Orishas, 7 Day Candles - Chango thru Yemaya

7 Day Candles - Orishas

Orisha are guardian spirits.
The Lucumi Yoruba believe in one Higher Power. They call him Olodumare. They believe that each person has a Guardian Spirit called an "Orisha". Orisha are aspects of the Supreme Being that are manifested as forces of nature. When Yoruba slaves were brought to the New World they brought their beliefs with them. This belief system is known as Lucumi in Cuba, and Puerto Rico, though it is often referred to as "Santeria". These beliefs are known as Candomble in Brazil, and Shango Baptist in Trinidad.

Chango
Saint: St. Barbara.
Day of the Week: Saturday. Friday is also popular. Huge parties are held in Chango's honor on December 4th, St. Barbara's day according to the Catholic calendar.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes): His colors are red and white.
The collar is made up of six red beads followed by six white beads. Then, a red bead alternates with a white bead six times. The sequence is repeated until the desired length is obtained.
Sacrificial Animals: Roosters. Complicated Ebos may require sheep, small bulls, pigs, goats, deer, rabbits, and oxen. A horse is required to remove a very strong curse or to change an oracle predicting death.
Sacrificial Foods: Chango is a glutton. He loves huge portions of corn meal and okra. Apples are his favorite fruit, and he likes pitahaya (cactus fruit). All his food should be heavily loaded with corojo butter. Chango drinks red wine in large quantities. His water should come from a pond.
Herbs: arabo rojo, cordoban, vacabuey, siguaraya Banyan tree, kapok tree, poplar, sorghum, clematis, hog plum, Cuban spurge, cashews, ironwood, mugwort, bran, climbing vines, bull's testicles, American spurge, leeks, pitahaya, plantains and bananas, red hamelias, Bermuda grass, royal palm, pine, lignum vitae, amansa guapo, pine nuts and apple trees among others.
Ornaments: A sword, a knife, a machete, an ax, a dagger and a spear, almost always made out of cedar. Chango is also represented by the image of a warrior holding a large double edged hatchet in one hand and a sword in the other. Both images, the warrior and St. Barbara can be found on the same altar.

$6.25

Elegua
Saint: The Holy Child of Atocha.
Day of the Week: Mondays and the third day of each month.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes):Red and black.
His collar is made up of three red beads followed by three black beads. After the three black beads, a red bead alternates with a black bead three times. The sequence is repeated until the desired length is obtained.
Sacrificial Animals: Small goats, roosters. On rare occasions, monkeys, sheep, bulls, ox and deer. Chickens should not be offered. Elegua is a glutton and will bother and torment the participants at a ceremony until he has had his fill of blood.
Sacrificial Foods: Smoked fish and smoked jutia. He loves yams. His favorite fruit is sugar cane. Everything should be well spiced with corojo butter. He loves to drink aguardiente and he favors standing water.
Herbs: Abre camino, (Bunchosia media), Cuban spurge, sargasso, wild convulvulus, foxtail, nettles, manyroot, crowfoot, neat's tongue, white pine nuts, jack bean, spiny blite, nightshade, black eyed peas, ateje, (cordia collocea), heliotrope, pigeon peas, mastic tree, camphor leaves, chili peppers, corn stalks, corn leaves, and corn silk, avocado leaves, avocado roots, coconut husk, coconut palm stem, corojo, guava, wild croton, coffee, cowhage, peppergrass, dried rose buds, senna, soapberry tree, bitter bush, and mint among others.
Ornaments: Elegua is never without his "garabato", the shepherd's hook (sometimes only a crooked stick or club) with which he metes out punishment.

He protects temples, cities and houses. He does this by residing in a helmet-shaped construction made out of stone or cement with cowrie shells for eyes. The small statue is placed next to an entrance way. From this abode, Elegua protects all the residents.

Since he is as playful as a child, tops, marbles and kites hold a special fascination for him.

