ORI

I use this blog to reblog posts about the Orishas and Yoruba culture so that I can access them easily.

[orishaarchive]

Im so sorry for being so absent, I have been super busy irl

Are there any specific Orishas you guys would like to see me draw?

[otherworldmythology]

Ọba

One of the many wives of Shango, his most loyal by some accounts. While Oshun is with other men, and Oya is on the battlefield, Oba lends her patient ear to her husband. In some versions of the story, namely in Brazil, she literally lends her ear in a cruel joke played by Oya and Oshun, her sister-wives. She is the orisha of fidelity, representing the bonds that hold marriage together. She is also a fearsome warrior sometimes said to have trained Oya herself in use of the sword. She protects women and is sacred to the River Oba.

Pantheon: Yoruba, African Diaspora Religions

Domain: Marriage, water, hearth.

Alternate Names: Oba, Obba, Obba Nani

Character Traits: Loyal till her last breath, powerful and stalwart.

Visual Traits: Usually a woman holding a sword or bow, adorned in red, orange, white, or pink.

Symbolism: The number 8, colors red, pink, white, orange, and blue, swords, bows, parrot feathers.

Sources: 1 2

[orishaarchive]

Ọṣun the Orisa of love, beauty, and fresh waters. Sketch based on "Kneeling Female Figure Devotee of Oshun Africa, Yoruba people Early 20th century"

[orishaarchive]

Who's your favorite yoruba god?

My favourite Orisha is Ọbà the Orisha of marriage, domestic life, loyalty, and sacrifice.

"Oba, the most senior of Shango's wives, was tricked by a rival into believing that if Shango ate a piece of her, he would love Oba eternally. Desperate for his affection, Oba cut off her ear and attempted to feed it to Shango mixed into his stew. He detected the trick and exiled her in disgust and rage. Grieving, Oba became the River Oba in present-day Nigeria"

"In a Cuban tradition, she ends up living in the cemetery and invented writing. There, she is tasked with recording the names of the dead."

(excuse the unfinished art)

[orishaarchive]

I can’t find the name of the model, but she looks exactly how I imagine the Orisha Oshun would!

[orishaarchive]

Playing with colors

Ọbà, Ọya & Ọ̀ṣun

Oba is the Orisha of marriage, domestic life, loyalty, and sacrifice.

Oya is the Orisha of Winds, storms, transformation, death/rebirth.

Oshun is the Orisha of Love, Beauty, Prosperity, and Fresh Waters

The heads in Yoruba art are often disproportionately large. This intentional distortion is a fundamental characteristic of the artwork and is based on philosophical and spiritual beliefs. The Yoruba believe that the head, or orí, is the most vital part of a person, containing their inner essence, destiny, and life force. So i thought it might be fun to make the heads of my silly designs larger to reflect this!

[orishaarchive]

Ọya, Yemọja & Ọṣun

Also sneak peak at Obba Nani

[orishaarchive]

Creation of man

"Obatala was the one to mold human beings from clay. During this creative progress, he was drinking a large amount of palm wine, created from the palm nut forest, which caused him to create deformed figures in his drunken state. When he became sober and realized what he had done, he vowed to never drink again and protect people with disabilities."

Obatala's design is vaguely based on this Benin (?) Bronze Head. Im not too sure of its authenticity as i struggled to find any more information on the piece, but I think it's neat because Obatala created land from a snail's shell filled with sand

[orishaarchive]

illustration of angus mcbride showing an oba (king) of the benin empire in the great capital city of Ile-Ibinu during a ceremony

[orishaarchive]

Equestrian Shrine Figure (Ojúbọ Ẹlẹ́ṣin) Depicting a Priestess of Ọya

https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/84283

[fat-models]

https://www.instagram.com/good.deedz/?hl=en

[orishaarchive]

Patakin: Sacred Literature of Cuba by Rogelio Martínez Furé

[orishaarchive]

Id give my left ear to read David H. Brown's "Patakin: Orisha Stories from the Odu of Ifa"

[orishaarchive]

Bronze Ooni Head, 12th-15th Century. National Museum of Ifẹ̀, Nigeria.

Ifẹ̀ was a powerful and influential city-state in West Africa, considered the spiritual homeland of the Yoruba people and a birthplace of their culture and art

[orishaarchive]

Who's your favorite yoruba god?

My favourite Orisha is Ọbà the Orisha of marriage, domestic life, loyalty, and sacrifice.

"Oba, the most senior of Shango's wives, was tricked by a rival into believing that if Shango ate a piece of her, he would love Oba eternally. Desperate for his affection, Oba cut off her ear and attempted to feed it to Shango mixed into his stew. He detected the trick and exiled her in disgust and rage. Grieving, Oba became the River Oba in present-day Nigeria"

"In a Cuban tradition, she ends up living in the cemetery and invented writing. There, she is tasked with recording the names of the dead."

(excuse the unfinished art)

[orishaarchive]

Ọṣun the Orisa of love, beauty, and fresh waters. Sketch based on "Kneeling Female Figure Devotee of Oshun Africa, Yoruba people Early 20th century"

[orishaarchive]

Playing with colors

Ọbà, Ọya & Ọ̀ṣun

Oba is the Orisha of marriage, domestic life, loyalty, and sacrifice.

Oya is the Orisha of Winds, storms, transformation, death/rebirth.

Oshun is the Orisha of Love, Beauty, Prosperity, and Fresh Waters

The heads in Yoruba art are often disproportionately large. This intentional distortion is a fundamental characteristic of the artwork and is based on philosophical and spiritual beliefs. The Yoruba believe that the head, or orí, is the most vital part of a person, containing their inner essence, destiny, and life force. So i thought it might be fun to make the heads of my silly designs larger to reflect this!