Yoruba gods, orixás or orisha, in Umbanda

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The goal of this article is to translate some of the content about orisas in Umbanda to English. In Yoruba called Òrìṣà, and in Spanish orisha and in Portuguese orixá. Since we explore the gods in Umbanda, I will use “orixá” as the reference for the remainder of the article.

Orixás are the gods of the Yoruba pantheon, some are personified forces of nature, others are deified human beings. Similar to Greek mythology the gods exhibit the same attributes and flaws of a human being (many acting in a way worse than most humans).

 

The orixás. Image from the article "O que são Orixás" by Glaucia Carvalho. Link: https://www.raizesespirituais.com.br/o-que-sao-orixas/

In the four pillars of foundation in Umbanda the orixás are a contribution from African spirituality (the other three pillars being Catholicism, Spiritism and Indigenous spirituality).

The traditional African religions arrived in Brazil due to the slave trade. Africans were enslaved and sold to work in plantations and brought with them their stories and legends. The Fon people from modern-day Benin brought the vodu spirits, the Bantu people brought the inkise and the bacuros (or in Kicongo language mbakulu), and the Yoruba from modern-day Nigeria bought the orixa.

The plantation was organized with a big mansion for the owner of lands, his family and a few domestic slaves. A separate building housed the slaves, called senzala, and it was heavily controlled by the owner.

Worship of African gods was prohibited and as an instrument of resistance slaves used the statue of Catholic saints in the place of their gods. This phenomena of syncretization was a tool to keep their traditions alive in a foreign land, bowing to a statue of Saint Jorge but worshiping Ogum, the god of war.

Spirituality in African communities was passed down by oral traditions, with each generation changing part of the original legend. Over many centuries of development these traditional African religions formed the modern-day Candomble that is followed by thousands in Brazil. Other forms of African spirituality continue to this day in Brazil with a smaller group of followers such as the Tambor de Mina, the Terecô, the Xangô de Recife and others.

In the 20th century under the zeitgeist of the new religious movements the orixás were added to the melting pot that is Umbanda. Their contribution was so significant to Umbanda that some characterised it as an Afro-Brazilian religion.

The orality of traditions poses a challenge that deserves its own article. As I do with any other religion I will employ the historicist method giving priority to the older over the newer written sources. New books can add or build on older books but if there is a contradiction the priority is given to the older source.

Pantheon

The main orixás in Umbanda are Oxalá, Ogum, Oxóssi, Obaluaê, Xangô, Iemanjá, Iansã, Nanã, Oxum e Exu. And to a lesser extent Ossaim, Euá, Obá, Logun Edé, and others.

Orixá means the ruler of an ori, head in Yoruba. Meaning that it is believed that every individual is influenced by one to three orixás, the individual being called son and the orixá his “father” or “mother”. The leader of an Umbanda centre is called (Father or Mother) (First name) of (Orixá), for example Father Pedro of Oxalá (Pai Pedro de Oxalá), Mother Maria of Iemanjá (Mãe Maria de Iemanjá).

Each orixá has its own history, attributes, personality, colours and even food offerings.

• Oxalá is the Father of all gods. Being similar to Zeus or Jupiter in Greek and Roman mythology.

• Ogum is the god of war. Similar to Mars.

• Oxóssi is the hunter god.

• Obaluaê is the god of cure, death and rebirth.

• Xangô is the god of justice.

• Iemanjá is the Mother goddess and the goddess of the oceans. Iemanjá originally was the goddess of a river of the same name in Africa and in Brazil became the goddess of the oceans.

• Iansã is the goddess of winds and storms.

• Nanã is the oldest of all gods and the goddess of mud.

• Oxum is the goddess of rivers and lakes.

• Exu is the messenger between gods and humans.

An esoteric reading of the orixás considers them as different frequencies or vibrations of one light, the light of the One God as if His light passed through a crystal or prism and refracted in many different colours (now you get it…).

Cosmogony

Cosmogony refers to the myth of the creation of the world in a religion. In Christianity the cosmogony would be related to the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve and the rest of the book of Genesis. Yoruba spirituality is based on an oral tradition so there are many versions of the myths. I tried to make a small summary based on many sources that I could find:

In the beginning there was only Orun (the spiritual world). The supreme creator Olorum, or Olodumare, sent Obatalá to create the world with the apo iwa (bag of existence).

In the process Obatalá was warned to make an offering to Exu before beginning creation. Out of pride, Obatalá did not make the offering, and Exu, injured, made Obatalá thirsty. Obatalá prepared palm wine and drank it until he became intoxicated.

After a while Olorum was intrigued and sent Oduduwa to investigate, and he found Obatalá sleeping. Olorum asked Oduduwa to create the Earth. Oduduwa made the offering to Exu and began creation as instructed. He threw sand into the water and sent a chicken to scratch and spread the sand over a larger area. At that moment, the swamps were created.

Obatalá awoke from his deep sleep and went back to Olorum to apologize. The supreme god tasked him with creating humanity. Obatalá creates man, animals, trees and with the rains the world begins.

Family ties

As any other pantheon gods marry, betray and create other gods. Yoruba spirituality is based on oral tradition so stories will vary. I tried to list some of the family ties between orixas but I will prepare a graph in the future to make it easier to track. 

Oxala is married to Nana Buruque, with Nana he had his sons Obaluaiê, Iroko, the twins Oxumarê and Ewá, and Oxum.

Obatala (a different name for Oxala) had a daughter with Oduduwa, Iemanja. Other stories mentioned that she is the daughter of Olokun and the mother of Ogum, Exu and Oxossi.

Oxossi (son of Iemanja) and Oxum (daughter of Oxala with Nana) marry and have a son Logun-Ede.

Bayani is married to Iansa and his son is Xango, who was married to Oba.

Worship

Each orixa has its own myths and history. Gods fight, marry and betray each other. Orixas are also connected to elements of nature and moral values, they have their own colours, weapons, music, clothing. favorite foods and things they dislike. As mentioned above in the cosmogony, the orixas live in the spiritual world and they return to the physical world when followers give them offerings, religion comes from the word religare (reconnect) and in Umbanda this religare with the gods if made through the offerings, understanding how to please the gods means understanding how to connect with the spiritual world.

Every person has an ori, the Yoruba word for head, and refers to the person’s soul, essence or personality. Every person has their ori protected by a guardian orisha from birth. This guardian orixa is called their front orixa (lit trans of orixá de frente) and this orixa determines their personality, tastes, how they relate to other people and even their body type. In future articles I hope to explore more about each orixa.

Sources:

SANTOS, Joel. Família dos Orixás. Blog Pai Joaquim de Angola. April 12th, 2011. Link: https://paijoelsantos.blogspot.com/2011/04/familia-dos-orixas.html

This article was written by Eduardo Guimarães and registered in the Brazilian National Library. The content is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or profit is prohibited. With reproduction without a profit motive is allowed with the consent of the author. 

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