#ma emente )odem e& feita m#ito antia4 emente antio! e)e(ia*mente a"#e*e f#&o não )odem e& #ti*i0ado )a&a adi+in,a-ão Ifa. Po&tanto! e'ite #ma ne(eidade de adi(iona& mai )a&a e+ita& io! )oi (e&tamente o(o&&e& mai (edo o# mai ta&de.Pa&a a*#$m "#e )&o(*ame ao&a tem #ma mão de Ifá! e*e o# e*a etá di0endo "#e tem o5&e #m )&ato! não infe&io& a 16 emente Ikin "#e fo&am a5en-oado (om e*e o# e*a )o& #m 5a5a*a )a&a e&#ado tanto (omo #m )&imei&o )ao identifi(a-ão (om o (#*to da o(iedade e Ifa! o# )o&"#e +o(9 "#e& a )&ote-ão de Ifa em to&no de +o(9.E*e e')*i(o# na *8n#a de Ifa! $ (,amado de :Ifa Sie! o# ;$fá:.O "#e )ode (a#a& a a*#$m )a&a &e(e5e& #ma mão de Ifá<E'item m#ita &a0e )e*a "#ai #ma )eoa )ode )edi& a mão de Ifá o# e& a(one*,ado a )o#i& #m. A +ida de #m ,omem etá en&ai0ado em m#ita int&ia "#e )odem *e+a& o ,omem a não e& (a)a0 de de+enda&. Um )&o+$&5io =oa di0 "#e $ a )eoa "#e ente a do& de #m e)in,o em e# ,omem (o&&endo )e&na (om #ma e)ada )a&a &emo+9>*o. 7#ando #m ,omem tem )&o5*ema e de(ide (on#*ta& #m a(e&dote de Ifá! e*e ? fa*a o5&e o "#e a o*#-ão )a&a o e# )&o5*ema. @a na maio&ia do (ao! a o*#-ão $ mai do "#e a"#e*a "#e dá o din,ei&o o# mata& o animai )odem &eo*+e&. Pode e& ne(eá&io )a&a o memo (*iente )a&a e& fii(amente en+o*+ido na *#ta )a&a &eo*+e& o e# )&o5*ema. A a5a*aB fo&ma )a&ti(#*a& #ado )a&a &eo*+e& ete (ao $ te& o e)8&ito de Ifa na (aa do (*iente. Deta fo&ma! e )a&a io! o 5a5a*aBo )edi& "#e a )eoa )aa& )o& #ma ini(ia-ão! "#e en+o*+e m#ita (oia! in(*#indo Ifa Sie! ma e! )o& #ma &a0ão o# o#t&a! a ini(ia-ão não )ode e& feito na"#e*e momento! Ifa Sie $ &e(omendado.3 Uma )eoa )ode eta& inte&eado em Ifa! ma )ode não te& din,ei&o o# e)a-o )a&a Ifa (om)*etamente. E*e )ode te& a*#ma emente de Ikin ,on&a de e& o (a&&o em (aa e ofe&e(e& a(&ifi(a&>e "#ando $ ne(eá&io. Nete (ao! o ,omem não )e&(e5e# adi+in,a-ão ante "#e e*e +o*#nta&iamente de(ide te& o e)8&ito de Ifa e*e.3 Uma )eoa )ode +iita& Ifa )a&a #ma (on#*ta e )a&a e& info&mado )e*o Ifa e*e e ainda não ini(iado no (#*to de Ifá de+e e& Ifa (aa! )a&a "#e o e)8&ito de Ifa $ (om e*e./a&moni0a& o doi (ao ante&io&e! o e)8&ito de Ifa at#a (omo o e#inte "#ando o Ikin etá na (aa de #m ?41. E"#i*i5&a& o e)8&ito de O&8 (om #a +ida e'te&na27#ando o e)8&ito de #ma )eoa toma Ifa (aa! na )eoa de Ikin Ifa *e+a imediatamente a &e)ona5i*idade de (o&&e)onde& ao detino do )&eente etat#to de )eoa e +o(a-ão. Ifa fa0e& #m
The Prophet of Ifa, Orunmila represents wisdom. His name means the ancestor realm knows salvation.Known as the secretary of Olodumare, he is second only to Olodumare (the supreme being). Orunmila, theProphet of Ifa and the father of Esu Odara, is known as the Witness of Fate. The one who knows destiny,it is Orunmila who brought Ifa to human beings. Orunmila’s colors are reddish-brown and green and hisnumber 16. The Rat is sacred to Orunmila. Praise phrase – Ayan awo inu igbo which translates as Ayantree is the Mystery of the inner Sanctum of the Sacred Grove.
Esu Odara
The divine messenger of Ifa and son of Osun, it is Esu that is the owner of the crossroads; the Òrisà thatopens the way. He is known as the Policeman of Ifa, enforcing the “law of being.” The One we call thetrainman, who takes prayers from Aye (the world) to Orun (Heaven) to Olodumare. The One the Òrisàsmust go through first as it is Esu who is the prime negotiator between positive and negative forces in thebody. Known as the trickster, Esu is the one that needs to be consulted when a major decision is to bemade. The Central Nervous System and the spinal chord in the body is Esu. crosses and keys representEsu. Ladders are sacred to him. His colors are red and black and his numbers are 3, 7, and 21. Praisephrase – Esu Elegba Ogo-Owoni, which translates to Esu the divine messenger and the owner of the 200forces that sit at the back of the profound head. – Planet Mercury: known as the messenger of the gods
Ogun
The Spirit of Iron and the Òrisà of war, Ogun is the Òrisà of truth. Ogun, is not a negotiator, he is aliberator. He is the great warrior who dwells in the forest. Ogun is the divinity that clears paths,specifically blockages/interruptions of flow of vital energies with his Machete. Ogun is who women go towhen they want a man. He represents the heart and strength. His colors are green and black, although inBenin City, Edo State, Nigeria his color is blood red. Ogun’s numbers is 3 and 7 and the yam is a sacredfood to him. He presides over eucalyptus, alfalfa, hawthorn, bloodroot, parsley, motherwort and garlic.The dog is a sacred animal to him. The Ogun is associated with the heart, kidney (adrenal glands) tendonsand sinews. He represents masculinity i.e. archetypal man. He is the Warrior that has never been defeatedand fights on our behalf. He is pure Energy. -- Planet Mars: known as the god of war and energy.
Obatala
The King of the White Cloth; King of the White Light or King of Dreams, is the Orisa that gives you focusand clarity. Known as the father of human form, we call him Òrisà-nla (The Great Òrisà). Obatalarepresents intelligence, order, expansion, patience, vision, and long life. He is known as the administrator, judge, the old man, and for curing illness and deformities. Obatala governs the bones, brain, and whitefluids of the body. His color is white and his number is 8. The elephant, the snail, and the chameleon aresacred animals to Obatala. The coconut is a sacred food to Obatala. In nature the Mountain is sacred tohim. He is presides over basil, hyssop, valerian, white willow, kola nut , sage and skullcap. Praise phrase –Oba igbo which translates to the King of the Sacred Grove or at times we say Father of the Sacred Grove. --Planet: Sun brings forth light for the whole world. It is the sun that gave birth to the solar system and allthe planets in it. -- Planet: Saturn brings restriction, discipline, concentration, administrative skills and isdepicted as an old man.
Sango
The Spirit of Lightning and known as Jakuta in certain regions in Nigeria. Sango is the Òrisà of Justice,strategy, magnetism, electricity, virility, masculinity, and fire. He possesses the ability to transform basesubstance into something pure and valuable. He supposedly hung from a tree on Koso hill but lived on.He is known to have the gift of gab and is known to emit smoke and fire while speaking. The Òrisà of Royalty, Sango is the King of Oyo and the father of
HOW TO THROW THE COCONUT TO THE ORISHA
The first thing to know in the Yoruba religion is the coconut, "Obi." You mustundertake much study to fully understand the intricacies of reading Obi,howevere, here we give you the invocations and basics of reading Obi.Take a fresh coconut, making sure it has milk in it by shaking it. Hold thecoconut in the hand that you normally use, and break it open. Use someinstrument like a hammer. Never break this coconut on the ground or floor. Thiswould be an insult to the Obi, who in his own right is an Orisha too. After youhave opened the coconut, you will be using only the inner meat of the coconut.Try to get four large pieces if you can without breaks or cracks. Now, prepare asmall gourd (jicara) of fresh water. Sprinkle three libations at the feet of theOrisha to who you are throwing the coconuts for the reading while you pray:Omi tutu, Ono tutu, Ile tutu, Tutu laroyeOlodumare ajuba oGbogbo iku tembelese igbaiye bayi tonuIgbaiye bayi tonu to iya locha, to baba locha ebi mi ikuKinkamase Babalocha, Kinkamase IyalochaKinkamase gbogbo iworo iKinkamase gbogbo abofakaGbogbo iworo afose similenuKosi iku, kosi ano, kosi eyo, kosi ofo, ariku baba wa.Now, take the four pieces of coconut in your hand, making sure there are nocracks or broken pieces.From the edges of each piece, using your thumb nail, break off small pieces.These pieces should be of the same number as the Odun for the Orisha to whomyou are throwing the coconut. For example, three for Elegba, five for Oshun,seven for Yemonja, etc. These small pieces should be tossed over the Orishawhile saying; "Obi nu iku, obi nu ano, obi nu eyo, obi nu ofo." Now, changehands so that your right hand is free so that you can touch the floor with your fingertips, saying, "Ile mokuo, Ile mokuo, Ile mokuo." Again, change hands andwith the tips of your fingers, touch the Orisha saying, "(name of Orisha) kueyomo,(name of Orisha) kueyomo, (name of Orisha) kueyomo." Everyone presentshould repeat "aku-e-ye" for each of the three times you touch the floor and theOrisha. Now, present the coconuts to the person to be read in this manner, firstto the head, saying, "Ori," then behind the neck saying, "Ichu bamao," then to theheart, saying, "Okan," then the two hands or arms, saying "Elese kan," then tothe two legs, saying, "Elese meyi." Then throw the coconut into the air, just alittle and let them fall to the ground, noting how they fall. This is the beginning of the reading with the coconut. Each position in which the four pieces of coconutfalls indicates a certain "letter" which when interpreted, gives you the messagethe Orisha wants to relay to you.
MEANING OF THE POSITIONS OF THE COCONUTS
ALAFIAThis means undecided, but good. Whatever you want to dois alright. You should pray, "Alafia, baba divine Egun."Throw again to confirm this letter.ETAWASay, "Etawa Lari," with this letter the Orisha are saying thatyou are doing something wrong, or that something ismissing. Take the coconut and pray "Etawa lori, lokuo lori."Now, throw again, if it falls the same way, it means EtawaMeji, good, yes.EJIFEDefinitely yes, no need to ask further.OKANRAN(okanasorde)Pull both earlobes, and make sara ebo. This means no, andalso speaks of evil. Sprinkle around your house the saraeco, and wash the coconuts in it. Then throw the coconuts,and the sara eco out your door. Get new coconuts for you tofinish the reading with.Oyeku(okanayeku)This is a stronger letter with the same outlook as Okanran,only much more serious. You must find out what should bedone to avoid trouble, and for whom this letter comes. Theperson being read, a relative of the person, or it may be fo
THE ORISHA
There are many hundreds of Orishas, who are worshipped according to thedifferent locale in which that Orisha manifests itself. There are also great spirits,who being different from the original Orisha are none the less very powerful. Andmany of them have been deified, and others are the great heroes of the Yorubatradition, and some are personifications of natural forces.In this book, we will concern ourselves mainly with the “Greater” Orisha, who aremore widely served where traditional religion thrives.An Orisha may have one designated name in one place, and another elsewhere.You may find sometimes disputes as to what Orisha performed what act or howhe first appeared or how he became deified. However, careful scrutiny will showthe unification of the major themes of these apparent contradictions.There is more than enough factual proof accumulated through the eaons of contact with the Orisha to give reason to believe in them, and to understand thatman;y of them were either actual rulers of the various kingdoms which existed, or people of such great character and distinction that they were later deified.Between these personalities, are the spirits of the ancestors who althoughunseen, still have power and influence, in the behavior and fortunes of we whoare still physically alive. The ancestor spirits, (Egun-gun) are worshiped,invoked, and appeased just as the Orisha are.The Orisha are certainly responsive to the pleas, and prayers of humans, and arewilling to intervene on our behalf. They have the same natures, and vanities astheir less powerful human counterparts, raised to the Godly level. Yet becauseof their position, the way in which we perceive good, and bad, does notnecessarily apply to the Orisha. They most definitely have the power to enhancehuman life. At any given time, the Orisha may be the depths of knowledge, atother times comforting, changeable, erratic, ridiculous, or obstinate to theextreme. When worshiped properly, the Orisha will help us in furthering our spiritual advancement.
ORIGIN OF THE YORUBA SAINTS
In Afrika, as elsewhere, the people have their beliefs, founded somewhat inmythology, and somewhat in the vast historical occurances of that continent. Ithas been said among them since ancient times, that the creator God inhabitedthis earthly plane at a time when there were no trees, vegetation, or an of the lifeforms we now recognize now on earth; there were only rocks and flames for aeons.
Due to the burning of the rocks, there were vapors produced which rose intospace.The Creator God, Olodumare, desiring to end this period of existence, causedthe fires to cease, and the earth to cool down. This cooling of the earth causedmoisture to be produced among the less subtle vapors which surrounded theearth, and from this the Clouds were born. The moisture later began to fall toearth as rain.As the fires were extinguished, you could perceive where they had burnedhottest, leaving huge craters and gorges which today are the oceans and riverson earth. The Yoruba understand that by the will of Olodumare, the flames thatonce burned on the surface of the planet, are still burning at the core of the earth.At this time the Orisha were caused to born by the will of Olodumare, who noinhabits a spiritual plane from which he governs all he has created, such as theNight and Moon, the Day and Sun. In ancient times, the Sun was respected allover, and worshiped in Afrika as Algayu, who is known through-out Afrika.From the oceans and rivers caused by the rains filliing the deep craters, andgorges, were born the Yemanyas, and Oshuns.After years and days, the ashes accumulated from the burning rocks, mixed withthe rain and turned to mud. From this muddy earth was born the Orisha Oko, heho works the earth according to the Yorbua belief. Also from this muddy soil wasborn sickness, disease, and epidemics; and the Orisha known as Babaluiaye.Aeons passed and the earth was caused to produce herbs and plants, also wasborn the Orisha Osain.The great rocks that did not burn in the flames formed the mountains whichnothing can destroy. The crest of these mountains are called Oke, and fromOke, the Orisha Ogun was born.From the hills, volcanoes were born from which flows hot lava. Here AlgayuChola was born from the core of the earth. This Orisha is much respected in theYoruba religion, even more so than Yemanya.
HOW ELEGBA WAS BORN
Elegba is one of the chief Orisha of the Yoruba religion, he carries the messagesof destiny to all creatures. This is a story about him.There was a region in Afrika which lived an Oba (king) whose name wasOkugboro, and his wife Ona Gwi. They had a child whom they called Elegba.
He was a Prince, and since he was a prince, he was given an entourage of apersonal servant, and bodyguards.One day, the Prince went for a walk with his entourage. He walked to acrossroads, where he suddenly stood still, something had caught his eye. ThePrince’s entourage was wondering why they had stopped here. The Prince againbegan to walk, but he suddenly stopped again. After the third time he stopped,the Prince went to the corner of the crossroads and picked up what had attractedhis attention. It was a light, as though two eyes looked up from the ground, and itfrightened everyone present. When the Prince picked it up, he found the lights tobe two coconuts whose effulgence had him. Now, the Prince was a verymischievous person. He wanted to know everything, and he would go to allplaces, good and bad. He was afraid of nothing and no one. This is true of Elegba even to the present time. One cause from being the Prince, he was veryspoiled. That is why everyone was astonished to see that Elegba had shownsome fear of the coconuts and had actually begun to praise them.The Prince took the coconuts home to the palace. When he arrived there, hetold his parents what had taken place. He then bowed to the coconut and placedthem behind the door of his house. Everyday the Prince would bow to thecoconuts and talk to them. This had his parents very intrigued, because of thedrastic change which had come over the Prince. He who feared none, wasbowing to a coconut.At one time, there was a festival which took place in the kingdom and lasted for three days. Everyone present was also astonished to see the lights come fromthe coconuts and became fearful of what was taking place.A few days after the festival, the Prince Elegba died, and all through themourning period, the light from the coconuts shined brilliantly. Everybody fearedand respected the coconuts.Many years passed after the death of the Prince, when all the subjects werefacing very hard times. The Akuo Obas (High Priests) can together to try todeliverate over the desperate condition of the citizens. They came to theconclusion that their troubles were because of their abandonment of the twococonuts left behind by the Prince, at his death. No one had bowed or talked tothe coconuts since. Therefore, they approached the coconuts and when theycame near, they saw with horror that the coconuts had begun to rot and werefilled with maggots. Again the Akuo Obas came together to contemplate on howthe coconuts which they knew to be eternal had gotten this condition. Theydecided to go to the Ota (rock). They washed the Ota with herbs and blessed it;and then they placed it behind the door where the coconut had been. And in thisway, the Elegba stone was born, and it is said, “Iku lobi Oba” – from death isborn the Orisha.”
PRAYERS TO THE ORISHA SAINTS
To invoke the Orisha to whom you are going to throw the Obi, you must recite theappropriate prayers to that Orisha. These prayers are recited when you arethrowing the Obi for a reading from the Orisha.
ELEGBA
(Infant Jesus, St. Anthony, St. Micheal)Yoruba:Eshu akuo Onibode Baba miDacomo omo, dacomo afefaOkwede mefa, okwede iluAzoran yama cotiti cocori hiyaEnglish:Owner of the corners, God of all roads,my Father take away all evil from my roadsso that I may walk in health. To keep awaysickness, death, and revolution from my house.In the name of everyone who lives in this house,I thank you my Father Elegba.
OGUN
(St. Peter and St. Pablo)Yoruba:Ogun agabaniye baba alagbede cuelure le eche na kife,lailai toni kini nitoai gbogbo ni laiye nitosi le unye Olodumareni na agbara ati ni gbogbo na kiche bawo chiche odara atiburuki Baba Ogun molo bolomi.English:Oldest warrior of blood, warrior father, that your powerscan always do what you wish. Ogun warrior God of strengthand iron, may we always eat of any work we do, good or bad.God of war, bless me always.
OCHOSI
(St. Norbert)Yoruba:Oshosi olugba mi gbogbo na ode ati Orisha cheche Ode Matami ati gbogbo omo n’ile fumu okan ona ire ati cuelure ofaduro gbogbo fburuku ki wa nitosi mi odupe Baba mi.English:God of the hunters, Saint of Justice, Saint that will never
betray me or anyone on earth. Guide me, and show me the way.And with your arrow, stop all evil coming my way. Thank you my Father.
ORISHA-OKO
(St. Isadore)Yoruba:Orisha-Oko afefe iku ofe eye uwe okorin ki chiche fun owuro dutudutucuelu na n’ile nibo gbogbo na wa, Orisha-Oko alabobo ile nitosi fuagbara nitosi rigba si gbogbo awa bawo choncho nitosi chi remu unyefuni aleya Baba Orisha-Oko adupe.Engish:Saint of the country and of the soil, wind of the dead. Patron Saintof the men who rise early to work the earth. To his home is where allchildren of the earth find their last resting place. Protector of thesoil to give it strength. Father, Saint of country and earth, I thank you.
SHANGO
(St. Barbara)Yoruba:Baba Shango, ikawo ilemu funi alaya tilanchani nitosi ki ko gbamuni re oro niglati wa ibinu ki kigbo ni na orin oti gbogbo omo nijingbogbo wi kuelu ku iku o beru nitosi dilowo ikawo kawo ile mi iwogbogbo Baba mi ki wa na ki e ni okan nitosi kunle ni iwayo ni re eleseati wi Shango alamu Oba Layo ni na ile ogbo mi.English:My father, God of thunder. Control my house, give me salvation so thatI will not be punished when you are angry. Because of your thunder, allyour children respect you. Remember our father, we call from the heart tokneel at your feet and pray, Mighty God of Thunder, protect me.
EBEJI
(St. cosmos and St. Damian)Yoruba:Ebeji soro awa kekere sugbon aagba nitoriti otan kuelu na choro tiEmbe laiye yifa Ogun si na ebita ki ko yi ofe ri mayi ku eyo sugbonBa si kaide ati itawo meji na kekere ati agba na Ebeji wa ologo afefeEbeji ko wa ile elewe w’ile ala kisa, gbogbo aiye nijin labi gbogbo chireAdupe Ebeji.English:Ebeji says, we are small but wiser because we finished with the difficultiesthere were on earth. We won the war with satan who did not want the two to
be reunited, but they did, and thus conquered to their glory. O almightytwin Gods, since you would rather visit the poor, then the rich, come to myhome and bring me luck and happiness.
OBATALA
(Blessed Mother, also Jesus Christ)Yoruba:Orishala, oinrin ati obinrin laiye eleda ni gbogbo na cheche Baba alaiYe alabo mi ati mi gbogbo na ejun daradara Baba wa afin alano kekua BabaMi adupe.English:God of purity, oldest saint, Creator of everything pure and the SupremeJustice. Protect us from all evil, Father almighty, thank you.
OSHUN
(Blessed Mother of Charity)Yoruba:Oshun yeye mi oga ni gbogbo ibu laiye nibo gbogbo omo Orisha lo uwe nitodigba ma abukon ni omi didun nitodi oni alafia ati ayo obinrin jue re ase wiwoati re maru ase gele nitosi yo Ayaba ewa ki ula rere iku iko Olofi adupe.English:Queen God of all rivers on earth. Where all Orisha Priests must be bathedto have happiness. Queen God who with her skirt of five colors, bring mewealth and happiness.(Secret – You must be careful with this Orisha, because you never know whenshe is happy or mad. Oshun is a direct messenger of God.)
OSUN
(The holy Head)Yoruba:Osun ni oduro ma dubile agogoro mate adena mi nitosi ki kuelure Ichaworokuani nitodi ki nigbati wa na ki ko gbamu mi ati titi re lona kuelu gbogbona buruki adupe.English:God who leads the heads of all humans, you who always stands upright. Mayyou always be my guardian, and may you always warn me of danger with your bell so that when death is near, it may not find me; and may go on its way.Thank you my father Osun.
ni na ano kuelu re eya ki iwo gba ni na ati wo na ku Osalo na ilu ki iwootiwa nitosi se gbogbo odara dara, Adupe Baba Onisegun Inle ikawo mi.English:God of medicine, give me the salvation that you as a divine Medic can. Youwho sacrifice yourself to save your children from sickness, you who withyour fish in your hand scared Death away from wherever you went. You stayedand healed the sick in every town you visited, thank you my father Inle.Protect me.
OBA
(St. Catherine)Yoruba:Oba obinrin ni no oyu ewa ati ara aya ni Shango kue fumi abekin Ayaba mi.English:Queen God of Beauty, wife of Shango, I called to ask your blessings, my Queen.
OYA
(St. Theresa)Yoruba:Oya yegbe Iya mesa oyo orun afefe iku lelebi oke Ayaba gbogbo loya obinrinoga mi ano oga mi gbogbo Egun Orisha ni abaya oyu ewa o Yansan oyeri gekuaIya mi obinrin ni kiu kuo le fun Olugba mi Olofi nitosi wa Ayaba nikua adupe.English:Queen God of the Market Place, and last resting place. In the day, Mother of Heaven, Queen of the Winds of Death. Queen of all spirits, saint with beauti-ful face. Protect me from whirlwinds, and death, Queen of Death, so ordered byGod. Give me your blessings.
ORUNMILA
(St. Francis)Yoruba:Orunmila iran lowo kuelu re titanchani nitosi le ri na ki ore eyini omotiwa ile ni iwo tohi ni gbogboni laiye odikiu aiki Baba wa.English:God diviner, Saint who has the last word in our religion, Saint messenger of God. May you always warn us of dange, may we always see our future.Our immortal thanks, Father almighty.
