Esu as orisa in his own right: the messenger who carries sacrifice, the keeper of the crossroads, the activator of ase, the one who tests. The Satan conflation is handled in 04-cosmology; this page is about what Esu actually is.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Èṣù na the òrìṣà wey dey stand for junction, wey dey carry sacrifice from human beings go give Olódùmarè and the other òrìṣà, wey dey activate the power wey dey make wetin person talk work, and wey dey test people by setting up situations wey their true character go show. Without im own portion, no sacrifice dey reach where e suppose reach. Without am, the divination system no fit work. E dey present for every single one of the 256 Odù inside the Ifá corpus.
E no be the Yorùbá devil. How dem take match Èṣù join Satan na something wey happen for nineteenth century through missionaries and Bible translation, and the history dey well documented; 04-cosmology treat that full history well. This page dey talk about Èṣù as the tradition take know am, and e only mention that mix-up when the primary sources make am necessary.
Èṣù, na im be the main name. Ẹlẹ́gbára or Elegba. Èṣù Ọ̀dàrà, where ọ̀dàrà mean the good one or the wonderful one, and wey dem also explain through ọ̀nà as the one wey im place na the road. Olúlànà, the one wey dey open road, wey e share with Ògún. Ẹlẹ́jẹ̀lú. Ọbasìn. Bará. Laroye. Latopa. Lalupon. The greeting Baraye.
Diaspora forms: Exu (Brazil), Echú and Eleguá (Cuba), Legba (Fon, and through Fon enter Haitian Vodou as Papa Legba).
Na only the Èṣù entry for inside the accessible African Poems archive get the Yorùbá original alongside the English for any of the major òrìṣà, na why dem put am here and why the one for Ṣàngó and Ọya no dey here.
Gbẹ̀rẹ̀ ni n ó máa t'àgbó lẹ́hìn, Gbẹ̀rẹ̀ o. A dá 'ni má gbàgbé o
Translator: No name for source
Jeje, I go dey follow you for back with music, The one wey create person and wey no dey ever forget am.
Gbẹ̀rẹ̀ na the center word and e hard to translate for English. E mean without rush, at an easy pace, and e no mean say person dey lazy; na the speed of somebody wey get time and know say e get time. To repeat am as the first and last word of the line make the tempo of wetin dey follow become the main subject of the line, wey fit an òrìṣà wey im whole style na to arrive at im own timing. The second line na one short title, a dá 'ni, the one wey create person, wey dem use here for Èṣù, and the claim wey e make about am big well-well: na creator work, no be just messenger work. Make una also note say the published translation no give any translator name, and this compiler never fit know who translate am. The performer na Mùtíù Adélékè and the compiler na Ayọdele Ogundipẹ, wey im Èṣù Ẹlégbára: Chance, Uncertainty in Yorùbá Mythology (Kwara State University Press, 2012) be the standard monograph . Dem no suppose talk say na Ogundipẹ translate am just because na im compile am.
Because dem dey circulate well-well and readers go see dem, dem only mention their names instead of writing them out full.
"Eshu-Elegba in the Marketplace," wey dey start with "People of the market, clear the way! We are coming through the market gate. My Lord is coming to the market," draw from Verger 1957 collection and from Pemberton 1975 article . Verger line as dem write am there: "He buys without paying. He causes nothing to be bought or sold at the market until nightfall."
"Eshu, God of Fate," wey dey start with "Eshu turns right into wrong, wrong into right. When he is angry, he hits a stone until it bleeds," wey Ulli Beier edit inside Yoruba Poetry (1970) . Na this be the single Èṣù text wey dem quote pass for English, and dem dey often reproduce am without the Yorùbá.
Four functions dey, and dem link together.
E dey carry ebọ. Èṣù na the messenger between Olódùmarè, the òrìṣà, the ajogun (the wicked powers), and human beings, and na im dey share and supervise how dem dey share sacrifices. Every sacrifice get portion for Èṣù, and the reason na because of the work e dey do, no be just to beg am: without im portion, nothing dey reach where e suppose reach. 04-cosmology cover ebọ.
Two titles for this role, ajigbọ̀na and ẹlẹ́rùkù, dey circulate for English-language writing. This compiler no fit confirm any of dem for scholarly source and no dey claim say na so e be.
