Ogun

Ogun or Ogoun (Yoruba: Ògún, Portuguese: Ogum, Gu; also spelled Oggun or Ogou; known as Ogún or Ogum in Latin America) is a spirit that appears in several African religions. He is a warrior and a powerful spirit of metal work,[1][2][3] as well as of rum and rum-making. He is also known as the 'god of Iron', and is present in Yoruba religion, Haitian Vodou, and West African Vodun.

For the Nigerian state, see Ogun (state). For the record label, see Ogun Records. For the fictional character, see Ogun (comics).
Ògún
Ògún Lákáayé
Warriors, soldiers, blacksmiths, metal workers, craftsmen
Member of Orisha
Veve of Ogoun
Other namesOggun, Ogou, Ògún or Ogúm
Venerated inYoruba religion, Edo religion, Dahomey mythology, Vodun, Santería, Umbanda, Candomblé, Quimbanda, Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo, Folk Catholicism
RegionNigeria, Benin, Latin America, Haiti
Ethnic groupYoruba people, Edo people, Fon people

Yoruba religion
Statue of Ogun, Sacred Grove Of Oshun, Osogbo, Nigeria

In Yoruba religion, Ogun is a primordial orisha who first appeared as a hunter named Tobe Ode. He is said to have been the first Orisha to descend to the realm of Ile Aiye ("Earth"), to find a suitable place for future human life. In some traditions, he is said to have cleared a path for the other gods to enter Earth, using a metal ax and with the assistance of a dog. To commemorate this, one of his praise names, or oriki, is Osin Imole or the "first of the primordial Orisha to come to Earth". He is the god of war and metals.[2][1][3]

In his earthly life Ogun is said to be the first king of Ife. When some of his subjects failed to show respect, Ogun killed them and ultimately himself with his own sword. He disappeared into the earth at a place called Ire-Ekiti, with the promise to help those who call on his name. His followers believe him to have wo ile sun, to have disappeared into the earth's surface instead of dying. Throughout his earthly life, he is thought to have fought for the people of Ire, thus is known also as Onire.[1][2][3]

He is now celebrated in, Ogun, Ekiti, Oyo, and Ondo States.

Followers

Ogun is the traditional deity of warriors, hunters, blacksmiths, technologists, and drivers in the Yoruba region. Followers of traditional Yoruba religion can swear to tell the truth in court by "kissing a piece of iron in the name of Ogun."[3] Drivers carry an amulet of Ogun to ward off traffic accidents.[1][2]

Symbols

The primary symbols of Ogun are Iron, the dog, and the palm frond. They symbolize Ogun's role in transformation, mediation, and function. Iron is the primary emblem of Ogun. Ogun altars and ceremonies display and use iron objects both in Yoruba areas and across the African diaspora. Followers of Ogun wear chains of iron implements; Ogun festivals feature the display of knives, guns, blacksmith implements, scissors, wrenches, and other iron implements from daily life.

Sacrifice

Meats are sacrifices for Ogun. Dogs are the traditional companions of hunters, but Ogun's personality is also seen as "doglike": aggressive, able to face danger, and straightforward. Other sacrificial animals associated with Ogun are the spitting cobra (blacksnake); its behavior is aggressive and fearless. Hunters and blacksmiths avoid eating or witnessing the mating of blacksnakes. Other important sacrificial offerings to Ogun are the Clarias submarginatus (a species of catfish), alligator pepper, kola nuts, palm wine and red palm oil, small rats, roosters, salt, snails, tortoise, water, and yams. (Clyne: 1997). Many of these sacrificial offerings were carried into New World traditions.

Oríkì is a Yoruba cultural phenomenon that comes in the form of praise poetry, praising either a person, òrìṣà (deity), or town based on their achievements. Ogun worshippers are known to sing Ogun's oríkì and this specific part insinuates that Ògún is in seven paths.

