Children of The Orisha

The Yoruba Faith, an African-rooted religion practiced in Trinidad and Tobago, has survived for generations despite many misunderstandings. This blog post strives to better your understanding of this religious belief and intends to share insight on what the group has discovered along the researching process.

Historical Background

An Orisha is a spirit (medium) that reflects one of the manifestations of Olodumare (God) in the Yoruba spiritual or religious system. A common misconception is that the name of the religion is “Orisha”, but it really is “Yoruba” and the Orishas are actually the spirits or media between man and God. This religion has diffused across the world and is now expressed in several varieties which include Anago, Oyotunji, Candomblé (Brazil), Vodou (Haiti) and Santería (Cuba). These varieties are practiced throughout areas of Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Mexico and Venezuela.

The Yoruba religion that emerged in the cosmopolitan colony of Trinidad and Tobago is the creole Orisha-Shango religion that, overtime, became embellished with elements of other religious traditions. Orisha spirits (many of them equated with Christian saints) are messengers between humankind and His divine Kingdom. When manifesting themselves, they make their presence known through signs of colours and numbers. Some examples are:

Oya: Mistress of speed, tempestuous wind (St. Catherine) Number: 9

Oshun: Female saint of water and beauty (St. Philomena) Number: 5
Osain: Yoruba saint of herbal medicine, healing and prophecy (St. Francis)

Ogun: The warrior deity of iron and steel (St. Michael)

Shango: Medium of lightning, thunder, fire, drums and dance. Colours: red & white. Numbers: 4 & 6

Obatala: Owner of the mind, humanity, creator of the world. Colours: white, red & purple

This religion is clearly a mixture of African culture and spirituality in which many strands of traditions synchronize. Their faith was not to be diminished by oppression and yet, as we draw towards the end of another millennium the religion is still unrecognised by the census-takers of multi-cultural, multi-religious Trinidad and Tobago. There is still in place, an outdated law which forbids the rites and rituals of the religion, though the status of Orisha worship in Trinidad is on the rise and its open appeal to the middle classes is apparently increasing.

Some people still stigmatise this religion and consider it the same as the Spiritual Baptist religion, when it is not the same faith. The Spiritual Baptist faith is a Christian religion whereas the Yoruba faith is a non-Christian religion. In Trinidad, people refer to the Yoruba devotees as Shango Baptists. The reason being, Shango, one of the most powerful Orisha saints is in fact the patron Orisha saint of Trinidad and Tobago.

Orisha Shrines

A shrine is a place regarded as holy because of its associations with a divinity or sacred person or relic, marked by a building or other construction.

The structure of each shrine (altar) is basically the same. In the palais (the open-sided part of the building where the singing, dancing and drumming takes place), there are candles burning in all four corners, into which sweet olive oil or water will be poured from time to time as offerings to the Gods. At one end of the room, in front of the three drummers, there is Ogun’s sword embedded in the earthen floor. Around the blade are candles, bottles of olive oil, water or rum. An adjoining room, the chapelle, houses, statues or lithographs of the saints, crucifixes, candles, pots of water, bottles of olive oil and “tools” associated with the deities (swords, a double-bladed wooden axe, Shango’s principal icon, cutlasses, ceremonial brooms, chac-chacs and the shepherd’s crook). Every chapelle has its collection of thunderstones taken from some sacred place and usually kept in white dishes so they can be fed periodically with olive oil.

perogun area with yellow and red flags tied to bamboo poles for respective orishas1

drums used for worship alongside dance and song1

the little pots in the ground are used to make offerings to the various orishas the brooms are used for dancing1

In a corner of the garden or compound of the shrine is the perogun, an area where a number of flags on 20-foot bamboo poles have been planted, flying the individual colours of those gods expected to “enter” on any particular night. Worshippers consider flags a conduit through which spirits may visit the shrine. It is here in this corner that the slaying of any sacrificial animals takes place. Candles and stools are also placed at various points in the garden for the convenience of powerful deities, and there is always a water trough or pond, because many spirits are also water gods. Water and blood are reckoned, as well, to be powerful matrices of spirit force. It seems that spirits, like people, demand a lot of attention and respect.

Why Orisha?

Clients came to Orisha for sundry reasons: to find medicines for various conditions and psychological healing, to search for good luck in a new venture; to deal with disappointment, hardships, trauma and pain. Some Christians attend Orisha rituals out of a spiritual or physical need and participate in the ceremonies undercover. Others frequent the worship out of curiosity, ethnic pride, or because of the healing and conjuring that the faith practices.

Questions:​

• Do you think there is a stigma attached to practicing the Yoruba faith? Why yes/no?
• How has the presence of the Yoruba faith influenced or contributed to Trinidad and Tobago’s society and culture?

(Historian and radio host Trevor Wilkins says “Shango (Orisha) played a serious role in Trinidad and Tobago music in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s. Calypso grew out of shango and Spiritual Baptist music. The practice itself was banned under colonial rule, and as an underground practice, only became legal with independence.”

Chalkdust, Sparrow, Houdini and others made calypsos based on Shango)

Citations:

“Afro-Caribbean Religions: An Introduction to their Historical, Cultural and Sacred Traditions” by Nathaniel Samuel Murrell

“Calling the Yoruba Deities: Orisha Drum, Song, and Dance from Trinidad” Article from Caribbean Life News by William Farrington, April 15, 2013.

Group Members of ADLIB:

S. Eailey

K. Julien

S. Maraj

L. Ramsook

JM. Garcia

M. Albino

F. Smart

N. Subero

P. Hospedales

C. John