Who is the Orisha Osanyin?

Osanyin, closely associated with Qrúnmilá, is believed to oversee all roots and leaves and to possess more knowledge than any other orishá of the use of plant materials to cure illnesses. A priest in Ibadan said that Ósanyin and Sánponná are friends. Osanyin is described by Yoruba traditional religionist as impatient, cruel, and pompous.

Like most of the orishá Qsanyin can be used for good or bad ends—to cure illness, especially sickness, caused by the witches, to ensure good health, and the birth of children, or to injure others. Some persons call on Osanyin to foretell the future.

A Babalawo in Ibadan who is an Osanyin priest, as well as a follower of ïbejl, Osun, and Olókun, claimed that Osanyin attends meetings held by the witches and that he is the real power behind the witches. Osanyin can appeal to the witches or force them to release a victim who has fallen into their power. This priest said that all curse methods need Osanyin’s approval before they become effective, but this point was not mentioned by other informants.

 

Osanyin’s emblem, always kept in one corner of the room, is a type of doll or puppet which a priest manipulates by means of ventriloquism. During a consultation with a client, the priest addressed questions to the emblem and the figure either whistles or speaks in return. In either case, the priest gives an interpretation of the reply.

Before the ceremony begins, the emblem is washed in water to which the following ingredients have been added: leaves (inn, oyin, árágba, êsisl, tete, átetêdáyé, pêrêgún, and iyeyê), water from snails, palm oil, and shea-butter.

On the following day, Osanyin’s emblem is placed on a white cloth which has been spread in one corner of the priest’s house. Among the offerings are alligator peppers, sixteen brown kola-nuts, snails, tortoise, a male goat, a female goat, a cock, a pigeon, roasted maize, êhuru (beans) and palm-oil.

The animals mentioned constitute a minimum sacrifice, and a bull or a cow may also be offered. Kola-nuts are opened and split on top of the divinity’s emblem. Two kola-nuts are opened and thrown up; if two halves land face up and the other two are down, the participants say: “Éépá! Osanyin!!” (The offering is accepted.)

A fowl or an animal is killed, and its blood is poured on Osanyln. Singing and dancing begin, and, eventually, some ten percent of those present become possessed by the god. One priest said that those who become possessed do not tremble, but they move about briskly in their usual manner, running and jumping. Unlike the practice in many of the other annual ceremonies, none of the cooked meat and other food is taken to Osanyln. The food is served to the guests of the priest conducting the ceremony.

As is the case with the ceremony for Sánpíonná, the water which is used in washing the emblem is offered to people for dampening the floors of the houses. (This procedure is said to prevent a visit to a house by Sánpónná, that is, to prevent smallpox.) There is no procession during the rites for Osanyln, but on the third day a magical display is held in an open space where people can come and observe it. Some adepts punch their eyes with knives, others cut open their stomachs, and bring out their intestines, or they chew broken bottles and spit out pieces of glass, or slice their tongues or cause a piece of wood to jump, and so on.

The musical instruments used in a ceremony for Osanyin include dúndún and bátá drums, rattles, and iron gongs. Ordinarily the ritual lasts seven days, with the same kinds of animal sacrifice on the seventh day as on the first. All members of native medicine associations are notified of the date of an annual ceremony for Osanyln. The numbers of worshipers have declined sharply in recent years, as has the proportion of those attending who become possessed by this órishá.

What do you think about this deity and the customs surrounding it?