African Heroes, Legends and Myths

There are so many legends surrounding the origin of Oduduwa.Oral tradition on creation says he is the favourite son of Olodumare. As such, he (or she, as the primordial Oduduwa is gender fluid) was sent from heaven to create the earth upon the waters, a mission he/she had usurped from his/her consort and sibling Obatala, who had been equipped with a snail shell filled with sand and a rooster to scatter the said sand inorder to create land. These beliefs are held by Yoruba traditionalists to be the cornerstone of their story of creation. Obatala and Oduduwa here are represented symbolically by a calabash, with Obatala taking the top and Oduduwa taking the bottom. In this narrative, Oduduwa is also known as Olofin Otete, the one who took the Basket of Existence from Olodumare Oral traditional historians believe he was an exiled prince of a foreign people who left his homeland with a retinue and journeyed south, subsequently settling amongst the aboriginal Yoruba at some point in th...

Olokun is the Orisha of the great seas and oceans, her wealth is vast and her powers are beyond comparison. She is revered as the authority over other water deities

Orunmila is the Orisha of wisdom, knowledge and divination. It is said that he visited earth and gifted Yorubas with Ifa( wisdom of the gods). He is the prime god, it is him more than any other god who can affect a person's reality Orunmila was said to have lived in the spiritual realm for over 400years without food and water before descending to earth to help mankind. He set foot first on Oke-Igbeti. When Orunmila was at Oke Igbeti, he would call on strangers walking passed him, he would endeavour to tell them about what danger lies ahead and how to avert it. From Oke- Igbeti he traveled across all lands helping people along the way

Oya is the Orisha of the wind, violent storms, lightning and death. Her name in Yoruba translate to "she who tore" She manifest as winds ranging from the gentlest breeze to the raging hurricane. Oya is known as a fierce warrior goddess and protector of women, she is the elder sister to the goddesses Yemaya and Oshun Her violent rainstorms is believed to be the source of the river niger. Oya's number is nine, her metal is copper and her colour is burgundy or purple

The goddess of beauty, sensuality and love was said to be the favourite Orisha of Obatala because of her beauty. Oshun is the Goddess of the river of the same name, and She is especially worshipped in river-towns

Yewa- is the Orisha of the dead. Her sole mission is to live and take care of cadavers and lead them back into the earth It is believed that Yewa was the favourite daughter of Olofi, the last virgin living at his palace. One day while she was tending  to Olofin's garden, Eshu watched from a distance with disdain. How could one be so pure he asked himself?

Logun-Ede is often referred to as the prince of the Orishas. He is the son of Oshun and Oshosi, he is an androgyne or he is male but crossdresses for half of the year. It is pretty much agreed though, that the reason for this is that he lives between worlds, with his father half of the year, and his mother the other half of the year. So for half of the year, he lives and hunts on the river, and the other half of the year, he lives like a princess in the forest

Obaluaye also known as Babulu-Aye and Shopona is the Orisha of illness and disease. He is both feared and loved as he can both infect and cure. He is sometimes referred to as the wrath of the supreme god as he punishes people for their transgression. His ritual tools are cowries, broom and terra-cotta vessel. Grains are his prime offerings Obaluaye demands respect and even gratitude when he claims a victim hence earning him the title Alápa-dúpé, meaning “One who kills and is thanked for it A popular story about Shopona is one where he was old and lame. It is said that he attended a celebration at the palace of Obatala and when he tried to dance, he stumbled and fell. As the Orishas began to dance, he became furious and turned around to infect them with smallpox but was stopped by Obatala who then cast him into the bush. He has been living as an outcast ever since

Oshosi is the Orisha of feast, hunting and wealth. He is describes as light, astute and clever, his weapon is bow and arrow. Animals offered to him are goats, cooked pig and guinea fowl When one pays homage to this Orisha, he reaps the reward in wealth and positive energy. He has also be described as the thought that is able to be transferred to any site or any time to capture or to take something. Some people considers him a magician and wizard. His name comes from the Yoruba Osóssí (Osó: wizard, Sisé: to make work, Sí: for), literally “The one that works with witchcraft” His number is three and it's multiples while his colour is blue

Ogun - is the god of iron, war, and patron of hunters and blacksmiths Ogun is also referred to as the god of creation as it was him who created the chain Obatala made use off to come down to the earth. After the earth's creation Ogun became the first Orisha to establish a kingdom and cleared path with his iron tools for other Orishas to establish their own kingdoms

Eshu also known as Elegba or Legba is one of the most respected deities in Yoruba tradition. He is the god of chance, accident and unpredictability. Some refer to him as the protector of travelers and god of crossroads

Obatala is the sky father and creator of humanity. In some accounts he is regarded as the father of all Orishas and humans while certain stories speaks of him as the offspring Olokun and Olorun

According to Yoruba mythology, it was Obatala who created humanity. By some account he is the offspring from a union between Olorun and Olokun

The Yoruba people occupy what is now southwestern Nigeria and parts of The Republic of Benin, According to them, this is how humans came to be In the beginning, there was only the sky above, water and marshland below. The great god Olorun ruled the sky while the goddess Olokun( owner of the seas and goddess of wealth) ruled what was below. Obatala, feeling creative went to Olorun to ask for permission so he can create dry land and he was granted, then he went to Orunmila, Olorun's eldest son(The god of prophecy) to seek advice He was told he would need a gold chain long enough to reach below, a snail's shell filled with sand, a white hen, a black cat, and a palm nut, all of which he was to carry in a bag. The gods contributed what gold they had, and Orunmila supplied the articles for the bag. When all was ready, Obatala used the chain to climb down from the sky with the bag hunged over his shoulder, when he reached the end of the chain he saw he still had some dis...

Shango of the Oyo Empire Shango was the fourth king of the Oyo clan in Yorubaland and he brought a great deal of prosperity to the kingdom.. While the myths that surrounds him are enormous, there are many stories about him that can be validated through traditional practices and folklore. He stands as the cornerstone of many Afro-Caribbean religions. In the Yoruba religion, Shango is perhaps the most popular Orisha. He is the god of thunder and one of the principal ancestors of the Yoruba people. In the Santeria religion of the Caribbean, Shango is considered to be the focal point as he represents the Oyos of West Africa. The Oyo empire sold a lot of people to the Atlantic slave trade who then took them to the Caribbean and South America. It is primarily for this reason that every major Orisha initiation ceremony performed in the New World within the past few hundred years has been based on the traditional Shango ceremony of Ancient Oyo. Such ceremonies survived th...