WHAT DO THE AFRICANISTAS BELIEVE IN?
Many people have already written about a religion that has no written books.
Our faith is transmitted today as in the beginings of time, aurally, from father to son, from mother to son or daugther. But they are so many, those who trying to enlighten and lacking the gift of speaking darken the topic that we'd like to begin saying that in spite of what other credos' practitioners may say about ours, the Africanistas are monotheists.
"OLORUM" or "OLODUMARE" is our God, Lord of Heavens and Earth, Creator of the Universe, all that exists and will exist. He is the One who decides. He blesses or not our pray.
As in many other religions, Olorum (whose name in Yoruba, the African language of our religion, means "Lord of Supreme Destiny") is not worshiped. He created the ORISHAS, through which men can contact Heaven.
Back in time, in Africa, the Orishas were too many to count. They came to South America by the hands of the black slaves brought to Brazil around 1600.
One of the techniques of slavery was to split up families so as to govern easily and avoid insurrections.Therefore the slaves working in a "fazenda" were strangers one to another, and the only thing that put them together was their faith. A faith that was condemned too. The portuguese masters forced this people to become christians in fear of their "strange rituals" called by them of wichcraft, sorcery or devil worship.
Those "poor, illiterate, piece of working meat" were not as silly as their masters believed. They pretended becoming good christians and setting their faith aside. But the truth is that they cleverly disguised their Orishas in the Christian church's saints. Therefore, Orisha Ogun became Saint George for example, and so on.
This identifying process between Saints and Orishas is known with the name of syncretism. It wasn't pure casuality, each Orisha was syncretised to that Saint that had had simmilar atributes to those of them. So, Saint George, lord of victory in war was syncretised to Ogun: Orisha of war, master in the art of bending and working with metals.
Then, pretending to be worshiping those Christian Saints they gathered before their masters' pleased eyes and kept on worshiping their Orishas. Once slavery was abolished the ancient religion was brought to light again.
We belive that each human being is born under the protection of three main Orishas. The most important one, because it rules over our personality, is known as "Orisha de Cabeza" (Head's Orisha). He or She is who we pray to be lucky, to get through pain and sorrow in life.
Our Orishas are: BARA, OGUN, OIA, SHANGO, ODE, OTIN, OBA, OSANHA, SHAPANA, IBEIGES, OSHUM, IEMANJA AND OSHALA.
AXE BOMI CABANA
DE PAE OXOSSI
Goddess of the Ocean, mother of all Orishas
