byw Lm eT Mme Uae LyndESHU-ELEGGUA ELEGBARA SANTERIA AND THE ORISHA OF THE CROSSROADS BY BABA RAUL CANIZARES ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS PLAINVIEW, NEW YORKEshu-Eleggua Elegbara ‘SANTERIA AND THE ORISHA OF THE GROS SBN: 0. ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS Malt w, New York 118 (518) 454-8809 ® Copyright 2000 by Original Publications All Rights Reserved Baba Raul Canizares INTRODUCTION “Eshu throws a stone today and kills a bird yesterday” Amid the hustle and bustle of Havana's Rancho Boyeros International Airport a young woman excitedly waits in Line to board the small plane that will take her ti ame. Young and beautiful, cabaret singer Roxana Gonzalez had been chosen to lead a troupe of Cuban performers om a triumptial tour of Central and South America the moment she had been waiting for since she was ten years old and had F Stars” —this was fifty years This w ‘1 on first p before Ed MeMahion made a similar show famous on American TV in a radio show called “Searching Roxana giggled with her girlfriends, the four platinum-blonde beauties that inadas de Oscar Moreno.” All of a sudde ade up the musical group “Las ooking black youth wearing an impeccably laundered and ironed red shirt 3k pants approached Roxana and, staring straight into her face, told her list turned to her friends: “Did you hear at her with @ puzzled look on her face, one of he Senora, don’t go.” Startled, the youn hat that kid say?” Star friends asked her, “What kid? I didn’t see anybody!” Roxana looked around, but the child had vanished. Panicking, Roxana left the line. ‘on that ane, and you should do the same,” she told her friends. The impressario overheard what Roxana said and ordered her 10 get on the plane, or she would erformance in Panama. “I'll take alater flight, bt I'mnot getting on that plane wed with rage the impresario, a very influential man, told Roxana that unless she got on that plane he'd make sure she never worked again, Sad but determine Roxana went back home. The next morning she was awakened by her mother wit ne horrifying news that the plane had gone down and there had been no surviv Cuba went into mourning for some of the most talented young performers it had. all dead in a plane crash. This was 1953. Two years before | was born. Rox mzalez was m who went on to raise a family, pa 1994 fy mother w d that the child that saved her | ther orisha of the crossroads, Had s needed his advice, | wouldn’t be today, writing these linthe Youn prople Bact ran wc ¢ mae robo 2 i ges. A Jungian archetype is a prototypic phenomencn th cre frp Resale clcneunomcowanacoab “PATAKI” human thoghs regard rl, propos of eg the Sionen Seow w ng community who are familiar with J ke may gain an Asour Esnu 401 powers of the right 1s") act as prove 4 facilitators of humankind. A “Pataki” is a holy tale at led ajogun (“demons”) whose role is 10 ‘om generation to, s ssplace is unique because h possessing great beauty and tim When a practitioner casts the an! F ‘one™ in ixte ry oracle called “merindilogun, hells that fall wit four-hundred-and. ne in two-hundred-an¢ he mm their natu ing facing up determines are tobe recited Eshu comman ents of mischief Tku (de Within these ssered stones, answers to problems presented to the orisha for solution Arun (sickness ‘on (imprisonment), Oran (big re 10 be found. Because of Eshu's uniequaled importance, th aki fouble), Ofc his i about him than about any other orisha. Wh are but a few of the thousands feared as he is loved Eshu + orisha in eve of stories about the divine trickst jony’, he is uniqh he orisha are worshipped. Eshu is honored. manif 3 attributes many. In Cuba h Birth stories: ia his most basic form, Eshu is eternal, beis thought not to hav is generally called Fleggua. Al nmonty believed that Ele ginning and will not nd, but many Lars have experien mispronunciatio gbara, one of Eshu’s many manifestations in Africa, the th and death. The following pataki is often told in Cuba tradition in my lineage is that Elegaua is the Hispanicized form of Blewa Se shu meaning “handsome his makes sens¢ since one finds Its said that many, many years ago there lived in Afric sm: stance cumi writers in Cuba substitutin med Okubere who had a wife n aki. After years of marriage, the coupl nsidered th fa as such can be said to be th anto worry be a Unlike other king x ability t $ aspirations, as w s beiny eon i sy mioch in love with block them, makes him indispensable: Simpl d, without Eshu Ananaki, Ananaki ph divor wld marry a woman, }ecomplished! uld give him an heir, ot fe as was his righ Dkuibere, however, refused of th i ing 10 st put with his beloved A\ kings te der (0dr . i then by th :Eshu- Ele — — ——$— jer name. “Its 1, Ananaki, the Coconut Palm Tree! You have drunk of my blood, which has made your womb fertile, many children will be nurtured in that womb, but if you do not wish to lose the first one, you must dedicate him to me three days after he is born. He will be blessed with ereat beauty and intelligence, and God Almighty will make him Lord of the Road.” Too shocked to say a w stood up and hurried back to her husba Ananaki found Okubere crying his eyes out for her, desolat over for his beloved Ananaki without luck. Ananaki told her husband what had anspired and h n the knowledge that he and his wife would be able 10 sonceive. “Bless ‘oconut Palm Tree!”