The orisa of smallpox and of the earth's diseases, the naming taboo, the priesthood's control of epidemic, and the 1907 British colonial ban on the cult which is one of the most consequential state interventions in Yoruba religion.
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.
Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà na di òrìṣà of smallpox and, for wider sense, of skin sickness and hot earth. Dem dey see am as power of di earth wey dey punish, and di sickness dem wey dem dey attribute to am dey among di things wey people fear pass for West Africa before twentieth century. Na im also be di subject of di biggest action wey government take enter Yorùbá religion: di British colonial ban of 1907, wey make di worship of dis deity illegal kpatakpata.
People dey call am Ọbalúayé pass, king and lord of di earth, or Bàbá, father, or other euphemism, because to call im real name dey dangerous. Di name problem na where any story about am suppose start from.
Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà, wey dem still dey write as Ṣọ̀pọ̀ná and English people dey call Shapona or Sopona, na di name of di deity and dem dey treat am as sacred and dangerous. People rarely dey call am out loud, because dem understand say to call am fit bring di sickness come .
Di euphemisms wey dem dey use instead:
Ọbalúayé, from ọba (king) plus olú (lord) plus ayé (di world or di earth), so king and lord of di earth.
Bàbá, father. Bàbá Ayé, father of di world, wey turn to Babalú-Ayé for Cuba.
Elégbò, owner of di sore. Ilẹ̀gbóná, hot earth.
Di relationship between Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà and Ọbalúayé, di sources describe am as one of aspect: Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà na di vengeful manifestation of Ọbalúayé . Some accounts dey treat dem as distinct òrìṣà, while others dey see dem as two names for one. Dis compiler no settle di matter, and di confusion partly come from di naming taboo itself, since name wey person no fit call dey accumulate substitutes wey later dey get independent life.
Smallpox pass everything, and by extension di sickness dem wey dey burst out for skin: measles, chickenpox, boils, and di fevers wey dey follow dem. Also, through im connection with earth, madness and di sickness dem wey dem understand say dey come up from ground.
Di theological structure na di same one wey dey govern Ṣàngó and lightning: di sickness na judgement. Yorùbá understanding believe say smallpox dey visit people through di divine displeasure of Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà . Dis one no be fatalism. E imply say procedure dey, since person fit appeal judgement, deflect am, and propitiate am, and na wetin di priesthood dey there to do.
Critically, di same power wey dey inflict sickness na im still dey cure am. Ọbalúayé na òrìṣà of healing as much as of disease, and di priesthood hold di two functions.
Na dis part person need to describe carefully, because na di part wey colonial record distort and also di part where real something dey happen.
Worship dey tightly controlled by specific priesthood attached to specific shrines . Di priests dey handle di bodies of people wey smallpox kill, conduct di burials, and, by practice wey many report, dem dey inherit di property of di deceased. Dem also hold exclusive charge of di rites during epidemic.
Yorùbá popular understanding, before di twentieth century, hold say if person vex di priests dem get power to cause outbreaks, through dia relationship with Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà . Na wetin di tradition itself talk. Na priesthood wey people widely believe say fit send di disease.
Dr Oguntọla Ṣapara na Yorùbá physician for colonial service. As e suspect say di priests dey spread di disease deliberately, e secretly join di cult and report say dem dey cause infection by applying scrapings from di skin lesions of smallpox cases . Based on im report, di British colonial authorities ban di worship of Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà for 1907 .
Di ban prohibit public rites, initiations, and priestly interference with vaccination campaigns, with fines and imprisonment for violation, and compulsory vaccination policy receive reinforcement through ordinances for 1907 and 1909 .
Several things dey wey person need to hold together here, and most accounts dey hold only one.
Wetin Ṣapara's find make medical sense. To apply material from smallpox lesion to healthy person skin na variolation, real technique wey exist before Jennerian vaccination and wey dem practise for Africa, Asia, and Europe. E dey give immunity for most cases and dey kill small minority. Priesthood wey fit variolate fit in principle produce or withhold immunity, and fit produce cases. Whether di priests understand am as inoculation, as ritual transmission, or as di two, no be wetin colonial record establish.
Di colonial account dey self-serving. Finding say religious cult deliberately dey spread smallpox provide precisely di justification wey colonial administration need to criminalise a religion, and na official of dat administration produce am. Person suppose read am with di same scepticism wey dem dey apply to any state account of why e suppress a religious body.