FURTHER MEANINGS OF THE LETTERSFROM THE ORISHA
It is understood that the positions in which the Obi fall are directly influenced bythe Orisha, or Spirit, to whom they are thrown and invoked. When the Obi fall ineither of the four different letters it forms, either one Orisha, or a combination of Orishas are speaking through this letter. You must ask to see who is speaking,so that you will know what must be done, and what the Orisha want you tounderstand.Within each Odun, all the necessary knowledge is given to direct you back onyour destiny when you have deviated, and they help keep you on your destiny atall times. Any of the Orisha may instruct you to go to a Babalawo, however,when the Orisha Ifa speaks, (Orunmila), you must go to a Babalawo to have anIfa reading.The exact length of time which you will be affected by an Odun can beascertained by the Orisha.You will find the meanings of the Yoruba, and Spanish words, in the glossary atthe end of the book.
ALAFIA
:Speaking in this Odun – Ifa, Obatala, Olofi, Shango andBabaluaiye.Interpretation: Good, but uncertainty, do not put too much trust there. When thisOdun comes, pray, “Alafia Baba Divine Egun.” Always throw the Obi twice toconfirm this letter. If the second throw is Ejife, everything will turn out good. If Okanran or Oyeku comes, all good things this Odun speaks of will turn bad.Babaluaiye, Ebeji, Ifa and Obatala also speak together in this Odun. Babaluaiye(St. Lazarus) says; you are not supposed to put him at your front door. This isthetime when you are to receive the Orisha, Elegba, Ogun Ochosi and Osun.Put behind your door Indian corn and dress your door with Palm oil (corojo).Take care, someone is going to prepare a trap for you/ Do not box, wrestle, or joke with anyone because of an energy present in your hands that may causeyou to kill someone / Do not gamble, because you will oly lose; gambling is notyour road / When you become angry, you must restrain yourself that you do notlose foresight, and self-control resulting with you causing someone’s death / Inthis Odun, the person likes to curse people / If a woman, her mate has another love; if a man, your mate is having an affair / This person likes to insult people /This person has headaches, kidney or stomach problems / This person shouldwatch for high blood pressure / Do not eat white beans, hot peppers, eggs,pigeon, BBQ meats / When this Odun comes, the IWORO – Orisha Priest –should bless the head of the individual, and rive a head cleaning with gratedcoconut, cocobutter, some honey and some Abre Camino (open the road) oil,light this lamp for six Thursdays to Obatala, then take a cows tongue put inside itthe names of all your enemies, and sew it with black and red thread. Pass thetongue over your naked body and place it on top of Ogun for three days. Eachday burn a white candle to Ogun. After the three days, take the tongue and nail itto a very old tree using three large (ten penny) nails / This Odun says that if youdo not have Eleke (the beads of the Orisha) then you must get them right awayfor your health and money / Wear white for sixteen days / You may have anoperation on your stomach / You need to take iron tonics / Do not eat the internalorgans of animals like liver, kidneys, etc. / Be careful with powerful enemies whoare doing witchery against you / Do not drink strong liquers or wines / You mustgive an Egun – (spirit) – ceremony / You must be careful with the opposite sex,they will be falling in love with you / You must clean yourself everyday withdifferent things such as meat, beans, candy, fruit, corn, etc.
Okanran (Okansorde)
Speaking in this Odun – Oya, Ogun, Yewa, Nana Buruku, Osain,and Oba.Interpretation: When this Odun comes, you must be deliberate, and carefulbecause death is after you./ Someone who is afraid of you is doing work in thegraveyard to kill you, or put you in jail for a long time / You must go to aBabalawo for an Ifa reading to see what can be done to save your life / You mustgiOkanran (Okansorde)
Speaking in this Odun – Oya, Ogun, Yewa, Nana Buruku, Osain,and Oba.Interpretation: When this Odun comes, you must be deliberate, and carefulbecause death is after you./ Someone who is afraid of you is doing work in thegraveyard to kill you, or put you in jail for a long time / You must go to aBabalawo for an Ifa reading to see what can be done to save your life / You mustgive something to Yemanya that way, she will help you / The Iworo must say tothis person, you are not to be selfish, that is why you have so many problems /You must have an Egun ceremony because one of your spirits does not haveenough light to help you, and tht is why you feel so confused / You must receivethe Orisha in your head immediately to save your life, and conquer your future /After you have the Egun ceremony, you must have a party for the Ebejis to bringmoney to you / You must give money to any beggar who asks, because thismoney will return to you one-hundred times / Do not tell your secrets, becausethere is too much jealousy around you / Elegba is going to prepare a trap for you,because you are not treating him right / Do not hit an;y children in the head,because an energy in your hands may cause you to kill someone / An OrishaPriest must work with Ochosi for you to keep out of jail / When you go to parties,do not get drunk because your enemies are waiting to kill you out of fear of you.Because of this, you must bless your head with two roosters / You have very badluck, and if you have a weapon, gun or knife do not carry it for sixteen days sothat if you have a fight you will not kill anyone and go to jail / You should not telllies, because they will make trouble for you / You do not trust people, not evenyour own Godfather, that is why you have so few friends / You are prejudiced /You have good luck with gambling, but this luck left you six months ago, or withinthe past six months; make an Ebo – (sacrifice) – to Elegba to open your roads for you / Be careful of persons asking you to come to a party or dinner, they areplanning to do you harm / Make an Ebo to Shango to clean your roads / Youknow some secret of someone, but be careful that this person does not sendsomeone to kill you because of it / Do not try to prove your riches andcomfortable life, because this will be your downfall / You should watch your stomach for problems / Do not help anyone lift any heavy objects that you do notget a hernia / You are going to suffer from pains in your back and feet / Do notwear stripped cloths / Wear white for ninety days at least / You should not hitwomen because your bad luck might come from this / For ninety days, you arenot to go to the places you usually visit / You are suppoed to travel a lot / Youmust take care that bad luck does not overtake you and you do not have moneyto pay your rent; make an Ebo immediately / Be careful of an accident in whichyou may be paralyzed from the waist down / You will get an inheritance from your ancestors / Someone will point a finger at you because you are doing somethingillegal / This Odun speaks of bad luck and problems / You should take care youare not bitten by a dog because you could die from this bite / You should have anexorcism because you have an evil spirit who wants to take you / Your Godfather
must do this Ebo for you; take sixteen hers of one of the Orisha, and prepare abath, then take the bath, a black rooster, and the person into the woods. Whenyou get to the woods ;you must find an old tree. Ask the tree with the Obi if thisis a good place to perform the exorcism. If the answer is yes, then proceed withthe exorcism. The ingredients or paraphernalia you will need for the exorcism.The bath you prepared with the sixteen herbs of the Orisha; four pieces of coconut (Obi); one bottle of rum; one black rooster; and some cascarilla, enoughin which the outline of the person’s body may be traced. PRECEEDING THEEXORCISM, MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE WELL PROTECTED, THAT THESPIRIT DOES NOT ATTACH ITSELF TO YOU. USE PALM OIL ON THEBOTTOM OF YOUR FEET AND PUT COTTON ON YOUR HEAD AND ATYOUR NAVEL. Now, lay the person down on one side of the tree, face up andmark the outline of the person’s body with the cascarilla. The person shouldbring an extra set of clothes to put on after the ceremony. The person’s headshould be close to the tree. Cut the head from the rooster, giving the first bloodto the tree, then cover the person’s body with blood from head to foot. Next,sprinkle the person's body with water, then Holy water, saying the Lord’s Prayer.Now, stand the person up and tear off all the old clothes. Wash the person withthe sixteen herb bath and put on the person the new clothes. Now, bury the oldclothes inside the outline of the person’s body you have made with the cascarilla.The Ebo is finished when you have buried the old clothes. The sixteen herbs youuse to wash the person may come from any of the Orisha. This mixture of herbsis called Omeiro. You may use any of the Omeriros of the following Orisha:Oya, Babaluiaye, Elegba, Shango, Obatala, Yemanya, Oshun.
Ejife:
Speaking in this Odun – Elegba, Shango, Ogun, Ochosi and OsunInterpretation: When this Odun comes you are to receive the Orisha Elegba,Ogun, Ochosi and Osun. This means that you will have your roads opened for your money, luck, home and business, peace of mind; and that your health isprotected, and your consciousness is broadened / You must be careful that youdo not break one of your legs / You must prepare a mass for your family spiritsbecause they do not have enough light / You are not to lend money to anyonebecause whoever you lend money to will become your enemy / If not at presentthen in the immediate future you will have to have an operation to save your life /You need to have your head fed with two pigeons / you are not to listen to gossipor follow tales, because you will be the only loser / This Odun says if you areliving with someone, you are not to have affairs with others, because your partner may find out and cause your death / You need a ceramic white horse in your house / You must be careful with your neighbor who listens at your conversations/ You are supposed to have a dog in your house / You have to pray to Obatalathat you will never be in need of food, money or happiness / You should wear theEleke of Obatala / You should always carry in your pocket a talisman of a CongoSpirit / You should save your money to receive the Orisha in your head; your head is made for the Orisha / When this Odun comes, you are to suffer from your stomach, if a woman from female organs, high blood pressure and pains in thelegs.
ETEWA
:Speaking in this Odun – Elegba, Shango, Oshun, and YemanyaInterpretation: In this Odun Shango says, you must carry a talisman made froma thunderstone of Shango / Shango also ways that your head is very confusedand that you must have your head blessed with the four herbs of Shango in order to overcome the problems in your head at present / You have to be careful withpolicemen / Someone may give you something to hold which is illegal for whichyou may be arrested / You need to receive Elegba, Ogun, Ochosi and Osun /After you have a head cleaning, if you play the numbers, you will win a luck / Donot do favors for anyone that this person does not turn to be your enemy / Youmust wear amber and onyx stones for luck / When this Odun comes, when yougrow old, you are to live in the country and raise animals, especially geese for your prosperity / You must make a pillow of goosefeathers, and four hergs of Shango. Also gold, coral, silver and four other precious stones, diamond, ruby,sapphire, emerald / If a woman seems to be having trouble getting a husband,this woman should work with Oshun to conquer a man for marriage / You shouldnot eat crabs, or any animal that walks backward, such as a shrimp, etc. / Becareful in your body with tumor have a check-up hurredly, and every year,because you have the cancer germs, and do not know where they will manifest /You should not wear blue clothes / You should go to church every first Monday of the month / You have to receive the Ebejis / Every first Monday you should washyour head with blue water made from blue balls / You must put on your altar maleand female lodestones / If this person is married, there will be a lot of discord inyour home because of a spirit in your house that disrupts your marriage / If thisperson goes to a hospital, they should get a head cleaning after each visit to thehospital / Do not tell lies, because they will turn against you / You must hurry anddo something because someone is trying to destroy your house / You aresupposed to have a black cat in your house / You are not to drink alcohol / Donot allow everyone to touch your head / You have three powerful enemies whowant to destroy you / You cause too much revolution where you are / If theperson has small children, they must be careful of your friends, because some of them or someone has a sick mind and wants to have sex with one of them /Those who you think are your friends talk against you / Someone in your familywill depart by death’s hand soon / You must take care that you are not burned /This Odun speaks of indecision in your life, because you do not know what youwant to do yet / You need to receive the Eleke of Babaluaiye / Your head isbetween Shango and Oshun / You must take care not to ride three in a car,because with three in a car you will have a very bad accident / Someone iswatching you to steal everything from your house / If you have valuables youshould lock them up in a bank vault / You must take care with policemen, this is asecond and more serious warning./
OYEKU (Okanayeku)
Speaking in this Odun – Oya, Ogun, Iku, Algayu, Spirits, Yewa,Babaluiaye, and Death.Interpretation: This Odun says you resolve the problem by telling the truth / Youmust hurry and do what the Obi says, because Death is close to you / Maybesomeone in your family will die before the year’s end / When this Odun comes,you must wash the Obi in water and then ask if this is the Egun, or if it is Deathwho is speaking, or just who it is. If Death is speaking, ask if it is death for you,or for the person you are reading. When the Death is for you, there are a lot of things you must do for yourself. First, bless your head with the ceremony of twococonuts for the head. Take four baby chicks, roasted corn, dried fish, driedracoon and one bottle of rum and feed the four corners where you live. Throwthe Obi at each corner to see what letter comes. If you Ejife or Etawa, go aheadwith the Ebo. If no, then you must ask the corner what else it wants for the Ebo.The most important thing here is the blood of the chicks. After you find out whatthe corner wants, then proceed with the Ebo. First pull the head off one of thechicks, and feed the blood to the corner, blow the rum three times to the corner,and then put there some dried fish, and some dried racoon / You are not to holddrugs in your house, because police are after you / The things you have started,you must finish / Control your bad temper / If the Death is for the person you arereading, you must take the Omiero of either Shango or Obatala and eight purpleflowers along with the blood of a pigeon. Then, feed the head of the person withtwo roosters. After you have fed the person’s head, the person must sleep onthe floor of the Orisha room overnight. The next morning, wash the person withthe Omiero and give another reading to see if you have averted the Death fromthe person / In this Odun, you should be careful with your kidneys and pain atyour waist. Also illnesses involving your intestines / One woman you have left for another is doing work to destroy you / Be careful with the law / You must do anEbo to Elegba to open your roads because your roads are closing around you /You have to make some decision about illegal business, or something you planto do against the law / This person has too many enemies / This person isthinking about killing someone with a knife or gun / You are not supposed to goout for seven days because Death is after you / If a woman, take care becausesomeone is working against your husband to cause strife and arguments in your home / You should have a horseshoe at your front door to keep away evil / Becareful, someone is preparing a trap for you / Someone will invite you to a party,but do not go because your death is there / You must go right away to a doctor for a check-up, something is wrong with your blood or stomach / When this Oduncomes, you must take one pound of cow meat, rub plenty of palm oil on it, andpass it over your entire naked body, and then put it on Ogun, light a candle thereand leave the meat on Ogun for three days. After the three days, throw the meatin the street in front of your house / You must go to a Catholic church and talk toa priest about having a singing mass for your ancestors, the Orisha priest mustask to see who this singing mass will be for / When the Odun comes, the Iworo –
(Orisha Priest) – must ask Ogun if this person needs Ebo Chure – everything themouth eats. If Ogun gives you confirmation of the Ebo-Chure, you must next findout which Orisha wants this Ebo. One of the Orisha who speaks through theletter that confirms the Ebo Chure is the Orisha to whom the Ebo Chure is to bepresented. An Ebo Chure consists of placing everything that the mouth eats onindividual plates and presenting each plate to the Orisha. The foodstuffs mayconsist of rice, every kind of meat, vegetables, breads etc.Here is an example of an Ebo Chure given to the Orisha Yemanya. Theprocedure outlined is the same for all the Orisha.First, ask the Orisha where the Ebo Chure is to go and for how many days it is tobe left in front of the Orisha. With each different foodstuff on separate plates, theplates may number seven, fourteen, or twenty-one, begin presenting thefoodstuffs to the person who will benefit from the Ebo Chure. Beginning with thehead, say Ori, the back of the neck, say Ichu Bakwao, the heart, say Okan, thetwo hands or arms and say, Telese Kan, the to legs and say Telese Meji. Eachindividual plate must be presented to the person in this manner, and then placedon the floor, or on a mat in front of the Orisha. After each plate has beenpresented to the Orisha, ther person for whom the Ebo Chure is being performedmust kneel in front of the Orisha, and the Iworo must say prayers for the Orishaover the person, in this case Yemanya. At the end of seven days, the Iworo mustthrow the coconut to see where to take the Ebo Chure.First ask if the Ebo Chure should go to the ocean. Second ask her if the EboChure is to go to the woods. Third, ask if the Ebo Chure is to go to thegraveyard. Fourth ask if it is to go to the four corners of the street. Fifth ask if itis to go to the river. Sixth ask should it go to an old tree. Seventh ask if it is togo to the lake. Eighth ask should it go to the hill. Ninth, ask if the Ebo Chureshould go to the fresh grave, or tomb, and the tenth place you ask should theEbo Chure be buried. Each Orisha has a place that they frequent or reside.According to which Orisha you must give the Ebo Chure to, you must ask if it isto be taken first to where that Orisha resides. Here is a list of the places wehrethe Orisha reside, or frequent.
WHERE TO TAKE THE EBO CHURE FOR THE ORISHAORISHAPLACE TO TAKE THE EBO
ElegbaTo the woodsOgunTo the railroad tracksOchosiTo the jailObatalaTo the hillOshunTo the lakeYemanyaTo the oceanOlokunTo the oceanOyaTo the graveyard or large marketShangoTo a coconut tree, palm tree, old treeBabaluiayeTo the hospitalIf the Orisha requesting the Ebo Chure is Orunmila, Ifa; then you must take thisperson to a Babalawo.This Odun means tragedy, Death for yourself, or Death for someone in your family
SO THAT THE PEOPLE WILL KNOW WHAT TO FEED THE ORISHAAND WHAT ARE THEIR ROADSELEGBA
This is the Orisha to open and close the roads. He is the Orisha of gambling andhe is a trickster. You do not know when he is happy or when he is mad. ThisOrisha always eats first when you are feeding any of the other Orisha in thisreligion. He is the messenger of all the Orisha. In the Catholic religion the sameas St. Anthony, the Infant of Prague, and St. Micheal.What to feed Elegba: A small male goat, young roosters just beginning to crow,for emergencies you may feed Elegba old roosters. Racoon, possum, and for emergency of death, feed Elegba a pig. In some roads, Elegba eats turtles, andin some he eats pigeons. Out of the one hundred and one roads of Elegba, onlythree roads eat pigeon.Addimu: Prepare a cornmeal ball in this manner. Boil water with honey. Whenthe water is boiled, put in corn meal with a little salt. When this is cooked, allowthe water to evaporate, and cool. Now, cover your hands with palm oil andreciting the prayers to Elegba, make three little balls from the cooked cornmeal.After the balls have been made, put them before Elegba for three days with awhite candle. At the end of the three days, ask Elegba where to take the balls, tothe four corners, to the woods, etc. In this manner ask of seven places wherethe balls might be taken. You can give for addimu also wheat crackers spreadwith palm oil, green coconuts, popcorn, roasted corn, dried fish, dried racoon,dried possum, or black-eyed peas prepared in this fashion; soak the peas inwater for about twenty-four hours, remove the skins, and mash the beans well.Add salt, palm oil, peppers and other spices, mix well. Make little balls, and frythem in oil until light brown in color. Ask Elegba how many days to leave them infront of him and then where to take them after the period of time has passed.
OGUN
This is the Orisha who is known as the warrior, he is the God of Iron and work,he works twenty-four hours and never sleeps. This is because Obatala punishedhim for having incest with his mother. He is the owner of the railroad tracks andhe is the Orisha who opens the earth so that the dead may be buried. He is oneof the strongest Orisha and a powerful enemy of Shango. Ogun is symbolized bySt. Peter in the Catholic church.What to feed Ogun: male goats, roosters, pigeons, racoons, possum, dogs, andall kins of male animals on the earth.Addimu: Everything that Elegba eats.
OCHOSI
This Orisha is known as the hunter, and the Orisha of justice. He lives in thewoods, and his close friends are Elegba and Ogun. It is difficult to find a child of this Orisha and there are only a few in the United States. Ochosi is symbolizedby a bow and arrow made of iron. He is equated with St. Norbert in the CatholicChurch.What to feed Ochosi: Feed Ochosi goats, roosters, pigeons, guinea hens.Addimu: Everything that Elegba eats.
ORISHA-OKO
This is the Orisha of the farmers, and those who live in the country. He is theowner of all the crops and everything to do with the earth and growing things. Inthe Catholic religion, he is equated with St. Isidro.What Orisha-Oko is to be fed: Orisha-Oko eats white male goats, and all whiteanimals, roosters, guinea hens, pigeons and small bulls.Addimu: Everything that the earth produces boiled. Allow to cool before giving itto Orisha-Oko. Do not give anything to this Orisha hot.
INLE
This is the Orisha of medicine and fishermen. In Cuba, when the men go out tofish, they first ask Inle if they can be successful and if they will have a good day.This is also the Orisha of doctors, and medicine men. This Orisha is who youask for health. He is equated to St. Raphael in the Catholic Church.What to feed Inle: Lambs, pigeons, guinea hens and fish.Addimu: Everything that Elegba eats, except green coconuts.
BABALUIAYE
Some people are afraid to call the name of this Orisha, out of fear of the diseaseshe might bring to them. In all the history of this Orisha, it is said that only oneother Orisha has ever helped him, Shango. It was Shango who took him to Olofiand Olofi took the sicknesses from his body. After his health was returned,Shango took him to a land called Arara (Dahomey.) When Babuiaye was among
the Arara people, he cured many of them of various diseases, and caused themto become prosperous, so they made him a king. That is why when the Orishapriests have Shango initiations, they are also supposed to receive Babaluiaye atthe same time. And when they receive the Orisha Babaluiaye, Shango is to eatalso. He is identified with St. Lazarus in the Catholic Church.What to feed Babaluiaye: All goats, pigeons, roosters, and guinea hens.Addimu: Palm oil, oranges, pecans, peanuts, and all kinds of fruit. Also ecru aro(see glossary.)
ALGAYU
Algayu is the strongest and most violent of the Orisha. He was one of the first tobe born along with Babaluiaye. He is symbolized by the sun, and he is theOrisha who holds up the planet earth. In Cuba, they do not give this Orisha tothe head; instead they give either Shango or Oshun with a special ceremony for Algayu, who is given to the shoulder, because it is said that no one person canhold the weight of the world on their head. Although Algayu is not given to thehead in Cuba, he is presented to the head in Nigeria, and it is there that you mustgo to receive the full secrets of this Orisha. In the Catholic Church, he isidentified with St. Christopher.What to feed Algayu: Castrated goats, small bulls, pigeons, guinea hens, whiteroosters when he says to give them, green bananas, boiled green bananas, beef ribs heavily seasoned, palm oil, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, lentil beans, rice andEco, cornmeal with honey, water and witch herb boiled, and them steam cookedin foil.
EBEJIS
These twin Orisha are the sons of Yemanya. They are the children Shangoprefers to play with and so do all the other Orisha. They are sometimes verymischievous like Elegba, and they are fond of candy. In the Catholic church,the;y are identified with St. Cosmos, and St. Damian.What to feed the Ebejis: The Ebejis are not to eat the animals with four legs.Give them small chicks, about one and one-half pounds and pigeons.Addimu: The same small chicks you feed them are to be cleaned and preparedwith yellow rice, plus everything else that Elegba eats.
Obatala
He is the oldest of all the Orisha. He was sent by Olodumare to make man. Hesent him with Oduduwa to make the earth, but while Obatala slept after havingdrunk palm wine, Oduduwa created the earth in his stead. To compensate himso there would be no war between them, Olodumare siad that he could createmen and would be in charge of all the problems they might have. His roads varyfrom a warrior, Ayaguna, to an old man who falls asleep very easily, Oshalofun.In the Catholic church, he is equated with the Virgin of Mercedes.What to feed Obatala: Female white goats, white hens, white pigeons, and whiteguinea hens. In all the roads of Obatala, ony Ayarguna La Aribo, and Osacriyaneat white roosters, and white male goats.Addimu: Yam, meringue, white bread, white tapioca, sweet rice, white cake,almonds, milk, cocoa butter, cascarilla, red snapper fish prepared in this way –clean the fish and put it in the oven on a platter with cocoa butter. Sprinkle withcascarilla, allow it to cool, and then present it to Obatala with two white candles.Ask with the Obi whether to leave it there for four, eight, or sixteen days. Pears,apples – the yellow colored ones, goat milk, wheat, white rice and snails.
SHANGO
This Orisha is the king of fertility. In Nigerian history, he was the fourth king of Oyo. When he was king, he was very vain and ambitious, he wanted everythinghe came across. For these two faults, some of the subjects of his kingdombetrayed him. And when he was aware that his own people had betrayed him,he hung himself from the cieba tree. Shango is also a warrior, and the owner of the thunderstones. In the Catholic church, he is identified with St. Barbara.What to feed Shango: Ram, young bulls, and red roosters, guinea hens, turtlesand quails.Addimu: Okra, palm oil, cornmeal cooked, hot peppers, Ecru aro, Aguidi, Eco,Ochinchin, rice yam, sweet bananas.
OBA
This Orisha is the wife of Shango. Oshun made a trap for her telling her thatShango was having affairs with other women, and that the only way for her to winShango back was to make a soup containing one of her ears to feed to Shango.Then Oshun told Shango that Oba had cut off her ear to make a magic potion tocontrol him by. When Shango saw that Oba had cut off her ear, he left Oba tolive with Oshun. This Orisha knows when the Orisha priest is going to die. Sheis equated in the Catholic church with St. Rita and St. Lucy
What to feed to Oba: Castrated male goats, hens, pigeons, guinea hens, and insome houses you give a female goat.Addimu: Everything that Oshun eats.