  • Ògún méje logun mi,
  • Ògún alára ni n gb’aja,
  • Ògún onire a gb’àgbò,
  • Ògún Ikọle a gb'agbín,
  • Ògún ila a gb’esun iṣu,
  • Ògún akirin a gb’awo agbo,
  • Ògún elémono ẹran ahùn ni jẹ,
  • mákindé ti dogun lẹyin odi,
  • Bi o ba gba Tapa a gb’Aboki,
  • A gba Ukuuku a gba Kèmbèrí.

Translation:

  • My Ògún in seven wars
  • Ogun of the town of Ilara takes dog
  • Ogun of the town of Ire takes ram
  • Ogun of the town of Ikole takes snail
  • Ogun of the town of Ila takes the seed of the yam
  • Ogun of the Akirin people takes the skin of a ram
  • Ogun of the Elemono people takes the meat of a tortoise to eat
  • The brave one has gone to war secretly
  • If he takes the Nupe, he takes the Hausa
  • He takes the foreign people, He takes the Kanuri.

Dahomey religion

In Dahomey religion, Gu is the vodun of war and patron deity of smiths and craftsmen.[4] He was sent to earth to make it a nice place for people to live, and he has not yet finished this task.

Candomblé
Candomblé altar to Ogun, Brazil

Ogun is known in the Afro-Brazilian tradition of Candomblé as Ogum (Ketu, Ijexa and Efon nations) or Gu (Jeje nation).[5] Ogum is syncretized with Saint George, notably in Rio de Janeiro and the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Candomblé tradition in Northeast Brazil, especially in Bahia, associates Ogum with Saint Sebastian or Saint Anthony.[6][4]

Characteristics
  • Consecrated day: Wednesday
  • Metal: iron
  • Element: earth
  • Color: red, black, green (Rio de Janeiro), blue (Bahia), marine blue
  • Food: feijoada, xinxim, yams
  • Archetype: impetuous, authoritarian, cautious, hardworking, suspicious and a bit selfish
  • Symbols: sword, broadsword, iron chain[4][7]

Individual devotees of Ogum in Brazil avoid certain foods. These include goat, cajá-manga (Spondias dulcis), sugar, black beans, yams, and the manga-espada (an elongated mango cultivar of Brazil) in the Ketu nation; yams and manga-espada in the Ijexa nation; and partridge in the Jeje nation.[5]

Ritual sacrifice

Ogum, as a male orisha (Boró), only "eats" male animals. Ox, billy goat, rooster, snake (typically a red snake), dog, and game animals are sacrificed ("orô") on festival days associated with Ogum in the Candomblé tradition.[8][9]

Ritual foods

Acaçá is a ritual food offered to all gods in the Candomble pantheon; it is made of a paste of corn mash steamed in banana leaves. A variation, acaçá de feijão-preto, substitutes black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) for corn. This variation is only offered to Ogum in the Casa Fanti Ashanti temple in São Luís, in the state of Maranhão.[10] Feijoada, a stew of beans with beef and pork, is also a common offering to Ogum.[11]

Santería and Palo

Ogun's centrality to the Yoruba religion has resulted in his name being retained in Santería religion, as well as the Orisa religion of Trinidad and Tobago. In Santería, Ogún is syncretized with Saint Peter, Santiago, Saint Paul, and John the Baptist; he is the deity of war and metals.[12]

Vodou

In Haitian Vodou Ogun is known as Ogou, and consists of an array of manifestations; most carry the aspect of iron smithing and tools from the Yoruba tradition. The Ogou guard the badji, the sacred altar of the Vodou temple. He carries an iron saber and wears a red sash. Ogou is also the god of pioneering, intelligence, justice, medicine, and political power; these are associated with the symbol of the tool that can "advance humans' mastery over the environment.[13] Ogou Feray is the god of war. Other manifestations of Ogou are Ogou Badagri, Ogou Balenjo, Ogou Batala, and Ogou Je Wouj. Ezili Freda Daome is the female counterpart to Ogou.[13][14]

Ogou Feray is syncretized with St. James the Greater (St. Jacques Majeur) in the Vodou tradition. He is a flower spirit and he guides Vodou followers against their enemies. He is symbolically covered in iron and may not be harmed by his enemies. As in Africa, his symbol is a piece of iron, a machete, or a knife. As in Africa, Ogou is revered among blacksmiths, many of whom are of Yoruba origin. He is also noted to like women and alcohol.[13][14]

