How to play Búzios – Origin and secrets – Blog

HOW TO PLAY BUZIOS – The game of whelks (èrindinlógun) is one of the divinatory arts of Afro-Brazilian religions, which consists of throwing a set of 16 whelks on a previously prepared table, and analyzing the configuration that the whelks adopt when falling on it. Before throwing the shells, the diviner prays and greets all Orixás, and during the casting he talks to the deities and asks questions.

It is believed that the deities affect the way the whelks are spread across the table, thus providing the answers to the doubts that are put to them. In Brazil, buzios (small beach shells), cawris in Africa, are used by Babalorixás and Iyalorixás to communicate with the Orixás, in consultations with the game of buzios or Merindelogun.

The cawris used to consult the future, according to the religions Batuque, Candomblé, Omoloko, Tambor de Mina, Umbanda, Xambá, Xangô do Nordeste or as an adornment in the clothes of the Orixás and for making some strands of beads, are also used in other Afro-descendant religions.

How to play whelks – Game methods

In addition to the whelks, other objects can be used to consult the Orixás: Obí, Orobô, Alobaça (onion), atarê (pepper from the coast), bones, viscera and others.

The game with four cowries is more used in rituals for questions: normally the falls correspond to the falls in the game of Obi. The number of whelks can vary according to the nation, the most common is composed of 16 or 17 whelks, but the game with 21 whelks is also very common.

Some methods are not based on falls for Odu, as in Merindilogun. They use other configurations and combinations of open and closed whelks, dividing them into four groups of four whelks (which they call barracão) and analyzing the four fallen ones and the arrangement they are in. In this type of Oracle, Odu is not mentioned.

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How to play whelks inverted

The consideration between open and closed of the conch can also vary, the vast majority of Babalorixás use the natural opening of the conch as the “open” side, but several women in the Candomblé cult, mainly in the Nation of Keto, used to play as “ open” the side on which they “opened” the conch, thus the natural crack being the “closed” side, stating that the true secret in a conch is kept in its natural state, and this is revealed only after its ceremonial opening, ripping This part was closed until then, so several Babalorixás and Iyalorixás who learned by this method do this “inverted” form of reading, when presenting their conclusions.

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