OSHUN
This is the Orisha of sweets and gold. She is the prettiest of the daughters of Olofi. She carries messages to Orunmila. She is the queen of the rivers and isthe only Orisha that can make Shango happy. But you must be very careful withOshun because you can not tell when she is happy or when she is angry. In theCatholic church she is equated with the Blessed Mother of Charity.What to feed Oshun: Caastrated male goats, yellow hens, pigeons, guinea hensand deer.Addimu: Olele (see glossary), palm oil, ochinchin – take watercress, mustardgreens, or spinach, boil this, then put in a skillet with tomato sauce, olive oil andspices. Add dried shrimp, and cooked covered. Next, take five eggs and beatthem, add these to the mixture in the skillet and allow the eggs to cook a little,then serve to Oshun. - Cooked cornmeal with salt or with sugar. Oguidi – cookcornmeal, and add vinegar. Let stand for three days. Next, put in foil and steamcook. When done, present to Oshun – boiled pumpkin covered with honey, eggsof any type preparation, fish, and honey.
OYA
This is the Orisha who owns the winds, and the sound of thunder. She residesnear large supermarkets, and she is also the owner of the graveyard. Of thethree wives of Shango, she is the preferred one. When Shango hanged himself,she cried and cried afterward. Shango took her from Ogun and at that time,Ogun made war with Shango, and Shango was assured of victory by Oya’s help.After the war, Shango betrayed her to Yemanya, and that is the reason Oya doesnot eat lamb. She is a very powerful Orisha. She is equated to St. Theresa andthe Candelaria in the Catholic Church.What to feed Oya: Female goats. Black hens, dark pigeons, guinea hens.Addimu: Olele – take black beans or black-eyed peas, soak overnight and thenremove the skins and mash the peas. Fold the mashed peas in a piece of foil.Bring to a boil half a little pot of water and place a screen or some device over the pot so that you can put the foil over the boiling water to steam cook the peas.After the peas are done, and the foil has expanded, make a slit in the foil and
present them to Oya like this –cooked rice and beans rolled into a ball. Okra withcornmeal cooked.
YEMANYA
This Orisha is the Mother of the sixteen original Orisha, the Goddess of theoceans, and she lives in the foaming waters of the waterfalls. She is the Orishaof knowledge and study. She influences people to invent and she is also a greatwarrior Orisha. This Orisha is equated with the Virgin of Regla in the CatholicChurch.What to feed Yemanya: Lamb, roosters, duck (the only road of Yemany thatdoes not eat duck is Ocute), guinea hens, turtles, and in some Orisha houses,pigeon is given to Yemanya.Addimu: Ecru aro (the same as Olele, but do not remove the skin from thepeas), Olele, fried pork, fried green bananas, fried beef, seven balls of cornmeal,seven balls of yam, seven balls of salted cornmeal with okra, molasses, popcorn,and brown coconuts.
DADA
This Orisha is the older sister of Shango, daughter of Obatala, and Yemanya.This is the Orisha who raised Shango and is a very powerful Orisha. In theCatholic church, she is equated to the Rosary.What to feed Dada: Female goats, hens, pigeons, guinea hens.Addimu: Everything that Shango eats.
YEWA
This Orisha is one who has a great many secrets. So many that not even fifteenOrisha priests together can recite or know them all. She was once the wife of Shango. This Orisha is received by the priest when they are very old becausewhen you receive Yewa, you can not have any more sex life, parties, intoxication,or other frivolities. Yewa is equated to the Virgin of Mansurrat in the CatholicChurch.What to feed Yewa: Female goats, hens, pigeons, guinea hens.Addimu: Everything that Oba eats, except castrated goats.
ODUDUWA
This is another Orisha who has many mysteries. The old Orisha priests say thatwhen Oduduwa comes to earth, there will be total destruction. Oduduwa isequated in the Catholic Church to St. Manuel.
OLOKUN
He is the king of the deep seas. He lives in the seas, because he was punishedby Olodumare for thinking that he was as powerful as Olodumare. After he lost arace to prove who was the most powerful, he was put under the sea to live, andhe was chained to the bottom by both hands.What Olokun eats: Ram, dog, roosters, pigeons, guinea hens.Addimu: Everything the mouth eats.
ORUNMILA
This is the Orisha who divines in the religion. Along with Obatala, he is the onlyOrisha fully trusted by Olodumare. The only persons to receive this Orisha areBabalawo. This is the Orisha that Obatala buried up to his waist in the woods,because Obatala did not want any more children because of what Ogun haddone; and Elegba fed him for twenty years. That is why Elegba and Orunmilaare the best of friends and why Elegba receives the first messages of Orunmila.He is identified with St. Francis in the Catholic religion.What Orunmila is to be fed: Black female goats, black hens, black pigeons, andguinea hens.Addimu: Dates, Ecru, Olele, Oguidi, Ochinchin, all types of ripe fruits, yellowrice, cakes, and everything that Oshun eats.
For my godparents, Banacek Matos and
Angel Jimenez: They gave me ocha; and
with that, they gave me the world. For
that, and other reasons, I love them both
more than I can ever say.
Teachings of the Santería
Gods
llevamos lo nuestro de corazón y sin
maldad. Ócha’ni Lele, te felicito,
querido mío”!
“There is no more magical way to
feel close to the orishas than
through the patakís. It is there that
one is transported to one’s imagi-
nation. Ócha’ni Lele has a very
spiritual manner in elevating my
imagination through his writing,
which reveals a special touch.
Maferefun orichas! What is seen
is not questioned! This is a
special book for those of us who
go forth from the heart, without
malice. Ócha’ni Lele, my dear, I
congratulate you!”
IVY QUEEN, VOCALIST, MUSICIAN,
AND QUEEN OF REGGAETON
Acknowledgments
There are many people I need to thank
for their help and support over my
writing career. I’ll get the professional
acknowledgments out of the way first:
Susannah Noel, the editor for my
first book, The Secrets of Afro-Cuban
Divination. I learned so much by work-
ing with her on my first major project.
Susannah, three books later, the com-
ments and suggestions you made as
you edited my first volume are still
fresh in my mind, and I remember
“No hay forma más mágica para
sentirse cerca de los orichas que a
través de patakies. Es ahí donde uno
se transporta a la imaginación. La
manera tan espiritual que tiene
Ócha’ni Lele para elevar mi imagi-
nación a través de su escritura es un
toque especial. Maferefun orichas!
Lo que se ve no se pregunta. Este es
un libro especial para aquellos que
each and every one you made as I
wrote this volume.
Doris Troy, the editor for my second
book, Obí, Oracle of Cuban Santería.
She did a wonderful job with that
project, and she, too, made sugges-
tions for my work that I still follow
today. While editing the patakís for
that volume, Doris wrote to me that I
was an incredible storyteller, and it
was her encouragement that made me
believe . . . I could tell a story. This
book is nothing but stories, and I
each and every one you made as I
wrote this volume.
Doris Troy, the editor for my second
book, Obí, Oracle of Cuban Santería.
She did a wonderful job with that
project, and she, too, made sugges-
tions for my work that I still follow
today. While editing the patakís for
that volume, Doris wrote to me that I
was an incredible storyteller, and it
was her encouragement that made me
believe . . . I could tell a story. This
book is nothing but stories, and I
thank her from the deepest, most se-
cret places of my heart!
Nancy Ringer, the editor who ripped
and shredded the volume that became
The Diloggún. Well, perhaps ripped
and shredded is too harsh a phrase,
but she did help me acquire the crit-
ical eye needed for the books I write
now. I was flabbergasted by the
amount of rewrites I had to do on that
volume, but in hindsight, I have to say
this: Nancy, you are wonderful! I hope
all the authors with whom you work
appreciate your eye for detail.
Patty Capetola, the editor who
helped shape this volume, Teachings of
the Santería Gods. Patty, I appreciate
your eye for detail; and I want you to
know that the wonderful comments
you made about my writing have en-
couraged me to work on yet another
book of patakís! Thank you!
Laura Schlivek, my project editor
throughout all my work with Inner
Traditions. There are many reasons I
need to thank you, but perhaps the
your desk. You’re a god, and I love you
for it.
Inner Traditions: I offer my eternal
gratitude to you. Every publisher
wants books that will reap huge sales,
and often, books that need to be pub-
lished because their content is impor-
tant are overlooked because there are
other books that will draw in huge
sales and reap vast financial rewards.
You didn’t have to publish any of my
books. You could have spent your
financial resources on other books
that would have given you greater re-
turns in a broader market. I
understand that, and thank you, from
my heart, for putting my work out
there.
course, I amazed her when I walked in
the last day of class with a book con-
tract. If she hadn’t thrown me out of
class, none of this would have begun.
And for the record . . . I got a perfect
4.0!
And now, for the personal acknowl-
edgments:
My godparents, Banacek “Checo
Yemayá” Matos and Angel “Coquí
Oshún” Jimenez: Because of you both,
there are few men in this world who
are as blessed as I. Every day, people
And, as always, I am grateful for the
day Marjorie Stevens pulled me out of
high school English to tell me, “Stuart,
this is fantastic stuff. Have you ever
thought of being a writer?” And I thank
Olófin for the day that my college Eng-
lish professor, Ann Refoe, kicked me
out of English class (yes, truly, she
kicked me out!) and told me, “You
don’t belong here. Just write whatever
you want, and turn it in at the end of
the semester for your grade.” Of
write to me about the nightmares they
lived in their quest for ocha; and they
tell me about the traumas they go
through on a daily, weekly, monthly,
and yearly basis with their own god-
parents. Too many santeros wander
the world, lost and incomplete, be-
cause once ocha is given, they are
abandoned, turned out into the world
to fend for themselves spiritually and
otherwise. Each year that passes, I feel
closer to you both; I hope we stay like
this forever.
My god sister, Jamie Vargas: You
might be my baby sister in ocha, but it
about love, life, and the religion in-
spired me to try one more time. You
are a muse, and I’m thankful you took
so much of your personal time to in-
spire me.
I need to thank all of the “serious”
godchildren in my life at this time:
Ashara Yvonne Watkins, Katelan V.
Foisy, Amanda R. Kaczmarek, Robert
Young, Rebecca Payn, Vivienne
D’Avalon, and Sandy Short. Every time
I put my pen to paper, or my fingers to
my keyboard, you are the ones who in-
spire me to continue this work. After
I’m gone, each of you will still be
own godchildren. In my absence, my
books will be here to instruct you, and
my private notes will be in your hands
to guide you. Seriously, I think about
things like this—what will become of
you when I’m gone. For no other rea-
son, that’s why I keep writing, and
putting absolutely everything I know,
and everything I learn, on paper. The
printed word, published and other-
wise, will live after my death; and my
spiritual descendants will have a part
of me with them as they grow spiri-
tually. This is but a small part of my
legacy to each of you—and it is for
this reason, and no other, that I stay
up all night writing.
The world should thank you for in-
spiring me.
And finally, I would like to thank
Irma Miranda Baez (Olobatalá): Irma,
you spent hours translating obscure
Cuban texts and manuscripts that
flowed across my desk on a monthly
basis. Many times, you thanked me for
allowing you access to those rare
texts. With the world as my witness, I
want to thank you for helping me.
Truly, Obatalá blessed me when he
put you in my path, and I love you for
all that you have done. May you live a
thousand years.
Contents
Cover Image
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Preface
An Introduction to the Diloggún
1 — Okana—One Mouth on the Mat
Okana’s Seduction of Shangó
Okana’s Curses
Okana’s Lesson in Love
The Story of the Cat and the Rat
2 — Eji Oko—Two Mouths on the
Mat
The Birth of Ikú
The Marriage of Ikú and Ejioko
Ejioko Loses His Friend Iré
Ochosi Feeds Olófin
Okana’s Seduction of Shangó
Okana’s Curses
Okana’s Lesson in Love
The Story of the Cat and the Rat
2 — Eji Oko—Two Mouths on the
Mat
The Birth of Ikú
The Marriage of Ikú and Ejioko
Ejioko Loses His Friend Iré
Ochosi Feeds Olófin
3 — Ogundá—Three Mouths on
Mat
Why the Rooster Was First Sacri-
ficed
How the Crocodile Became Pow-
erful
King Olushola Makes Ebó
4 — Irosun—Four Mouths on the
Mat
How a Man and a Woman Found
Love
Irosun Discovers His True Friends
The Story of the Cat and the
Leopard
The Pact between Orishaokó and
Olófin
The Tail (Tale) of the Little Mon-
key
Obatalá Rewards Odé
5 — Oché—Five Mouths on the Mat
The Birth, Death, and Rebirth of
Oché
How Oshogbo Became Dedicated
to Oshún
How Oshún Came to the New
World
A Foolish Merchant’s Tragedy
I Will Give You a Small Thing
6 — Obara—Six Mouths on the Mat
The Farmer and His Ebó
The Best Food: The Worst Food
Ochosi Learns to Build a Trap
Ochosi’s Curse
The Story of Elegede
7 — Odí—Seven Mouths on the Mat
The Creation of Copulation
Where the Hole Was First Opened
He Who Fights Knows about War
8 — Unle—Eight Mouths on the Mat
Unle Is Born
Unle’s Ebó to Elegguá
Unle Builds a Home
Unle Becomes a Farmer
Obatalá Eats Heads
9 — Osá—Nine Mouths on the Mat
The Death of His Love
A Beggar’s Story
A Son’s Loss
The Brag of the Boastful Boy
Shangó’s Imprisonment
10 — Ofún—Ten Mouths on the Mat
Life and Death
The Story of Iré and Osogbo
Ofún, the Godchild of Ikú
The Loss of Ofún’s Daughter
How the Leopard Gained His
Strength
The Spinning of the Web
Obatalá Makes Ebó
11 — Owani—Eleven Mouths on the
Mat
Eshu at the Crossroads
The Climbing Vine and the Okra
The Death of the Egungun Priests
Disobedience Becomes the Road
to Death
Ten years ago, I published my first
book about the Lucumí faith, The Se-
crets of Afro-Cuban Divination: How to
Cast the Diloggún, the Oracle of the
Orishas. Regarding my initial vision for
that work, I wrote the following pas-
sage in its introduction:
“I hoped to include a very important
element of divination: the patakís [sa-
cred stories] told by the odu [divina-
tion patterns]. These are the legends
of our faith, comparable to the
parables of the Christian Bible and the
mythologies of other pagan faiths.
Some tell about the lives of the orishas
[spirits] on earth; some tell of the lives
of our spirits in heaven. Many tell
about the beginning of humans, earth,
and Cosmos, and also the lives of an-
cient humans who lived and died fol-
lowing the way of the orishas. Finally,
there are stories about each odu itself,
for even the odu were once alive on
earth as mortals, walking among men
and women as they would. It is from
these myths that many of our customs
are born. It is through a diviner’s
study and interpretation of patakís that
the meanings of odu expand and
evolve. But since there can be any-
where from two to twelve patakís in
any single pattern, adding even one
patakí to each chapter would have
made this book unmanageable. Sev-
eral companion volumes are in the
works to explore these exciting av-
enues of cowrie-shell divination.”*1
After Secrets, I wrote two more
books: Obí, Oracle of Cuban
Santería†2 and The Diloggún: the Or-
ishas, Proverbs, Sacrifices, and
Prohibitions of Cuban Santería.*3 In the
text of those volumes, I was able to
write about a few of the ancient sto-
ries; and in Obí, I had the chance to
play storyteller and actually write my
own versions of a few patakís. But I
wanted to do something more expan-
sive, and in 2002, after submitting the
manuscript for The Diloggún, I began
drafting an extensive collection of
short stories based on the Yoruba and
Lucumí myths. Beginning with the
root odu of Okana, continuing
through its composites, and moving
chronologically through each family of
odu, I drafted, wrote, and rewrote
more than a thousand stories in eight
years. It was a lot of work—more writ-
ing than I’ve done in my entire life.
Finally, ten years after the publi-
cation of The Secrets of Afro-Cuban
Divination, a volume devoted to the
patakís of the diloggún is complete. It
has been a long journey toward the
accomplishment of this goal.
As I wrote, I faced an uncomfortable
task—turning the oral fragments into
stories worthy of publication. Those
who study diloggún understand the
difficulties involved. Written records
of these myths in handwritten note-
books are often little more than frag-
mented notes of even more frag-
mented stories. They lack substance
and form. Truly, the only way to learn
about the myths of this religion is to
hear them from one’s godparents,
who are, hopefully, elders in the reli-
gion. Barring that, initiates who work
in the igbodu of ocha (the sacred room
of the religion), might, if they are very
quiet and very respectful, hear the el-
ders talk about the old stories among
themselves. It is there, when faced
with a seasoned priest or priestess,
that one learns the true wisdom found
in the patakís.
Still, an oral recitation of a patakí
differs from a written work; and what
works orally doesn’t always translate
into a good short story. When I began
my own versions of these tales back in
2002, I had no idea of the amount of
work involved. But now that the first
volume of patakís is ready for publi-
cation, I am very happy with what I’ve
done. The countless lonely hours
more people will come together to
write and share their own knowledge
of the diloggún with others. For as the
odu Unle Odí (8-7) teaches us: Olódu-
mare spreads all knowledge and wis-
dom throughout the world; and if we
are to evolve and grow, we must bring
that wisdom back together, and share.
May we continue to grow and
evolve!
An Introduction to the
Diloggún
The diloggún is one of the most com-
plex yet beautiful systems of divina-
tion practiced by orisha worshippers
throughout the world. It is a living,
oral body of wisdom born with the
first stirrings of the universe; it took
on flesh when the sixteen principle
odu (patterns of cowrie shells that can
fall in the diloggún) became mortal,
living beings, each in one of the six-
teen ancient kingdoms of the Yoruba
Empire. It spread as priests and
priestesses shared their knowledge of
its patakís (sacred stories) and
proverbs with one another; it acquired
spiritual and religious depth as the or-
ishas themselves instructed humans
by its wisdom; and it grew, as each
generation that lived added the stories
of their own lives, loves, conquests,
and failures. With this oracle, a diviner
accesses the knowledge and ashé
(spiritual power) of all creation. u
In spite of the complexity and beau-
ty of this divination system, books
studying it are all but nonexistent.
Scholars turn to the Yoruba oracle
known as Ifá when analyzing Yoruba
thought and religion; and the diloggún
remains in shadows, mentioned but
not examined. A prominent American
scholar who studied both Ifá and
diloggún as it exists in Nigeria and the
New World, Dr. William Bascom,
Ph.D., once wrote of the Ifá oracle, “Ifá
is the most respected, in many ways
the most interesting, system of divina-
tion of five to ten million Yoruba in
Nigeria and millions more of their
African neighbors and their descen-
dants in the New World.”*4
Years later, in his study of the six-
teen-cowrie-shell oracle (the diloggún)
as it existed in the mind of his only re-
search subject, Sàlàkó, he wrote, “‘Six-
teen cowries’ (érìndínlógún, owó
mérìndínlógún) is a form of divination
employed by the Yoruba of Nigeria
and by their descendants in the New
World. It is simpler than Ifá divination
and it is held in less esteem in Nigeria,
but in the Americas, it is more impor-
tant than Ifá because it is more widely
known and more frequently employed.
This may be due to its relative simplicity
. . .” [italics mine].*5 Later, in the
introduction to his book Sixteen
Cowries, Bascom continues, “Com-
pared to Ifá divination with its ma-
nipulation of sixteen palm nuts or
even the casting of the divining chain,
sixteen cowry divination is simple” [ital-
ics mine].†6 In spite of Bascom’s the-
sis, there is nothing simple about this
system. Orisha worshippers devote
massive amounts of time to the dilog-
gún’s study before casting their first
hand of shells; it is common to ap-
prentice with an elder for years before
adherents have competency in the sys-
tem. Because of Bascom’s writings,
scholars accept his simplistic view of
the diloggún as truth, yet there is
nothing simple about this oracle. Six-
teen-cowrie-div-ination is richly nu-
anced as is the Yoruba practice of
Ifá—unfortunately, it is less well
known.
This mind-set remains with modern
American scholars; each academic re-
searcher begins their work with Bas-
com, and Bascom, as a leading aca-
demic authority on Yoruba divination,
plants this seed of cultural calumny in
the minds of his readers. His thoughts
on the importance of the diloggún, at
least to Yoruba descendants and
Lucumí adherents in the New World,
have become accepted by those who
should have investigated its cultural
importance more deeply. It has left a
huge hole in the study of Yoruba
thought and religion.
Nevertheless, one can forgive Bas-
com and his students: They were out-
side observers, unable to see the big-
ger picture because they were neither
part of Yoruba culture nor part of
Yoruba religion. Those who live and
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die by the orishas know the impor-
tance of the diloggún and its oral cor-
pus to our lives.
Perhaps the only overgeneralization
in Bascom’s works regarding diloggún
that I agree with is this: “Divination
with sixteen cowries is related in
mythology, perhaps historically, and
certainly morphologically, to Ifá
divination.”*7 If Dr. William Bascom
had spent more time studying the very
things he theorized about, in time he
might have grasped a greater picture
of the whole.†8
As Lucumí priests and aborishas
(initiated worshippers), we cannot de-
pend on writings such as Bascom’s to
understand our own oracle; we cannot
bury ourselves in the study of any aca-
demic tome written, because those
who study divination from a culturally
sterile point of view are unable to
grasp the spiritual significance of our
practices. We must turn to our own
odu, and the stories they tell, to un-
ravel the spiritual history and the sig-
nificance of the diloggún to our faith.
For these stories are legends compa-
rable to those found in the ancient
myths of Greece and Rome; they are
as culturally significant as those in the
Torah, Talmud, or Christian bible; they
are rich with jewels of wisdom like the
I Ching, and they are as vast as the
Vedas of the Hindu faith. There are
stories about the creation of the world,
the birth of Olódumare (God), and the
resulting Irunmole (the first orishas)
who awakened in Heaven; there are
myths describing the lives of the holy
odu themselves as they walked on
Earth in mortal form. There are histo-
ries about ancient priests, and kings,
and commoners—people who lived
and died following the ways of the or-
ishas. Finally, there are stories about
the orishas themselves—the loves,
losses, conquests, and defeats making
them the powerful beings they are
today. There are mantras and songs,
hymns and chants, ritual customs and
secular teachings: one finds all this,
and more, in the patakís of the odu.
As an oracle, the diloggún employs
sixteen cowrie shells to access an odu.
In its natural state, a cowrie shell has
on one side a smooth, rounded back
and on the other side an elongated,
serrated opening resembling a mouth;
unaltered, a cowrie shell cannot be
used for divination. Each shell is pre-
pared, or opened, to create the
cowries used in divination. With a
knife or file, a priest removes the
rounded back of the cowrie, popping
off the rounded hump to make a flat
back. He files down the new surface
so it has no ragged edges. Almost
every orisha in the Lucumí faith has
eighteen of these shells in its posses-
sion except the orisha Elegguá; he has
twenty-one cowrie shells. Because or-
isha priests believe Elegguá was a
witness to creation, diviners use his
diloggún for divination. Elegguá saw
the world begin; Elegguá knows every-
thing in it, and Elegguá knows what
will happen. His knowledge is
flawless.*9
To read or cast the diloggún, the di-
viner selects sixteen shells at random
from the set of consecrated cowries.
He keeps the remaining shells to the
side, with the natural “mouth” facing
down. Diviners refer to the cowries left
to the side as witnesses, and while
present for divination, they remain
unused. The mechanically opened
side of the shell has a value of zero;
the natural mouth has a value of one.
When a diviner casts the sixteen shells
on the mat, he obtains a numerical
value from zero to sixteen by adding
the values of the shells. The number
corresponds to a particular odu in the
divination system, and the orisha uses
this odu to speak to the priest.
To employ this oracle effectively,
one must know all sixteen names and
their numerical equivalents. They are:
1 mouth = Okana
2 mouths = Eji Oko
3 mouths = Ogundá
4 mouths = Irosun
5 mouths = Oché
6 mouths = Obara
7 mouths = Odí
8 mouths = Unle
9 mouths = Osá
10 mouths = Ofún
11 mouths = Owani
12 mouths = Ejila Shebora
13 mouths = Metanlá
14 mouths = Merinlá
15 mouths = Marunlá
16 mouths = Merindilogún
It is important to note that a divin-
er’s level of skill and training dictates
how deeply he is allowed to read with
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knowledge, the diviner has the right to
read all sixteen patterns of the dilog-
gún, Okana (one mouth) through
Merindilogún (sixteen mouths). n
Those diviners without the skill of
an oriaté read freely from the combi-
nations falling between Okana (one
mouth) and Ejila Shebora (twelve
mouths). The final four patterns
(Metanlá, Merinlá, Marunlá, and
Merindilogún) reference spiritual cur-
rents so intense that their appearance
on the mat is rare.*10 If one falls, the
novice diviner performs a simple
the diloggún. In the Lucumí faith,
there is a special division of priests
known as oriatés. These are the mas-
ters of Lucumí ceremony and lore. To
be an oriaté, one must study with an
oriaté; and only after years (some-
times decades) of training does one’s
teacher vouch for his level of skill.
