Okana Irete

The messengers of adanu awo oba eggun

In the land of eweleni inle lived abi awo, who was okana wete and was always restless, for he longed to know the secrets of another land that lay across from his own, called aluana igui inle, the land of the deep forest where colossal trees grew. That land was ruled by another awo named adani awo, who was oba eggun and held powers over ere, dolls carved in human form. One day, abi awo decided to go to the land of olbana igui inle; he took his Ifá and set out. When he arrived, he began to witness many strange phenomena around him, which frightened him, and he implored Olofin to help him.

Abi awo fell asleep and saw oba eggun appear to him, the spirit of adanu awo, who ruled that land. He told him «obori Elegbá con ashe kola y olu«. When abi awo awoke, he did as he had been told and saw two tiny human figures appear, calling to him: «ashona Ikú eggun ibeyoko abiku iboriwenu moforibale belel igui, awo odara«.

When they came before abi awo, they asked him what had happened to him, and he told them everything that had occurred and his purpose in entering that secret land. They said to him: «for that, you must see Ozain and oba eggun, but come and live in our house.»

There he began to live and to learn many things from them. One day, noticing that they sometimes went away from the house for months, he questioned them, intrigued. They told him: «we are called ibeyoko menu, we are Ibeyis abiku, the children who usurp the place of those who are to be born in their mothers’ wombs so that we may live longer and gain more power in the world.

You who desire power — we are the messengers of adanu awo oba eggun, the spirit who rules these lands. You must make a pact with us and with Ozain so that you may keep us in your emblem, which are ere carved from igui lele, the wood that represents us.»

Then abi awo gave kuekueye at the riverbank, and they took him to Ozain, who gave him the power of igui lele. Abi awo carved the dolls, and Ozain and aluana awo gave them their ashe. He fed them osaidie while singing: «awona meyi kala kala ishon shon mai mai ibeyoko eggun odara ibori wenu eggun odara abi awo, awo odara«.

He then took the dolls to his house and placed them behind the door so that they would help him rule his people. From then on, abi awo wete became the absolute master of the power of his land.

This Ifá indicates that the person who has this sign may have an abiku child and is generally not prolific.

The birth of the art of carving

On this path was born ishona abe igui, which is the spirit of the carvers of dolls — that is, the art of carving.

On this path, okana shona devoted himself to the art of carving dolls, and no one could surpass him in the making of his malguidi. He had his business in ilé loya, but despite the beauty of his creations, they sold very little. He had a son named adamaloko, who was very restless and was always leaping from one place to another. He was the cricket who roamed the whole market crying out the wares of his father okana shona.

One day, he met Oshún, who upon seeing him asked why he jumped so much. He answered that it was his temperament, and that besides, he had to help his father sell the goods he made. Oshún went with him to where okana shona was. When she arrived, she saw the beauty of the ere he was carving and found him weeping. She asked him why he was in that state, and the awo replied that despite their beauty, he could not sell them.

Oshún told him that they lacked the strength to walk, and that she would take him to the house of oluo popo so that he would teach him how to give them strength. Okana shona was delighted and gave Oshún adie apipi akueri. They set out for the house of oluo popo, where she knocked at the door and sang: «yanse alaka ayano popo ipolodi».

Oluo popo, who was working with his head, greeted Oshún with this song: «ofe ni tiyo, ofe ni tiyo, nanga nio, nanga wedeo terare Oshún Oshún yalorde si terare, Oshún ibu yumuterareo Oshún«. They went in, and Oshún introduced them and explained okana shona’s situation. Oluo popo said he would help him and teach him. They set to work at once, and okana shona began to learn the secret of loading the ere. After a time, when he believed he knew it all, he left the house of oluo popo and, with the secrets and his art, returned to his workshop. But it turned out that they still did not walk.

In despair, he had osode done and saw his Ifá, which told him that he would be a great man, but in due time; that a blessing was coming his way, and that he should make ebbo with ere in order to prosper. Furthermore, he must watch over his son, because the boy could have an accident.

Okana shona made the ebbo and placed the ere at the door of ilé loya. At that moment, Shangó and oluo popo came along singing: «ee ago ilé ee ago ilé, ajeoka akomo iode okana ago ilé». When they arrived, okana shona fed etu to oluo popo and told him that what he had learned was missing something, because the malaguidi did not walk. Oluo popo answered: «I never told you that what you learned was complete, for fruits ripen in their own time. The consecration is missing, and that ceremony is performed by Shangó. You never saw him do this.»

Then okana shona asked Shangó to consecrate him so that he could live. Shangó accepted and lit akaraina, placing the ere on top and beginning to pray: «Osha ere lama agbona oba eti maye agalo ogodo oni kaka okuni buruku, burukuinle orikika malelekun obalero oko malelekun». At that moment adamaloko, the son of okana shona, began to leap with excitement and, without realizing it, fell into the aba of akaraina and was burned to a crisp. Shangó sang: «ashe ina piva leba ina adamaloko ina adamaloko ashe ina».