~-Shouted the king, Nine months to return, a beautiful boy was born to the pait. So great was their all about the Coconut Palin Tree: They named their boy Eleggua, Which in their tongue means “handsome one.” Prince Eleggua was the apple of and nd somewhat spoiled. Going hunting one day with his entourage, y fella strange chill go up his spine when he got to the middle of a certain crossroads. He stopped dead in his tacks with a strained, anguished expression on his face, worrying his hunting companions who had never seen the rambunctious youngster act so strangely. After a couple of minutes that seemed like hours to his worried followers, Ele down to pick up something from the ground, It was a strange, lun The prince seemed to be fascinated by it, carefully car ieday of Ananaik at both fe ous coconut, k home Showing his parents the fruit, th about it. Eleggua then rolled the coconut on the floor, the thing ending up in a Corner by the front door of his chamber. One day, not long after the incident with coconut, the king offered a great feast to celebrate Eleggua's birthday when a powerful, blinding light began to issued from Eleggua’s room. Investig phenomenon, the king's bodyguard discovered that the source of the light was the conut by the prince’s doorway. Many of the king’s guests left the party, utterly terrified. The king ordered that the cocomut should be offered obeisances, as it was obviously a divine emanation. Three days late, however, an inconceivable tragedy befell the village when their beloved prince Eleggua fell ill and died suddenly Everyone felt the loss of the handsome youth, While the prince’s body lay in sti the coconut kept his chamber, now transformed into a funeral parlor, fully illuminated. After the Prince’s burial, however, everyone forgot about the coconut which lay forgotten behind the dead prince's door ting the After Eleggua’s prospered; coms refused th, the village fell into a downward spiral wh e milk, chic the nothing 's refused to eat, and plants refused to that the re on for the village's adversity, and also the reason for the young anteria and the Orisha of the Crossroad. ———$—$—$— 5 prince’s death, lay in the royal coup! ten promise to the Coconut Palm Tree. “You must offer obeisarice to the magic coconut, or we will all starve!” The sects told the king. Unfortunately, when they went to look for the fruit, they found nat it had rotted away and was no good. They then took what was left of the ut and, finding a suitable stone (one as large and round as the coconut), the smeared the Neshy pulp, now soft and gooey from rot, on the surface of the stone. They then sacrificed a beautiful white rooster, brought in from another village, on top ofthe stone, which they further dressed with honey and palm oil. By divination they found out thatthe spit ofthe magic coconut now occupied the stone. Okube: and Ananaki proceeded to lovingly install the stone behind the door of Elegeua’s chamber. The stone then began to glow. Through teary eyes the gref-stricken parents saw an ethereal, translucent face begin to appear over the stone. It was the face of their ill-fated son, Eleggua. They then understood that they had not lost their son who had become an orisha and would now be proteeting them from his divine realm, Eventually, the wise elders taught Okubere and Ananaki how to with Eleggua by using an oracle consisting of four pieces of coconut. Since that day everyone in the community enjoyed great prosperity. Eventu household in the village had its own Eleggua stone prepared so became widespread, eventually being adopted by other villages until every corne of the world had heard the name Eleggua, the magical prince who became a god ‘Commentary: This pataki is considered very important because it encapsulates cone of the most sacred tenets of Santeria’ That the dead precede the orisha. Here wwe clearly see how Eleggua was first human before dying and subsequently becoming an orisha, Although Eleggua is the first orisha to be propitiated. the ancestors, the egungun, are honored even before Eleggua Why Eleggua eats first: There are many pataki that relate why Eleggua is he first orisha to be propitiated, the following is the most commonly related in Cuba ‘Once upon a time, long before there was a separation berween humans and Orisha, Obatata