Lukumi and Santeria Initiated Practitioner Eugene Edo

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Exu and Ellegua and Jesus Owners of the Crossroads

Here is it Christmas time again and it is about this time of year a conflict arises for many people what to celebrate? Do we celebrate Christmas, are we Jewish , Buddhist, or if you are like me Lukumi? We all seem to have an inherent need to celebrate something about this time of year but this tradition gives rise to more questions the more one considers it. I dont want to take this space to ask what is Christmas and why do people celebrate it because I have done this already on numerous forums, been praised for and shot done for doing so too, but rather I think this is a great place to take a look at Ellegua, the owner of the cross roads in Lukumi / Santeria. I will start by saying another idea of mine that I have been praised and shot down for quite a bit in the past, is the idea that there is a great similarity between Ellegua / Exu and Jesus Christ himself. The fact is that both of

One of the Brazilian symbols for Exu

these entities are represented by the cross. We take very different journeys to get there but they are both represented by the cross none the less.

Jesus on the Cross

In the image of the Seven African Powers it is Olofi that is shown as the central Jesus figure, however it is Olofi, in truth who is actually to us in Lukumi as the first layer of God as it were. Many do consider him to be the Jesus of our religion even though there are others who would consider other Orishas like Obatala or Oddua as the actual Jesus of the religion. Depending on how you look at it any one of them may be right depending on the presentation of their idea. Never the less, we are looking at my somewhat controversial idea of the similarity between Ellegua and Jesus as religious icons. Lets take a look at the cross what is it? A cross is an intersection between two things. In the iconic representation of jesus we have an upright cross, and the intersection is depicted by two pieces of wood. In the iconic depiction we have two roads that are coming together into a cross roads. Exu or Ellegua is the energy that presides over that cross roads always asking us which way is best to go or if we even really know where it is that we are going. In the case of Exu ( let me say here just for confusion sake that Exu or Eshu and Ellegua are very much the same entity only Ellegua generally refers to the manifestation of that entity that has been tempered with the energy of the higher Orishas so that it can be a more reliable part of our lives. Also I spent several years in a Brazilian house of Candomble and as such often refer to their spelling of things. They would spell Eshu Exu as the X creates a shh sound for them, but these are the same things as well). Seven African Powers

Many stories, myths and fables speak about the entity that lives at the cross roads the world over, so one has to assume there must be or once was some validity to these ideas. Typically that entity that resides at the cross roads primarily is a trickster and is an entity that can do great good or can bring upon people misfortune, even death. Here area couple images of him that I have borrowed from AgoLaroye.com , a site that I have referred to numerous times during my own research. I find the information on this website to be pretty valuable. Here is an excerpt from that same website that describes what Ellegua is. ( I am using an excerpt rather than writing my own description because it says the very same thing that I would write and there are countless websites out there that describe the same things over and over. This Ellegua Before the City of the Dead description is good.) Compare what the description of Ellegua says and the things you have heard/learned about Jesus. Elegua is the orisha who opens and closes all paths to mankind. He is the divider of heaven and earth. He travels between heaven and earth letting Olofi and Olodumare know what goes on in this realm. Elegua is a child orisha in some aspects that loves to play tricks and tests the faith of man. He walks between night and day searching for mankind to test their faith for the great Olofi and the orishas. There is said to be 121 paths of Elegua. He ranges from a young child to an old man with lots of knowledge. There is also a path of Elegua where the essence is of a woman. In more than half of Eleguas paths, he is a young child that sits on corners, mountain tops, seashores, hospital entrances, cemetery gates and so on. He has many names as he has been called Elegba, Elegbara, Legba, Eshu or Exu. Elegua is seen all around the world. From continent to continent Eleguas presence is felt, praised and heard. Inseparable friend of Ogun and Ochosi who the trio makes up the The Warriors first set of orishas to receive in Santeria. Elegua is any and everywhere. Ellegua of the Crossroads

