Ogbe Fun

Kubito and the ivory trumpet

Kubito played the ivory trumpet to wake the children of Olofin at the height of his renown, but he had no wife and wanted to know how to obtain one. He went to see Orunmila, who gave him a reading and marked an ebbo for him, which Kubito performed. Several days later, Olofin summoned Kubito and told him: «For your work, I shall give you a wife», and gave him a beautiful, lovely maiden. All the children of Olofin desired the maiden, with her splendid body and full breasts. Every morning, at the crowing of the rooster, Kubito played the trumpet to call the orishas to work.

Kubito’s rivals in love wanted to take revenge on him and stole his trumpet, which was made from the tusk of an ayanaku. The next day, Kubito went to Orunmila’s house, and Orunmila told him to make a second ebbo of his sign and bury it in the woods. On opening the kutun to place the ebbo, he found his trumpet, which the arayes had buried there. At the rooster’s first crow, Kubito played the trumpet.

The arayes stole the trumpet a second time, and Kubito went to Orunmila’s house so he would tell him what to do. Orunmila marked the third ebbo of his sign for him and ordered him to bury it before the secret of Elegbá. There he found his trumpet, triumphing once again over the arayes. But the arayes would not stop, and they stole the trumpet again. Then Orunmila invoked all the spirits of Odo, and the water carried Kubito’s trumpet away from the place where the arayes had thrown it. Many arayes died in the flood, and those who remained decided to make peace with Kubito. Thanks to Orunmila, Kubito returned home with his wife and in peace.

The difficulty in marriage

There was a group of young women who had difficulty finding a partner, and they would gather to ask one another what the reason was for their bad luck in not finding suitors, despite going to parties and gatherings. Even the daughter of Olofin was in the same situation.

One day, Olofin organised a party and all the young women were invited. Before setting out for the party, they went to Orunmila, who gave them a reading and told them they had to perform an ebbo to solve their problem of finding a partner.

After making the ebbo, they all went to Olofin’s party, where there were six young men invited. To everyone’s surprise, all the young men found a partner, except the daughter of Olofin. Seeing that his daughter remained unmarried while the others had married, Olofin went to see Orunmila to ask him why his daughter had not found a partner. Then Olofin gave his daughter’s hand to Orunmila, and he married her.

When babá wanted Orunmila to dry up the sea

There were rumours in the town about Orunmila’s divinatory and miraculous abilities, and word of it reached Obatalá. Tired of hearing this constantly, he summoned Orunmila and all the Saints so that he would prove the truth of the town’s rumours. Orunmila answered that he only followed the guidance of Olofin and did what he was commanded to do.

Obatalá asked him to dry up the sea, and Orunmila agreed on the condition that Obatalá do the cooking, since while he worked he would need to eat. Obatalá accepted, but when Orunmila gave him five stones and three fans to cook with, he realised that cooking stones was impossible. After three days of effort, Obatalá was exhausted and told Orunmila that it was impossible to cook stones. Orunmila answered: «It is impossible to dry up the sea», and Obatalá understood.

When Olofin handed Orunmila the world to govern

Orunmila boasted before Olofin that he knew more than his own mother, so Olofin challenged him to prove his knowledge by bringing him Ikú (death). Orunmila accepted the challenge and carried out a reading with osode, in which the corresponding Ifá came out and he was told he had to make ebbo.

Then Orunmila summoned Oggún, Shangó and Elegbá, and together they went to Ikú’s house, where she asked them where they wished to sleep, and they answered that they would sleep in the front room. However, each night they moved from room to room so that death would not reach them.

On the last night, Orunmila stayed in the front room beneath a jícara, while the others laid a net on the floor over the ila. When Ikú arrived, she slipped and fell into the net, at which point Orunmila and the others tied her up and carried her to the gate of the city.

The people were astonished to see what Orunmila had achieved and ran to inform Olofin that Orunmila had brought Ikú. Olofin came out and allowed him to enter the city, then paid him homage and handed him the world to govern. Since then, Orunmila has been an important and respected orisha.

The song of the sirens

The daughter of Olokun, a deity of the sea, came out of the water and sat on the shore of the beach singing a beautiful melody. All those who passed by in a boat, on hearing the song, were spellbound and were shipwrecked. One day, Orunmila (Ogbe Fun) had osode made and saw this Ifá, which warned him not to be careless with his life, since it was in danger.

Shortly afterwards, Orunmila (Ogbe Fun) went out in a boat for a trip. As he was drawing near the coast, he heard a melody and, although he looked everywhere, he saw no one. Intrigued by the unknown singer, he became distracted and lost the boat’s course. Driven by the waves, his vessel was dashed against the coast and Ogbe Fun was lost.

Do not listen to the songs of sirens, and weigh what you are told before you act, so that you are not lost.