lived in a splendid palace with his wife Yemmun and their childr dest of them being the strong and righ ba, as Obatala is called byall creation, took pleasure in his serious, diligent offspring, In those days Baba was very much a hands-on ruler, his meticulous attention to all corners of his vast empire taking him away from home when he felt his subjects in those places needed him. It was during one of these sojourns of Obatala that Ogun began to feel a shameful attraction for his own mother. Obatala had an enchanted rooster “tov nin machinated a named Osun’ that served as his e to constimmate his shameful desire towards Yemmu, (Samteria and the Orisha of th Oshun, Oya, and Yemaya become “Psychic Readers”: Anot 7 asties Be : ule Gay, Pataki that establishes Eleggua’s primacy concerns a time when Oshun, Oya, anc ed O: ded to fall into a : hen put his lth maya decided to set up a joint ¥ wr her out, locking the door so he couldn the house. With 1 The sisters hired El crve as thei ager p consummated the Pooling the: roup bought a nice little cottage near the ocean nd Yorum ontinued a ba Eleggua Laroye, who in this avatar has “the gift b" No sooner did 1 aroye begin to pass the word around that the three greatest cowr rueful his lit ng him ¢ Obatala asked the in the world had set up shop on the beach that hundreds of cl joungster, “Tel Why a 7 began agg oor, anxious to ha fortunes told. At the end I eens Us gap tes a ¥ clove sf each day Elegewa would come by the cottage to collect his bounty. After about are that the nd, E a ‘Ova began to prot ng 10 give so much money to Eleggu t ns, Ova began to protest hi ik ay Ogum feeds my portion of fo f Afterall. we do all the work',” the queen of the dead said.* The sisters : 1 Jocks me out ofthe house an side alone with Mother with so many clients. they didn't need Elegeua anymore, From then on Forrified at the thought that wa: ng hi patala decided not to sa each evening Eleggua would pass by the sisters’ cottage only to be tol th but to conduct a test. He at he would be gone Nothisig today: een, Wa boon Avery low ay, Bal Uy: anton al we'll ie several days and appeared to ride away on his horse, as he had done mam fer a week of this, Eleggua stood close to the cottage, om the only road mes before. Surreptitiously, however, Obat right back and hid where h UE bed ec thecbatess ich hin a Aen Sed apiece, legac ld see the front of npound. ed a5 Opn lock Ha 0 nim of her away saying “the sisters don’t live in the cottage anymore, but leave a averfed Ogun: Obatala then entered bis the mos a your address and I'l let you know t whereabouts a as an 1 witness. Horr presence of his father, Ogun : me flt the full weight of his in. Covering his face in shame, Ogun cried Yo not curse me father, for I cus wn. this day on T shall labor day After a few days Oshun, Oya, and Yemaya began to panic as they saw da night, neve pody & he comfort of rest. The ut without arly business being transacted. Yemaya demanded to knov nakng iron tools and w ich I have so zealously guarded, will give tc : j ave you?,” asked Flegeun why Eleggua wasn’t keeping his end of the deal. “Have you piekaboy aah a Base i impassively: Lowering her ge, Yemaya realized that she and her sisters had no m family again, I'll ive i epest jung acted fairly with El From now on twill be the arate from altel uber. Teraing to : : thy intake,"-Yemaya said~" in fact, from 'll make sure your plat ita day forth your sels! Bin soa will beware of food isthe first served, and your clothes are the first washed” After Yemuaya fore aly god! Unless jou eat fret Ib eat” Ts ‘ ind Eleggua made the pact that assured Eleggua his primacy, everything went ba said: “And you, Osun, becaus aved me f i back to normal. Since that time it has become customary to propitiate Eleggua he scraps Elegeua th 1 im ve him ma . c pat vl that it ell reading ness. The Yonia did not view religion a thei Commentary: Tisai i Me thes tes tik She i na peaceisent : ir % ‘ ho spend er ti hers bein a Th h, a disobedient ual misconduc i 2 eviona cnoral of f 1 ' § ae humankind led ful ob odEshu-Eleggua 8 Exh red and black: There were two friends who grew small, West African village. They did everything young, Both attended bought adjoining farn oon the same day. The two friends we ‘Once they » babalawo to custom in their village. The babalawo told the friends that unless they made a sacrifice to Eshu, they would have a great f babalawo by laughing in his face: “We, have a fight? Not likely Needless to say, they refused to make sacrifice to Eshu Sometime later the two buddies were tilling the soil on each side of d trail that separated their respective properties, when a man passed by, offeri them a quick greeting as he walked by at a mther fast pace. “T wonder who that was,” one of the friends said to the other. “I don’t know, but I can’t imi he can