Despite okana shona’s tears, Shangó placed the akaraina with the eruru of the ara of adamaloko inside the ere, and they began to move, full of life. Through the mediation of the spirit of adamaloko, Shangó gave the rest of adamaloko’s eruru to okana shona so that this afoshe would be the iyefa in that land. He blew it to the four winds to resolve his problems. Since then, okana shona has been known as okana wete, the one who makes the dolls that move with akaraina. Afterwards, with the leri of etu, an inshe Ozain is mounted.

Notes

• okana wete must watch over his son and perform ceremonies for him at the foot of Shangó so as not to lose him as his power grows, for the boy may suffer an accident that costs him his life. An Ifá of the father’s greatness achieved through a sacrifice.
• The secret is for the omo of okana wete: inside the batea of Shangó, give him an etu while standing beside Shangó aba with akaina.

The jumper

On this path, oyori oko awo lived in ikoto modo and was a great ozainista of renown. He had learned from the white men the use of chloroform, and he used it to assault the obini he desired. Because he was so promiscuous and jumped from one woman to another, one day he became involved with one of the oba’s wives, which caused him to be banished from that land. After his departure, hunger and misery scourged the land, which led the oba to issue a proclamation.

All the inhabitants gathered at the foot of the iroko and sang a secret suyere. Oyori oko, hearing that song, used a strange thing that flew through the air, which today we know as the aeroplane. When he landed, he had osode done and saw this oddun (to consecrate), where he was ordered to give abo to Oggún and akuko to Elegbá, and then to consecrate all the omoni of that land.

He went about shaving the awo ofe of that land, leaving each a lock of hair in which he placed his secret. When the oba came, he had a natural baldness with two tufts on either side of his head, which instituted the power of awani. Oyori oko placed faithful awoses in every quarter of that land, and thus they ceased to be promiscuous as he had been, teaching all the inhabitants to do the same.

Agbeyami (the peacock) and tolo tolo (the turkey)

In the city of yarin, abeyami the peacock was the emir of the huasa. He lived in great splendor at court with his wife, and in that same court lived tolo tolo, who was the babalawo of the court. With the emir, his wife and the courtiers as his godchildren, they all lived in harmony. But tolo tolo was in love with abeyami’s wife and, availing himself of his magic, used certain potions in order to live with her.

Not content with this, tolo tolo coveted abeyami’s power. To this end, he prepared a poison in complicity with the emir’s wife, and they gave it to him to drink, and he died. However, when the emir’s son was born, tolo tolo could not go and sent one of his own sons instead. This son, not knowing that the emir must be buried with mantle and crown, thwarted tolo tolo’s designs on the throne, and his fortune turned wretched.

One day, oronishe Shangó oluo went to visit yarin and, asking after abeyami, was told what had happened. He inquired after okana wete, the son of abeyami, who was in hiding because tolo tolo wanted to kill him. Shangó oluo found him, saw this Ifá for him, and marked ebbo. Shangó oluo summoned tolo tolo to his house, rebuked him for what he had done, and ate him, for his mantle was white.

: here is born the teaching that Shangó eats white turkey; and the sons of tolo tolo who had been born of abeyami were grey turkeys — he freed them, but cast them out, and placed okana wete on the throne. However, he told him that whenever a white turkey was born, he was to send it to ife. Here the awo who lives with his godchild is punished.

The path where Oyá defeated awo oggon

Oyá spent nine days trying to learn the secrets of the eggun, but was frustrated at being unable to obtain them and left in anger, thinking that Ozain, who had visited Oduduwa, did not want her to know them. She came to the house of awo oggon, whose son was a child of Ozain and Oshún and was learning bad things from his father. Oggon had been hiding around his house, trying to find a way to save his son. One night, Oyá arrived in the land of oggon, dancing and blowing wind. Oggon went to Ozain’s house and told him what was happening with his son. Ozain was pleased and gave a guinea hen to oggon, asking whether he could help him have his son make Ifá.

Ozain and oggon went to see Orunmila, who was divining for himself, and okana wete came out. Orunmila told oggon that when his son made Ifá he would become an awo, and he fed akuko to oggon and Ozain, but warned him to beware of Oyá. Oggon accepted, and Orunmila gave him iyefa of afoshe, elu of the buzzard, quail and guinea hen.

Ozain and Oyá arrived in the land of oggon, where Oyá began to dance and blow afoshe with afisa and ada, and it began to rain. Oyá grew angry and fought with awo oggon, defeating him. Ozain and oggon took his son out of there and brought him to make Ifá, where okana wete Ifá awo came out for him.

Ayakua tiroko tinshomo aroni

On this path, Olofin the eternal, upon creating the world, granted each animal a power or attribute with which to defend itself. Among the birds, he called «agbigbo» (the cao) and named him the watchman over all the others, charging him to report everything to dide, who was the king, and he in turn would communicate everything to gunugun (the buzzard), who was Olofin’s messenger. Kana kana (the kestrel) was the executioner of the forest, owiwi (the owl) and all the birds were the messengers of kukuto. Eiye Shangó (the hummingbird) is the keeper of Shangó’s secrets, eiye aroni (the zunzún) is the one who alerts Ozain, eiye oba (the cardinal) is the priest of all the birds, and so on with every bird and animal of the forest.