The book of death

Amaiyegun, the king of death of Ibusun Okunile, possessed the great secrets of beings in life and in death, written in a book that had belonged to distant kings and was called the «Book of the Dead». In this book one could learn the way to call each of the spirits of the odduns, of all the dead, and the powers to call the eguns to work, both for good and for ill, as well as how to bring all the departed back to life. Oggún and Shangó, knowing that all of this was in Ikú’s book, had long been after it, but Ikú Amaiyegun slept with this book under his pillow.

They joined forces with a little child of a few months who was a prodigy, for although he was not yet three months old he spoke like a man and thought like one; what he lacked was the ability to walk. He was a child of Oduduwa, and he told them everything they had to do to obtain the book. They went to Orunmila’s house and he saw this Ifá for them, telling them that if they did not make ebbo, they would have to make a pact with Ikú, since they wished to defeat Ikú and were protected by Oduduwa.

They answered that to overcome Ikú they were enough on their own, together with Oduduwa’s Omo Kekere. So they had Amaiyegun surrounded in his house, and he told them: «very well, I shall show you the book of the dead, but you must show me who has guided you so masterfully». They handed over the child, and Ikú handed them the book (there were two volumes, but Ikú handed them only one).

They drank in the wisdom the book held with great eagerness, but seeing that it did not end there, they said to Ikú: “give us back the child, for you have deceived us; there were two books and you gave us only one”. Amaiyegun said: “the child I will not give you, for he shall be my representative among the Ebara Orishas, since the one who never set his foot on the ground shall be the Agbaran Ikú; besides, you already have the wisdom you wanted”. The second volume is held by Orunmila. And so, for not making ebbo Ifá, they were left without knowing how to master the spirits of the high celestial spheres.

Here it is explained why, for works of great scope involving Eggun, the awo Orunmila must be called, and also why among the ebara Orishas that carry egungun in their adie, such as Oduduwa, Yewá, Azowanu, Boronu, Borodea, Ashipuelu, and so on, egungun mekekere is placed, for this is the agbara Ikú; that is, the one who never set his foot on the earth is the image of amaiyegun, the oba of the Ikú.

The apple of discord

There was a king who married a woman named Tiya, and to his wedding he invited all the Ires and Osobos, except Eyo, because the king thought he would bring him trouble on earth. Eyo was greatly enraged by the slight, and when all the gods and goddesses were seated at the table, Eyo found an apple, made an inscription on it that read «for the most beautiful», and threw it through a window onto the table.

Immediately a quarrel broke out among the women, since every one of them believed she had a right to the apple. Then the wife of one of those present, the goddess of mysteries and the goddess of beauty went to Obatalá’s house so that he would settle the case. Obatalá did not wish to be the judge and sent them to see Ofun, son of Olofin.

In Ofun’s presence, each of those women tried to sway him in her favour. One promised to make him sovereign of the whole world if he said that she was the most beautiful; another promised to make him a great hero and a great sage; and the last promised to give him the loveliest and most beautiful woman on earth. Ofun liked the last promise best and awarded her the apple.

From then on, the first two women hated Ofun intensely and, along with him, the whole town, calling it Ofun Ikú, Ofun Araye. For her part, the woman to whom he had awarded the apple kept her word and helped him carry off the beautiful wife of king Eridede Ariku, unleashing a bloody war. As a result of this, the relatives who lost their loved ones in this war unleashed through the fault of Eyo fell ill with sorrow and died one after another, while others seemed like the living dead, and from then on there was great backwardness and misery in the life of that town. Because of all this, of Ogbe Fun it is said: «The apple is very lovely on the outside, but rotten within».

Why the orishas eat eyerbale

In ancient times, Ejiogbe asked Olofin to provide him with a sun, a moon and stars to light the world. Olofin agreed and gave Ejiogbe Elegbá as a helper. Ejiogbe made an ebbo with red snapper, akuko, adie, eure, abo, owunko and gbogbo tenuyen, and gave the herbs of these animals to the different Orishas in order to create the world.

Elegbá laboured to gather the fish, animals and birds of the world in order to build what Olofin had entrusted to Ejiogbe, with their eyerbale. Once he had finished, he took a little blood from each one before Olofin as testimony and blew over the vessels. Then he handed Olofin the following, on behalf of Ogbe Fun:

Blood of the snappers ………… The sun was born.

Blood of the snappers ………… The moon was born.

Blood of the snappers ………… The stars were born.

Then Olofin took these jars and said: «Each of you shall take from this to solve your problems», and added: «Olorun, rise and go and govern the day. Oskua, rise and go and govern the night. Irawo, go and govern the dawn». Since then, all the Orishas eat eyerbale.

Why the awoses do not throw the dilogun

Orunmila had a favourite godchild named Omolu, who was the king of the land of Adifa. Orunmila had left him as king of that land after winning it thanks to Olofin’s ruling, by divining the condition of a woman. Omolu had an elder son named Adele, who was the heir designated by his father and was charged with being the intermediary of all the orishas before him, since Omolu was very busy with the duties of Ifá.

