Irete Kutan

The immorality of the aya

Obatalá kept an Aya whom he regarded as a person of his complete trust. He gave her every liberty, and she received all the people who came to Obatalá’s house, watching over it. There also lived Osi, who was a great gossip, but Baba held him in high esteem because he had been a gift from Yemayá. People talked so much about Osi that the moment came when Baba turned against him.

Elegbá, who also lived there, kept telling Baba that the one he ought to turn against was Aya: an immoral creature who kept up correct appearances to deceive him, and who sooner or later would betray him and cause him great grief. Obatalá had a daughter with Yemayá who was very beautiful; Aya was caring for her, but Obatalá began to notice that the girl was wasting away for no apparent reason. This young woman was called Aboco Aluaye. Obatalá tried remedies for her, but nothing worked, until one day Elegbá said to him: «Take her to Orunmila’s house.»

Obatalá took his daughter and went to the house of Orunmila, who performed an «Osode» for him and said: «In your house there is a vengeance you know nothing of; someone immoral is the cause of your daughter’s illness.» Obatalá immediately thought of Osi, but Elegbá — who was present — said: «It is not Osi, it is the Aya. I have been saying so for a long time, but you will not listen to me!» Orunmila then told Baba that he had to make «Ebbo,» that afterwards he had to place it under the bed where his daughter would sleep, warning him that he must keep watch.

Baba obeyed Orunmila’s orders, and when night fell, the Aya crawled under the bed of Obatalá’s daughter; there she scattered the whole Ebbo and began to lick the obo. Elegbá was watching together with Osi, who was beginning to raise the alarm. Suddenly Baba appeared and saw the Aya smeared with drool from having mamu obo. Then Baba said to Elegbá: «From this day forward, Osi shall be the guardian of my house.» That is how they caught the Aya, bound it, and offered it up to blot out the immorality committed; from that time on, Obatalá would eat dog.

The children of the earth

The children of the Earth were three boys who were going hunting when a little old man heard them and called them over. He told them: «Boys, you are going hunting; but after much hardship, what you will catch is a eure. If you want to succeed, when you catch the eure, kill it, give the meat to the old man, and take the tripe and the entrails for yourselves.» Obediently, the boys went into the forest. After much hardship they managed to bring down a eere; they killed it and opened it up. But then one of them spotted the old man who had spoken to them moments before, and told his brothers. So they agreed that, after so much effort, they were not going to give away the meat and keep only the tripe and entrails. They decided to throw dirt into the old man’s eyes so they could carry off the eure without being discovered. And so it was: they stole the eure without anyone noticing.

That old man was Olofin. Then Eshu appeared and said to him: «Father, the boys you gave the advice to were the same ones who threw dirt in your eyes and carried off the eure.» Olofin answered: «Let them be; I gave them good fortune, but they, in exchange, have carried off death, illness, loss and tragedy.» Eshu then said to him: «You must make an example of them.» And Olofin replied: «They shall die.»

Indeed, two of them died; faced with this terrible situation, their mother went to have osode done with Orunmila. He saw the Ifá and told her: «To save the son you have left, you must find one who sings before being born and an obini with seven skirts, in order to make Ebbo.» Desperate, she began searching for these things without success, until she went to the house of Yemayá, who told her: «The one who sings before being born is the Akuko; and the Obini of seven skirts is the Adie. Get an egg and an Adie; then take them to Orunmila to make Ebbo.» The woman followed the instructions; she brought what was needed to Orunmila to perform the ebbó, and so the boy was saved.

When Olofin found out, he went to see Orunmila and asked him: «How did you dare to save the life of one whom I have condemned?» Orunmila answered him: «When you gave me the power, you told me it was for saving.» Olofin then nodded and said: «Very well, the boy was saved; but the earth shall speak no more.»

It is because of this letter that the iñales are placed before the Ochas, and many people cannot eat anything from inside the animals, because in the iñales lie death, life and all that is good, while in the flesh lie ikú, arun, ofo, eyo.

To become a saint, one must die

At the beginning of the world, God created all the forms of the four primary elements: air, earth, fire and water. These forms were perfected over time until they became Eda Murin, beings who possessed perception beyond the body.

The Higher Spirits called Agba Oddun were forged in fire. Olofin ordered all the Agba Odun spirits to worship the Eda Murin; one of them, named Alosin-Buruku, refused, saying: «How am I to worship these beings of clay when I am made of fire?» Olofin then ordered him to live apart from the rest; and so he began to incite evil against the Eda Murin, until he had all but destroyed their worship of Olofin.

