Santeria

34 Pages 8386 Words

hland then placed the hen on the pile of earth. He ordered the hen to scatter the earth across the surface in all directions. When there was enough solid earth, he let go of the chain and landed on the newly formed land that became know as the holy city of Ile-Ife. He planted the palm nut and it grew into tree. The cat was his companion until new life inhabited the earth. Many orishas eventually descended from heaven and populated Ile-Ife. Olofi then gave instructions to Obatala to mould figures, male and female, to create humans. While moulding the figures, he became thirsty and drank palm wine. This caused him to become clumsy in shaping the figures and resulted in deformed figures. When Olofi breathed some of his life force into them, they became alive, but filled with human emotions and flaws. Eventually, as more orishas descended to earth, Olofi divided some of his powers and granted them to the orishas. (Gonzalez-Wippler 1989: 26-28)
Oloddumare is a distant, remote and inaccessible deity. Orishas are divine beings who act as...