E dey work with Ifá. Dem describe Èṣù as Ọ̀rúnmìlà's close working partner and person wey e trust, but e still stand on im own, and e get im own body of material and im own way wey dem dey take consult am. As matter of fact, every single one of the 256 Odù get im own Èṣù: Èṣù Ọ̀dàrà na the messenger of every Odù. The Ifá system no fit run without am. 05-ifa cover the corpus and the divination.
E dey activate àṣẹ. Èṣù na the one wey dey make words work, wey dey turn wetin dem prescribe to result. 04-cosmology treat àṣẹ.
E dey test. Na this function make people dey call am trickster, but that label no really correct. Èṣù dey arrange situations wey go make who person really be show, and the result dey bad for people wey misbehave. E no mean evil and e no dey act anyhow without reason. Na enforcement mechanism wey get sense of humour.
Na the best-known Èṣù itan. Two close-close friends consult diviner, wey prescribe ebọ to protect the friendship. Dem refuse, say nothing fit ever divide dem. Èṣù take one cap and paint one side white and the other side black, for some versions red and white, for other versions four colours, and come waka pass the boundary between the two men farm wey dey beside each other. After that, each of dem describe the cap wey e see. Each person insist. Na so the friendship scatter.
Di reading dey important. Di main point no be say Èṣù wicked; na demonstration wey get two parts. If person refuse di sacrifice wey dem prescribe, e get consequences. And two people fit report wetin happen accurately and still contradict each other, because each person see only one side. Di story na epistemological argument wey dem present as anecdote, and e dey among di most sophisticated things for di oral corpus.
Dis story dey spread well well and di compiler no fit verify any scholarly primary citation for am. Dem present am as sometin wey plenty people know, but di source no dey verified.
Di Verger material wey dem quote for up, where Èṣù dey buy without paying and fit prevent anything make dem no buy or sell am till night reach, place am for di market, wey be say for Yorùbá thought na di point of maximum exchange, maximum uncertainty, and maximum contact between dis world and di otherworld. 09-social treat di market.
Where e dey. Crossroads, entrance-dem, threshold-dem, doorway-dem, and market-dem. Na dis places be where person must choose direction, and Èṣù's shrine-dem dey located at di point of decision.
Èṣù-ọ̀nà, di roadside Èṣù: small stone, usually red laterite, or terracotta form, with cowries set as eyes, wey dem place for crossroads or for entrance of compound.
Di carved figure. Dem dey frequently carve am with two face, front and back, wey dem understand as showing say e dey present for both physical and di otherworldly realm at di same time, with di second face sometimes placed for di end of long carved hairstyle. Carvings dey show am as male or female, wey dey important to state clearly: Èṣù gender no dey fixed for di visual tradition.
Materials and colours. Cowries and coins wey dem heap for di shrine. Red and black. Palm oil, wey be im characteristic offering. Di làbà, leather bag.
Di ògo Ẹlẹ́gbára, di dance staff or club wey devotees dey carry. Johnson describe am for 1921 , and im passage dey worth quoting in full precisely because of how e work. Dem reproduce am verbatim, punctuation follow, since dis corpus no dey alter source silently:
"5. Esu or Eleghara: Satan, the Evil One, the author of all evil is often and specially propitiated. Offerings are made to it. The representing image is a rough lateritic stone upon which libations of palm oil are poured... The image of a man, with a horn on its head curving backwards, carved in wood and ornamented with cowries, is often carried by its devotees to beg with on public highways. Passers-by... may give each a cowry or two, or handfuls of corn, beans, or any product of the field at hand... This curved headed figure is called 'Ogo Eliggbara': the devil's club."
Make una note wetin happen for dat passage. Johnson give di correct Yorùbá name of di object, describe im form and im use accurately, record di laterite stone and di palm oil libation correctly, and come gloss di whole thing as "the devil's club" and open di entry with "Satan, the Evil One." Accurate ethnography and theological distortion land inside di same sentences. E be useful specimen of exactly how di conflation enter di written record through Yorùbá author, and 04-cosmology treat dat process.
Odún Ẹlẹ́gbà for Ìlá Ọ̀ràngún, wey John Pemberton document for 1974, where priestess-dem and drummers dey sing oríkì while dem carry Èṣù's figure go king market . Note di priestess-dem: Èṣù's cult no be for only men.
