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To: alt.religion.orisha From: racine125@aol.com (Mambo Racine Sans Bout) Date: 22 Dec 2001 00:24:16 GMT Subject: Lwa and Orishas, Especially Ogoun Lwa and Orishas, Especially Ogoun Some Haitian Vodou lwa are Nago (Yoruban) orishas. A very good example of this is the lwa Ogoun. We have many aspects of Ogoun. Interestingly, the word "Ogoun" became almost a prefix indicating "Nago orisha", and many orishas became aspects of Ogoun! For example, in Vodou Shango has become Ogoun Shango, and Obatala has become Ogoun Batala. There are also Ogouns identified with specific places in Nigeria, for example Ogoun Badagri, who is identified with the power that comes from diplomacy, statesmanship and negotiation. There is also an Ogoun Balindjo, who nullifies poison. Many Ogouns are identified with iron, and by extension weapons of war, especially machetes but also guns. Ogoun Feray and Ogoun Fer are two of these Ogouns. Ogoun St. Jacques is another aspect of Ogoun, and he speaks in a very high-pitched, almost effeminiate voice, but he protects his children from cannon balls and bullets. There is also a remarkable Ogoun Deux Manieres (Two Way Ogoun), who is both male and female, both heterosexual and homosexual, served in both the Rada and Petro divisions of the Vodou liturgy. He is sort of a universal power adaptor! In Nigeria Ogoun's colors are black and green, although I don't know why. In Haiti, Ogoun became very much identified with military might and military victory, especially after the Haitian Revolution (the only successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere, resulting in the first independant black republic in the Western Hemisphere). The colors of the Hatiian flag are red and blue, so that is why these colors became associated with Ogoun in Haiti. When Ogoun appears through possession at a Vodou dance in Haiti, he is greeted with shouts of "Orisha Nago! Orisha Nago!" However, almost no one in Haiti, unless they have been to university and have studied these things, has any idea what an "orisha" is or who the "Nago" people are. I think that's kind of sad. And so I think that it is important that we make these connections and share this information. There are other Vodou lwa who are Nago orishas, or who are similar, or "parallel", in a way. We have Legba, for example. The Orisha Yemaya and the lwa La Sirene are two different names for the same entity in my view. Oshun is like Erzulie Freda in some ways, but they are not the same entity. There are a few more parallels I could draw between orishas and lwa who, while not identical, are very similar and reflect very similar concepts. We have twin lwa, like the Ibeji, and they are called the Marassa. And we have a female lwa of the Cemetery, like Oya, her name is Maman Brigitte but she is actually Celtic in origin (due to the large influx of deportees from the British Isles who were sent to Haiti during the Stuart wars). We have Gede lwa, who are departed ancestors like Egun, but I am not suggesting that they are the same, or act the same as Egun. We also have lwa who are historical personalities, like Agassou, who was a priest to the royal family in Dahomey, and lwa from Kongo and Ibo and other ethnic groups too. This is just a short list, and like I said, while some lwa are definitely manifestations of Nigerian orisha, some are just similar in some ways, and others come from other groups. Peace and love, Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen "Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare Haitian Proverb The VODOU Page - http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html --------------C5C407972CE--
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