Òrìṣà in the new world

Abraham (1958) defines ‘òrìṣà’ as ‘any Yoruba deity apart from Ọlọrun’. Citing Bascom (1951), he goes further to say that Yorùbá religious rites are still performed in Cuba; oblation of food are made and animals sacrificed to òrìṣà; beads of prescribed colours are worn by the worshippers, traditional music, songs and dances survived. The òrìṣà are identified with Saints as follows:

St Peter (who holds the key to heaven) – Ẹlẹ́gbáa (who opens the road; favourite foods are rats and pigs and he likes to drink and smoke cigars).

St Lazarus – Babalúayé (Ṣanpọ̀nná, the god of smallpox).

St Barbara – Ṣàngó.

St Teresita – the wife of Ṣàngó, i.e. Ọya.

St Raphael – Ọ̀sanyìn (associated with medicine).

St Michael – Erinlẹ̀ (associated with medicine).

St Comas and St Damien – Ìbejì children.

St John the Baptist – Ògún, the dog-flesh-eating, hard-drinking, intrepid Yoruba god.

Refereces

Abraham, R.C. (1958), Dictionary of Modern Yoruba. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Bascom, W.R. (1951), ‘The Yoruba In Cuba’, Nigeria 37:13-20.