During this time, the apprentice’s
teacher gives a number of lavish,
expensive ceremonies and rare orishas
not available to the general priest-
hood. A large part of the apprentice’s
training centers on diloggún and odu;
and with this rank of skill and
knowledge, the diviner has the right to
read all sixteen patterns of the dilog-
gún, Okana (one mouth) through
Merindilogún (sixteen mouths).
Those diviners without the skill of
an oriaté read freely from the combi-
nations falling between Okana (one
mouth) and Ejila Shebora (twelve
mouths). The final four patterns
(Metanlá, Merinlá, Marunlá, and
Merindilogún) reference spiritual cur-
rents so intense that their appearance
on the mat is rare.*10 If one falls, the
novice diviner performs a simple
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ceremony to close the oracle; and the
client is sent to a more experienced
oriaté.†11
By comparing the oral corpus of the
sixteen parent odu to a library, one can
envision each odu as a book in that li-
brary; and just as books are divided
into chapters, each of the sixteen par-
ent odu, as a separate book, has
smaller divisions. We know these
chapters of each book as the omo odu
(children of odu). Each omo odu is a
part of a spiritual family linked by the
parent giving it birth, just as each
chapter of a book is part of the book’s
greater whole.
By casting the diloggún, a diviner
accesses one of these “chapters” on
behalf of his client. Initially, the diviner
does not know which section of the
book to read. First, he awakens, gen-
tly, the orisha whose diloggún he uses
with an invocation paying homage to
Olódumare, the earth, the ancestors,
and the orishas. After this series of
prayers, the diviner makes two initial
castings, recording the numbers of
each. With these numbers, the orisha
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identifies the omo odu applying to the
client. The first casting names the par-
ent odu and the second creates the
omo odu, narrowing the reading down
to one of 256 possible combinations.
For example, if the first casting of the
diloggún results in a pattern of nine
open mouths on the mat, the parent
odu is Osá. Casting the cowries a sec-
ond time, if the diviner counts three
mouths, the odu Ogundá has fallen.
The resulting omo odu is Osá Ogundá
(nine mouths followed by three
mouths), and the diviner searches his
memory for the meanings of that
particular composite letter.*12
Each of these omo odu forms a
spiritual organism, a complete entity
that foretells various blessings (known
collectively as iré) or misfortunes
(known collectively as osogbo). After
casting a composite letter, the diviner
uses the eight ibó (auxiliary divination
tools such as certain black stones,
seeds, or pottery shards) to extract
from it the qualities of iré and osogbo.
Depending on the question asked, the
diviner uses the ibó in a number of
pairings; together, the diviner and
client manipulate the cowries and ibó
in tandem to determine the orien-
tations of the odu. From these are the
predictions of any one letter drawn,
and the ebós (offerings) needed to pla-
cate volatile essences are determined.
One creates harmony, and evolution
unfolds.
Ebó is a central concept to this reli-
gion; and many of the stories found in
the diloggún’s odu speak of animals,
humans, and orishas making ebó to
avoid misfortune. To the Lucumí,
everything in this world has its
price—that price is known as sacrifice,
or ebó. In a world of instant gratifi-
cation the concept of sacrifice might
seem strange, but in truth, every mo-
ment that one lives, sacrifices are
made for the betterment of both one’s
self and one’s community. Each day
that one goes to work to pay bills, it is
a sacrifice of free time to obtain
money. Every time someone puts
money in a savings account instead of
buying a new pair of shoes, it is a
sacrifice to ensure a stable future. Par-
ents sacrifice personal needs to save
for a child’s college education, while
communities might sacrifice the
expansion of recreational facilities for
better schools. At all levels in life, re-
sources are limited and no one person
or group can have it all.
Ebó, at its core, is sacrifice; and
Lucumí adherents practice this in
many forms. Some of the odu man-
date behavior modification—simply,
to achieve desired results, something
in a person’s life must be changed or
removed, literally sacrificed, to avoid
misfortune and evolve. Still, many of
these ebós are material: a diviner
might advise his client to offer fruits,
grains, cooked foods, candles,
prayers, herbs, or cloth to various or-
ishas. The client does these things to
obtain the spirit’s favors; and if the
diviner’s knowledge of both odu and
ebó are great, miracles ensue. The
patakís, the sacred stories found in the
oral corpus of the diloggún, are the
foundation from which these ebós are
drawn. Simply—someone with a prob-
lem similar to ours did this once and
it worked; so, if the client does the
same thing, it should work as well.
Each odu contains stories rich with
examples illustrating the benefits of
making ebó versus the risks of not
making ebó; and somewhere between
these two extremes is a twilight area
where one suffers and fate curses or
blesses at its whim.
One of my favorite stories in this
volume illustrating the simplicity of
ebó is “Oshún’s Ebó” in chapter 11.
Oshún’s character is familiar to stu-
dents of Yoruba folklore; she is a god-
dess given great reverence in the
Lucumí faith. Simply, she is the orisha
of love, abundance, eroticism, fertility,
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he told her to make ebó with that,
pouring it all into the river.
To most, such an act would seem a
wasteful thing: If one has little, the
modern mindset would imply that it is
foolish to spend limited resources on
an ebó as extravagant (comparatively
speaking) as this. Yet Oshún had faith
and did as the diviner instructed. As
she slept outdoors, the elements of
her ebó transformed, and Oshún
awoke a rich woman.
The moral of the story: The simplest
ebós bring the greatest results. Yet we
learn more about the nature of ebó
through this patakís. Sometimes, what
the orishas demand of us might seem
huge. We need something but we have
next to nothing, and divination tells us
to sacrifice what little we have to gain
something more. Part of any ebó is
faith—and Oshún told the diviner she
had plenty of that; yet she had to act
on that faith, sacrifice every little bit of
what she had to evolve away from her
poverty. In addition, this story teaches
us something about Oshún; she was
not always rich materially, but she was
wealthy in spirit.
To the Lucumí, the risks of not mak-
ing prescribed ebós are real, but the
risk lies with the client, never the di-
viner. There is a proverb: “Those who
fail to make ebó turn the diviner into a
soothsayer.” “The Story of the Cat and
the Rat” found in chapter 1 illustrates
both this proverb and the risks of un-
made ebós well. It reads as a child’s
fable, not unlike something from the
Brothers Grimm, and it is narrated by
the odu Okana herself. Surrounded by
her grandchildren, one of the little
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girls becomes overwrought that their
household cat kills a mouse, and in a
moment of exasperation, she asks,
“Why do cats do that? Why do they kill
mice?” Against her better judgment
(for small children, this story might be
frightening as are many children’s
tales), Okana gathers them together
and settles in for a bedtime rendition
of a story best described as macabre.
For the cat and the rat were once
friends, and when the world went bad
and food was scarce, the cat went to
the diviners to have divination and
make ebó. The wise man who read for
the cat that day assured her, “For our
world to be in balance, there must be
both good and bad in our lives. Don’t
worry, cat; soon the rains will come,
the forest will green-up, and there will
be prey. You, however, have more
pressing concerns.” The cat opened
that day in Okana an odu that brings
all the bad into life before allowing all
the good to come; but the odu had
specific warnings of treason, and it
warned the cat to make ebó.
Of course, overwhelmed by many of
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permanently. More importantly,
Okana’s closing remarks are difficult
points to ponder—does osogbo come
in spite of itself, or does osogbo come
by one’s refusal to make ebó? If one
refuses to make ebó, truly, who is re-
sponsible for the evil wrought, the
stubborn client or the transgressor?
All these are difficult points to ponder.
Finally, there are times that one ex-
ists in a twilight between iré and os-
ogbo—one is safe, but danger
abounds; and the orishas watch to see
if one will be obedient, making ebó, or
permanently. More importantly,
Okana’s closing remarks are difficult
points to ponder—does osogbo come
in spite of itself, or does osogbo come
by one’s refusal to make ebó? If one
refuses to make ebó, truly, who is re-
sponsible for the evil wrought, the
stubborn client or the transgressor?
All these are difficult points to ponder.
Finally, there are times that one ex-
ists in a twilight between iré and os-
ogbo—one is safe, but danger
abounds; and the orishas watch to see
if one will be obedient, making ebó, or
disobedient, resigning oneself to
whatever life brings. Chapter 3 con-
tains one of my favorite stories illus-
trating this twilight concept: “King
Olushola Makes Ebó.” Olushola was a
monarch with two envious brothers—
Abiodun and Adejola. While Olushola
made his biannual trip to see his di-
viner, Mofá, the two younger brothers
plotted to overthrow his rule by as-
sassination. At first, Olushola refused
to make ebó, his refusal coming in the
midst of treason. His brothers’ greed,
an assassin’s mistake, and a guard’s
ill luck allow the king momentary
disobedient, resigning oneself to
whatever life brings. Chapter 3 con-
tains one of my favorite stories illus-
trating this twilight concept: “King
Olushola Makes Ebó.” Olushola was a
monarch with two envious brothers—
Abiodun and Adejola. While Olushola
made his biannual trip to see his di-
viner, Mofá, the two younger brothers
plotted to overthrow his rule by as-
sassination. At first, Olushola refused
to make ebó, his refusal coming in the
midst of treason. His brothers’ greed,
an assassin’s mistake, and a guard’s
ill luck allow the king momentary
reprieve,*13 and a timely ebó assures
his future safety.
Beyond such heavy morals and
illustrations of ebó and faith, the
patakís of the diloggún are meant to
be entertaining. Years ago, when an
elder priestess of Yemayá found out I
was writing volumes of patakís, instill-
ing new life into them, she wrote to
me, “You should continue with your
work, and publish as many volumes
as you want. For in the old days before
the Internet, radio, or even television,
and during the time we had no written
books, only oral memories, these were
the novellas of the day.” She con-
tinued to emphasize their instructional
and moralistic natures, but insisted
that these fragments were part of
something larger, and added, “Each
storyteller had his own version of the
patakís, ways of telling them that
made them distinctly his own. It is
time that they were put down on
paper, and you should do just that.”
I took her advice to heart then, and I
still do. For when studying the orisha
faiths of Nigeria and the New World, it
is time for us, as orisha worshippers,
to turn to the study of the odu through
the diloggún exclusively. With the
cowrie shells comprising its mechan-
ical system, we have our own way to
access the 256 sacred patterns of cre-
ation, the letters by which Olódumare
created the universe; we have our own
methods of saving and cataloguing
the body of lore encapsulating the
lives of the ancient humans, the or-
ishas, and the existence of Olódumare
himself. Throughout this book
remember: Although the odu contain
all the facets of our faith and lives,
they are not stagnant, unchanging,
mere collections of sacred stories and
scripts conceived centuries ago. Each
is alive in the universe; each exists in
our hearts. They are organisms of en-
ergy, creatures of symbiosis awaiting
connection with our own human ener-
gies as they open on the mat.
This system of wisdom and divina-
tion is the heart of orisha worship.
1
Okana
One Mouth on the Mat
The head feels only two things—the
rage of the heart, and its desire to
love.
Okana is a perilous odu, fraught with
danger—it is a sign of fervor, passion
instilled by both love and hate. The
patakís found in its oral corpus deal
with the theme of passion in myriad
ways. Although there are dozens of
myths detailing the interactions be-
tween both mortals (animals and hu-
mans) and immortals (spirits and or-
ishas), to illustrate the redemptive
power of passion in relation to this
odu, I chose to focus on the woman’s
life for whom this section of the dilog-
gún is named, Okana.
Lucumí diviners and storytellers
know her as a woman born of two
spirits named Sedikoron and Ajantaku.
Orphaned at a young age, her god-
mothers Osá Oché and Metanlá Ayui
brought her up in the world; and when
grown, she set out to fend for herself.
Her parents left her wealth and her
godparents taught her witchcraft; and
Okana had an obscene abundance of
both. Still, it was not enough. Her vil-
lage shunned her as a witch, and her
loneliness consumed her until she
turned her talents to self-gratification.
The turning point in her life was her
obsessive love directed at the orisha
Shangó; and he thwarted her powerful
spells by consulting his diviners and
making ebó.
Loneliness, lust, and malcontent,
central themes of this odu, are self-
destructive; and Okana embodied all
the bad this letter has to give.
Yet those same things—loneliness,
lust, and malcontent—can be pow-
erful motivators for evolution. In spite
of herself, when Okana was at her
darkest hour, the healing energies of
this sign directed her life, and without
magic or even a plan, when Okana put
herself into the hands of God, she
evolved. It was neither deliberate nor
calculated; it just happened. As the
final story in this chapter illustrates,
she ended her life a wealthy, happy
widow surrounded by dozens of chil-
dren and grandchildren.
One might have power, one might
have wealth, one might have needs
and desires binding better judgment;
however, Okana guarantees that every-
thing born of base human desires will
fail. It is only when letting go of the
things that push us to use our talents
for self-gratification, focusing on the
greater good, that we move with the
tide that is both life and evolution.
Still, in the face of Okana both are
necessary for human evolution, and
the greater the tribulations, the greater
the ecstasy brought by this odu. “If
there is nothing bad,” my godfather
once told me, “there can never be any-
thing good.” Okana lives and offers
both good and bad in exquisite abun-
dance.
Okana Brews a Love Potion
It was late, and Okana was alone, gaz-
ing at herself in a full-length mirror.
She admired the fullness of her face,
her creamy black skin and high cheek-
bones, and the full pout of her lips.
She blew herself a flirty kiss and
turned to the side, throwing her shoul-
ders back so her breasts plumped up
to their full size. She ran her hands
over her own tiny waist and shook her
head gently, so the hundreds of care-
fully woven braids cascading just
below its hourglass curve shimmied
and shook against her buttocks.
Okana was gorgeous, and she knew it.
She turned away from the mirror,
looking over her shoulder to see her
backside before walking away; and she
paced through her home, a mansion
by anyone’s standards. Her parents
had done well during their brief life to-
gether, and had died while Okana was
still young, but they had provided well
for her, and she wanted for nothing.
Nothing, that is, except love.
For while Okana was a pretty
woman, and a rich woman, she was a
lonely woman; she had no man with
whom to pass her days. Desperately,
she craved love.
Okana sighed deeply as she paced;
it was a troubled breath that lifted and
dropped her ample breasts in sorrow.
“If only I wasn’t alone,” she thought. A
gentle breeze wafted through an open
window and caressed her skin gently,
as if to soothe her.
She barely noticed. There was no
soothing her troubled mind.
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Okana walked into her kitchen and
looked around at shelf upon shelf of
herbs, a virtual apothecary of remedies
to cure all ailments, physical or spir-
itual. She was well-stocked with both
the baneful and the beneficial, for
Okana was a witch. Her mother had
been a witch, as had her mother be-
fore her, and as everyone in her village
knew, “A witch always gives birth to a
witch.”
That is why she was lonely; that is
why she could not find a man. No one
wanted to love a witch.
That moment, she decided to use
her witchcraft to find love.
As midnight came and the moon set
over the horizon, Okana was alone in
her kitchen, experimenting with her
herbs. She peeled, pounded, mashed,
and mixed every ashé she had that
dealt with love and matters of the
heart. Little else mattered to her be-
yond her work; for just as those in
love cannot see clearly, those who
crave love can see little beyond their
desires. Strange scents and fumes
wafted through her home and were
carried into the world with the night-
winds that blew.
The air was alive with magic.
Finally, after hours of work, Okana
created a philter that was love liques-
cent: it embodied all the sweetness of
love, the desires of love, and the dan-
gers of love. Its scent was intoxicating;
one drop and her skin glistened with a
preternatural glow, a sheen that hinted
of sexual ecstasy and exotic delights.
“Surely,” she thought to herself, “no
man can resist me now!”
At her opened window, she lit a coal
in a brazier, and put a single drop of
her oil on the red-hot ember. Fumes
like fog rolled into the night. “Bring
me love,” she whispered as they rolled
into the darkness.
Her spell was potent. It did not take
long.
The next night, she found herself in
the arms of a strong, black man whose
loins burned her own like fire. The
magic of her potion ensnared them
both, and she abandoned herself to
the waves of pleasure that erupted in
her body. So intense was the spell that
neither man nor woman knew where
one body began, or the next ended;
and they were joined so deeply that
they did not care. Spent, both col-
lapsed into the other’s arms, and still
ensnared by her spell, Okana thought,
“I know what love is!”
The scent of magic died as they
slept, and when she awoke the next
morning, she felt empty. He awoke
with a strange, feverish glow in his
eyes; he dressed silently, kissing her
on her forehead, and promised to re-
turn that night.
Okana didn’t care. Nor did she want
to care. She only wanted to try her po-
tion again on another man.
Early evening found Okana wan-
dering through the streets of town,
alone. She was freshly bathed and
dressed in a robe showing more skin
than it hid; and as she had been the
night before, she was liberally oiled
with her own magic philter. Like a lion-
ess in heat she walked, seductively,
through the streets, laughing as
women grabbed their children and hid
in shadows from the witch. She heard
their whispers, but didn’t care.
Then, she saw him—a man younger
and stronger than last night’s love.
His skin was rich and supple,
stretched tight over muscles toned
from hard labor. He walked with the
grace of a leopard. Reaching into her
bag, she pulled out the vial of potion
and anointed herself freshly, giving in
to the dosed vapors that rose from her
skin. Boldly, she introduced herself,
and watched as her magic ensnared
the young man with desire.
That night, she knew ecstasy greater
than the first. And while they slept, as
it had the night before, the spell
evaporated with the first morning
light.
Okana awoke, once more feeling
empty inside. She looked down at the
strange lover as he slept beside her;
he didn’t seem as handsome anymore.
There was a strange rattle in his chest
as he snored, and his skin was
covered in slick sweat. The sheets
around him were damp. He was fever-
ish.
With the young man still sleeping in
her bed, Okana walked outside,
wrapped only in a white sheet, to
breathe in the morning air. It invig-
orated her, and chased the sleep from
her head.
Then she saw him, her first lover,
sleeping by the door. He awoke and
rubbed his eyes. “I knocked last night.
You did not hear?”
Okana took in a sharp breath. She
thought of the young man still sleep-
ing in her bed, and not knowing what
the first man might have heard as he
camped outside her home, she said,
“No, I didn’t hear. I woke up too early
yesterday, and was exhausted come
night. I slept fitfully. I might have
made noise in my own sleep. But I did
not hear you.”
He stood close to her, taking her
shoulders into his hands, and kissed
her lightly on the cheek. His own lips
were hot and feverish. “I will come
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back tonight for you,” he said, almost
a threat. This close, she could see the
delirium in his eyes, and felt his breath
hot on her face as he whispered, “I
think I love you.”
He left her standing, alone and
shaking. “He is crazed,” she whis-
pered to the wind before going back
inside to the arms of her newest lover.
They spent all day in bed.
That evening, Okana returned to
town, leaving her newest lover at
home, sleeping. He was exhausted
from a night and a day of love, and
even her roughest shakes could not
wake him. She did not care; she might
need him when she returned home.
She sat in a little chair outside her
favorite merchant’s shop drinking a
glass of palm wine, as she thought
about the spell she wove. “This was
my most powerful magic!” Okana con-
gratulated herself with a little hug. She
inhaled deeply; the scent of love rose
off her skin like steam. Before leaving
home, she rubbed the oil all over,
finding its smell as intoxicating as the
most powerful drink, and wanting to
see if she could find a love even
stronger than the first two. “I will sim-
ply go to the next man’s house,” she
thought, “And when I am done with
him, I will return to the other in my
bed.”
After many drinks, Okana’s mind
was clouded; she forgot about the
man she had at home and simply
searched for someone new. And then,
she saw him. Walking toward her was
an eye-filling man. His skin was deep,
rich, dark ebony with a subtle sheen; it
eemed to glow preternaturally. He
walked forcefully, like a lion, each step
purposeful, with his own loins sway-
ing seductively from his hips. His
arms were huge, powerful; they
seemed strong enough to hold the
sun, and his chest was chiseled like a
marble statue’s. So huge were the
muscles in his thighs that his legs
bowed out slightly. Okana felt fever
burning in her secret place, like a fire.
Driven by her desires, Okana stood
in front of him in the street, blocking
his body with her own; and with a
boldness that surprised even her, she
kissed him before he could protest.
Powerful magic was made in that mo-
ment; he was ensnared, the lion by the
trap, and he kissed her back. People in
the streets shuddered and gasped in
surprise. Some watched, whispering
“witch,” while others tried to hide their
eyes, but couldn’t; and there in the
street, Okana and her prey groped and
rubbed and squeezed as the sun set
over the town.
Okana knew nothing except desire,
and wanted that man in her bed.
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“Pox!” she gasped. She looked at
her own arms, worried that the conta-
gion might erupt on her own delicate
skin.
“You did this to me,” he cried. “You
are a witch!”
His words stung; anger consumed
her, melting her fear. “I did this?” she
cried. “You are the one covered in
sores. My skin is clean!”
Strong hands grasped her shoulders
from behind. “We must go. We should
not be so close,” a deep voice warned.
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“Pox!” she gasped. She looked at
her own arms, worried that the conta-
gion might erupt on her own delicate
skin.
“You did this to me,” he cried. “You
are a witch!”
His words stung; anger consumed
her, melting her fear. “I did this?” she
cried. “You are the one covered in
sores. My skin is clean!”
Strong hands grasped her shoulders
from behind. “We must go. We should
not be so close,” a deep voice warned.
In her drunken haze, Okana had for-
gotten that her newest love-conquest
stood behind her.
Slowly, they backed away from the
man as the front door to her home
opened, and lover number two came
stumbling out. He was naked, almost
delirious, and covered with the same
sores as the first man, though not as
deeply. “What have you done to me?”
he moaned.
It was then that the third man real-
ized, “These men, you have slept with
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In her drunken haze, Okana had for-
gotten that her newest love-conquest
stood behind her.
Slowly, they backed away from the
man as the front door to her home
opened, and lover number two came
stumbling out. He was naked, almost
delirious, and covered with the same
sores as the first man, though not as
deeply. “What have you done to me?”
he moaned.
It was then that the third man real-
ized, “These men, you have slept with
hem?”
She turned quickly and wailed,
“No!”
It was there that Okana’s witchcraft
was broken, and he backed away from
her in disgust. The other two mind-
lessly wandered into the streets and
walked their separate ways.
That very night, word was spread
through town that not only was Okana
a powerful witch, but also she was a
promiscuous woman who spread dis-
ease with her touch. And while her
own charms and potions kept the pox
at bay so she never got sick, her repu-
tation spread, and nothing she tried
would quell it.
From that moment on, not a man in
town would lay with her. For many
years, Okana remained a lonely, love-
less creature.
Okana’s Seduction of Shangó
It was late afternoon; the sun still
hung high in the sky, and even in the
oppressive heat, the marketplace was
packed with people. Okana was one of
many, another face lost in the crowd;
there were no taunts of “witch,” and
no one seemed to remember that it
was she who spread the pox through
town. Here, lost among the many col-
ored trinkets and covetous faces, she
was merely a woman, and an ex-
hausted one at that. The heat was
draining.
by many muscled, armed men on foot.
Heat rose in her face; she thought it
was the oppressive heat of the dry sea-
son, but as she felt that familiar tingle
in her loins, she realized it was the
heat of desire.
“Who is that man?” she asked to no
one.
“That is the new king, Oranmiyan’s
grandson, Shangó,” said an unfamiliar
face.
Okana was in love.
Shangó rode past her; she stood,
unmoving, while the crowd continued
to part, and Shangó noticed her,
briefly. Their eyes locked; and for a
moment, Shangó’s seemed clouded
with desire. He nodded his head to-
ward her, and smiled. Then, as quickly
as he noticed her, he turned away. The
crowds closed around her again, and
she watched as his supple form
bobbed away gently until she could
see him no more. The crowds quieted
down to their normal roar, and every-
one continued about their business.
Okana turned to the woman who
had answered her. “That is the new
king? What was he doing here?”