In the earliest times, all the animals and birds of the world gathered at dawn in the meadow to eat. «Aun,» whose skin is of stone, also went to the meadow, and no one knew him. There came a day when the cao, seeing a somewhat strange individual, called gunugun and said: «in the forest there is a stone that walks and eats.» Gunugun reported it to adide, and he to all the birds, and they said: «no, we have never seen a stone eat, and it cannot be true.»

Abigbo said to all the other birds: «at dawn an ota went out with you, but they saw nothing, only a cracked mass standing upon oduara. Afterwards «aun» was still, and when it moved, they were amazed. Gunugun went to see Olofin and said: «who gave a stone permission to walk and eat with us? Today we saw it there.» Olofin said: «what you saw is not an ota. Consult Ifá, and in three days, when you go, I will go there to teach you with Ozain.» They did so, and this Ifá came out for them, and it marked the ebbo above and that it be placed in the forest, but they did not do it, for they believed it unnecessary.

The third day came, and all the birds and animals went to eat in the forest. Olofin said to them: «the animals to one side, the birds to the other: in the forest of aroni there is only one ota that eats. That is ota la baloke (oduara). What you took for an ota is not one; it is older than all of you together, mammals included. It is «aun,» who is a diviner, and its name is ayakua tiroko tinshomo aroni, the diviner of the forest.

The awo of the birds and animals then demanded the ebbo, and as they did not have it, he took them all together and with ayakua handed them over to aroni. Since then, he is the master of them all and the essence of Ozain, where each animal kept, by virtue of Ozain, the power that Olofin had granted it.

The betrayal of the obini

On this path, Olofin names the scorpion the father of all the vermin. From him were born the worms and even the butterflies, both white and black. On this path, there was a woman who fell in love with her servant and began to live with him, making him great at her husband’s expense, for she kept the husband deranged by means of witchcraft. But in time he recovered and became what he had been. Then the obini, out of vengeance, won him back and took him to live in another place, where she humiliated him and abandoned him, leaving him once again in misery.

Ifá ni kaferefun Oggún, Ozain, Oduduwa and Oyá

Okana wete is painted; it eats etu and eyele, and 3 itanas are set for it. This machete carries ox horn and deer horn; it eats together with the earth, is covered with curtains of 9 colors and mariwo; no woman may touch it, and it carries a small bell for calling eggun. «ewa timbelaye ofo awo eñiñire eggun ori eneri eggun wo orugbona eggun ewa timbelaye inkalefowosun».

And one sings to eggun where the agada is placed; it carries 9 ota, one of them from the sea. The person must have Olokun.

On this path, Ozain lived his life attending only to omo and to his land, which was oronire Ifá awo. But Oyá lived in worry because she knew nothing of Ozain. One day, Oyá went to where Oduduwa was. On this path, he lived in the land of oronire together with eggun. Oyá went out singing «awewe ni loye eggun yekun yekun» and carried a fan she had made from the feathers of the quail, the buzzard and the lizard cuckoo, and she gave epo to Shangó. All the eggun who were in otorebole with Oduduwa and Shangó hid, but when Oyá arrived she gave moforibale to Oduduwa, and all the eggun came out. They began to dance because Oyá was lacking in strength, and Oduduwa was very pleased.

Then the eggun called awo acacia came out and she began to cast over him the feathers of a hen she carried in her hand. She burned the fan, and all the dead kept dancing. They told Oyá that she would receive part of the power of afefe, but that she had to watch what she thought and said so as not to lose her strength again.

When the awo prepares the ebbo, it carries eran malu, eku, eya, epo, oti, oñi, atare (it does not carry eko ne opon). When the etu is killed, the leri is loaded with atare, igui, peonía, pins and maravilla, and the rooster is buried for Oggún. Whoever has this sign needs to have Oyá, Ozain, Oduduwa, and a machete consecrated with eggun behind the door.

All the birds eat the rice and the totí takes the blame

There was once a river settled on both its banks, where the people prospered and life flourished. All were happy, for it was a fertile land and there was complete peace in that town. So great was the happiness that the birds came there to quench their thirst. One day, tolo tolo arrived at the riverbanks and saw the tranquility that reigned. After quenching his thirst, he said to himself: «so much peace among so many people — they will have to leave this place.»

The guanajo withdrew and cast a powder into the sweet, calm waters of that river. When everyone drank from those waters, as was their custom, the suffering and stomach ailments began. The people, accustomed to a peaceful and quiet life, began to abandon the place.

But just then the totí came to quench his thirst, and the people attacked him and blamed him for the misfortunes in that place where all had been peace and calm. Elegbá, who had seen the guanajo casting the afoshe ogu into the river, told the people that the guilty one was the guanajo, who had poisoned the waters. The people cursed the guanajo, and then Elegbá took him, opened him up, and ate him. The people became completely happy again, thanks to Elegbá.