Èṣù, the Divine Messenger
Èṣù, also known as Ẹlẹgba or Ẹlẹgbara, is the youngest and the cleverest of the deities.
#Yoruba
Photo: Effigy of the god 'Eshu' collected at Abeokuta by William Russell Bascom 1943-1945
Èṣù, also known as Ẹlẹgba or Ẹlẹgbara, is the youngest and the cleverest of the deities.
#Yoruba
Photo: Effigy of the god 'Eshu' collected at Abeokuta by William Russell Bascom 1943-1945
He is the divine messenger who delivers sacrifices prescribed by the Babalawo to Ọlọrun after they have been placed at his shrine, a simple chunk of laterite set outside of every Ifẹ compound or a crude mud figure as in Mẹko.
He is a trickster who delights in trouble making but he serves Ọlọrun and the other deities by causing trouble for human beings who offend or neglect them.
Even Shango, a god of thunder, who can kill a person with lightning, must first ask Eshu to "open the road" for him; or he may ask Eshu to use the variety of punishments at his command.
Eshu is notorious for starting fights, killing people in traffic and hunting accidents, or by toppling walls and trees on them, and he causes calamities to the deities and humans alike.
Humans may also send Eshu to fight with their enemies by naming them while putting palm oil on the laterite that serves as his shrine, and then mentioning their own name while adding palm oil as an atonement so that Eshu will not turn against them for having violated his taboo.
Eshu is also the divine enforcer, punishing those who fail to make the sacrifices prescribed by the Babalawo and rewarding those who do. When any of the deities wishes to do good for those on earth, he sends Eshu to do it for him.
His role as the messenger who delivers sacrifices to Ọlọrun and does good deeds on behalf of the other deities, and his remarkable even-handedness in his role as the divine enforcer are...
... hardly consistent with his identification as satan by Christians and Muslims, which can only be understood as the result of a failure to find the equivalent of the devil in Yoruba belief.
Regardless of what deity they worship, everyone prays frequently to Eshu so that he will not trouble them; and everyone sacrifices to him since a bit of every sacrifice to Ọlọrun and to other deities is set aside for him.
In addition he has his own worshipers and priests, who are identified by a string of small opaque maroon or black beads worn around the neck.
Palm kernel oil, which is used to make Eshu fight, is his strongest taboo, and his worshipers must not eat it, rub their bodies with it, or have it near them; and no one can whistle at his shrine.
His favorite foods which are offered to him as sacrifices, are palm oil, boiled corn and beans, male animals and fowl, palm wine and other kinds of liquor, and many other foods.
Source: The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria by Bascom, William Russell (1969)