One Princeton University Art Museum object record Ìjókòó Èṣù or Àpótí Èṣù, di stool of Èṣù priest or priestess, wey independently attest say formal Èṣù priesthood dey for both sexes.
Specific Yorùbá priestly titles for Èṣù, dis compiler no fit verify am and e no claim am.
Na here di differences big pass, and dem dey go two different directions.
Yorùbáland get one Èṣù with many manifestations. Cuban practice separate Eleguá and Eshu into distinct entities with different reckonings, and di numbers make di split clear: 256 paths dey to Eleguá for Ifá reckoning, but 101 paths dey to Eshu according to ocha.
Dem syncretise Eleguá with El Niño de Atocha, di Holy Child, and also with Saint Anthony of Padua. Dem dey keep im head, wey dem make with cement and cowrie features, behind di front door of di house. Dis domesticated household Eleguá, child-figure wey dey guard doorway of house, no get exact Yorùbá counterpart. Sometin happen for Cuba wey split road-and-market power into domestic guardian and separate wilder entity.
Candomblé get less than twelve Exu avatars, including Exu Tiriri, Exu Lonã, and Exu Marabô, and historically dem describe initiation to Exu as sometin wey almost impossible, wey come dey common only through di re-africanization movement.
Umbanda diverge far pass dat. E get many dozens of Exus, wey incorporate biblical demon names and street-spirit identities like Zé Pilintra, and e treat Exu as class of spirits instead of as orixá. Dat one na structural break from Yorùbá practice, no be variation inside am.
Pombagira na di female manifestation, di lady of di streets, figure wey turn patriarchal norms upside down and wey get plenty devotees among women and among LGBT Brazilians. Exu dey carry three-pronged trident, Pombagira dey carry two-pronged fork; crossroads get gender, X-shaped crossing for Exu and T-junction for Pombagira.
Missionary-dem call Exu "Black Priapus" from sixteenth century, and by nineteenth century, dictionary-dem and Yorùbá Bible and Quran translations don fix am say "Exu" and "Legba" na "Demon." Di Yorùbá linguist Kola Tubosun make Google Translate correct how dem dey translate Èṣù for 2016 and 2019, wey be small, clear twenty-first-century event inside one very long argument. Re-africanization and "decatholicising" movement-dem for Brazil don push to bring back di mediatory cosmological role of Exu against di demonised reading. 04-cosmology treat di history of how dem mix things properly; 08-diaspora treat di Brazilian tradition-dem on dia own terms.
Di Cuban caminos (roads) and Brazilian qualidades (qualities) dey best understood as New World structural innovations to arrange òrìṣà's manifestations put inside system, instead of to see am as direct copy of Yorùbá practice, where di variation mostly dey based on place: di Èṣù of dis place and di Èṣù of dat place. Di diaspora build taxonomy where Yorùbáland get geography. Dis finding dey show up across several òrìṣà and dem note am inside 08-diaspora.
E no repeat di Èṣù-as-Satan history, wey belong to 04-cosmology, and e no claim di two Èṣù title-dem or di source of di two-cap story, because both of dem no pass verification. Where Èṣù's role inside di ritual mechanics of divination matter for initiates, 05-ifa na di place for am.
Orunmila as orisa rather than as a divination system: who he is, why he alone witnessed the choosing of destinies, his relationship to Esu and to Olodumare, and his cult. The Ifa corpus itself is covered in 05-ifa.
The orisa of iron, war, hunting and the road, the massacre at Ire and its variants, Soyinka's reading of Ogun as the Yoruba tragic principle, and the occupational cult that now includes drivers and mechanics.
The competing scholarly definitions of òrìṣà, why "god" and "idol" are bad translations, what the numbers 201 and 401 are doing, and how òrìṣà relate to Olódùmarè and to the dead.
How many practitioners there actually are and why nobody knows, the real relationship with Christianity and Islam including genuine syncretism, Susanne Wenger and the Osogbo grove, the Ooni and traditional authority, and the return-to-tradition movement.
What Esu is in the Yoruba sources, why the divination system cannot function without him, and the documented history of the missionary translation that turned him into Satan.
A comprehensive scholarly examination of Èṣù across Yoruba cosmology, oral literature, ritual iconography, regional cult organization, and transatlantic diaspora traditions.