However, Adele let himself be blinded by pride and conspired against his father, secretly preparing an army to dethrone him. Then Orunmila received the oddun Ogbe Fun, where Ifá told him that a distant godchild of his was in danger of being enslaved by his own family. On asking who it was, it came out speaking with Eleri of Omolu Lowo Araye Adele, so he set out at once for Adifa.

When he arrived, the rebellion was already under way and Adele’s armies were ready to attack Omolu’s palace. But since Orunmila was the godfather of Omolu and also of all the orishas, he spoke to them and told them that, because Omolu was his godchild, they had to respect and love him. All then acclaimed Omolu as absolute king of the land of Adifa.

Orunmila called Adele and told him that he would remain in charge of voicing the will of the orishas, but with the Aberi Kola, not with Omolu. Furthermore, to avoid future tragedies, he banished him forever from the kingdom of his father Omolu, which he would never enter again. Anyone who broke this oath and this ruling would be punished. Adele went off to his new kingdom beside the river Oshe.

It was at this moment that Omolu and Adele were separated; although they are kin, they have different names in the oracle. Therefore, an awo must never throw the cowries for both at once, so as not to break Orunmila’s ruling and Omolu’s oath. This was also the moment when Azowanu was expelled from the Yoruba land and the saints were divided into oshas and orishas; that is, some speak through the Dilogun and others through Ifá, some through Adele and others through Omolu.

The staff of Olofin

This account tells the story of Awo Omolaye Ozain, who lived in the land of Okumolorun, where people lived in the air because of a command of Eggun. Awo Omolaye Ozain had a great virtue with Eggun, thanks to what Oyá had given him. However, he was always dissatisfied with what he received from Oyá, which led him to call Ozain with a suyere.

Ozain came in great anger every time Awo Omolaye Ozain called her, which stirred up much iña in the land, and people fell out with one another. Awo Omolaye Ozain was left alone; all that remained was a doll that Oyá had given him, with which he spoke at night.

In a dream, Agboran told him that he had to go and see Orunmila so that he would give him good fortune. After having osode made, Awo Omolaye Ozain took two eyele with grey legs and orubo and set out for Orunmila’s house. Along the way, he came upon a very handsome staff covered in ileke fun fun; he took it and continued on his way.

When he reached Orunmila’s house, they gave eure to Obatalá and bathed him with moruro leaves, ewe dun dun, cedar and opolopo efun to drive the iña away from him. Orunmila told him that he had to call Ozain and Oyá in order to recover his virtue.

On the way, they met Oyá, who was very angry with Awo Omolaye Ozain. Obatalá gave her adie meyi and gave her ebomisi with ewe buye to appease her. Oyá told Awo Omolaye Ozain that she would never wholly abandon him, and that he should always count on Agboran in his dreams and feed him aguidi and eyele.

Awo Omolaye Ozain had lost his virtue and his prosperity in his land, and his father Ozain decided to go and visit him. On arriving, he found Orunmila, Obatalá and Oyá performing ceremonies to help his son. Orunmila told Ozain that he had to give Awo Omolaye Ozain the secret he was lacking in order to have peace in his life.

Then Oyá gave Awo Omolaye Ozain a flint stone together with several ingredients to make an offering. Obatalá gave him a chain and several objects to hang behind the door of his house to keep misfortune away. Lastly, Oyá told him to take an obi, break it in two and give her half of it, along with an offering of animals at Ilé Oloya.

With this counsel, Awo Omolaye Ozain recovered his virtue and his prosperity. Moreover, Oyá handed him a staff that had belonged to Olofin on earth, so that all would respect him and hold him in regard. Thanks to the teachings of Orunmila, Obatalá and Oyá, Awo Omolaye Ozain was able to recover his good fortune.

STAFF OF OGBE FUN

It is made of moruro, and it is loaded through the handle with the skull of an eyele, eru, obi kola, osun, obi motiwao, aira, eku, eya, orí, efun, ceiba root. It is covered halfway with ileke fun fun with eight dilogunes on each side, atere medilogun. It is mounted at night, with eya keke on the leri, efun, orí, obi, 4 atare; once finished, the rogation is taken off the leri and placed together with the staff and with Obatalá, and everything is given eyele fun fun. The obori is done with the eyele to leri oke. The staff is first washed with omiero of 16 ewes of Obatalá and of Orunmila. The staff lives hanging behind the door and is used when going out.

SECRET OF ABORUNSHEDE

It is an agboran obini of cedar, loaded through the leri with: leri and okokan of an eyele eaten by Oyá, eru, obi kola, osun, obi motiwao, aira, woodworm nest, atitan erita, atitan ilé loya, atitan from a ruined house, atitan from an uninhabited house, afoshe igi, atitan Yewá, earth from nine graves of obini omokekere, leri of eyo, beads of Oyá and of Obatalá, 16 atare, eku, eya, awad.