In some myths, the orishas were a race of primogenial divine beings, who lived among mankind but didnt yet have any powers. Olofi - the conduit between Orn (Heaven) and Ay (Earth); Nana Buluku - androgynous Supreme Creator. In his early days, he was very hostile, inflicting disease upon those who transgressed him. In the modern day, people invoke the Orishas in personal or communal rituals for spiritual strength, enlightenment, or assistance in daily challenges. Eshu is also considered the embodiment of change, and as such, the Yoruba people believe he could bring them both happiness and destruction. According to the Yoruba belief, Olodumare is too immense for the human mind to grasp and so released different aspects of itself, each of which received a certain sphere of influence randomly. Oshun is the goddess of love, intimacy, and marriage. She is also the patroness of herbal healers. They are also venerated by the Edo of southeastern Nigeria; the Ewe of Ghana, Benin, and Togo; and the Fon of Benin (who refer to them as voduns). This worship was passed on from one generation to the next. Orisha of rainbow serpent associated with creation and procreation. At the beginning of Yoruba mythology, the universe was composed of two elements, the ethereal sky above and a watery chaos below. Renewed and grateful deities in turn bless their supportive wor- Obatalas story can also be used to explain the divine origin of human fallibility. Nana Buluku by Mshindo9 The world acknowledges the Yoruba community of Nigeria for preserving their culture to date. The shell contained a magical soil and a divine cloth. Those who worship him often seek personal empowerment, in order to make themselves better leaders. It is the orishas who are the guardians and explicators of human destiny. In some locations in the Caribbean and South America, they were able to reestablish the worship of the orishas and maintain it during slavery and after its abolition. Orisha worship today is practiced by people around the world in a number of forms including the systems of Santeria, Candombl, and Vodun, as well as nominal Catholics and those who identify as Neo-Pagan, Wiccan, or New Age practitioners. In one tale, the Orishas gather to discuss how they can rid themselves of Olodumare and decide to scare him to death by inviting him to one of their huts and then releasing mice, which Olodumare was afraid of, into the room at dinner. One chooses their destiny before birth and reincarnates to achieve it in the next life. WebThe Orishas Gods Book PDF | Download Or Read Online The Orishas Gods This book PDF is perfect for those who love Electronic Books genre, written by Danso Tangara and published by Independently Published which was released on 11 February 2021 with total hardcover pages 128. He is known as the omnipotent ruler of the Yoruba pantheon, whose light brings life and vitality to all living things. WebOrisha embodies. A mother goddess (the patron deity of women and the Ogun river). carried away during the Atlantic Slave Trade. Such a disappearance was not true death; rather, it was the occasion of the ancestors metamorphosis into an orisha. She holds the secrets of botany and is a master of potions and healing herbs. He created the Orishas to be mediators between himself and the people. Yet defining an orisha as a deity does not do justice to the concept, in large part because the term deity often suggests a sort of anthropomorphic supernatural entity. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. She passed near the sun and lost most of her feathers. Eshu by Akili Mansa Richards. They can be counted on, however, to deliver the messages of mortals to Olodumare and so they came to be associated with the saints of Catholicism when the Yoruba people were brought as slaves to the so-called New World. Its said that Olokun can grant wealth to humans at any time, but given his ambiguous nature, he is also known for inadvertently bringing devastation. This beautifully illustrated exploration of Afro-Brazilian spirituality introduces you to the gods of the African diaspora known as the Orishas. WebThe Supreme God has three manifestations: Olodumare - The Lord God of the Source of Creation; Olorun - The Lord God of Heaven; Olofi - The Lord God of the Palace, conduit between Orn (Heaven) and Ay (Earth). Ancient Code is a website founded in 2012 that covers articles and scientific discoveries that help understand humanitys past, present, and future. She passed this skill to the Yoruban people, who practice her craft to this very day. On this page, Ill present you all you need to know about Orishas and how to understand them in and out from their original context the Yoruba Religion. Yemaya came to be linked with the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Regla in Cuba while Oshun was associated with the same figure as Our Lady of Mercy. Oshun is commonly called the river orisha, or goddess, in the Yoruba religion and is typically associated with water, purity, fertility, love, and