Di ban no work. Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà worship continue. In spite of severe penalties, and in spite of one hundred and thirty smallpox deaths for Ìjẹ̀bú alone between 1933 and 1934, di cult continue for Ìjẹ̀bú and across south-western Nigeria through di 1930s .
Di suppression drive am underground and comot am from record. Because di cult dey illegal for decades, na im be di least documented among di major òrìṣà cults, and plenty things wey dem for record ethnographically for twentieth century no enter record. Anybody wey dey write about Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà dey work with record wey law deliberately make poor.
Smallpox don finish kpatakpata. Di last naturally occurring case happen for Somalia for 1977 and World Health Organization certify eradication for 1980. òrìṣà wey im principal domain no exist again dey inside unusual position, and di continuing cult of Ọbalúayé's, for Nigeria and much more prominently for diaspora, don shift toward di general domain of epidemic disease, skin affliction, and healing. For Cuba and Brazil, Babalú-Ayé and Omolu acquire strong association with HIV/AIDS from di 1980s.
The record wey dey down no plenty reach the ones for other òrìṣà, because of the reasons wey dey up, na why this section dey carefully talk about am.
Things wey dey always show for the record na: raffia, especially raffia cloth or skirt, wey come turn to full raffia mask for diaspora wey Omolu dey use cover body wey sickness don mark; the broom or whisk, ṣáṣárá, wey dem dey use sweep sickness comot and also take send am; sesame and grains; and palm oil. The colours wey dem mention na black, red, and white wey dem combine together.
Specific èèwọ̀, sacrifice, and how dem dey do shrine things for Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà inside Yorùbáland no dey well documented for academic work wey person fit easily see, and this file no put dem.
For here, the tradition get better record pass the one for Nigeria, and na direct result of the ban make am happen like that.
Cuba, Lucumí: Babalú-Ayé, from Bàbá Ayé. Dem join am with San Lázaro, and hin festival wey dey happen for 17 December for El Rincón outside Havana na one of the biggest religious gathering for Cuba, wey dey pull plenty pilgrims come, including many people wey no go call demselves worshippers. Na one of the orichas wey people dey worship pass for Cuba. Dem still dey call am Asojuano or Asojano.
Brazil, Candomblé: Omolu and Obaluaiê, and for the Jeje nation na Sakpata, from the Fon people. Omolu dey appear with full raffia mask cover hin body, wey dem dey call filá, to hide body wey dem believe say sickness don mark. Hin food na doburu, wey be popcorn. Dem join am with São Lázaro and São Roque for different ways.
Dahomey and the Gbe-speaking region: Sakpata, and the Yorùbá and Fon traditions for here join body for history instead of make one come out from the other.
Trinidad: Shakpana, wey dey always among the most popular orisha for Trinidad practice .
How e take popular so na something to note: one òrìṣà wey law ban for hin own land come turn one of the figures wey dem dey worship pass for diaspora traditions. 08-diaspora cover these traditions well.
E no judge whether the priests deliberately spread smallpox. The only big evidence wey dey na one report from colonial official wey hin administration dey find reason to ban the cult, and the cult own side of the story no dey the record at all because na crime to talk am. The truth be say practice wey resemble variolation fit happen and evidence dey say e happen for the region, but nobody don independently prove that particular accusation, and because of how the ban affect the records wey dey, e fit no possible to get answer to the question now.
The confidence level on this file na medium, and e for low pass that if not for the legal and epidemiological facts wey clear well.
The orisa of leaves and of the knowledge of what plants do, the one-limbed body, the iron staff of birds, and the relationship between Osanyin and the practising herbalist.
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.
Seven orisa treated together: the farming orisa, the hunter who became a river, Sango's other wife and the ear narrative, the orisa of wealth, the sea, the hunter of Ketu, and the one whose diaspora identity diverged furthest from his Yoruba one.
What Egúngún actually is, why it is a lineage institution rather than an orisa cult, how the costume and the taboo on touching it work, and how the tradition has been misrepresented.
What the historical record establishes about West African inoculation knowledge, what the Yoruba actually did about smallpox, the 1907 ban on the Sonponna priesthood and what the evidence for and against the deliberate-spread charge really amounts to, and what the suppression cost.
The Yoruba deity of smallpox, contagious epidemics, and the dry earth, whose historical priesthood managed public health before colonial suppression and Atlantic reinterpretation.