Obatalá: History and Characteristics of the Orisha of Creation

Do you know the Orisha Obatalá? Read this article!

To continue our series of articles on the mighty deities, today we are going to talk about the first Orisha to be created: Obatalá.

as we speak in main article about the Orishasthe elemental forces of nature, namely, air, fire, water and earth, were created by the Supreme God, the Great Father, “Olorum”.

Olorum, then, decided that he would create a being, from the Air and Water, which there was at the beginning of time.

Obatalá: the Orisha of creation

The created Being was enchanted, very powerful, his robes were all in white. Thus, his name has the meaning of Obatalá “OBA TI O NI ALA”, the King dressed in white, that is, The Lord of the White Cloth, the Orisha Obatalá, in Brazil also called Oxalá.

Shortly thereafter, Olorum decided to create another Orisha, called Oduduá, with the same powers as the first. Obatalá thus represented the male essence, becoming the right side of Olorum, while Oduduá would have the female essence, and would be the left side.

From then on, the other Orixás were created, which formed a true army of Olorum, each with its mission and function.

Bará was the third element created, and not least, he was the one who would establish the link between all the Orixás and Olorum. Thus, it was customary to make offerings and tributes to him, before doing it to any other Orisha, because it would be Bará who would take the messages to Olorum.

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What was the Mission of Obatalá Orisha?

Olorum gave the mission to create the Earth to Obatalá. In this way, he gave him all the powers and wisdom necessary for such a task.

But, Obatalá Orishawas so proud to have received such an honor from Olorum that he didn’t think it was necessary to make the offerings to Bará.

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Observing what was happening, Bará simply warned that Obatalá would not be able to fulfill his mission, because even with all the power he possessed, without his help, he would not be able to reach the correct place, indicated by the Supreme God, to create the Earth. .

Even so, Obatalá went on his way. Carrying with him a guinea fowl and the sack of creation. A long and difficult journey. So he went on without accepting anyone’s help.

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Orisha Obatalá felt tired

He was already exhausted, hungry and thirsty but he didn’t stop for a single moment, because he believed that his mission was so important that he couldn’t take a break.

So, he was so exhausted, he had a hallucination and saw a palm tree, so he hit its trunk with his staff and drank all its liquid, a palm wine.

So, he ended up getting drunk and passed out in the same place he was, being unconscious for a long time.

Bará decided to warn Oduduá that because he had not made his offerings, Obatalá would not be able to carry out his mission.

So, Ododuá, decided to make the necessary offerings and went to look for Obatalá, at the request of Olorum. That’s when she found him unconscious near the place where he was supposed to arrive.

When Olorum discovered that Obatalá had failed in his mission, he gave Oduduá the task of creating the Earth, and so it was done, along with the help of all the other Orixás.

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Creation of the Orisha

When Obatalá woke up and saw that the land had been created, he felt very ashamed for not having made it and went looking for Olorum. It was then that he showed him his great mistake of not having made the Offerings he was supposed to.

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Then, Obatalá, truly repentant, cried out for forgiveness. In this way, Olorum gave an a nnew mission to him: to create the beings that would inhabit the Earth.

And this time, without fail, he did it: from the same mud that Earth was created, Obatalá fashioned all beings, and with his holy breath breathed life into them.

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Sacred Beings for the Orisha Obatalá

But Obatalá got drunk again while carrying out this mission, and modeled new forms of beings such as dwarves, albinos, cripples – these are considered sacred by Obatala.

So, Oduduá again intervened in the creation making the mold that he considered correct, strong and healthy people.

Then began the great rivalry between Obatalá and Oduduá.

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What are the characteristics of the sons of Obatala?

First, it is important to point out that the most important body part in the creation of Obatalá is the headtherefore, the children of Obatalá are calm, serene people with firm and generous thoughts.

But they are also very stubborn people, just like the Orisha.

Many myths tell that Obatalá receives advice from Orumilá, to make an ebó – an offering – for Exú. He, in turn, doesn’t, which shows his stubbornness. In addition, as a consequence, he ends up not doing well for his attitude, the same is true of your children when they are stubborn.

When very devout, they usually wear white beaded necklaces and also white clothes.

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What does White mean to the Lord of White?

In general, the white represents the clean, the truth, pure morals, the good and true intentions of our actions and the purity of heart.

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This is what is represented when you wear white in honor of him.

Orisha of Peace and Creativity

Obatalá is the Orisha of serenity, peace and tranquility. He is the one we must turn to when we are in chaos.

Furthermore, he teaches that we must use creativity to overcome our greatest challenges, because it is with her that we will be able to find solutions to get out of our problems.

This Orisha can have different qualities, the main ones being when Young and is called Oxaguiã and its symbols are an idá (sword), a white metal pestle and a shield. Or in its old form, called Oxalufã and its symbol is the opaxorô, a metal staff.

Hope and Jesus Christ

It is important to make it clear that in Syncretism, the Orisha Obatalá or Oxalá is compared to Jesus Christ. But they are not the same! Both are related to the creation of the universe, but there are different stories that involve the two.

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