sensuality. WebLooker Studio turns your data into informative dashboards and reports that are easy to read, easy to share, and fully customizable. The rest is spent in the farm with Oko (a farming god). Download Knowing the Orisha Gods and Goddesses Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle. Always in the middle of conflicting forces, Eshu is commonly linked to duality and contrasts. Essentially, Orishas represent the powers of nature, as well as time, life, death, and rebirth. Kokou by Assasin Monkey In this way, he is certainly a difficult teacher, but in the end, is usually found to be a good one. In his free time, Jhonfrank enjoys coming back to the classics, as well as reading mystery short stories, and poetry. The number of orishas varies among believers. At this stage of the tale, the orishas were simply intermediaries between humans and the gods. An Orisha is a God or a Goddess from the Yoruba Religion and Mythology. Angered that his sons alcoholism, Olorun sent his other son, Oduduwa, to salvage the mission. The Yoruba religion is constituted by a conglomerate of beliefs, primarily from the territory comprising modern-day Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. After passing on his secrets and guiding humanity for many years, Ogun grew old. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Later these ancestors disappearedoften, according to tradition, in a remarkable manner, such as by sinking into the ground, rising into the heavens on chains, committing suicide and not dying, or turning to stone. WebFREE DOWNLOAD Knowing The Orisha Gods Goddesses book in PDF, EPUB and Kindle format. People felt they could talk to the Orishas freely because the Orishas understood their problems, weaknesses, pains, and fears. He created the Orishas to be mediators between himself and the people. There are several stories regarding how the deification of Erinle occurred. Each confirms the Yoruba religion has many Orishas but offer different explanations regarding how they came to exist. Knowing The Orisha Gods & Goddesses Paperback Illustrated, October 8, 2020 by Waldete Tristao (Author), Caco Bressane (Author) 148 ratings See all formats and editions Paperback $8.99 5 Used from $8.99 15 New from $4.99 Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Web. The Orishas are never represented as perfect beings, and there are a number of stories of them behaving badly, but they are depicted as trying their best to do what is expected of them in very human terms. 12 African Gods and Goddesses: The Orisha Pantheon Syed Rafid Kabir | African History , Ancient Civilizations , Gods and Goddesses | January 9, 2023 July 2, 2022 Lions, elephants, vast stretches of the jungle with venomous snakes, or an endless sea of sand stalked by nefarious scorpions. He takes an active role in the affairs of both heaven and earth. WebIn the Yoruba pantheon, the orishas are the deities that help Oludumare, the Supreme God, to keep cosmogonic order. Please donate to our server cost fundraiser 2023, so that we can produce more history articles, videos and translations. The orishas are the gods of Santeria, the beings that believers interact with on a regular basis. The orishas, however, are only one aspect of these natural forces. These categories are not rigid, and in some cases they overlap. Orisha of volcanoes, the wilderness, and rivers. In the original African belief system from which Santeria originates, there are hundreds of orishas . They came from heaven, and they still reside there. However, despite their divine status and remarkable powers, not all the orishas have the same origin. Oduduwa by Jianing Hu Oshun turns herself into a peacock and flies to Orun but, passing too close to the sun, loses most of her feathers and, because the journey was so long, arrives exhausted and ill but still delivers the message of the Orishas contrition. Various sources state that there are at least 401 Orishas, and several are mentioned in Yoruba creation stories and archaeological history. The number of orishas varies among believers. Help us and translate this definition into another language! In Yoruba mythology, Erinle, also called Inle, was a hunter (or sometimes an herbalist) that took the first king of Ilobu to where the first town was destined to be founded. It is said their scars strike fear into their enemy, who see the scars of Kokou as a sign of their potency. Among them are the earth; rivers, lakes, and lagoons; and mountains, certain trees, and the wind. Books However, despite their divine status and remarkable powers, not all the orishas have the same origin. Oya is also goddess of the Niger River as Oshun is of the Osun River, and both are associated with protection and guidance. Age, which is priority in time, is highly valued and respected, and it is also an important aspect of status and ranking. Mark, Joshua J.. WebOrishas (singular: orisha) are spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santera and Brazilian Candombl. Orisha