The woman smiled. “He wants his
subjects to know who he is. So every
day at the same time, he travels the
same road with his guards so we can
see his face.” Her eyes grew moist,
filled with longing. “Isn’t he the most
handsome man?”
“Indeed, he is,” agreed Okana. And
to herself, she murmured, “I will be
his queen!”
Shangó was back in his palace, sur-
rounded by his guards and his priests.
“I don’t know what happened to me,”
he said. “I felt fine, and then I saw her.
The most beautiful woman I’ve ever
seen. I’ve known many beautiful
women in my life, but there was some-
thing about her. I almost jumped off
my horse; I wanted to take her in my
arms and run away with her. But as
soon as I turned my head and gath-
ered my thoughts, the desire was
gone, and I only wanted to run away. It
is not normal for me to want to run
from a woman!”
The diviner cast his shells on the
mat: One mouth opened. “That
woman was a witch,” whispered the
diviner. “The eyes of a witch were on
you today, and she desired you. You
will see her again, because she is plot-
ting to ensnare you. But don’t worry,
as with all the misfortunes in life,
there is ebó.”
Okana was home that night, mixing
and mashing herbs; skillfully, she
combined them into a philter whose
scent would overpower the senses of
any man she desired. When her work
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was done, her home was filled with
the exotic scents of magic and love,
and she fell into a fitful sleep.
The next day, at the same place, and
the same time, Okana stood and
awaited Shangó’s approach. “My
magic is strong,” she told herself.
“This time, he will notice me. I will
speak. And he will be mine!”
When she saw the king’s approach,
Okana doused herself with the potion,
and she stood in the middle of the
street. Shangó stopped his horse in
The diviner cast his shells on the
mat: One mouth opened. “That
woman was a witch,” whispered the
diviner. “The eyes of a witch were on
you today, and she desired you. You
will see her again, because she is plot-
ting to ensnare you. But don’t worry,
as with all the misfortunes in life,
there is ebó.”
Okana was home that night, mixing
and mashing herbs; skillfully, she
combined them into a philter whose
scent would overpower the senses of
any man she desired. When her work
was done, her home was filled with
the exotic scents of magic and love,
and she fell into a fitful sleep.
The next day, at the same place, and
the same time, Okana stood and
awaited Shangó’s approach. “My
magic is strong,” she told herself.
“This time, he will notice me. I will
speak. And he will be mine!”
When she saw the king’s approach,
Okana doused herself with the potion,
and she stood in the middle of the
street. Shangó stopped his horse in
ront of her.
The desire he felt the previous day
rose in his loins; and for a moment,
his eyes were locked to hers. Yet
Shangó made ebó before riding that
day, and the force of ebó was stronger
than the magic surrounding Okana.
He took a deep breath, and as quickly
as it tried to overpower him, the magic
was broken. Still, he smiled as if en-
tranced by her charms. “Good day,
beautiful woman,” he said in a low,
baritone voice. Okana smiled seduc-
tively as Shangó asked her, “What is
your name?”
“I am Okana,” she said, throwing
her shoulders back so her ample
breasts and deep cleavage were in full
view of the king. Shangó’s eyes, how-
ever, were not on her breasts; his
thoughts were on the name of the odu
that fell from his diviner’s hands:
Okana.
“Let me tell you a secret, Okana,”
Shangó said quietly, bending down
from his horse so his face was close
to hers. “I am a descendant of
Odúduwa; the heavenly, royal blood of
my ancestor runs in my veins. The
wiles of a witch cannot touch one with
the sacred blood of the orishas in his
body.”
Shangó rode away, and Okana, in
grief, collapsed to the earth, crying in
despair. Once again, her obsessive
love went unreturned.
Wealth weakened her drive, loneliness
hardened her heart, and taunts of,
“Witch!” from the townspeople
warped her mind. “If I can’t be happy,”
she seethed to the darkness that filled
her soul, “no one can be happy.”
Okana turned her witchcraft to evil
things; she brought osogbo to the
town in which she lived. She conjured
storms. She set fires. She ruined
farms and dried up milk-cows. She
created poverty. Mothers mourned
and fathers feared as their children
suffered.
Yet Okana was confused when these
tragedies touched her own life. When
the storms unleashed their wrath over
the town, the roof of her own home
was destroyed. When fires burned, she
coughed from the smoke. When crops
withered, she had nothing to eat, and
when milk-cows dried up, she had
nothing to drink. Poverty recessed the
village economy, and the luxuries she
loved were hard to obtain in spite of
her wealth.
This only made her angrier and her
curses more severe.
One by one, the townspeople
sought out Mofá to make ebó. One by
one, they cured Okana’s curses. She
sought to destroy, but in the end,
made everyone stronger. For through
Mofá’s skilled hands, each osogbo
was soothed, and iré brought back to
the land.
So confused and angry was she that
her rage grew until her humanity was
all but destroyed. Everyone was afraid
of the evil witch.
Okana’s Final Loss
There comes a time when enough is
enough, and the townspeople were
tired of the constant afflictions suf-
fered by Okana’s witchcraft. An angry
mob gathered in the center of town. It
was night, and fires were lit.
“I lost my children to the pox,”
wailed a woman. “It was Okana who
brought this on us!”
“The rains haven’t touched my land
o make ebó all over again.”
Right there, the townspeople de-
cided to drive Okana from town.
With torches lit, they stormed her
home; the angry mob broke her win-
dows and doors with stones and set
fire to all she had. Okana was in her
workroom practicing her witchcraft
when the assault began; and when it
ended, she was fleeing for her life. Os-
ogbo followed her that night, and all
the curses cast came back to her to
roost.
She was weak, ill, homeless, and
powerless.
And since osogbo fled the town with
her, everyone there became pros-
perous and healthy again. They
cheered the destruction of the witch
and all she owned.
Okana Makes Ebó
When one has everything, one must
lose everything to change, to evolve:
So it was with Okana. Afflicted by the
osogbo she once commanded with
her witchcraft, she sought out the
diviner, Mofá, to make ebó and
change her life. With all the money
from her pockets in her hands, she sat
on the mat, and prayed for help as the
old man opened the diloggún.
The once-powerful witch was re-
duced to asking for help. With the loss
of all her possessions, she no longer
had the tools of her craft at her dis-
posal. She was powerless. With the
weight of osogbo bearing down on her
head, she was hopeless.
Her own sign fell, Okana. “In the
streets at times is where one encoun-
ters happiness,” said the wise man as
he prepared to make ebó. There were
eight plates on the mat that day, each
with different items: a coconut and
two candles; black-eyed peas and
toasted corn; okra and cornmeal;
strips of cloth in red, blue, white, and
yellow; pumpkin; charcoal; a mask;
and one rock. One by one, Mofá
prayed over each plate and cleansed
her.
Okana left the diviner’s home, still
powerless and helpless, but she knew:
“There is gain, and there is loss.” She
took her ebó to a crossroad in a neigh-
boring village, for Mofá had told her,
“You can no longer live in the village
of your birth. You must go away to a
place no one knows you if you are to
find happiness again.”
She sat on the street corner, and for
the first time in her life, she cried.
Okana cried for her dead parents. She
cried for her losses in love. She cried
for the evil she had wrought on her
own people, and she cried because
she knew not what else to do.
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Okana was a lost creature, indeed;
but ebó has a way of renewing all
things.
MIGUEL W. RAMOS
La división de la Habana:
Territorial Conflict and Cultural Hegemonyin the Followers of Oyo Lukumí Religion,1850s–1920s
ABSTRACT
The Yoruba presence in the Americas, particularly in Brazil and Cuba, has been the topicof much research in past years. The role of the individuals who molded and guided thenew directions taken by these cultural manifestations, however, continues to be virginterrain. In particular and without doubt, women were the most important contributors tothese acculturative processes. The present article examines the influence of three Afri-can women and their contribution to the evolution and survival of Lukumí religion inCuba. In so doing, it brings to the fore other important issues that cast light on the lives of Afro-Cuban women in nineteenth-century Cuba forced to live in a Eurocentric society inwhich they occupied the lowest rung of the ladder. These issues highlight the hardshipsand impediments that in many ways all Afro-Cubans had to overcome in their strugglefor power and respect—even among members of their own ethnic groups. Eventually,this struggle played an important role in the contributions made by these groups toCuban culture and society.
RESUMEN
La presencia Yoruba en las Américas, especialmente en Brasil y Cuba, ha sido objeto demuchas investigaciones en los últimos años. El papel de los individuos que moldearon yguiaron las nuevas direcciones tomadas por estas manifestaciones culturales, continúasiendo, sin embargo, un terreno virgen. En particular, y sin lugar a dudas, las mujeresfueron las que más contribuyeron a estos procesos de aculturación. Este artículo exam-ina la influencia de tres mujeres africanas y su contribución a la evolución y super-vivencia de la religión Lucumí en Cuba. El estudio saca a la palestra otros temas deimportancia que arrojan luz sobre la vida de las mujeres afrocubanas en la Cuba del sigloXIX, forzadas a vivir en una sociedad eurocéntrica en la que ocupaban el peldaño másbajo de la escalera. Estos temas enfatizan las dificultades y los impedimentos que las af-rocubanas tuvieron que enfrentar en su lucha para adquirir poder y ganarse el respeto,incluso de los miembros de sus propios grupos étnicos. A la larga, esta lucha jugó unpapel importante en las contribuciones de este grupo a la cultura y la sociedad cubana.
La División de la Habana
:39
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Cuban society faced controver-sies that threatened to undermine the considerable economic expansion theisland had recently experienced. Two important issues divided society andsubverted its foundations: the barbaric institution of slavery and the illegal slavetrade that brought so many human beings to the island. In the mid–nineteenthcentury, after the triumph of the revolution on the island of St. Domingue andthe establishment of the Haitian Republic in 1803, Cuba had blossomed intoSpain’s most prized possession in the Caribbean. With the destruction of Haiti’ssugar industry, Cuba became the world’s leading sugar producer. This suddeneconomic expansion depended heavily on manual labor provided by Africanslaves. In a little over one hundred years, Cuba also had become SpanishAmerica’s largest importer of African slaves in the four-century history of theslave trade.
1
Scholarship that recognizes the contributions of Cubans of Africandescent in areas such as art, music, dance, religion, folklore, and herbal medi-cine is a fundamental part of Cuban studies.
2
On an individual level, however, itis Afro-Cuban men who claim the spotlight, while, with a few notable excep-tions, Afro-Cuban women are virtually invisible.
3
Methodological Approach
Drawing upon methodologies in history, anthropology, mythology, folklore,and on more than fifty oral testimonies collected in Cuba and outside the island,this article reconstructs the life histories of three important African priestessesof the religion Regla de Osha in the nineteenth century. It will elaborate on theexisting literature in order to broaden and add depth to our understanding of theYoruba/Lukumí culture, which represents one of the most important Africangroups in the New World. The anthropologist William Bascom accentuated theimportance of this ethnic group when he noted that ‘‘no group has had greaterinfluence on New World culture than the Yoruba.’’
4
With respect to the lives of the three women presented here, much oral history survives, recounted by theirdescendants, both in Cuba and throughout the Cuban Diaspora. Individuals are,perhaps, the best repositories for their own histories. Miguel Barnet’s
Biogra- phy of a Runaway Slave
and Daisy Rubiera Castillo’s story of her mother,
Reyita, sencillamente,
illustrate the value of oral sources and the importance—indeed, the urgency—of documenting and preserving the chronicles and ac-counts of the people who themselves were part of this history.
5
In the insightfulwords of Reyita:
Some of the things they [writers] say upset me; I don’t know, I think that they do notdelve deeply enough, they don’t interview the elderly, after all we were the ones whosuffered all those situations. I believe that as we [the elderly] die off, writers will befurther distanced from the truth. Because it is not only what is said in those papers
40:
Miguel Ramos
[primary documents]: those [papers], according to the proverb ‘‘‘sustain all that isplaced on them.’’’ Another thing is how these [documents] are interpreted by eachperson that uses them. I recognize the effort and the determination that they put into it;but in the end, the books that result do not properly reflect the reality.
6
Because of their gender, race, and enslaved status, the task of reconstructing thelife histories of the three priestesses presented here was a challenge. Nonethe-less, research reveals that these three women, and others, were important con-duits of African religious beliefs. They were not simply responsible for thepreservation of their beliefs, but through their personal and professional rivalry,they became the reason why the religion spread out from Havana to Matanzas.More important, their rivalry reveals more than enmity. By looking at thecauses of the dispute, we have been able to establish that each of the priestesseswas fighting for the supremacy of African traditions in certain of the religiousceremonies she had brought with her to Cuba. One faction fought for thesupremacy of ‘‘court traditions,’’ while another favored the less elaborate useof ‘‘regional traditions.’’ Eventually, the more ritualistic ‘‘court traditions’’became predominant in Havana, but the conflict between the two traditionsdemonstrates the vitality of African cultural and political survival in Cuba.The accounts that follow are for the most part based on oral historiescollected by a Lukumí priest whose insight lends an insider’s perspective to thiswork.
7
They tell the history of a disenfranchised, mostly illiterate people. Theseare chronicles that the more ‘‘enlightened’’ sectors of Cuban society had nodesire to document and/or save. Like most oral histories, Lukumí renditionscan disagree over specific details, and the narrator’s perspective and/or em-phases can affect many aspects of the story. While it is undeniable that there areweaknesses in these accounts, especially in the various and varying versionsthat exist in Cuba and in the Lukumí Diaspora, there is an almost universalconsensus concerning the important elements of the story, which accentuatestheir veracity. The oral traditions that survive in the Lukumí community are sostrong that we can rely upon this consensus to confirm the validity of historicevents. Ironically, this is also the story of a people whose ancestors wereformidable oral historians. What more fitting tribute than to gather and recounttheir histories through the same medium they employed?
8
African Antecedents
From the late eighteenth century onward, while Cuba was being transformedinto a plantation society, events were unfolding on the African continent thatwould also have significant repercussions across the Atlantic. The Oyo Empire,a powerful political entity in West Africa for at least three centuries, had begunto buckle under pressure from various sources: internal political strife and
La División de la Habana
:41
power struggles; the revolt of the Dahomey and their ensuing slave raids intoYoruba territories that had earlier been under the protection of the Oyo; theslave trade itself; and, finally, a
jihad
conducted against the Oyo by theirnorthern neighbors, the Fulani. The Oyo’s ascendancy probably began early inthe seventeenth century.
9
Like many other West African kingdoms during thattime, Oyo had not become a politically unified empire until the early seven-teenth century. Greatly aided by its geographic location—in an area of vastsavannas—as well as by the introduction and adoption of the horse as one of itsprincipal military resources, by the late eighteenth century the Oyo exercisedconsiderable control in West Africa and also had become an important supplierof human cargo for the slave trade. The strategic location of the Oyo along thetrans-Saharan trade routes that traversed the continent contributed to the de-velopment of the empire as well. The Oyo gained a considerable income fromthe sale of northern war captives and other unfortunates, who were purchasedfrom the traders for whom Oyo was an important stop on their southward journey.
10
The earliest evidence of Oyo involvement in the slave trade is found in thework of a Dutch writer, Olfert Dapper, published in 1668, and it clearly illus-trates Oyo’s active participation in the trade since at least the seventeenthcentury. Dating its existence to the 1640s, Dapper described ‘‘a large kingdomin the interior, north-east of Allada, called ‘Ulkami’ [Oyo] which sent largenumbers of slaves for sale through Allada and imported salt, which was ex-tracted locally from sea water, in exchange.’’
11
Later authors also spoke of tradebetween the Allada area and the kingdom of ‘‘Lucamee,’’ which was reputed tobe a source of cloth and slaves.
12
Still, at this early stage of the slave trade,Oyo’s participation was not as considerable as it would become in the lateeighteenth century.Before the 1770s, little evidence exists to identify Oyo either as a slave-raiding state or as a major source of slaves.
13
Oyo’s interest in direct participa-tion in the slave trade probably began around 1774 during the reign of Alafin[king] Abiodun, after he overthrew the tyrant Gaha, who had headed the Ala-fin’s governing council, the Oyo Mesi. At the time that Abiodun ascended tothe throne, Gaha had been the ruling Bashorun—a sort of Prime Ministerwhose power often surpassed that of the king.
14
Gaha’s heavy-handed domina-tion of Oyo and its subordinated kings began in 1754 and lasted until Abiodun’sascent in 1774.
15
In 1776 the French travelers De Chenevert and Abbé Bulletreported that the Oyo were furnishing slaves at Badagry, Porto Novo, andWhydah. They described Oyo as a ‘‘free fair where the different nations resortto trade; it is the Ayaux [Oyo] who currently hold the key to trade, and throughwhose hands pass the greater part of the slaves who are sold on this coast.’’
16
Abiodun was believed to have been active in this trade before his accession tothe throne, by which time Oyo had attained its greatest imperial expansion
42:
Miguel Ramos
The number of slaves supplied by Oyo for export, primarily Hausas purchasedfrom northern trade caravans, reached its peak in the 1780s.
18
But Gaha’styranny and his ruthless disregard of the empire’s laws had set an ugly prece-dent that would culminate in the revolt of Oyo’s subject states and the empire’sdemise, something Abiodun was unable to prevent.
19
By the mid 1830s, Oyowas no more.It was during this period—of instability in Africa and the intensification of sugar production in Cuba—that the Yoruba people, then known as Lukumí,made their appearance in the Americas in considerable numbers.
20
Althoughsome Yorubas had been present on slave plantations in the New World since atleast the seventeenth century, they were not a considerable presence until thenineteenth century.
21
Thereafter, the Lukumí presence in Cuba grew at animpressive rate. In one study, for the years 1760–69, the Lukumí made up 8.22percent of the total number of slaves in Cuba (354 slaves based on a sam-ple population of 4,307 slaves); and even between 1800 and 1820, their num-bers remained relatively unchanged, at 8.38 percent of the sample popula-tion (453 of 5,245). Fifty years later, the increase was significant. By 1850, lessthan twenty years after the Oyo Empire’s demise, the Lukumí made up ademonstrable plurality in Cuba: almost 35 percent of the total slave populationof the island.
22
This large Yoruba presence in the Americas, particularly inBrazil and Cuba, would be the most important progenitor of the Orisha reli-gions that evolved in the Diaspora: Candomblé in Brazil and Regla de Oshain Cuba.
23
The Priestesses
Women have always played a pivotal role in Lukumí religion.
24
According toLukumí oral tradition, fundamental to the preservation of the Lukumí reli-gion in Cuba were three priestesses (
iyalorishas
25
): Ma Monserrate ‘‘Apóto’’González (Obá Tero), and Ñá Rosalía Abreú (Efunshé Warikondó),
26
both be-lieved to be from the Egbado region of Yorubaland; and Timotea Albear (Ajayí Lewú but better known as Latuán), believed to have been an Oyo native. Withinthe Lukumí Orisha community,
27
these three women were highly esteemed andrespected for their position within the religious hierarchy and the knowledgethey possessed. Of the three, only Latuán has identifiable living blood descen-dants. Nevertheless, all three are well remembered by their religious descen-dants in Cuba and abroad, who vividly keep alive many aspects of their historyin the preservation of specific religious rites or traditions that are observedaccording to religious lineage. One of the traditional stories most present fortoday’s practitioners of Orisha is the conflict over territory known to many as
La división de la Habana
, which resulted in the dividing up of religious juris-diction for the island between Obá Tero and Latuán. Unintended yet important
La División de la Habana
:43
consequences of this clash were the spread of the Havana-centric Oyo-Lukumí ordination ceremony to Matanzas and the reconciliation of the Arará and theLukumí, two related West African peoples whose already strained relationshiphad further deteriorated as a direct result of the slave trade.
Obá Tero (Ma Monserrate ‘‘Apoto’’ González)
Of the three
olorishas
,
28
the legends that surround the life and activities of ObáTero in Matanzas represent the richest source of information. In all probability,Obá Tero was the oldest of the three, although it is impossible to know exactlywhen she was born. Many accounts speculate that she was well over onehundred years old when she died in 1907, from what most agree were naturalcauses and old age.
29
It is highly probable that Obá Tero was from the Egbadoregion of ancient Yorubaland and was brought to Cuba as a slave. Descendantsagree that her Yoruba birth name was Apóto, and that Obá Tero—‘‘the king hasgreat calm’’—was the name she was given when she was ordained in her nativeEgbado to Shangó, the
orisha
of thunder, patron deity of Oyo, and possibly oneof the empire’s earliest kings.According to oral tradition, Obá Tero arrived in Cuba around the middle of the nineteenth century, possibly in the 1840s or 1850s. Because of Britain’sattempts to stamp out the transatlantic slave trade, she may have been smuggledinto the island on one of the many clandestine slave ships that illegally trans-ported African slaves at that time.
30
If so, her experience would have beensimilar to that of Soledad Crespo, a Lukumí Obatalá priestess who probablytraveled to Cuba via Sierra Leone and was smuggled into the island hiddeninside a barrel.
31
Nothing is known about Obá Tero’s initial years on the island.Most informants emphasized that she had been a slave on an unnamed sugarplantation, possibly in Havana province, though one source insisted that ObáTero had been brought directly to Matanzas and not Havana.
32
The harshness of plantation life may have been one reason she was reluctant to discuss the earlypart of her life in Cuba with her descendants. Or, if she did discuss it, it may nothave been considered relevant by her descendants, for any details that mighthave been known have been long forgotten.Though the details of Obá Tero’s life under slavery may have lapsed fromthe consciousness of her religious descendants, the pride they take in her placeof origin remains extremely strong. It is universally agreed upon that Obá Terooriginated in Egbado. In Matanzas, where her legacy retains much of its origi-nal purity, the lineage and its traditions were carried on by Obá Tero’s immedi-ate religious heiress Fermina Gómez (Oshabí) until 1950, and since then byOshabí’s descendants.
33
Even today, when members of the lineage discussissues relating to religious authenticity and the group’s links to Africa, whichcontinue to be the source of many heated debates, they emphasize that they are
44:
Miguel Ramos
Lukumí Egbado and that Obá Tero was born in Egguadó (Egbado).
34
Thiscontention is supported by the existence, within Obá Tero’s
ilé osha,
35
of
orishas
that are considered to be of Egbado origin.
36
Although Yemojá is the
orisha
that is most closely linked to the Egbado, the two
orishas
that in Cubaare most commonly associated with Egbado are Oduduwá, the eponymousprogenitor of the Yoruba people, and Olokún, the Yoruba
orisha
of the ocean.While these deities are known in many areas of Yorubaland and not exclusivelyamong the Egbado, most
olorishas
on the island consider them to be of Egbadoorigin, possibly because they were introduced by the Egbado. Undoubtedly,these
orishas
were of great importance in nineteenth-century Egbado. In hisreview of primary documents written by Europeans living in Yorubaland in thenineteenth century, Peter McKenzie stated that in 1846 ‘‘all of Ado’s [an Awori-Egbado town] citizens were seen as being dedicated to one or other of these
orisá
44:
Miguel Ramos
Lukumí Egbado and that Obá Tero was born in Egguadó (Egbado).
34
Thiscontention is supported by the existence, within Obá Tero’s
ilé osha,
35
of
orishas
that are considered to be of Egbado origin.
36
Although Yemojá is the
orisha
that is most closely linked to the Egbado, the two
orishas
that in Cubaare most commonly associated with Egbado are Oduduwá, the eponymousprogenitor of the Yoruba people, and Olokún, the Yoruba
orisha
of the ocean.While these deities are known in many areas of Yorubaland and not exclusivelyamong the Egbado, most
olorishas
on the island consider them to be of Egbadoorigin, possibly because they were introduced by the Egbado. Undoubtedly,these
orishas
were of great importance in nineteenth-century Egbado. In hisreview of primary documents written by Europeans living in Yorubaland in thenineteenth century, Peter McKenzie stated that in 1846 ‘‘all of Ado’s [an Awori-Egbado town] citizens were seen as being dedicated to one or other of these
orisá
[Oduá, Obatalá, or Yewá].’’
37
So strong is the association between the twodeities and this religious lineage that Obá Tero, the best-known among only ahandful of Cuban
iyalorishas
with these
orishas,
38
is the one who is creditedwith having introduced the worship of Oduduwá and Olokún to the island. Anduntil around 1950, through her descendants, Obá Tero’s lineage continued tobe the most important source for the worship and dissemination of Olokún onthe island.There are many cultural artifacts in Oshabí’s home on Salamanca Street inMatanzas, which were entrusted to her by Obá Tero upon her death in 1907, thatserve as further evidence to support Obá Tero’s Egbado origins. Among theseare Obá Tero’s drums, the only known set of ‘‘Egbado’’ drums that still exist inCuba.