In Vodou ceremonies followers of Ogou wear a red shirt, pants, and scarf. A followers of Ogou in a possession-trance is offered Haitian white rum during the ceremony. In some ceremonies rum is burned in a container to allow Ogou to "wash" the hands of the followers.[14]

Two Vodou songs to Ogou, as recorded and translated by Michel S. Laguerre:[14]

Fè Ogou Fè, Ogou Fèray o,

Fè Ogou Fè, Ogou Fèray o

I am an iron,

I am covered with iron.

Fèrè Fèray tout ko Fèray sé kouto,

Fèrè Fèray tout ko Fèray sé manchèt.

The body of Ogou Fèray is covered with knives,

The body of Fèray is covered with machetes.

Footnote

Léo Neto, et al. observed various kinds of animal used in sacrificial ritual in twelve Candomblé communities of Caruaru, Pernambuco and Campina Grande, Paraíba in the Northeastern region of Brazil between August 2007 and June 2008; dogs were the only sacrificial animal offered to Ogun in both communities.[8]

Bibliography
  • Clyne, Robert Marcel (1997). Ogun Worship in Idanre: Iron and Identity in a Yoruba Town (Ph.D. thesis). Yale University.

References
  1. Adeoye, C. L. (1989). Ìgbàgbọ́ àti ẹ̀sìn Yorùba (in Yoruba). Ibadan: Evans Bros. Nigeria Publishers. pp. 250–262. ISBN 9781675098.
  2. Barnes, Sandra (1997). Africa's Ogun: Old World and New. Bloomington Ind: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253-332516.
  3. Earhart, H (1993). Religious Traditions of the World: a Journey through Africa, Mesoamerica, North America, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, China, and Japan. San Francisco, California: HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 9780060621155.
  4. Verger, Pierre (1999). Notas sobre o culto aos orixás e voduns na Bahia de Todos os Santos, no Brasil, e na antiga costa dos escravos, na África (in Portuguese). São Paulo: EDUSP. pp. 151–160. ISBN 9788531404757.
  5. Augras, Monique (2004). "Quizilas e preceitos--transgressão, reparação e organização dinâmica do mundo". Culto aos orixás: voduns e ancestrais nas religiões afro-brasileiras (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Pallas. pp. 190–193. ISBN 9788534702379.
  6. Assunção, Matthias (2005). Capoeira: the History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art. London New York: Routledge. p. 39. ISBN 0714650315.
  7. Hargreaves, Patricia, ed. (2018). Religiões Afro: as origens, as divindades, os rituais. São Paulo: Abril. p. 29. ISBN 9788569522492.
  8. Léo Neto, Nivaldo A.; Brooks, Sharon E.; Alves, Rômulo RN (2009). "From Eshu to Obatala: animals used in sacrificial rituals at Candomblé "terreiros" in Brazil". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 5 (1): 23. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-5-23. ISSN 1746-4269. PMC 2739163. PMID 19709402.
  9. Moura, Carlos Eugênio Marcondes de, ed. (2004). Culto aos orixás: voduns e ancestrais nas religiões afro-brasileiras (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Pallas. pp. 43–45. ISBN 9788534702379.
  10. Lody, Raul (2003). Dicionário de arte sacra & técnicas afro-brasileiras. Rio de Janeiro: Pallas. p. 36. ISBN 9788534701877.
  11. Fieldhouse, Paul (2017). Food, feasts, and faith : an encyclopedia of food culture in world religions. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, an Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 93. ISBN 9781610694124.
  12. Falola, Toyin (2005). Yoruba Creativity: Fiction, Language, Life and Songs. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. ISBN 9781592213368.
  13. Galembo, Phyllis (2005). Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti. Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press. pp. xxii–xxiii, 12. ISBN 9781580086769.
  14. Laguerre, Michel (1980). Voodoo Heritage. Beverly Hills, Calif: Sage Publications. pp. 131–137. ISBN 0803914032.
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