devotion became a profound influence upon the emergence of such new religions as Vodou in Haiti and Santera in Cuba. Orisha (also given as Orisa and Orishas) are supernatural entities usually referred to as deities in the Yoruba religion of West Africa, though they are actually emanations or avatars of the supreme being Olodumare. Copyright Symbol Sage 2022 All Rights Reserved. In Yoruba tradition, Olokun is commonly depicted as a hermaphrodite. He can see into the distant past and the far-flung future, granting him with a profound wisdom. Orishas, like the saints, were relatable because they were fallible. Cite This Work Because of the importance of culture and geography in defining the worship, there will never be a comprehensive list of Orishas one should not conclude that other Orishas are not The Yoruba are most likely the most well-known West African ethnic group in the world due to their vast population in West Africa and broad dispersion through enslavement in the Americas. Yoruba mythology states that Olodumare is the most powerful god. This is the case of Yemoja, also called Yemaya, who is considered both a primordial deity and the personification of a natural force. The main one, ori, refers, first of all, to the physical head atop a persons body. Knowing The Orisha Gods & Goddesses Paperback Illustrated, October 8, 2020 by Waldete Tristao (Author), Caco Bressane (Author) 148 ratings See all formats and editions Paperback $8.99 5 Used from $8.99 15 New from $4.99 Aje is the goddess of wealth and prosperity. The Yoruba are religious and liberal-minded people. Orisha of medicine, healing, and comfort, physician to the gods. Aganju by Robert Love World History Encyclopedia. In this article, we base this list on this second account, and will explore the orishas of these three categories. Mark has lived in Greece and Germany and traveled through Egypt. Esu, for example, as a deity of crossroads, acts as a psychopomp a guide for the souls of the dead bringing them to the afterlife and comforting them while, at the same time, he may have had a hand in the circumstances that led to their death. Ogun was linked with Saint Peter because of his association with strength as Peter was known as the 'rock' upon which Jesus Christ would build his church. The Orishas traveled to the Americas and the Caribbean via the Transatlantic Slave Trade, when many of the Yoruba were enslaved, and there they became syncretized with the Christian saints of Catholicism. Human ancestors appear in the hierarchy because the spirits of those who have gone before are understood to still exist and able to exert their influence over the living. This category comprises divine spirits that were initially associated with a natural force or phenomenon, but were later granted the status of orishas, for the significant role that their representative element played in Yoruba society. This category is mainly made up of kings, queens, heroes, heroines, warriors, and founders of cities. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Yoruba gods and goddesses. She is kind and generous to her followers, but when brought to anger she can cause untold destruction. Olodumare demanded to know who had done this, and Esu pointed out the guilty who were swiftly punished. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. Two gods rule over both these primordial realms. In the social and cultural environments of the Americas, the orisha concept underwent some subtle but significant changes. The Yoruba people believe that there is a Supreme God, called Oludumare, and that he governs the Earth through a series of minor deities, known as the orishas, that work as his assistants. In this context the altar may be referred to as the orisha or as the orishas face. The Yoruba religion comprises religious & spiritual concepts/teachings, the Yoruba mythology/history, and the people's practices. Yemaya was linked with the V*irgin Mary, Our Lady of Regla, in Cuba. Oba by Marisol Machado Some in Oyo say s is female, Ogun's wife. The number of orishas varies among believers. Shango was the third king of the Oyo Kingdom. Orunmila - spirit of wisdom, divination, destiny, and foresight Moreover, if a human was taken away by the goddess and returned, its believed that this person would have returned as a trained jujuman; which is the name given to high priests in many parts of West Africa. Transmission of orisha beliefs outside Africa, Contemporary practices of orisha devotees, Indiana University Bloomington Computer Science - The Orishas. In some tales, she is said to be a mermaid. Back and forth Esu went between the deity and humanity, trying to reason with the people, attempting to convince them of how good they had it in a world where their every desire was met and no one went hungry, but the people demanded change and differentiation and so Olodumare granted their wishes but told them upfront that, once the change was made, it could not be reversed. 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