39
These drums were in all probability made for Obá Tero in Havana by thefamous
onilú
(drum maker) Ño Filomeno García (Atandá), who is also believedto have sculpted the first set of orthodox
batá
drums in Cuba.
40
In many ways,it is ironic that elements of Obá Tero’s life can be reconstructed through musi-cal instruments that women were forbidden to play. Obá Tero probably hadthese drums built while she lived in Guanabacoa, a suburb of Havana, andthe neighboring town of Regla, the Lukumí ‘‘cradle.’’ Regla was an impor-tant Lukumí enclave in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Cuba. ManyLukumí traditions that survived in Cuba came to the island through Regla’s port.During the early nineteenth century, Egbado influence appears to have beenstrong there. Fernando Ortiz reports that a celebration for Olokún took place inRegla on the sixth of January annually, alongside the Catholic celebration of Three King’s day. Egbado drums, according to Ortiz, were played by
egguado
musicians who ‘‘knew the beats and rhythms.’’ Eventually, Ortiz says, as thesemusicians died, there was no one around to replace them who knew how to playthe Egbado drums. As time passed, Oyo traditions eclipsed those of the Egbadoand the Oyo
batá
drums became the dominant musical instrument
La División de la Habana
:45
Obá Tero probably acquired her freedom sometime in the late 1860s, afterwhich she came to Havana, leaving behind the plantation and the memories of its dehumanizing system of labor. The city offered ex-slaves many possibili-ties in terms of employment and survival. Ortiz dates Obá Tero’s presence inHavana to the early 1870s, when she and her husband Ño Julio directed a
cabildo
in Guanabacoa.
42
Around this time, Ño Julio commissioned a set of
batá
drums for the
cabildo
from the famous Havana drummakers Ño Juan ‘‘ElCojo’’ (Añabí) and Ño Filomeno García (Atandá).
43
Ortiz has clearly shownthat Ño Julio and his wife directed the
cabildo
.
44
Although Ño Julio wasimportant in the association, the principal
olorisha
in the
cabildo
was his wife,which oral tradition says was Ma Monserrate González—Obá Tero.By the final quarter of the nineteenth century, Obá Tero was living onDahoiz Street in the barrio of Alturas de Simpson, in the city of Matanzas, aplace that many
olorishas
considered Matanzas’s heart of Africa.
45
When Julioand Monserrate closed their
cabildo
in Guanabacoa and left for Matanzas, theytook with them both the Egbado drums and the set of
batá
drums that Añabí andAtandá had constructed. Mystery surrounds the journey of the drums, and oneaccount maintains that after Julio’s death, the set of
batá
drums disappearedwithout a trace.
46
The mystery is complicated by the testimony of Obá Tero’sreligious descendants, who do not seem to know what became of them. Someeven dispute or negate her role in bringing the
batá
drums to Matanzas.
47
But, indisputably,
batá
drums did appear in Matanzas. Documentary evi-dence establishes the earliest usage of
batá
drums at a celebration that tookplace at the Cabildo Santa Bárbara on 4 December 1873:
An inspector from the town of San Francisco informed the Civil Governor of the city of Matanzas about a significant incident in the Lucumí Cabildo Santa Bárbara, situatedon Manzaneda Street, on the corner of Velarde, where Ño Remigio Herrera Addéchina[Adeshina] played three strange drums he called
batá,
in the celebrations of Decem-ber 3.
48
The drummer and
babalawo
49
Adeshina was probably the link through whichObá Tero came to reside in Matanzas. Oyo native Ño Remigio Herrera, betterknown by his Lukumí name Adeshina, was possibly one of the earliest
baba-lawos
brought to Cuba.
50
Adeshina entered Cuba through Matanzas, probablyin the late 1820s, and was put to work as a slave in a sugar mill in that province.Tradition has it that soon after he came to the mill, he was recognized as animportant priest by a group of fellow Lukumís who had acquired their freedomprior to his arrival. Adeshina’s compatriots pooled their resources and raisedenough money to purchase his freedom. Like most liberated Africans, Ade-shina sought out the city, in this case Matanzas, and specifically the Simpso
46:
Miguel Ramos
barrio.
51
Soon after acquiring his liberty, Adeshina established the CabildoLucumí Santa Bárbara at 175 Dahoiz Street, on the corner of ManzanedaStreet, where he began to practice as a
babalawo
.Adeshina had obvious ties to Matanzas since it was his point of entry to theisland, but he probably moved from that city (or was at least in the process of doing so) to Havana sometime around 1866, the same year that he establishedthe Cabildo Yemayá in Regla, which is confirmed by the commissioning of thedrums for this
cabildo
in 1866.
52
According to the archival documents, by1872, Adeshina was established in Regla in a house at 23 San Ciprián Street.The house was valued at 1,800 Spanish pesetas.
53
He was still in Regla in1881, although by then he had moved to 31 San Ciprián Street, where he livedwith his wife Francisca Buzlet, his twenty-one-year-old stepdaughter EugeniaLausevio, his daughter Norma Josefa, better known as ‘‘Pepa,’’ then seventeen,and his son Teodoro, fifteen.
54
Why, then, do we find Adeshina back in Matanzas playing
batá
drums in1873, when by that time he had already established his residence in Regla?Though it is possible that he lived in both towns and traveled back and forth,this seems unlikely, considering his advancing age and the historical period inquestion.
55
More likely, Adeshina, already well known in Simpson, made a tripto Matanzas to accompany Obá Tero and the drums that would be used in herc
abildo
there, as well as to introduce the priestess and the
batá
drums to theOrisha community. Ortiz has established that the use of
batá
drums in Cubaoriginated in Havana, in the town of Regla, where the drums were made. Andaccording to archival records from Matanzas, until 1873 such drums were notknown in that city.
56
Moreover, the oral tradition of the
batá
drummers them-selves maintains that it was Adeshina who trained the first generations of
batá
drummers in that city.
57
Adeshina, then, was most likely the connection through which Obá Terocame to reside in Matanzas. By the time of Obá Tero’s move to Matanzas, thetwo had established a close and trusting relationship. According to all sources,they were inseparable allies. So much did Adeshina trust Obá Tero that heallowed her to ordain his daughter Pepa (Eshubí) as a priestess of Elegbá, theOrisha of destiny and the crossroads.
58
Most probably it was Adeshina whohelped Obá Tero establish contact with the Lukumí of Matanzas. The
cabildo
that Obá Tero directed in Simpson was the very same Cabildo Lucumí SantaBárbara that Adeshina had originally established there after his emancipation.The rapid growth of Obá Tero’s reputation as a priestess was greatly aided byAdeshina’s affirmation of her status. Many in Simpson also continued to associ-ate the
cabildo
with Adeshina and considered it his residence in Matanzas.
59
Obá Tero’s move to Matanzas may have been propelled by a series of competitive scuffles among Havana’s Lukumí
olorishas
in the latter half of thenineteenth century. In what is referred to as
La división de la Habana
, it is said
La División de la Habana
:47
that some friction developed in Havana between Obá Tero and an Oyo priestessfrom another Havana
ilé osha
, the distinguished Latuán. During this period,the few Lukumí
cabildos
that existed in Havana were primarily headed byemancipated
iyalorishas
, possibly of Egbado origin, who represented the ear-liest Yorubas brought to Cuba during the late eighteenth and early nineteenthcenturies. In Africa, women had played a pivotal role in Lukumí/Yoruba re-ligious ritual; in the Oyo palace, for example, eight
iyalorishas,
titled ladies,had tended to the Alafín’s religious duties and needs.
60
By the 1860s, these
iyalorishas,
who had been transported as slaves to Cuba, wielded much powerin the Lukumí community and made no effort to hide it. The Lukumí Regla deOsha that took hold on the island is indebted to the persistence, rigidity, andsturdiness of these women.
61
Latuán (Timotea Albear)
Latuán, an Oyo priestess of Shangó, arrived in Cuba in 1863.
62
Her descendantsclaim that she entered the island through Matanzas, and based on the date, sheprobably entered clandestinely. It is not clear if Latuán worked on any of theplantations in Matanzas province for any period of time. It is known, however,that eventually she and her husband Evaristo Albear, a Congo,
63
wound up asdomestic slaves in the home of Colonel Francisco Albear y Lara, a militaryengineer who is famous for having built a new aqueduct to supply water toHavana’s then growing population, a project that lasted from 1858 to 1893.
64
Itis believed that Latuán and Evaristo met on the slave ship that brought them tothe New World, as her descendants insist that they met and married in Africa.
65
Since they share the Albear surname, it is highly probable that at some pointthey were the colonel’s ‘‘property’’ and not just his employees. Still, her grand-children claim that Latuán was not a slave but an
emancipada
, and insist thatlegislation forced Colonel Albear to teach her to read and write and to pay her asalary for her work. They say that under the series of laws that led to the gradualabolition of slavery, she had to work as an
emancipada
for a period of ten years,after which she would have been given her freedom.
66
Latuán apparently was a favored slave in Albear’s home, something sug-gested by her literacy, since the fact that a law existed that required masters toinstruct their slaves did not necessarily mean that everyone obeyed it. Beingliterate afforded Latuán a strong degree of respect among her contemporaries,which further buttressed her religious hierarchy.
67
Oral sources emphasize thatLatuán was an avid reader; after her emancipation, relatives say, she would notbudge from her house until she had read the day’s newspaper. She was veryproud of this achievement and boasted about being ‘‘una negra lukumí pero yosé las cuatro reglas. Yo sé leer y escribir!’’ (a black Lukumí woman but I knowthe four rules [of literacy]. I know how to read and write!).
68
48:
Miguel Ramos
Latuán and Evaristo had six children: Rosa, Isabel, Dominga, Martin,Eligio, and Herminio Severino. Their grandson Martin Zurria Albear, Do-minga’s son and the oldest of the surviving relatives, remembers that Latuánwould gather all her children and grandchildren around her on the floor so shecould tell them stories of Africa and of the
orishas
. In the religious realm,Lukumís from as far away as Santiago de Cuba would travel to Havana torequest her services as a priestess and Obá Oriaté—master of ceremonies
69
—especially for ordination rituals. She was well known for her profound knowl-edge of divination, prayers, and chants to the
orishas
, and she shared much of this knowledge with her religious descendants and followers.
70
Despite herunyielding nature in religious matters, she was described as a very gentle, soft-spoken, and well-mannered woman who treated everyone with the utmostrespect.Sometime during the 1870s Latuán became affiliated with a
cabildo
inHavana, where she eventually exercised considerable influence in her capacityas Obá Oriaté. The
cabildo
was known only by its address, San José 80, whichwas in the Atarés section of Havana. It was considered an authoritative Lukumí cult house, and many powerful priestesses of the era were associated with it. Inthe nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Atarés was an African enclave withinthe city of Havana. The Cabildo San José 80 had probably been founded by thefirst wave of Lukumís who came to reside in the city in the latter eighteenthcentury. Many of the Cabildo’s founders are remembered in the prayers orsalutations that are recited at the onset of most rituals. It was also presumably atthe Cabildo San José 80 that Latuán met Efunshé, the other important priestesswho would be involved in the subsequent struggle for power and territory.
71
Efunshé (Ña Rosalía Abreú)
Like Latuán, Efunshé was a highly respected and revered Lukumí
olorisha
inHavana. She was an Egbado, like Obá Tero, and possibly of royal origin. Someof her religious descendants insist that Efunshé was a princess in Africa. Theyemphasize that her disciples never allowed her to walk in the city; instead, theytransported her around Havana in a sedan chair.
72
This emphasis on Efunshé’sroyal roots possibly is justification for the fact that she occupied the role of ‘‘queen’’ of the Cabildo San José 80. Efunshé’s importance was unquestion-able. At times, her personal presence there even overshadowed the importantrole of the
cabildo
as an institution. In the 1950s, for example, the researcherLydia Cabrera confused Efunshé’s name with that of the
cabildo
she directed,writing that ‘‘Efuché [was] the name of a late-nineteenth-century
cabildo
inHavana.’’
73
How Efunshé arrived in Cuba is somewhat of a mystery, since mostsources stress that she did not come to the island as a slave. Efunshé may havebeen one of those few fortunate Africans who, having been smuggled into th
La División de la Habana
:49
island prior to the emancipation decrees, nevertheless gained their freedomimmediately after arrival. Another possibility is that Efuché may have pur-chased her liberty elsewhere in the Caribbean and then traveled to Cuba insearch of work.The facts surrounding Efunshé’s arrival are not the only enigmas, as variousother unanswered questions surround her. Efunshé seems to have left no tracewhatsoever of her life before arriving in Havana. To start, there is some confu-sion about her Spanish surname: Abreú, Agramosa, Gramosa, Rosalía, andRosarena have all been mentioned as possible surnames for the Lukumí prin-cess. Most
olorishas
refer to her as Ña Rosalía, or by her Lukumí name,Efunshé, but they seldom mention a Spanish surname. Present thinking is thatAbreú was most probably her name.
74
Two sources say that she was originallybrought to a sugar mill in Havana province, the Ingenio Agramosa (or Gra-mosa), which belonged to a family of the same name, but thus far, no records of this sugar mill have been found.
75
Roque Duarte, the oldest Obá Oriaté in theUnited States, in a work in progress on Lukumí religion, uses Rosalía as hersurname, referring to Efunshé as Ña Victoriana Rosalía.
76
Rosarena, anothername that has appeared, may have been derived from Rosalía.Additionally, Efunshé has no living blood descendants. Only one daughterhas been identified with any degree of confidence: Calixta Morales (Odé Deí).In apparent compliance with societal norms, Africans gave their children Span-ish names, but many Cuban Lukumí also gave them extra-official Africannames.
77
Odé Deí, therefore, is also known by her Lukumí name, Atikeké(‘‘small gift’’), a name that was usually given in recognition of a deity’s inter-vention in the person’s birth. Odé Deí’s Lukumí birth name suggests thatEfunshé may have had problems conceiving the child and that she was consid-ered as a gift from the deities.
78
The oral record also mentions two otherrelatives, either daughters or nieces, depending on the variant of the story.These two women are only known to us by their Lukumí names, Ashijú andAshijú’rolá. One other possible relation was Kaindé, a
babalawo
associatedwith the Cabildo
San José 80 who many say was married to Efunshé.
79
There iseven some contradiction regarding Efunshé’s
orisha
.
80
While most informantsagree that she was ordained to Oshosi, some believe she was a priestess of Yewá, and at least one source has connected her with Obatalá. The link withObatalá may derive from her name, which some believe alludes to
efún
, a whitechalk used for Obatalá’s worship.
81
What is certain is that by the 1870s Efunshé and Latuán had joined forcesand had established a strong reputation in Havana. Latuán acted as Obá Oriatéfor all of her godchildren (
omó orisha,
literally, ‘‘child in
orisha
’’), includingOdé Deí, who was ordained by Efunshé’s first godchild in Cuba, Luis Suarez(Oshún Miwá). In the late 1800s, Efunshé inherited the direction of San José80, and she ordained various
olorishas
in Havana in the last quarter of the
50:
Miguel Ramos
nineteenth century.
82
Until her death in the late 1920s, she and Latuán con-tinued to work side by side, and Latuán was the Obá Oriaté for many of theordinations conducted by Efunshé.
83
It is highly probable that Latuán eitherperformed or directed Efunshé’s funerary rituals.
84
Efunshé’s influence was sostrong that even today most practitioners of Lukumí religion in Havana claimto be descended directly from her, and not from the Cabildo San José 80.
85
Forthe most part, oral historians agree that when Latuán and Efunshé directed SanJosé 80, the two priestesses were very close and expressed a mutual admirationfor one another. Efunshé’s role in
La división de la Habana
is not clear. Obviously, she wasa participant, since she was directing the Cabildo when the struggle took place.It is quite possible that she was the main protagonist in the contest, although shemay have chosen to remain behind the scenes. One variant of the story of
Ladivisión de la Habana
insists that the real rivalry was not between Latuán andObá Tero, but between Efunshé and Latuán, and that Latuán’s move to BuenaVista in Marianao occurred as a result of friction with Efunshé.
86
There is littleevidence to support this account; indeed, there is strong evidence to the con-trary. What we can surmise is that there was a great deal of cooperation or, atthe very least, some level of compromise between Latuán and Efunshé, for therituals of their two lineages, unlike those of Obá Tero’s, vary little, if at all, tothis day. At the very least, we can conclude that Efunshé supported Latuánthroughout
La división
, allowing the process to play itself out, which even-tually brought a result that benefited everyone involved.
Origin of the Dispute
Both Latuán and Obá Tero are revered today, and few Lukumís recall theterritorial clash that resulted in Obá Tero’s decision to leave Guanabacoa andmove to Simpson. Of those who do remember, still fewer can say what led ObáTero to move to the second most important city of the western end of the island.In the growing Lukumí community, which was expanding to include non-Lukumís as well, power and prestige were inseparable allies that everyonesought to attain and to maintain. Within their own ‘‘territories’’ in Havana, theLukumí set their own rules. Anything or anyone that would counter any aspectof these rules was considered a threat. In a society where Africans and theirdescendants occupied the lowest rungs of the social ladder, the Lukumí foughttenaciously to retain their hard-won status, even if this meant resorting to
ogú
(spiritual power) and slander. The friction between Obá Tero and Latuán be-came much more than a contest for popularity, escalating to become a subtle,although by no means discreet, war that lasted for several years. Within theestablished rules of the combat, both
iyalorishas
used every resource at theircommand, including negative propaganda, intimidation, and spiritual power
La División de la Habana
:51
The propaganda became so vitriolic that Obá Tero’s
cabildo
became knowndisparagingly as the Cabildo
Alakisá—the House of Rags.
87
Eventually, afternumerous encounters and scuffles, the two factions reached an understanding.Obá Tero moved to Matanzas, and Latuán, whom most say was the victor,stayed in Havana. From that day forward, neither priestess would set foot in theother’s ‘‘kingdom.’’
88
Beyond personal animosity and professional rivalry, however, several otherfactors contributed to
La división de la Habana
. West African antecedents prob-ably fostered some bitterness between the Egbado and the Oyo. The Egbado inYorubaland had been ‘‘very loyal subjects of the Alafin [king of Oyo]’’ since atleast the mid–seventeenth century. But that did not necessarily mean that theywere on the best of terms with the Oyo people, whose numerous incursions intoEgbado territory in the latter half of the 1700s subjected the Egbados to Oyorule.
89
Those Egbado who had suffered as a result of the Oyo’s incursions,those who possibly lost relatives, or whose offspring or siblings had been cap-tured as war bounty and sold as slaves, would not have held the Oyo in highesteem.In Cuba, there were clear signs of unresolved tensions between the twogroups. Many Egbados had been brought to Cuba in the late 1700s when theport town of Regla, which would soon become an important Lukumí enclave,was in its infancy. The number of Oyo slaves in Cuba would grow considerablyafter the 1780s, which signaled the onset of friction in West Africa that even-tually escalated and led to the empire’s downfall in the 1800s. But the Egba-dos definitely preceded the Oyos in Cuba. In the early nineteenth century,the Kingdom of Dahomey had rebelled against Oyo, extending its slave raidsinto southern Yoruba territories, including Egbado, that had formerly enjoyedOyo’s protection. As a consequence, the Dahomey enslaved many Egbadocitizens and shipped them to the New World, especially to Cuba. At the time,the Oyo were too preoccupied with their own troubles to reprimand Dahomeyfor its defiance, and the empire stood silently by while its territories wereinvaded.
90
Accordingly, in Cuba, Egbado traditions originally dominated Lu-kumí religious practices, particularly in Regla. It was not until about 1825,then, that Oyo practices became paramount.
91
As the Oyo grew in numbers and importance in Havana, they sought toexpand their political and cultural hegemony by establishing their patterns of ordination and worship as the official patterns for Lukumí religion in Cuba. Inthe environs of Havana, until the Oyos’ arrival in large numbers, the Lukumí religion had been conducted in a manner similar to the more personal, family-oriented worship that was commonly practiced in Yoruba compounds in Af-rica. In that system, the
orisha
was consecrated for the entire compound orhousehold. Through possession or consulting the oracles, a representative fromthe family was selected to attend to the deity’s worship, and certain ceremonies
52:
Miguel Ramos
were performed to grant this individual the right to do so. This person, althoughconsidered an
olorisha
because he or she attended to the deity, was not dulyordained into the priesthood; that is, he or she was not ‘‘crowned.’’ After havingbeen so empowered, he or she could perform cleansing rituals, divination,offerings, and other rites for the compound or community, rites that elsewherewere typically performed by an ordained
olorisha
. Upon the individual’s death,a relative previously chosen by the deceased or determined in divination wouldinherit the deity. This type of worship in Cuba was called
santo parado
(stand-ing saint), or
santo de dotación
(workgang’s saint).
92
In contrast, the ordination of an
olorisha
in urbanized areas around Havanawas much more complex, as it followed the intricate and highly ritualizedpatterns that had been used in the courts and royal palaces of Oyo and Oyo-influenced areas of ancient Yorubaland. All the areas in West Africa that hadcome under Oyo influence—Egbado among them—had been inculcated intothe worship of Shangó, Oyo’s patron
orisha
, and by extension, had been influ-enced by Oyo’s rituals.
93
The Lukumí ordination ceremony,
kariosha
, is re-ferred to as ‘‘crowning.’’ In the words of Efunshé’s daughter, Odé Deí: ‘‘Hacersanto es hacer rey. Y kariocha es una ceremonia de reyes, como las del palaciodel Obá Lucumí’’ (To make saint [to be ordained to an
orisha
] is to makeroyalty. And
kariocha
[the ordination ceremony] is a royal ceremony, like thosefrom the palace of the Lukumí [Oyo] king).
94
Traditionally, when devotees spoke of ordination, they commonly referredto it as
coronar santo
(crowning the saint). In fact, even today, on the secondday of the Oyo-centric Havana ordination ritual, the ritual garments include avery elaborate crown that is placed on the novice’s head by the godparent orsponsoring
olorisha
. Most important, Havana’s
orisha
rituals revolve aroundthe Obá Oriaté, the master of ceremonies for all rituals, an indispensable re-ligious specialist who performs the majority of ordination and consecrationrites in the religion. While it is still unclear whether the Obá Oriaté existed inAfrican tradition, in all probability this role would have fallen to the priestesseswho served the Alafín in the Oyo palace.
95
The word
obá
(king) in the title ObáOriaté is a clear reflection of the importance of this rank, and the religiousdictates of the individual who holds this rank, like the Alafín’s secular procla-mations, are considered ‘‘law.’’As Oyo natives displaced Egbados, the Havana rite of ordination intoRegla de Osha became extremely Oyo-centric, and Havana became the centerfor the later dissemination of these traditions to other areas of the island. Notsurprisingly, Havana practitioners sought to maintain their predominance bymaking the royal Oyo coronation ceremony the only legitimate ordinationritual of Lukumí religion on the island. Illustrative of such attempts to enforceOyo hegemony is the case of Octavio Samá (Adeosun), better known as Obadi-mejí. Samá, born of Lukumí parents, became one of the most controversial and
La División de la Habana
:53
influential individuals in the history of Lukumí religion on the island. When hearrived in Havana from his native Sabanillas in the early twentieth century,Samá sought to establish his religious practice in the city by identifying withthe Lukumí religious community there. He claimed to have been ordained toOshún, the Lukumí
orisha
of sensuality and beauty, in Sabanillas by his Lu-kumí family. The Havana community refused to recognize his claim and in-sisted that he submit to initiation in Havana’s Oyo-centric ordination rite. Samáwas definitely well versed in Lukumí rituals and even spoke the Lukumí lan-guage fluently. In fact, his Lukumí was much better than his Spanish. Althoughhe was a Creole, it is said that he spoke Spanish like a
bozal,
a derogatory termthat was used to describe newly arrived slaves.