$6.25

Obatala
Saint: Our Lady of Mercy (La Virgen de las Mercedes).
Day of the Week: Sunday. Thursday is also popular.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes): His color is the purest white.
The collar is made up of all white beads. A variation on the collar is 21 white beads followed by a coral bead repeated to make up the desired length.
Sacrificial Animals: Female goats, white chickens, white canaries. In cases of grave illness, he will accept a white female calf.
Sacrificial Foods: Yam, rice flour paste, corn meal dumplings and black eyed peas. He hates alcoholic beverages. The only spice that Obatala likes is cocoa butter. He drinks chequete. His water comes from the rain. His favorite fruit is the sweet soursop (guanabana).
Herbs: Amansa Guapo, Chamise (wild cane), madonna lilies, calla lilies, cotton, purslane, almonds, white hamelia, white elderberry, white peonies, sweet basil, sweet soursop, wild mint, marjoram, jimson weed, blite, goosefoot, African bayonet, yucca, witch hazel and sweet balm among others. eguere egun, san diego blanco
Ornaments: Obatala's image must be made of white metal or silver. In one hand, he holds a crown. A sun, a moon, four wristlets, a walking stick with a clenched fist, a half moon and a coiled snake; all made out of silver. Two ivory eggs.

$6.25

Ochosi
Saint: St. Norbert.
Day of the Week: Tuesday.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes): Green.
The collar is made up of green beads. Brown and green are also popular.
Sacrificial Animals: Deer, red roosters. Sheep, goat, pigs.
Sacrificial Foods: Smoked fish and smoked jutia. Yams. Mango is his favorite fruit. All his food should be liberally covered with corojo butter. He drinks aguardiente. Oshosi's water should come from a well.
Herbs: espinilla, cercelera, jia blanca, chincha, Leadwort, esparto grass, fulminate, incense, tobacco, vine arbor, Jamaican rosewood, castor oil plant, and basil among others.
Ornaments: A bow and arrow. A model of a jail.

$6.25

Ogun
Saint: St. Peter. Sometimes Ogun is also represented as the Archangel Michael.
Day of the Week: Tuesday.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes): Green and black.
Seven green beads followed by seven black beads. Then, a green bead alternates with a black bead seven times. The pattern is repeated until the desired length is obtained.
Sacrificial Animals: Young bulls, roosters (especially white and red roosters). All other quadrupeds.
Sacrificial Foods: Smoked fish and smoked jutia. Yam with blood. The sapodilla is his favorite fruit. All his food should be heavily smeared with corojo butter. Ogun drinks aguardiente. His water should come from a standing pond.
Herbs: palo vencedor, rabo de piedra, palo bomba, escandon, pincha de gato, Eucalyptus, sasparilla, boneset, blessed thistle, restharrow, senna, datura, carpenter ants, guao (comocladia dentada), tree native to Cuba, sweet soursop, guamao (Lonchocarpus sericeus), Cuban timber tree, red pepper, black pepper, mastic tree, castor oil plant, oak leaves, and indigo plant among others.
Ornaments: Ogun's clothing is a tiger skin. He own an iron pot on three stubby legs and nine or twenty-one pieces of iron that symbolize all the tools used in agriculture and blacksmithing. The most common tools are: an arrow, an anvil, a pickaxe, a hatchet, a machete, a hammer, and a key. Ogun's tools are always well greased with corojo butter.

$6.25

Orunla / Orunmila
Saint: St. Francis.

Day of the Week: Thursday. Sunday is also popular.

Colors and Collars (Ilekes): His colors are green and yellow.
The collar is made up of alternating green and yellow beads strung to the desired length.
Sacrificial Animals: A goat who has not given birth. Dark chickens.
Sacrificial Foods: Red snapper and yam puree. Plums are his favorite fruit. He drinks white wine and his water is to come from a spring. His favorite condiment is corojo butter.
Herbs: Guava, sage, night shade, ginger, dog bane, guanine, myrtle, corn, honeysuckle, night jasmine, pitch apple, guasima, (guazuma guazuma) tree native to Cuba, parami, and corojo among others. san francisco (palo o hierba), don carlos, uvancillo, parami, chinchita
Ornaments: A hardwood board having various shapes according to the Babalawos's tradition (Ifa's Board). As well as serving as a surface upon which the cowrie shell oracle is cast, the board is also the table upon which many rites are performed. Cowrie shells and oracular collars also belong to Orunmila.
$6.25

Oshun
Saint: Our Lady of Charity (La Caridad del Cobre), Cuba's patron Saint.
Day of the Week: Saturday. It is the day that lovers must act if they want their love returned.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes): Coral and amber.
The collar is strung with yellow and red beads. Amber and coral are to be used if the Santero has the money. The collar is made up of five amber beads followed by five coral beads. Then, one amber bead alternates with one coral bead five times. The pattern is repeated to obtain the desired length.
Sacrificial Animals: Neutered or female goat, white chickens, sheep, female calf, female pig, female rabbit. Oshun does not like any other type of bird. Her sacrifices should be made next to rivers or other sources of flowing sweet water.
Sacrificial Foods: Ochin-Ochin (spinach with shrimp) and pumpkins. Her fruit is the lucuma. All of her food should be liberally garnished with honey. Oshun drinks chamomille tea. The water for the tea, and all water used in a ceremony for Oshun, should be river water.

All offerings to Oshun must be extremely clean and well prepared. She will not enter a dirty house.
Herbs: Rose, sunflowers, Indian lotus, morasun, alambrilla, frescura, cucaracha, hierba nina, arabito, mazorquilla, paraguita morada, hierba fina, ale and female ferns, creeping crowfoot, purslane, oranges and orange leaves, papaya, amber, anise seed and flower, peppergrass, marigold, sow thistle, river weeds, seaweed, white hamelias, plantain, vervain, lantana, purple grapes, maidenhair fern, rosemary, wild lettuce.
Ornaments: Copper is Oshun's metal and she is sometimes represented by a gourd crowned by festive feathers and filled with copper pennies. She also loves gold and her chief ornaments consist of a golden crown with five points. From the points, hang five rays, five spears or five arrows. Oshun also owns two oars, a bell, and five bracelets. She loves fans made of peacock feathers.

$6.25

Oya
Saint:
Our Lady of the Presentation of Our Lord. (Santa Virgen de la Candelaria) and St. Theresa.
Day of the Week: Wednesday. Friday is also popular.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes): Black and white.
The collar is made up of nine black beads followed by nine white beads. Then a black bead alternates with a white bead nine times. The pattern is repeated to the desired length. A variant is a collar made of brown beads striped in a variety of colors or lilac or maroon beads striped with colors.
Sacrificial Animals: Chickens and guinea hens. Some hold that Oya does not eat any four legged animals, but others say that she likes female goats.
Sacrificial Foods: Ekru-Aro (black-eyed peas unpeeled and cooked in a double boiler. Her favorite fruit is the star apple. Oya loves eggplant. All of her food should be liberally laced with corojo butter. She drinks chequete. Her water should be rain water.
Herbs: espanta muerto, bonita, varia, palo rayo, cabo de hacha, revienta caballo, Peppercress, marigold, plantain, Jamaican rosewood, mimosa, mugwort, aralia, camphor, breakax, cypress, flamboyan tree.
Ornaments: Oya wears a crown with nine points from which hang nine charms; a hoe, a pick, a gourd, a lightning bolt, a scythe, a shovel, a rake, an ax, and a mattock. A spear or a metal rendition of a lightning bolt. A red gourd. The dried seed pod of the flamboyan tree. She also wears nine copper bracelets.

$6.25

Yemaya
Saint:
Our Lady of Regla. (La Virgen de Regla) The patron Saint of Havana's port.
Day of the Week: Friday. Saturday is also popular.
Colors and Collars (Ilekes): White or crystal and blue.
The collar is made up of seven crystal beads followed by seven blue beads. Then, a crystal bead alternates with a blue bead seven times. The sequence is repeated until the desired length is obtained.
Sacrificial Animals: Lamb, ducks, roosters, turtles goats. Fish and pigeons.
Sacrificial Foods: Banana chips and pork cracklings washed down with chequete. Black-eyed peas. All her food should be liberally spread with sugar cane molasses. Yemaya's favorite fruit is the watermelon. Her water is seawater.
Herbs: cucaracha, chinzosa, Yellow mombin, indigo, anamu (garlic herb native to Cuba), water hyacinth, seaweed, purple basil, green pepper, chayote fruit, Bermuda grass, