Generic name of the Yorubá deities – forces of nature.
The religion of the Orixás is linked to the notion of family.
The huge family, originating with the same ancestors, that includes
the dead and the living. The orixá would be, to begin with, a
blessed ancestor, that in life, established bonds so in the future it
would grant them a certain control over the powers of nature, like the
thunder, wind, rivers and oceans; or an ancestor who assured himself
the possibility to exercise certain activities such as hunting, metal
working, or even acquiring knowledge of plants and their uses. The power,
ASÈ, of the ancestor-orixá would give him, after his death,
the ability to momentarily incarnate in one of his descendants during
the phenomena of possession provoked by the Orixá himself.
The characteristics assumed by the individual, relative to his Orixá
in everyday life, demonstrate behavioral aspects under psycho-social
suggestions of the Orixás verified in Candomblé groups
in São Paulo.
The determination of these Orixás happen after the manifested
behavior. When there is conflict between social groups or there is a
lack of definition n the behavior model, new intermediary Orixás
come into play.
When an undefined model remains in a group for a long time, there’s
a tendency for establishing one more Orixá in the Pantheon. The
new Orixá only occurs when he is “crystallized” in
the group, reinforcing the thesis that the Orixá is a resulting
factor, and not the result of determined fractions that compose the
behavior model.
The Orixas (Video)
Presentation of Orixás (Video)
The Orixas:
- Exu
- Ogum
- Oxossi
- Ossaim
- Logum
- Oxumare
- Obaluaye
- Iroco
- Ibeji
- Xango
- Iansa
- Oxum
- Oba
- Yewa
- Yemanjá
- Oxala
- Iya Mi