96
Latuán, who by this time had established a strong reputation as one of themost respected and powerful Lukumí
olorishas
and Obá Oriatés in Havana,insisted that Samá’s ordination in Sabanillas had not been orthodox. By herdecree, Samá was ordained in Havana, not to Oshún but to Aganjú,
orisha
of the deserts and patron of travelers. Latuán performed the ordination herself. Onthe third day of the ordination, in a ceremony during which divination isperformed for the novice and the
orishas
express their prescriptions and pro-scriptions through the oracles, it was revealed that Samá had not lied about hisearlier ordination. As a result, he was given the name Obadimejí—‘‘he who iscrowned twice.’’ Actually, the term translates literally as ‘‘king becomes two,’’but in Cuba it is interpreted as I have given it here.In the years following this controversy, any resentment that may havedeveloped between Latuán and Obadimejí as a consequence of her challenge tohis legitimacy was put aside, and until her death in February 1935 they re-mained great friends. Indeed, one of Cabrera’s informants told her that Obadi-mejí and Latuán were inseparable. In fact, the informant hinted at a conspir-acy between the two to reordain and/or limit the functions of
olorishas
fromthe Cuban countryside.
97
It is known that Latuán often boycotted the rites of
olorishas
whose ordinations she considered doubtful by Havana standards, byrefusing to lend her services as Obá Oriaté.
98
If Latuán refused to participate,no other Obá Oriaté would dare to challenge her authority by performing a rivalceremony. Apparently, despite the deference she enjoyed from most of hercontemporaries, Latuán continued her power struggles for leverage and hege-mony well into the twentieth century.Obadimejí became Latuán’s only recognized male disciple, working along-side her and serving as her arms and eyes after she became too old to performrituals herself. Interestingly, after Latuán’s death, the position of Obá Oriatébecame dominated by men, who gradually displaced the women who until thattime had exercised the office. By the time of Obadimejí’s death in October 1944,the Obá Oriaté position was an almost exclusively male function. Obadimejí trained two known disciples, Tomás Romero (Ewín Letí) and Nicolás Valentín
54:
Miguel Ramos
Angarica (Obá Tolá). Despite having been mentored by some of the greatest
iyalorishas
in Lukumí religion, he never trained a woman.
99
La division de la Habana
The coronation of Obadimejí and his subsequent leadership within the Cabildo,contrasts sharply with the rivalry that developed between Latuán and Obá Tero.Theirs grew out of the variations that existed between Egbado rites and those of the growing Oyo-centric groups. At the heart of the controversy was Obá Tero,who opposed the new reforms or variations that had been brought to Havana,which stressed the already contentious relationship that existed between ObáTero and the rest of the community.
100
Obá Tero was an Oní Shangó
101
; she hadbeen ordained in what seems to have been an Egbado palace tradition and wasobviously influenced by Oyo, although her practice entailed significant re-gional differences. Although many of Obá Tero’s Egbado ritual practices didnot conform to the growing Oyo-centric Havana tradition, her ordination andstatus, in effect, her legitimacy as an
iyalorisha,
were never questioned. Be-cause of common beliefs, her ordination was considered valid by Oyo, andthereby Havana, standards. By itself, her ordination to Shangó, her tutelar
orisha,
was sufficient proof that her coronation conformed to Oyo tradition.
102
She definitely was recognized as a valid and orthodox
iyalorisha
.While avoiding any overt challenge to Obá Tero’s legitimacy, Latuán, atthe forefront of the Oyo Court tradition in Havana, did challenge certain pro-cedural aspects of Obá Tero’s Egbado rites that were uncommon among theOyo, and this was the basis of the rivalry between the two. Moreover, Obá Terocontended that Latuán was reforming the religion to cater to other Africans andto the growing presence of whites and mulattos.
103
Efunshé sided with Latuán against Obá Tero, introducing many adapta-tions to the Lukumí religion in Havana as well as some rituals that had not beenknown before her arrival. Some informants say that, before Efunshé came toCuba, it was the case that during a new
olorisha
’s consecration she would beprovided with two
orishas
: Elegbá,
the
orisha
of the crossroads, as well as thespecific tutelar deity that had been identified for the initiate by the oracles. Thiscustom was typically referred to as
pie y cabeza
(‘‘feet and head’’), as thenovice was provided with her/his tutelary
orisha
—the ‘‘head’’
orisha
—aswell as the
orisha
of the crossroads, which represented the ‘‘feet’’ with whichone would travel along life’s road. If the individual needed any other
orishas,
the oracles would determine that on the third day of the ordination ceremony.Oral tradition claims that when Efunshé came to Cuba, she introduced a num-ber of additional
orishas
into the ordination ceremony. Perplexingly, in spiteof Efunshé’s Egbado origin, the Lukumí consider that most of these
orishas
have strong ties with Shangó, and thereby Oyo, not Egbado, tradition. Four
La División de la Habana
:55
orishas
—Obatalá, Yemojá, Oshún, and Shangó—along with Elegbá, are oftenconsidered the principal pillars of the Lukumí ordination.
104
On the one hand, variations in ritual practices were not uncommon inLukumí religion; each Lukumí group brought its own traditions to the island.Traditions varied considerably from one group to another, and distinctionsoften existed even within members of a single group. In all probability, thesedifferences had their origins in Yorubaland and were then strongly enforced bythe Lukumís in Cuba, who needed to reinforce a sense of connection with theirlost homeland. The members of the Cabildo Iyesá Moddún in Simpson, allblood relatives, provide an excellent example of this type of tenacity. To thisday, the Cabildo continues to follow the African traditions from its territory of Ijeshá, and they have not acceded to either Oyo or Egbado pressure. It shouldbe noted that Ijeshá territory was never penetrated by the Oyos’ cavalry be-cause of its location in a heavily forested area of the country where horses wereineffective. Although they paid yearly tributes, the Ijeshá were never con-sidered Oyo subjects. Indeed, the Ijesha were typically mocked by the Oyo asan inferior people, which was possibly a way to divert attention from theembarrassment occasioned by the Oyos’ inability to penetrate the Ijesha for-ests.
105
Perhaps the refusal to accept Oyo-centric religious influences as prac-ticed in Cuba reflects a continuation of the Ijesha’s historical resistance to Oyohegemony.On the other hand, what constituted the exact procedure for the
pie ycabeza
rite is contested. While the rituals inherent in
pie y cabeza
in all likeli-hood reflect the older, rural
santo parado
tradition, there is no evidence that the
pie y cabeza
consecration was limited to only two
orishas.
This custom of receiving various
orishas
seems to have African antecedents, for it is paralleledby similar practices in Brazilian Candomblé.
106
It does not seem likely, then,that Efunshé introduced additional deities to the ordination. Rather, what ismost probable is that she introduced the Oyo-centric palace tradition of thecrowning ceremony, the
kariosha
, which then gradually supplanted the rural,
santo parado
tradition.
107
Obá Tero refused to practice according to the new standards or alter herrites in any way. She, too, may have introduced some Oyo influences fromYorubaland, but apparently they were not sufficient to placate Latuán. Indeed,one of the fundamental traits of Obá Tero’s character was her unyielding nature,and the controversies in Havana earned her a disparaging nickname: la Reinade Quitasol (literally, the ‘‘Queen of Take-Away-Sun,’’ or the one who makesthe day cloudy). Eventually, Obá Tero came to be seen as a heretic whose ritualsvaried from those of the more powerful faction; in other words, Obá Tero’srituals ‘‘clouded’’ the rites of the contending faction by flying in the face of the system Latuán and her supporters were trying to impose. This perceptionworked in Latuán’s favor, as many
olorishas
, both deliberately and unintentional
56:
Miguel Ramos
tionally, used the disagreement between the two priestesses to foment addi-tional tensions. It is worth noting that Latuán did not have any difficulties withthe other Egbado
olorishas
who practiced in Havana; perhaps this was becausenot all Egbados were as contentious and rigid as Obá Tero.
Obá Tero in Matanzas
As a consequence of the bad blood between the two reigning priestesses, ObáTero relocated to Simpson, where she introduced the unknown Oyo-Egbadoordination ritual to the residents of Matanzas. She is therefore credited withhaving brought the
kariosha
ceremony to Matanzas, from whence it spread toother areas of the island.
108
Controversy followed Obá Tero to Simpson. Soonafter her arrival, she once again found herself engulfed in a religious conflictwith a Matanzas
olorisha
over the legitimacy of the ordination of FerminaGómez (Oshabí). Oshabí was a Creole, born on a sugar plantation, where hermother María Elena Gómez (Balagún) had been brought as a slave from theKalabar area of West Africa. Balagún was ordained to Oshosi in Cuba by ObáTero. Oshabí’s father, Florentino Gómez, was an Egbado. He was apparentlyinvolved with Egúngún worship in Matanzas, and was called Elepirí, a namethat may reflect some ties with the Yoruba Egúngún cult.
109
Some sources saythat he was in charge of the masks used for Egúngún rituals in the city.
110
Oshabí had been ordained to Oshún in the 1870s by Ño José (Ikudaisí), inwhat seems to have been the rural
santo parado
tradition. One source insiststhat Ikudaisí was Oshabí’s paternal grandfather.
111
Oshabí’s paternal familywas Erómele, an obscure Egbado subgroup that in all probability are the Eg-bado Imálà.
112
One researcher has said that the Imálà were mostly Egbadoswho migrated south from Oyo during the middle and latter part of the eigh-teenth century.
113
Presumably, Ikudaisí, who is alleged to have also lived inRegla, was responsible for having brought Oro dancing and Egúngún masksand dancing to Matanzas.Ironically, Oshabí’s life took a terrible turn soon after her ordination ritual.Word of the situation reached Obá Tero, who sent for Oshabí and, throughdivination, determined that the calamities she was facing had occurred becauseher ordination had been improper. To correct the mistake, the ordination had tobe revalidated. To make matters worse, Obá Tero claimed that Oshabí had beenordained to the wrong
orisha
!
Obá Tero reordained her, this time to her ‘‘true’’
orisha
, Yemojá.
114
Needless to say, the decision to reordain Oshabí broughtObá Tero serious problems with Ikudaisí, and in a stark reminiscence of
Ladivisión de la Habana,
soon after, the two
olorishas
were at war. But this timeObá Tero was determined to win, and in so doing, she established an unas-sailable reputation in Simpson as an extremely powerful and knowledgeablepriestess.
La División de la Habana
:57
A few days after Obá Tero had concluded Oshabí’s reordination, sometimeafter midnight, Ikudaisí came to the Cabildo’s door and began to perform aritual that he boasted would teach his rival a lesson. But Shangó, Obá Tero’s
orisha
, had other plans. The unsuspecting
iyalorisha
was already asleep whenShangó possessed her, and she ran to the door and caught Ikudaisí in the act.Ikudaisí was shocked. Dumbfounded, he stumbled and fell, then immediately jumped to his feet and deliriously ran down the street, fearing Shangó’s wrath.The commotion awakened Obá Tero’s neighbors, who came out to see whatwas going on. Immediately, Shangó performed a ceremony in the doorway tooverturn Ikudaisí’s
ogú
. When she returned from her possessed state, Obá Terowas puzzled and wanted to know what had happened to her. When her neigh-bors told her what had occurred, she was outraged!
115
Hostilities between the two
olorishas
lasted for months. Whenever Iku-daisí had to walk down Obá Tero’s block, he would cross to the opposite side of the street to avoid any encounters with his feared rival. Nevertheless, Ikudaisí continued to discredit Obá Tero wherever he went and persisted with his spir-itual attacks against her. Although he never dared return to her doorstep again,he sent envoys to throw medicinal powders and other
ogú
in her doorway. Atfirst, Obá Tero simply chose to ignore Ikudaisí’s futile threats and remedied thesituation with minor rituals to protect her house against him and his magic.Shangó was another issue, though, and he was losing patience. One day, justbefore noon, the enraged
orisha
again possessed Obá Tero. Tradition insiststhat she behaved like the dark, menacing clouds raging with lightning flashesthat roam the sky at the onset of the violent storms that are so typical both inAfrica and the Caribbean.Shangó dashed out to the wooden bowl that rested atop the inverted mortarwhere Obá Tero kept his attributes and took one of his most sacred emblems,the lightning stone (
edún ará),
from the bowl. Myth says that such stonesaccompany the bolts of lightning that the
orisha
propels from the heavens tocastigate the wicked. Shangó ran out the doorway with the stone, and thenwalked to Ikudaisí’s house and stood in his doorway. Holding the stone inhis hand, Shangó performed a rite with the stone and yelled to the heavens.Soon after, the skies darkened and an ominous thunderstorm ensued. Lightningstrikes were reported all over the town, but one very symbolic bolt struck rightin front of Ikudaisí’s door, in the same spot where Obá Tero, possessed byShangó, had stood a while earlier. Mysteriously, Ikudaisí died the followingday and Obá Tero was hailed as the victor.
116
In spite of the teleological echoes in this story, believers are convinced that
La división de la Habana
and Obá Tero’s subsequent relocation to Matanzaswere the result of a supernatural intervention, whose intentions reached beyondthe petty human issues involved in the disputes. In the thirty years that she livedin Simpson, Obá Tero revolutionized the practice of Regla de Osha in the town,
58:
Miguel Ramos
and by extension, the entire province. She completely reformed MatanzasLukumí practices by introducing her Egbado ordination rituals as they hadbeen practiced in the ancient Yoruba palaces and in Havana. Before her arrivalin Simpson, there had been no orthodox ordinations in that city, at least not thetype of ordination that would have been considered orthodox by Havana’scriteria, the
kariosha.
That ritual eventually became the acceptable ordinationrite for the entire island. Additionally, after her clash with Ikudaisí, Obá Tero’sreputation as a powerful priestess and mount of Shangó was unassailable.No one dared to doubt her knowledge, and any skeptics that may have hadtheir reservations were too impressed—possibly intimidated—to dare to voicethem.Obá Tero’s arrival in Matanzas had one other important repercussion. Al-though the details are a bit vague, she was the principal influence in reunitingtwo African ethnic groups that had been archenemies in West Africa: the Luku-mís and the Arará, so-called by traders because their origins were at the port of Allada in the ancient kingdom of Dahomey. Since its inception as a state on theWest African coast, the kingdom of Dahomey had had a significant impact onneighboring coastal areas. Dahomey often disrupted the flow of slaves from theinterior, as well as sowing seeds of disruption at the compounds where slaveswere held awaiting European slave ships. Eventually, these disruptions affectedthe trade of neighboring peoples so much that the Oyos decided to take actionagainst the younger kingdom. Francisco Pereyra Mendes, the director of thePortuguese slaving port of Whydah, reported that around April 1726, the Oyosbegan a series of devastating invasions into Dahomey.
117
Oyo attacks continued for the remainder of the decade, so that by 1730 theDahomeans came under the domain of the northern empire, agreeing to payOyo a yearly tribute. But Dahomey encountered difficulties in fulfilling theterms of their agreement with Oyo, which brought further Oyo hostilities downupon them. Finally, in 1748, both states reached an agreement that would stayin force until the onset of Oyo political unrest in the late 1770s. By that time,Oyo had also incorporated much of northern Yorubaland and was receivingconsiderable revenue in the form of tribute from various other Yoruba states(including Owu, Egba, Ketú, Sabe, Egbado, Ilesha, Ilá, Ijebú, and Dahomey).One result of the Oyo invasions of Dahomey was that many Arará foundthemselves on slave ships bound for the Caribbean. Their arrival in Cubapreceded that of their Oyo-Lukumí foes by almost one hundred years.
118
Resentment and bitterness, legacies of Africa, marked the relationshipbetween the two groups on the island. This clash, which probably existed sinceat least the late eighteenth century, intensified during the nineteenth centurywith the increased presence on the island of enslaved Lukumís. As the numberof liberated Lukumís grew, a confrontation between the two groups becameinevitable. By the nineteenth century, emancipated Lukumís and Araba
La División de la Habana
:59
been forced by circumstance or necessity to live in the same cities or towns, andsometimes even in adjacent houses or
solares
(housing complexes). Traditionemphasizes that although the two groups exhibited some level of tolerance forone another, for the most part they tried to keep their distance. Although theLukumí and Arará religions are sister religions, and many Lukumí deities hadbeen adopted by the Arará in West Africa, the religious rituals of one groupwere often declared off limits to the other and seldom would an Arará visit aLukumí
cabildo
or vice-versa.Oral tradition emphasizes that at some point, possibly around the 1890s orearly 1900s, at the behest of the deities, the Lukumí began to share theirknowledge with the Arará. Before that time, Cuban Arará religion had not beenas heavily influenced by the Lukumí as it is at present. Evidence indicates thatLukumí influence on Arará religious practices was born in Matanzas duringthis particular period.
119
Any initiate familiar with the current Arará ordinationritual will find an unmistakable Lukumí influence that is a definite Cubanproduct and not something brought over from Africa. The Obá Oriaté, animportant hierarchical figure in the Lukumí priesthood, now plays an importantrole in Arará rituals as well. The Obá Oriaté—a master of ceremonies whodirects and presides over all rituals—is considered the utmost source of ritualknowledge. Likewise, the Lukumí oracles, the use of divination with sixteencowries
(Dilogún),
and divination using four pieces of coconut
(Obí)
have allachieved importance in Arará rites.
120
The Obá Oriaté’s participation in Araráordination rites has become as indispensable as it is in Lukumí ritual. For thisfusion to have occurred, the Lukumís and Ararás had to declare a truce in theirembittered relationship. In all probability, as suggested by testimony fromvarious sources, this truce was influenced by Obá Tero after her arrival inSimpson because of her reputation as an orthodox and powerful priestess thatshe so ardently fought to maintain.According to oral testimony, sometime at the turn of the century, an impor-tant religious celebration took place in Simpson. The exact nature of the cere-mony is no longer recalled, though it was possibly a
wemilere
—a festivity thatinvolves drumming and chanting and possession by the deities—and that it hadbeen requested by the oracles at the annual divination ritual.
121
The exactlocation of the observance is not known. Both Lukumís and Ararás were pres-ent, which perhaps indicates that the tension between the two groups hadalready started to abate. Present at the celebration were Obá Tero and MicaelaArzuaga (Melofo), an important Arará priestess who had founded the CabildoArará Sabalú in that city. It was on that day that Flora Heredia’s life—and byextension all of Arará culture—would take an interesting and highly significantturn. Subsequent events, whose seeds were planted at that particular
wemilere,
would create a strong alliance between the two groups and change Heredia’slife forever.
60:
Miguel Ramos
Heredia, or Florita, as her descendants know her, was a Creole of partialLukumí descent. From birth, the oracles had identified her as a daughter of Oshún, the Lukumí Venus, but at the time of the celebration she had not yetbeen ordained. She was a young woman, possibly in her twenties, and that dayFlorita was enjoying the celebration, dancing somewhere toward the back of the room where the drums were playing, as the uninitiated are required to do. Atsome point, Towossi (an Arará
vodún
related to death) and Oshún joined thefaithful in possession and were dancing to the beat of the drums. If there wastension among the human worshippers, there seems to have been none amongthe deities, for they shared the same ritual space without any semblance of animosity whatsoever. Towossi turned and caught a glimpse of Florita and thensuddenly turned to face Oshún, asking, ‘‘Oshún, may I have your daughter?’’Oshún, according to the story, answered unhesitatingly, ‘‘Sure,’’—and kepton dancing. But then, possibly because of Towossi’s relationship with death,Oshún’s worst enemy, it struck her and she asked: ‘‘Towossi, what do you wantwith my daughter?’’ To which the other deity answered, ‘‘I do not want to harmyour daughter in any way. Instead, I want to take her somewhere where thepeople have no leader, no direction. Somewhere she has never been, where Iwill make her a queen and give her more than you could ever imagine. Give herto me and I’ll bring her to rule over my people, and together, our people willknow peace.’’ ‘‘Let us take her there together, then,’’ answered Oshún.
122
If thegods ordained it, the devotees could do little but abide by their deities’ wishesand accept their guidance.Soon after, in the first of its kind, Florita was ordained to Towossi in a ritualdirected by both Arará and Lukumí priestesses and priests. In the ordination,she was named Afoare. Obá Tero directed the ritual, functioning as the ObáOriaté, and in so doing, she began the process of teaching the
kariosha
cere-mony and the use of Lukumí oracles to the Arará who would eventually in-corporate much of this knowledge into their own rituals. Like the Lukumí
olorishas
initiated in the
santo parado
tradition, prior to Florita the Arará hadnot ‘‘crowned’’ their priests and priestesses. Rather, they had consecrated a
fodún
(
vodún
), as dictated by individual necessity, preparing and instructing thedevotee in the particulars related to that deity so that he or she could attend toit properly.Obá Tero’s gifts to the Arará were numerous. The geographical proximityof these two peoples in West Africa cannot be ignored, and it is highly prob-able that diffusion preceded their reencounter in Cuba. Many of the cere-monies that Obá Tero is believed to have shared may not have been new to theArará. Possibly, the rituals practiced by Obá Tero may have simply reawakeneddormant Arará rituals in Matanzas, allowing them to thrive and coexist withLukumí rituals. One of many possible examples of this revitalization is
La División de la Habana
:61
current Arará use of cowries and coconuts for divination. Though the Arará hadused cowries and coconuts for ritual divination in Dahomey, sources stress thatthey had not made use of these oracles in Cuba, at least not until the Lukumí shared them with the Arará. Until then, they had been strictly Lukumí posses-sions.
123
Following the patterns of the Lukumí ordination ritual, the Arará nowconsecrate a set of
dilogún
for each
fodún
at the time of the ordination of the
asió
(the Arará novice), and on the third day of the ordination, like the Lukumí
orishas
, each
fodún
now communicates the prescriptions and proscriptionsthrough the
dilogún
oracle.Obá Tero continued working as an Obá Oriaté for the Arará, in many waysbridging the differences between them, until her death in 1907, at which timeher religious progeny, Oshabí, took over. The first Arará Oriaté, trained byOshabí, did not arise until shortly before her death in 1950. As foretold byTowossi, Afoare grew to become the most renowned Arará priestess in Simp-son, revitalizing the Arará rituals and invigorating them with a new energyprovided by the Lukumí transfusion. Like the unification of power in Havana,for the most part the Arará and Lukumí in Matanzas put aside their politicalrivalries born of conflict in Africa and allowed similarities in belief to fuse inthe New World. In so doing, they gave birth to a new manifestation of Araráreligion. By the 1950s, when Cabrera was conducting fieldwork in Matanzas,the relationship between the two groups was definitely amicable, so much sothat in Cabrera’s legendary study,
El Monte,
the Arará often seem to be justanother Lukumí ethnic group and not an individual nation. Cabrera even men-tions an Arará informant named Salakó, clearly a Lukumí name, given to achild who is born in a caul.
124
At present, there is a strong unity between the tworeligious communities in Simpson that has overcome tensions that existedbetween them in the past. Many Lukumí actively participate in Arará cere-monies, and vice-versa, something that both groups say was unheard of untilObá Tero’s arrival in Matanzas.
Conclusion
In a century of rapid expansion and constant change, Africans and their descen-dants in Cuba were not very different from the rest of Cuban society in that theyattempted to transform their world and lay the foundations for their perma-nence on the island. In all respects, it was a contest in which all participantssought one thing and one thing only: power. Those who had it were not willingto part with it, even if this power was in the limited realm allowable to Afro-Cubans. Those who sought power used whatever means they had available in asociety that placed limitations on them because of the color of their skin.Lukumí natives such as Obá Tero, Latuán, Efunshé, and others, no strangers t
62:
Miguel Ramos
power and power struggles themselves, reflected the dominant trend of thesociety and attempted to carve out their niche on the island, a sort of refuge thatfor Afro-Cubans was impossible to separate from the religious realm.For most Africans, and especially the Lukumí, religion is not an element intheir life but rather a
way
of life, one that is constantly present, and one whereworship is not relegated to a specific and detached building or a chosen day of the week. African religion is lived and experienced daily and the supernatural isalways in constant relation with humankind. John S. Mbiti summarized thisnotion when he stated, ‘‘Because traditional religions permeate all the depart-ments of life, there is no formal distinction between the sacred and the secular,between the religious and non-religious, between the spiritual and the materialareas of life. Wherever the African is, there is his religion.’’
125
La división de la Habana
is just one of the many struggles that Afro-Cubans confronted in making the best possible use of the resources they hadavailable in Cuba. Nowhere is the importance of women in the larger strugglemore evident than in this contest for territory and power. Obá Tero, Latuán,Efunshé, and countless other women whose names and contributions have beenlost to the historical record were fundamental protagonists in the perpetuationand propagation of Lukumí religion in Cuba. In turn, religion played a centralrole in Afro-Cuban society because it was the only thing that was truly theirs,the only remnant of their pride and identity that the dominant society couldnever extirpate, as religion was totally inseparable from the African worldview.