Olofin then called Ikú Alashon, the Angel of Death, and set out his task on Earth, singing: «Opolopo Eleri! Ikú bogbo Eda Murin! Ikú lobi Osha Orisha Eggun!». As they all went on dying, Olofin placed Omalye Eggun, the King of the Dead, at the head of the planet, and he went about turning all the Eda Murin who died into Ota. Those who kept their name had to return to Earth to be worshipped as sacred stones; thus arose Obatalá, Shangó and others. That is why «Ikú Lobi Osha Intorini Eggun«, which means that to become a Saint one must die, for otherwise one cannot become such.

– why the earth acquired its power

At the beginning of the creation of the world, Olofin gave each thing what was due to it. To every tree its virtue; to every animal its power; to man, dominion and power over the other species. Men began to fight among themselves over their positions, and war broke out, sowing panic among the peoples. Wherever blood was spilled, the earth was stained red, and wherever fires were set, its color turned gray — the color of ash.

Then the earth, seeing that Olofin had granted privileges to everything else but not to her, complained and said to him: «You have given power to men, virtue to the trees and to the fishes of the waters; but what have you given me?» Olofin understood that what she said was true, so he told her: «From this moment on you shall be unlike all the creatures that people this Earth: wherever blood falls, you shall be red; wherever fires burn, you shall be gray, the color of ash; everything upon your surface returns to the void, and in time you shall devour them all — men, animals and trees; all shall die and return to dust.» Thus began To Iban Eshu.

EWE GUAMA: this is an herb that grows on the riverbank, and however strong the current may be, the river neither carries it away nor knocks it down.

That is why every living being goes to the earth at its death, and from that time on the earth holds its power.

What the earth gives, the earth devours

Irete Kutan was the first man to till the earth in order to cultivate it, but he did so without counting on anyone, entirely on his own. Through his feat he reaped many fruits; yet it also brought him envy and enmity. As time passed, the fruits the earth produced grew poorer and more stunted. One day he went up to heaven to ask Olofin for advice, and Olofin said to him: «After spending all this time doing these things without counting on anyone, now you come asking for advice? Go and ask your fellow creatures!»

So he went to the hill, and when his intentions became known, he was driven from its presence with these words: «After tiring yourself out doing whatever you pleased, now you come to ask me for advice! Go — out of my sight!» Then he visited the sea with the same purpose, and it spat in his face. Finally, worn out, he returned to his own cultivated plot of land and asked it for one last piece of advice. The Earth then answered: «After mistreating me, now you ask me for advice! What I am going to do is eat you.» Then the earth opened up and swallowed him.

– okuboro

LOAD OF THE AGBORANES:

Atitan from a bibijagua nest, atitan from the 3 osiku, afoshe of the 3 igui of inle Yewá, ilekan, leri of zunzun, leri of akuko, okotan and the leri of the 3 eyele (these are given to the empty agboranes in inle Yewá before loading them, after the ebbó, one at each osiku (grave)), okokan of gunugun, leri of ayapa, an emptied eñi adie shell, atitan from every place that can be obtained, leri of etu, poplar root, atiponla root, coconut root, fuzz of ika from the ewe vergonzosa, crushed ou seeds, igui amansa guapo, cambia voz, para mi, yamao, ceiba, batalla, cuaba, caja, ramón, 16 atare, eru, obi, orobo aire, osun obi motiwao, iyefa from the ebbó.

Each doll carries an ileke: one wears that of Elegbá, another wears the other, and the third wears that of Oyá. The agboranes are washed with omiero of guama and they see and eat with Elegbá. Part of the omiero is drunk, and one bathes with the rest.

In the land of Buruku Yale lived Okuboro, who was the son of Obatalá and Oyá. He always felt resentful toward the people around him, for he met with much ingratitude and everyone mocked him. He spent his whole day wherever there was an Osiku and an Ota, because he said that Eggun was the only one who knew who he was and the only one who understood him. People said he was evil, and everyone fled from him when he sang: «Orun Omocadie Ikú Lorun Omo Bawa Ikú Lorun».

The shadows of Bogbo Egguns, of Ikú and Arun, rose up from the mats and entered people’s houses, so that no one could live in peace, for no one could sleep. Obatalá, who had not seen his son in a long time, set out on the road to the Land of Buruku Yale. When he arrived, he saw many people wandering about dazed, their nerves shattered by the Egguns.

Obatalá reached the Land of Buruku Yale by night and stayed in a house to wait for daybreak so he could see his son. But the Egguns kept him from sleeping too, so he asked what was happening. He was told that Okuboro was always in Inle de Yewá calling all the Eggun, and in doing so kept the people from living in peace.

