Obatala: Father Of Humankind fileFor the story, I have chosen “The Golden Chain”, in this story...
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For the story, I have chosen “The Golden Chain”, in this story there are 3 main characters Obatala the curious one, Olrun the supreme God, and Orunmila the god of wisdom and prophecy. Obatala wanted to make something solid in the sea below, so he asks Olrun and Olrun takes him to Orunmilla who tells him the supplies he will need. They were a gold chain, to gather all the sand in the sky, palm nuts and maize as well as the sacred egg carrying the personalities of all oshiras. To which Obatala gets them and goes down on the golden train created, once down there he pours the sand mixture out of the snail shell and it creates the land. The egg he was carrying hatches and the bird flaps it’s wings so hard that it gives the land character, creating dunes hills and lowlands. Obatala then decides to explore it planting the seeds as he moves forward. He gets to a small pond and sees his reflection then takes some clay and starts to create clay figures that looks like him. He gets thirsty although and takes a drink from fermented palm wine. He grows intoxicated and starts messing up the figures. Olrun sends down the chameleon to check on him and Olrun is disappointed that the figures have form but no life. As a result Olrun sparked gasses into an explosion that he shaped into a fireball and sent it to Ife (the newly formed land). It dried the wet lands and baked the clay figigures, even sent the Earth spinning . Olrun then blew his breathe and gave live to the figures creating the first people of Ife. The Yoruba people originated in the area that is now known as West Africa. This sounds familiar because this was a hub of the slave trade and as a result this story is also found in African culture obviously, as well as Caribbean and Hispanic tellings. The story changes a bit every time but there are parts that remain the same. Obatala: Father Of Humankind -Usually seen in the color white (fun fun) purity -Sent down to the water and created the land and such -Creator of humanity, sky -face is covered
Transcript of Obatala: Father Of Humankind fileFor the story, I have chosen “The Golden Chain”, in this story...
For the story, I have chosen “The Golden Chain”, in this story there are 3 main characters Obatala the curious one, Olrun the supreme God, and Orunmila the god of wisdom and prophecy. Obatala wanted to make something solid in the sea below, so he asks Olrun and Olrun takes him to Orunmilla who tells him the supplies he will need. They were a gold chain, to gather all the sand in the sky, palm nuts and maize as well as the sacred egg carrying the personalities of all oshiras. To which Obatala gets them and goes down on the golden train created, once down there he pours the sand mixture out of the snail shell and it creates the land. The egg he was carrying hatches and the bird flaps it’s wings so hard that it gives the land character, creating dunes hills and lowlands. Obatala then decides to explore it planting the seeds as he moves forward. He gets to a small pond and sees his reflection then takes some clay and starts to create clay figures that looks like him. He gets thirsty although and takes a drink from fermented palm wine. He grows intoxicated and starts messing up the figures. Olrun sends down the chameleon to check on him and Olrun is disappointed that the figures have form but no life. As a result Olrun sparked gasses into an explosion that he shaped into a fireball and sent it to Ife (the newly formed land). It dried the wet lands and baked the clay figigures, even sent the Earth spinning . Olrun then blew his breathe and gave live to the figures creating the first people of Ife.
The Yoruba people originated in the area that is now known as West Africa. This sounds familiar because this was a hub of the slave trade and as a result this story is also found in African culture obviously, as well as Caribbean and Hispanic tellings. The story changes a bit every time but there are parts that remain the same.
Obatala: Father Of Humankind -Usually seen in the color white (fun fun) purity -Sent down to the water and created the land and such -Creator of humanity, sky -face is covered
Olorun: Supreme Sky God -Supreme King of the Gods -Sent Obatala to create the land -Transcended male and female -No clear idols often seen with a crown
Orunmila: God of Fate, Destiny, Prophecy -gave Obatala instructions on what was needed -Gave instruction of what to do with supplies -Earthy green tones (Du Du)
Clothing -Drapery -Colorful fun fun, pupa, du du -beads
Citations Clement Oluwole, Folorunso, and Mohd Hamdan Bin Hadji Ahmad. “Colour Utilization among
the Yorubas of Southwest Nigeria: An Empirical Analysis.” Textroad.com, www.textroad.com/pdf/JBASR/J.%20Basic.%20Appl.%20Sci.%20Res.,%203(5)78-82,%202013.pdf.
Kwekudee. “WEST AFRICAN GOD AND GODDESS (2).” WEST AFRICAN GOD AND GODDESS (2), Blogger, 26 Aug. 2012, kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2012/08/sculptured-impression-of-olorun-1_25.html.
“Obatala – Search Results – Santeria :: Everything You Wanted to Know about Santeria.” Santeria, www.en.santeria.fr/?s=obatala.
“Orunmila.” Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers RSS, readersandrootworkers.org/wiki/Orunmila.
“The Golden Chain.” Creation Stories, www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CS/CSGoldenChain.html.
“The Orishas: Obatala.” Original Products Botanica, www.originalbotanica.com/blog/orisha-obatala-prayers-rituals/.