La división de la Habana
and the reunification of the Lukumí and Arará inMatanzas are just two examples of the various impediments that Africans hadto overcome in Cuba to preserve an identity and a sense of self-worth, twoimportant contributors in allowing a degree of power to an otherwise dis-enfranchised group. In so doing, power struggles of this sort laid strong founda-tions for the evolution of Regla de Osha in the island and its eventual diffusionin Cuba and abroad.NOTES
1. Brazil was the major importer of African slaves in the New World, with Cuba trailing closebehind. Nonetheless, Cuba was the major importer among all of Spain’s colonies in the New World(see Philip D. Curtin,
The Atlantic Slave Trade—A Census
[Madison: University of WisconsinPress, 1969], 46). See also Basil Davidson,
The African Slave Trade
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1980);Herbert S. Klein,
Slavery in the Americas: A Comparative Study of Virginia and Cuba
(Chicago:Ivan R. Dee, 1967); Pablo Tornero Tinajero,
Crecimiento economico y transformaciones sociales: Esclavos, hacendados y comerciantes en la Cuba colonial (1760–1840)
(Madrid: Centro de Pub-licaciones Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, 1996); Manuel Moreno-Fraginals, ‘‘Africa inCuba: A Quantitative Analysis of the African Population in the Island of Cuba,’’ in
ComparativePerspectives on Slavery in New World Plantation Societies,
ed. Vera Rubin and Arthur Tuden (NewYork: New York Academy of Sciences, 1977); Manuel Moreno-Fraginals,
El ingenio: Complejoeconómico social cubano del azúcar,
3 vols. (Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1978); Jose
La División de la Habana
:63
Luciano Franco,
La diaspora africana en el nuevo mundo
(Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales,1975); Robert L. Paquette,
Sugar Is Made with Blood: The Conspiracy of La Escalera and theConflict between Empires over Slavery in Cuba
(Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1988);Louis A. Pérez, Jr.,
Slaves, Sugar, and Colonial Society: Travel Accounts of Cuba, 1801–1899
(Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 1992); Enrique Pérez-Cisneros,
La abolición de la esclavitud en Cuba
(Tibás, Costa Rica: Litografia e Imprenta LIL, 1987); Juan Pérez de la Riva, ‘‘CuadroSinoptico de la Esclavitud en Cuba y de la Cultura Occidental,’’
Suplemento de la Revista Actas delFolklor
(May 1961); Juan Pérez de la Riva,
Para La Historia de la Gente Sin Historia
(Barcelona:Editorial Ariel, 1976); Juan Pérez de la Riva,
¿Cuantos Africanos fueron traidos a Cuba?
(Havana:Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1977); and Juan Pérez de la Riva,
El barracon: Esclavitud ycapitalismo en Cuba
(Barcelona: Editorial Crítica, 1978).2. Isabel Castellanos and Jorge Castellanos,
Cultura Afrocubana,
4 vols. (Miami: EdicionesUniversal, 1988); Arturo Lindsay, ed.,
Santeria Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin American Art
(Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996); Katherine J. Hagedorn,
Divine Utter-ances: The Performance of Afro-Cuban Santeria
(Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian InstitutionPress, 2001); Alejo Carpentier,
Music in Cuba
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,2001); María Teresa Vélez,
Drumming for the Gods: The Life and Times of Felipe García Villamil,Santero, Palero, and Abakuá
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000).3. Well-known examples of such Afro-Cuban men are Antonio Maceo, Juan GualbertoGómez, Martín Morua Delgado, and Plácido (Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés), among manyothers, while only Mariana Grajales comes immediately to mind when recounting the achieve-ments of Afro-Cuban women.4. William R. Bascom,
The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria
(New York: Holt, Rinehart, andWinston, 1969), 1.5. Miguel Barnet,
Biography of a Runaway Slave,
2d ed., trans. Nick Hill (Willimantic:Curbstone Press, 1995); Daisy Rubiera Castillo,
Reyita, sencillamente
(Havana: Instituto Cubanodel Libro, 1997).6. Rubiera Castillo,
Reyita,
27.7. Much of this research was conducted over a period of thirty years as part of my owninterest, as a priest, in the religion. I am indebted to a considerable number of
olorishas
, both livingand deceased, and too many to list here.
Modupué ó!
I must also recognize the importance of thegrant that I was awarded by the Ford Foundation and Florida International University’s CubanResearch Institute in 1999, which allowed me to spend time researching primary documents inCuba’s Archivo Histórico Nacional.8. I cannot proceed without giving recognition to two individuals who read and edited thisarticle, and without whose input the article would have been weaker. First of all, I must thank Dr.Sherry Johnson, historian at Florida International University in Miami. Dr. Johnson recognized theimportance of this article as a contribution to the growing body of significant research on Afro-Cuban women and Lukumí history and encouraged me to publish it. I am further indebted to Dr.Akinwumi Ogundiran, also of FIU, who read the original draft and provided much valuable inputand clarity. To both of you,
modupué ó.
9. A. J. A¸siwaju and Robin Law, ‘‘From the Volta to the Niger, c. 1600–1800,’’ in
History of Africa I,
3d ed., ed. J. F. Ade Ajayi and Michael Crowders (New York: Longman, 1985), 426.10. Robert Smith,
Kingdoms of the Yoruba,
3d ed. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,1988), 37; Robin Law,
The Oyo Empire c. 1600–c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade,
2d ed. (Brookfield: Gegg Revivals, 1991), 211.11. Olfert Dapper, quoted in Law,
Oyo Empire,
219; Snelgrave, quoted in ibid., 219.12. Dapper, qutoed in Law,
Oyo Empire,
219; Snelgrave, quoted in ibid
64:
Miguel Ramos
14. Samuel Johnson,
The History of the Yorubas
(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1921),70–72, 178–87.15. Ibid., 187–88.16. De Chenevert and Abbé Bullet,
Réfléxions sur Juda
(1776), in Robin Law,
ContemporarySource Material for the History of the Old Oyo Empire, 1627–1824
(Ibadan: Institute of AfricanStudies, University of Ibadan, 1992), 47.17. Johnson,
History of the Yorubas,
187; Law,
Oyo Empire,
232, 236; A¸siwaju and Law,‘‘From the Volta to the Niger,’’ 445.18. The Oyo Empire acted primarily as a sort of middleman between northern traders andEuropeans on the coast. Prior to the nineteenth century, the scale of slave raiding within the Yorubaheartland was limited; strong proscriptions were in place that shunned the forcible enslavement of Yoruba people (see Law,
Oyo Empire,
223; Law, ‘‘The Atlantic Slave Trade in Yoruba Historiogra-phy,’’ 127).19. J. A. Atanda,
An Introduction to Yoruba History
(Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1980),30–31.20. I would like to express my gratitude to Isabel Castellanos for guiding me in the rightdirection regarding the term Lukumí. She provided me with a copy of an early, undated French mapof the Kingdom of Oulcoumi. The map also appears in an article by Dr. Castellanos (‘‘FromUlkumí to Lucumí: A Historical Overview of Religious Acculturation in Cuba,’’ in
Santería Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin American Art,
ed. Arturo Lindsay [Washington, D.C.: Smith-sonian Institution Press, 1996], 39–50).21. There are records of Yoruba slaves being in Peru in the seventeenth century but not ingreat numbers. Between 1605 and 1650, of 635 Afro-Peruvians, 17 were registered as Lukumí.Between 1615 and 1630, 5 Lukumí slaves entered Peru (see Frederick P. Bowser,
The African Slavein Colonial Peru, 1524–1650
[Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1974], 41–43).22. Moreno-Fraginals, ‘‘Africa in Cuba,’’ 190–91.23. Yoruba religion is also known in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, and there are Yorubainfluences in Haitian Vodou as well, although to a lesser degree. For additional information onLukumí religion in Cuba, see Mercedes Sandoval,
La religion afrocubana
(Madrid: Playor, 1975);and Castellanos and Castellanos,
Cultura Afrocubana.
For Brazil, see Edison Carneiro,
Religiõesnegras: Notas de etnografia religiosa
(Rio de Janeiro: N. p., 1936); Edison Carneiro,
Candomblesda Bahia,
5th ed. (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1977); and Pierre Verger,
Notes sur leCulte des Orisas et Vodun
(Dakar: L’Institut Francais d’Afrique Noire, 1957). For Trinidad, seeGeorge E. Simpson,
Religious Cults of the Caribbean: Trinidad, Jamaica, and Haiti
(Rio Piedras:Institute of Caribbean Studies, University of Puerto Rico, 1980).24. The important place given to women in Yoruba religion has been examined recently by J.D. Y. Peel, ‘‘Gender in Yoruba Religious Change,’’
Journal of Religion in Africa
32, no. 2 (2002):136–66. Anthropologist Ruth Landes may have been one of the pioneers in this respect. Landes’sresearch focused on the importance of women in Yoruba religion in Brazil (see
The City of Women
[New York: Macmillan, 1947]). J. Lorand Matory also looks at some of these issues in his study of gender in the Oyo-Yoruba religion,
Sex and the Empire That Is No More: Gender and the Politicsof Metaphor in Oyo-Yoruba Religion
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995). See alsoHenry J. Drewal and Margaret T. Drewal,
Gelede Art and Female Power among the Yoruba
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982); Babatunde Lawal,
The Gelede Spectacle: Art,Gender, and Social Harmony in an African Culture
(Seattle: University of Washington Press,1996); and Oyeronke Oyewumi,
The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of WesternGender Discourses
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997).25. Literally, ‘‘mother of [an]
orisha
.’’ The term denotes a priestess that has ordained othersinto the Lukumí priesthood.26. In the past, I (and others) spelled her name Efuché, Efushé, or
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:65
alternatives. It has come to my attention that the proper spelling is Efunshé, which may be anabbreviated version of Efunshetan, the name of an Ibadan palace wife, considered a great femaleentrepreneur in the nineteenth century (see Matory,
Sex and the Empire That Is No More,
18–19).27. An
orisha
is a deity in the Yoruba/Lukumí religious system. As used in the text, theuppercased ‘‘Orisha’’ refers to the religion and the lowercased and italicized
‘‘orisha’’
to the deities.28. Literally, ‘‘owner of [an]
orisha
.’’ The term is non-gendered and is used to refer to anyindividual ordained into the Lukumí priesthood.29. Osvaldo Villamíl, interview by author, Matanzas, 6 October 1999; Antonio David Pérez,interview by author, Matanzas, 11 October 1999, 16 August 2000 (Pérez is better known as ‘‘ElChino’’ and is a religious descendant of Obá Tero).30. See David Murray,
Odious Commerce: Britain, Spain, and the Abolition of the CubanSlave Trade
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980).31. Evangelina Torres Crespo (Lusimí), Soledad’s granddaughter, interview by the author,Havana, 25 June 1998.32. Pérez, interview.33. Oshabí became one of the most revered and respected
iyalorishas
in the history of thereligion in Cuba; her importance in perpetuating Obá Tero’s traditions will be discussed in greaterdetail later in this essay.34. Egguadó is the Hispanicized pronunciation and spelling of the Yoruba term.35.
Ilé,
literally, ‘‘house,’’ can also refer to the
ilé osha
—‘‘house of the
orishas,
’’ the Lukumí equivalent of a temple. The
ilé osha
serves both as a residence for the
olorisha
and as a place forreligious worship.36. Of these, the most widely known are Oduduwá, Yewá, and Olokún. Olokún is most oftenassociated with Obá Tero, and even more so with her religious progeny Fermina Gómez (Oshabí),who was influential in the dissemination of this
orisha
to other areas of the island.37. Peter McKenzie,
Hail Orisha! A Phenomenology of a West African Religion in the Mid- Nineteenth Century
(Leiden, Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill, 1997), 28.38. As defined earlier, an
iyalorisha
is a priestess who has ordained others into the priesthood.She is seen as the individual’s religious mother.
Babalorisha
is the equivalent term for a priest. Theterms differ from the generic
olorisha
(‘‘owner of an
orisha
’’), which is used to denote any priest orpriestess.39. The drums known in Cuba as ‘‘Egbado,’’ or Geledé, drums are recognized in many areasof Yorubaland and West Africa and are not exclusively Egbado. Lawal described the drums usedfor Geledé dancing in southwestern Yorubaland as an ensemble of four wooden, pot-shaped, orcylindrical drums (see
Gelede Spectacle,
87–88). The Cuban Egbado drums likewise consist of four single-headed drums with tubular, chalice-shaped bodies. The membranes are kept in place bymeans of a loop made from a strong vine or metal, or the use of hemp cord or rope. These aresupported by hardwood pegs that keep the loop and cords in place (Centro de Investigación yDesarrollo de la Música Cubana [CIDMUC],
Instrumentos de la música folclórico-popular deCuba,
2 vols. [Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1997], 250).40. Fernando Ortiz,
Los instrumentos de la música afrocubana 3
(Havana: Dirección deCultura del Ministerio de Educación, 1951), 412; CIDMUC,
Instrumentos,
1:247.41. Fernando Ortiz,
Los bailes y el teatro de los negros en el folklore de Cuba,
2d ed.(Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1981), 451. Unfortunately, Ortiz does not give his source. It isnot clear whether he actually saw the Olokún dance or whether informants interviewed during theresearch told him of its existence.Oral tradition recounts that the Egbado drums that Ortiz discussed were brought to Matanzasby Obá Tero when she left Havana. In the 1970s Cuban investigators concluded that the drums hadbeen in Matanzas, in a house at 57 Salamanca Street, since at least the first decades of the twentiethcentury, but that they
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is probably why he has been mistakenly associated with the Ijeshá people. Rolando’s widowconfirms that Cartalla was related to the Ijeshá
cabildo
through his marriage to her, and not by birth(Esther Piedra, interview by author, Matanzas, 18 August 2000).51. Esther Piedra, interview.52. Ortiz,
Los Tambores,
146–47; and Pedro Cosme, interview by author, Regla, 30 Septem-ber 1999.53. Archivo Histórico Nacional de Cuba, Fondo de Gobierno General, legajo 268, numero13545: ‘‘Padron de Contribucion Extraordinaria para Subsidio de Guerra . . .Correspondiente alPueblo de Regla, 1872–1873.’’54.
Censo de 1881—Regla, Tomo II,
Museo de Regla, Havana (consulted September 1999).55. Most sources agree he was well over one hundred years old when he died.56. Personal communication with Israel Moliner, official historian of the city of Matanzas, 6October 1999.57. Esther Piedra, interview; Julio Suarez Oña (Ewi Moyó), interview by the author, Ma-tanzas, 6 August 1999 (Ewi Moyó is a priest of Aganjú and Olubatá [literally, ‘‘one who ownsdrums’’]).58. Pérez, interview. Another variant states that Obá Tero was the
ojigbona,
or secondsponsor, and that Ña Inés (Yeyé T’Olokún) was the ordaining priestess (Angel de León [Oloyadé],interview by the author, Regla, 24 September 1999).59. Esther Piedra, interview. Piedra says that she believes he resided there until 1892, when hemoved to Havana.60. R. C. Abraham,
Dictionary of Modern Yoruba
(London: Hodder and Stoughton Educa-tional, 1946), 21.61. The term ‘‘Santería’’ has gained acceptance in the last fifty years; earlier it was consideredderogatory and had denigrating connotations. Still, I prefer the older term Regla de Osha (orsimply, the Lukumí religion), which is more in line with the religion’s dogma and ideology.62. John Mason was told by his sources that she was an Egbadó native, but when I inter-viewed the grandchildren, they insisted that she was from Oyo. Mason,
Olookun,
18.63. Congo is a generic term used in Cuba to refer to Africans of Bantú origin.64. Manuel Fernández Santalices,
Las calles de la Habana intramuros: Arte, historia ytradiciones en las calles y plazas de la Havana Vieja
(Miami: Saeta Ediciones, 1989), 37. Albeardied in 1887 and was never able to see the final result of his massive project.65. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear (Latuán’s grandchildren), interviewby the author, Buena Vista, Cuba, 20 March 2001.66. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear, interview. See also Franklin W.Knight,
Slave Society in Cuba during the Nineteenth Century
(Madison: University of WisconsinPress, 1970), 176–77. This comment most likely refers to the period 1880–1888. The abolition lawpassed in 1880 established 1888 as the date for the termination of slavery. It was during this periodthat an apprenticeship system was implemented, which was supposed to lay the foundations for theeventual emancipation of the slaves. Slaves were to pass through a transitory stage that wouldprepare them for their eventual entrance into society as salaried workers by 1888. The system wasunsuccessful, though, and by 1883, only 10 percent of the total population of the island wasregistered as slaves.67. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear, interview.68. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear, interview.69. Literally, ‘‘king, head of the oracle.’’ The title applies to a specific category in the Lukumí priesthood. The Obá Oriaté is the master of ceremonies for Lukumí rituals, and especially forordination rituals.70. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear, interview.71. The Obá Oriaté Lázaro Ramos (Okandenijé), interview by the author, Miami 2000
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:67
is probably why he has been mistakenly associated with the Ijeshá people. Rolando’s widowconfirms that Cartalla was related to the Ijeshá
cabildo
through his marriage to her, and not by birth(Esther Piedra, interview by author, Matanzas, 18 August 2000).51. Esther Piedra, interview.52. Ortiz,
Los Tambores,
146–47; and Pedro Cosme, interview by author, Regla, 30 Septem-ber 1999.53. Archivo Histórico Nacional de Cuba, Fondo de Gobierno General, legajo 268, numero13545: ‘‘Padron de Contribucion Extraordinaria para Subsidio de Guerra . . .Correspondiente alPueblo de Regla, 1872–1873.’’54.
Censo de 1881—Regla, Tomo II,
Museo de Regla, Havana (consulted September 1999).55. Most sources agree he was well over one hundred years old when he died.56. Personal communication with Israel Moliner, official historian of the city of Matanzas, 6October 1999.57. Esther Piedra, interview; Julio Suarez Oña (Ewi Moyó), interview by the author, Ma-tanzas, 6 August 1999 (Ewi Moyó is a priest of Aganjú and Olubatá [literally, ‘‘one who ownsdrums’’]).58. Pérez, interview. Another variant states that Obá Tero was the
ojigbona,
or secondsponsor, and that Ña Inés (Yeyé T’Olokún) was the ordaining priestess (Angel de León [Oloyadé],interview by the author, Regla, 24 September 1999).59. Esther Piedra, interview. Piedra says that she believes he resided there until 1892, when hemoved to Havana.60. R. C. Abraham,
Dictionary of Modern Yoruba
(London: Hodder and Stoughton Educa-tional, 1946), 21.61. The term ‘‘Santería’’ has gained acceptance in the last fifty years; earlier it was consideredderogatory and had denigrating connotations. Still, I prefer the older term Regla de Osha (orsimply, the Lukumí religion), which is more in line with the religion’s dogma and ideology.62. John Mason was told by his sources that she was an Egbadó native, but when I inter-viewed the grandchildren, they insisted that she was from Oyo. Mason,
Olookun,
18.63. Congo is a generic term used in Cuba to refer to Africans of Bantú origin.64. Manuel Fernández Santalices,
Las calles de la Habana intramuros: Arte, historia ytradiciones en las calles y plazas de la Havana Vieja
(Miami: Saeta Ediciones, 1989), 37. Albeardied in 1887 and was never able to see the final result of his massive project.65. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear (Latuán’s grandchildren), interviewby the author, Buena Vista, Cuba, 20 March 2001.66. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear, interview. See also Franklin W.Knight,
Slave Society in Cuba during the Nineteenth Century
(Madison: University of WisconsinPress, 1970), 176–77. This comment most likely refers to the period 1880–1888. The abolition lawpassed in 1880 established 1888 as the date for the termination of slavery. It was during this periodthat an apprenticeship system was implemented, which was supposed to lay the foundations for theeventual emancipation of the slaves. Slaves were to pass through a transitory stage that wouldprepare them for their eventual entrance into society as salaried workers by 1888. The system wasunsuccessful, though, and by 1883, only 10 percent of the total population of the island wasregistered as slaves.67. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear, interview.68. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear, interview.69. Literally, ‘‘king, head of the oracle.’’ The title applies to a specific category in the Lukumí priesthood. The Obá Oriaté is the master of ceremonies for Lukumí rituals, and especially forordination rituals.70. Candelario Zurria Albear and Martin Zurria Albear, interview.71. The Obá Oriaté Lázaro Ramos (Okandenijé), interview by the author, Miami 2000
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:69
of Lydia Cabrera’s principal informants in Jovellanos, who is herself an
olorisha
of
santo parado
);Armando Cabrera (Obá Oriaté Eshú Tolú and Priest of Elegbá), interview by author, Cárdenas,Cuba, 14 August 2000; Felix ‘‘Cheo’’ Gonzalez (Oshún Yumí), interview by author, Cárdenas,Cuba, 15 August 2000.93. Law,
Oyo Empire,
104, 139–40.94. Cabrera,
El Monte,
24 n. 1. Use of the word ‘‘saint’’ by Lukumí
olorishas
is very commonand results from the parallelisms between Yoruba
orishas
and Catholic saints, a process oftenreferred to as
syncretism
. This is a subject for future discussion, as past literature has often equatedsyncretism with religious fusion, something that is obviously not necessarily so in the case of theLukumí. For similar reasons, I decline to use the term ‘‘Santería’’ in my writing, since it haspejorative connotations.95. See Miguel Ramos, ‘‘The Empire Beats On: Oyo, Batá Drums, and Hegemony inNineteenth-Century Cuba,’’ Master’s thesis, Florida International University, 2000; Abraham,
Dictionary,
21; Johnson,
History of the Yorubas,
63.96. Raul Mojica (Obá Oriaté Osha Inle and Priest of Obatala), interview by author, JesúsMaría, Havana, 19 September 1999. Sadly, Mojica passed away in January 2001 after a long battlewith cancer.97. Lydia Cabrera Collection, Cuban Heritage Collection, Otto G. Richter Library, Universityof Miami, Miami, Fla. This was one of hundreds of notes taken by Cabrera that she apparently hadto take hastily, as it is probable that many of her sources were hesitant to contribute to her researchdue to the many stigmas of the era.98. Angel de León (Obá Oriaté Oloyadé), interview by author, Regla, 24 September 1999.99. Raul Mojica (Obá Oriaté Osha Inle and Priest of Obatala), interview.100. Unfortunately, these differences cannot be elucidated without revealing ritual secretsthat can only be disclosed to the duly ordained.101. Oní, literally meaning ‘‘owner of,’’ is a title given to Shangó’s and Yemojá’s
olorishas.
102. Law,
Oyo Empire,
104, 139–40.103. Rodolfo ‘‘Cuco’’ Rodriguez (Igbín Koladé), interview by Angel Riana (Talabí), Havana,1977.104. Lukumí myths portray Obatalá and Yemojá as Shangó’s parents, and Oshún as hisfavorite wife.105. Johnson,
History of the Yorubas,
21; Law,
Oyo Empire,
127–29.106. Personal communication with Candomblé
olorishas,
especially Maria Mello,
iyalorisha
of Obatalá, and Gilberto Ferreira (Ogan), consecrated to Eshú (Elegbá).107. Most of the elders interviewed throughout the years, including some ordained in the
kariosha
tradition at the turn of the century, were provided with various
orishas
at the time of theirordination. María Eugenía Pérez (Oshún Niké), the oldest
iyalorisha
in Havana, was born in 1904.Oshún Niké was ordained on 23 July 1923 by Luisa Arango (Shangó Ladé), herself one of Efunshé’s
omó orishas
. Latuán was the Obá Oriaté. Oshún Niké was provided with Elegbá, Ogún,Oshosi, Obatalá, Yemojá, Shangó, and Oshún, her tutelar
orisha
. Deceased
olorishas,
all ordainedduring the same period, including Aurelia Mora (Omí Dina), Basilia Cárdenas Massip (Omí Dina),and Nemensia Espinoza (Oshún Miwá), were also provided with various
orishas
at ordination. JoséRoche (Oshún Kayodé) and Josefina Aguirre (Oshún Gere) were ordained by Tranquilina Bal-maseda (Omí Sanjá) in 1896 and 1906, respectively, and were also provided with various
orishas
.All these
olorishas
descend from Efunshé. Sadly, Oshún Niké passed away this spring.108. Osvaldo Villamíl, interview; Pérez, interview.109. R. C. Abraham, in his
Dictionary of Modern Yoruba,
refers to the ‘‘most senior title-holder everywhere among the Egungún’’ as Aláàpinni (50).110. Bárbaro Cansino (Ojulenso), conversation with author, Simpson, Matanzas, August2001.
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