Obatalá went to Inle Yewá and found his son there, who was overjoyed to see him and gave him Moforibale. Then he began complaining to him about the people of that land, and marveled at how little understanding he found anywhere but among his Eggun and Ikú. He then began offering them Jío Jío, and the shadows started to come out. Obatalá said to himself: «This comes to my son through Oyá, his mother; she is the only one who can save them, for he is going mad.»

Obatalá then set out on the road to Oyá, carrying with him Agogó and Eyele Meta, singing: “Oyá Jeri Je Ri Jekua Iyani Bebewa Okuboro Iya Soku Onile”. Oyá came to meet him upon hearing him, and Obatalá told her everything concerning his son’s plight in that land. Oyá then proposed going to Orunmila’s house, and so they both did. When they arrived, Irete Kutan had already come out in the reading, and, voicing his concern, Orunmila told them: «We must go to that land to save him, and Untefla so that the land may be at peace.»

Oyá, Obatalá and Orunmila set out for the Land of Buruku Yale. When they arrived, they saw that the people seemed dazed and drowsy, and the Egguns walked among the living. Then Obatalá took an Eyele and began cleansing everyone, singing: “Sarayeye Iworiwo Iwore Eggun Ebaroko Na Baye”. All the people then began to awaken. Finally, they came to where Okuboro was. Oyá called at the gate of Inle Yewá: “Okuboro Íña Kosi Kosi Eleseyo Omosokun Omo Layeni Iyanzan”. Okuboro came out, and Obatalá, Oyá and Orunmila took him, together with the Ota he kept in Inle Yewá, to an Aroma Tree. There Orunmila cleansed him using the very Jío Jío he had, singing to him: “Sarayeye Labero Unlo Ikú Beb Wa Elegbá Lona”.

After this, they took him, and Orunmila brought him to his Ilé, where in the Untefla Irete Kutan came out, telling him that he must never again go to Inle Yewá. Then he told them that, to keep the shadow of Eggun away from all the people of that land, they must keep a basket of fruit under their beds — changing it regularly — as well as a large plate of water above the ring Aro, so that the shadows of the Egguns would not recognize that land nor ever return to it. From that time on, the land began to prosper, and the people began to hold Okuboro in esteem; from then on he was called Awo Yeda.

The jío jío are given to Elegbá at the foot of an aroma tree; the three garabatos go to Elegbá; the eran malu is for obori eleda with oti and atare. The basin of indigo water goes at the head of the bed; afterwards the water is thrown into the street. The little basket of fruit stays under the bed for 7 days, then goes to the sea. The 3 leri of eya tuto are smeared with epo, set before Elegbá, and afterwards taken to the corner.

The Elegbá of this sign, in order to mount it, carries afoshe of aroma root. One must find an ota from a grave in the cemetery; it is taken to the foot of the aroma tree, where one digs to take the root and earth from that spot. The ota is placed in the joro joro, and there three jío jío are given to the ota and the root; the leri goes into the load together with the ota, the root and the atitan. At home, when mounting it, the awo performs sarayeye naked with an eyele well presented to Eggun and gives it to the load — the leri goes in; then he takes an akuko dun dun and, also naked, cleanses himself calling on Elegbá, and gives the akuko to the load. The leri, the okokan, the claws and the spurs go into the load; afterwards he keeps asking Orunmila what it carries until it closes.

Why the earth was left mute

This is the story of three hunters, in which Baba was deceived and fled in fright into the bush. There he was wounded by the elder brothers, and Oggún took revenge. The youngest then made an ‘Ebbo’ because he was a son of the Earth, and so he was saved. When Olofin learned that the youngest could not be swallowed by the Earth — for in those days she still spoke — he condemned her to remain mute from that day forward.

Death and good fortune

The yam, the corn and Death went down beneath the Earth. The person consulted was told they had to find six gentlemen for their rogación and keep a house on the square; if they did not, they would die within five days, and on the seventh, Good Fortune would come.

– the betrayal of the awoses

Ibin had his Oluo, and one day, before dying, his godfather said to his godchild: «Look, Ibin, even though I am dead, if you need me, call me.» A few days later, other Awoses went to Ibin and told him to gather money to arrange his Oluo’s path, since his Oluo was dead. Ibin went out in search of the money, and when he returned he found that the Awoses had prepared a great cauldron full of water with a fire beneath it; the moment Ibin arrived, they seized him and threw him into the cauldron. As the water began to heat, Ibin began imploring his godfather. Then a great storm of rain broke loose and the fire went out. The Awoses fled while Ibin was saved.