stand the heat dressed in black like that” The other friend responded “What do you mean bl 1d? He was all in red, from head to fet Red" Asked the other one-~"You clown! You know very well he was dressed in her since they were very he same classes. served the army at idy to settle down. They even married se they never even had an argument state of their affairs, as was the between them. The friends k, dear fi black, and he seemed to be crying” The friend who said he saw the man dressed in red now turned sullen, “Are you calling me a liar, beloved one? He wore red and vas laugh Are YOU calling me a liar, highly valued comrade?” The friends rst argument ever escalated into a horrible brawl, where neighbors had to come they Hipp id decide who would leave town arate them, Such anger erupted between them i id a message ich of the former friends rece Twenty years passed by when from the Chief of the Temple of Eshu ut the royal pa Honored by such a request, since both were men of modest means, each bough ic finest goat he could afford to offer to the trickster god. At the appointed tim n the mysterious man im black twenty years before was oe (o offer sacrifice there ne friend who had s 1m door. The other friend was told instructed to enter the temple through the wes the dimly lit chamber the Chief Priest knelt nt Hi f the Lord of the mmanded. Fascinated through the eastern door I Crossroads, “Come up to the front, both of you,” the Priest c ids who had not ife-size statue, the ach other in twenty years almost bumped into each other as both stared right into the statue, whi now ould see was dressed in red and black At that moment, what they had thought was a statue stood up, seemingly ming to life. “Welcome, boys. it has been a long timo, hasn't it?” Realizing tha hey were in the presence of Lord Eleggua himself, both men fell on their face full prostration. “You weren't so worshipful when I passed by your properti twvent now were you?" Horrified, bot ds now saw ci d Eleggua half dressed in red and half'in black, right down the middle Santeria and the Orisha of the Crossroad) —$—$—$—$—$—$—$— 9 body. The frie other's arms sobbing uncontrollably. "Forgive me have been so thoughtless!” The priest offered El and the two friends walked arm in a realized what a huge mistake they had made and fell down each loved friend!” “How could I uathe friends’ belated 1 with twenty yeats of stories to share with Commentary: The moral of this pataki is: Do not be fooled by appearances may be di Jinded and must strive to see beyond the confines of our own 20, we will be more fully approaching a more complete loser to the truth of any situation. As usual with any pataki involving Eleggua, this one reminds us at is his without delay alone, for appeara ving, The should be br perspective: in doi ater implication is th ality, in the process of which we will be operating of the importance of mak How Eleggua healed God Almighty: Back when Olodumare was preparing his departure from Earth, leaving his children the Orisha to take over the role of active gods ofthis planet, something unthinkable occurred, Father Olodumare, God Almighty himself fell ill! This confused all ofthe Orisha, becau they were under the impression that the Great One was incapable of experiencing sickness, Laying in his luxuriant silk blankets, the usually vital Patriarch seemed to be ebbing away. One by one, all the Orisha tried they knew, one by one they failed. Obatala and Olokun, God's two most powerful children, began preparations to face the unthinkable: The death of God. If, destiny personified, divined that there was one orisha they had all forgotten to consult Eshu Beleke, a tiny, onerous, childlike Orisha who enjoyed living where refuse jee and nasty low Orisha, which suited neal God using everything was gathered or deep in the jungle, Because of his strange appear disposition, Es him fine sie leke had been ostracized by his he preferred to be alone anyway Oshosi Ode a, the Hunt personified, was sent to track Eshu Beleke down, dump near a small ;onorable brother,” Oshosi said. Eating a piece of decayin; didn’t even bother to look up, simply telling Osho Sure enough, the tiny terror was found in a squalid garba lf and ‘ot mean to disturb your meditation, Eshu., by er has fallen ried everything we know to heal him w ‘Of course you can’t heal him. the only cure for what ails Olodumare ist , in the squalor ofa garbage dump, and of course none of you highbrow s with your noses all up in your asses would be caught dead near arbage, but all right, Tl heal him Its not his fault all of youare a pac The small figure then began to rapidly gathe: from the malodora aste, Eshu then triturated 1s der, mixing the powder with ome cloudy liqui 1 C0 Eshu then proceeded to give the mixtur Olodumare. who almost instantly after drinking it returned to full health