Elegua is the guardian of the dead also as thru him he unlocks the door for the deceased to walk through to reach Olofi where they will rest. In this path he is called Eshu Alagwana. In other religions or beliefs you can associate him with the Egyptian god of the dead Osiris, who leads the dead through the underworld. Elegua is the one that makes you play at your own risk. In that I mean, he is the one that if your stuck at a crossroad and you dont know which way to go, its him that tests you and watches you make your decision. If you make the wrong decision, Elegua will open the door with his garavato (hook stick made from the guava tree) to make you pay your consequence. While you are paying for your mistakes, he tests you again to see if you will continue to do wrong or take the right path. If you succeed and take the right path he will unlock the door to happiness and fortune. If youve heard of a maze then you can associate it with Elegua. Our lives are shaped into mazes to see which path we go. Elegua is the guardian that sits at every corner and turn of the maze. If you make the wrong move, he will open the path to the wrong outcome. If you take the correct path, he will open the path that you are seeking. Elegua knows and sees all. There is nothing that Elegua doesnt know. He is the messenger of Olodumare and Olofi, alongside with the orishas. Which means, he is the one that takes the messages from humankind to the orishas and the messages from the orishas to Olofi. This is why he is the first and last orisha to be praised to in every ceremony done in Santeria. I think the comparisons to Jesus are startling. He is the one who helps you on your journey, he is the one that ushers you across to Olofi (God in this case) when you die, he is the one through which our prayers go to the heavenly father, he is the one that is closest to us in this life and has the power to transverse between heaven and earth., and some of the more fundamental Jesus people would argue that with out Jesus, you have nothing, and this is the truth for us in Lukumi as well, without Ellegua absolutely nothing gets done. In addition to Jesus there are other Saints which are associated with Ellegua, most notably Saint Nino de Atocha as this saints feast day is the same as Christmas, another very interesting coincidence (see below). This syncretization points to a childlike rendition of a saint and some of the paths of Ellegua are seen as childlike entities. When we think of Christmas we are not thinking of the adult Jesus, rather we are thinking of the baby Jesus and the day of his birth even though the historical record shows that it is unlikely that Jesus was truly born on this day. Never the less, even if Jesus was not born on this day, the millions of people who recognize this day as being the day we celebrate this occasion adds ritual power to the occasion both for Catholics and Christians but for Lukumi people as well. Notable in this image is the inclusion of the gourd which represents the secret magic of

herb and plants and the representation of the universe to us, and the staff, a representation of royalty to us. There are numerous paths of Exu here area few: Exu Alagwana is the Exu whos job it is to usher the dead souls to where they need to go within the city of the dead. This Exu is associated with the dead and his colors are different from many of the other Exus - Typically more black and white as opposed to the red and black seen with the other Exus. Exu Layroye is an Exu that is the faithful companion of Oshun. This is an Exu that many call the talkative one. Santo Nio de Atocha One reason he is called this is because one of the negative manifestations of him is problems with people talking about you. He is also referred to as the talkative one because of his role in the arts of divination. Exu Aye is a generic term for Exus that live within shells but also signifies a road of Exu that lives near the sea and holds the keys to many things such as wealth and opportunity. As such he is often seen with keys near him. Exu Afra is an Exu that is the faithful companion to Babalouaye and is also an Exu that is associated with sores or problems in ones life that take a long time to heal. In this manifestation he is an Eshu that offers hope on along a long road of recovery, making us stronger in many ways than we were before. There are many many more paths of Eshu, each of them serving a specific different function but they all fall under the umbrella of the energy we know to be Eshu, and so it is not surprising that there are other associations with Eshu as well. Here are a couple others (below). Like it or not there is an unmistakeable link between Catholicism and what we know to be Santeria, even though many people, myself included, go about our religious days and activities with out giving acknowledgment to it. There is no cut and dry things when we speak of things like spirituality. Spirituality, like art has an inseparable objective quality that cannot be removed from the experience lest the whole thing be lost, so it is not possible to speculate definitively that something is or is not 100% but we can present ideas and process over them and either accept as part of our truth or reject them. This has been one such idea of mine and I hope you have found it interesting or at least worth consideration. Have a fantastic holiday season whatever you choose to celebrate.

Saint Anthony Saint Martin de Porres

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This entry was posted in Orishas and tagged christmas, Eshu Alawana, Eshu Aye, Eshu Laroye, Eshu Olona, Jesus, lukumi, obatala, orisha, religion, saint anthony, saint martin de porres, Saint Nino, santeria, Seven African Powers on December 24, 2013 [http://ileido.com/main/2013/12/24/exu-and-elleguaand-jesus-owners-of-the-crossroads/] .

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