The Orishas in Yoruba, Santeria, Candomblé and Vodou, Part One

By Dr. Josef Ben Levi

Presented by Omni-U Virtual University

“…the Negro's mind has been brought under the control of the oppressor. The problem of holding the Negro down, therefore, is easily solved. When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his “proper place” and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. 

Dr.Carter G.Woodson,

Maa Kheru (1933)

What comes to mind, when you hear about African spiritual traditions? When you see or hear the following words what images are triggered in your psyche?

Witchcraft

Evil

Devil worship

Voodoo Dolls

Zombies

Animal Sacrifice

How did  ancient African systems of spirituality become associated with evil and Devil worship? Was it through films like those listed below?

1997 The Believers Skeleton Crew 

2005 Eve’s Bayou 

2005   Serpent and the Rainbow 1988

In this essay, we will take a very brief look into the history, ideas,  and spiritual perceptions of those who practiced, and continue to practice, traditional African spiritual systems such as Yoruba, Santeria, Candomblé, Macumba, and Vodun. It is not our intention to provide an encyclopedic assessment of these spiritual systems.

Our aim is to remove some of the Westernized, Hollywood foolishness that surrounds the way in which most people- and, especially Black people in the United States- view these systems of belief that the overwhelming majority of African people brought with them to the shores of the Americas long before Westernized religions, in particular Christianity; were forcibly imposed upon them. 

The roots of African traditional spiritualities are on the continent of Africa.Most of what we know about these systems- as well as our opposition to them- is based on a concerted effort to keep us misinformed and mis-educated. As Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson so eloquently stated  in his classic work The Miseducation of the Negro:

One of those traditional  spiritual systems is known as Santeria. Santeria’s African roots  are in the Yoruba religion  which is native to Nigeria. It was brought to the “New World” by the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children who were hunted down and sold as captives. African spiritualities had to undergo severe transformations in order to survive. The changes that led to Santeria began in 1517, when Yoruba captives had their first bitter taste of Catholicism in Cuba. 

It is this content that gives Santeria its peculiar flavor. The combination results in a Santero/a (a practitioner of Santeria) being a devout Roman Catholic at the same time that he or she is sacrificing a rooster to a cement image of Elegua enthroned at the front door. (Nunez, 1992)

The Yoruba brought with them the colorful mythology of their spirituality known, in Cuba as Lucumi and ,in Brazil, as Macumba and Candomblé. The Yoruba people originated in southwestern Nigeria. They organized  a series of kingdoms with powerful and complex social structures . The most important of these kingdoms was Benin.  

The Kingdom of Benin lasted from the twelfth century until 1896, when it was dispersed by English colonists. Benin had a form of theocratic autocracy where the Oba, or king, had absolute power. The advanced culture of the Benin civilization can be appreciated in the beautiful works of bronze and ivory, dating from the archaic times to the seventeenth century, that can be found in many museums throughout the world. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Ewe people invaded the region of Dahomey and the neighboring kingdoms, forcing the Yoruba to migrate to the Nigerian coast where many of them were captured by “slave”- traders and brought to the New World. (Wippler-Gonzalez, 1994).   

Of the many aspects that surprised the English explorers about these African kingdoms- before their destruction by European captors and their allies- was a description of their lavatory facilities and the accompanying drainage system to remove waste that was in the kingdom- made, in 1824, by the explorer Thomas Edward Bowdich who stated that:

What surprised me and is not the least of the many circumstances describing their great superiority over the generality of Negroes, was the discovery that every house had its cloacae (toilet system), besides the common ones for the lower orders without the town.  (Bowdich, 1873)

The most interesting and important aspects of the Yoruba culture are its storytelling and spiritual practices. Their deities, known as Orishas, are credible and extraordinarily human in their behavior. The term Orisha (Orxica in Portuguese) is of uncertain origin. Some anthropologists believe it is derived from the word asha, meaning “religious ceremony.” Others claim it is formed from the roots ri (to see) and sha (to choose).  Technically, the term Orisha literally means “what is on(in) your head”. It is similar to the Christian idea of a “guardian angel” or the Islamic concept of a “Jinn”. These are something like ancestral protectors and guides in the present life. There are many Orisha in the family designated by that term. Some authorities believe that, in Africa, their number exceeds six hundred. In Latin America, their number fluctuates between twenty and twenty-five. 

As members of the various African nations that were scattered throughout the New World by the Atlantic “Slave” Trade, their spiritual practices were influenced by their new surroundings and the strange languages spoken in the lands of their exile. They were influenced  by the customs, ideas, and spiritual systems of the Americas and they brought great diversity to the sacred ceremonies of Black people. Spiritual practices also varied according to the conditions of their captivity.

In Haiti, Voodoo (or Vodun , from the  Fon word for “spirit”), was propagated by the Fon, the Nago, the Kongo, the Ibo, the Dahomeyans, and other nations. In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, similar spiritual practices were transmitted by the Yoruba, Bantu, and Kongo people. There are some similarities between Santeria and Voodoo, notably the worship of some of the same deities, such as Chango, Oggun (known as Oggou in Voodoo), and Elegua (called Legba in Voodoo).  (Gonzalez-Wippler-Gonzalez, 1994)

In Cuba, where Santeria originated, the Yoruba became known as Lucumi, a word that means “friendship’. Some researchers believe that this term is derived from akumi, which means “I am Aku,” i.e., Ancestral spirit.  

In Sierra Leone, where the Yoruba are also found, they are known as Aku . 

Santeria is an Earth-Based Spiritual Tradition that has its roots in nature and natural forces. Each Orisha or Saint (Santo in Spanish) is identified with a force of nature and with a human interest or endeavor (such as a Catholic saint). 

For instance, Chango (Saint Barbara) is the Orisha that controls fire, lightning, and thunder, but also symbolizes raw power and control over enemies and general difficulties. Chango is also seen as the embodiment of passion and virility and is often invoked in works of seduction. 

Oshun (Our Lady of La Caridad del Cobre), on the other hand, is the Orisha that symbolizes river waters but, is also the patron of love and marriage, fertility and gold. She is essentially the archetype of joy and pleasure. 

Yemaya (Our Lady of Regla) is identified with the sea but is also the symbol of motherhood and protects women in their endeavors. Eleggua (Holy Guardian Angel) is the Orisha of the crossroads and controls change and destiny. He is the one who makes things possible or impossible and symbolizes the balance of things. Obatala (Our Lady of Mercy) is the father, the symbol of peace and purity, and is the creator of humankind on the physical level. While is Obata’s color. Everything white belongs to him. 

 Oya (Our Lady of La Candelaria) symbolizes the wind and is the owner of the cemetery, the watcher of the doorway between life and death. She is not death but the awareness of its existence. She is also the one who gave Chango power over thunder and lightning. Oggun (Saint Peter), the last of the Orisha to be considered here, is the patron of all metals and protects farmers, carpenters, surgeons, mechanics, policemen, and all who work with or near metals or metal weapons. He also rules over accidents, which he often causes.  

These seven Orishas, Chango, Oshun, Yemaya, Eleggua, Oya, Obatala and Oggun, together in Spanish are referred to as Las Siete Potencias Africanas or the Seven African Powers. (Gonzalez-Wippler, 1994)

Note: A special thanks goes out to one of my former undergraduate students, Amber Mursette, for the wonderful research paper she did entitle “A Descriptive study of traditionalism and African spirituality” for my Foundations of Africans in the Diaspora Class in 2017 from.which I have quoted  in this writing. 

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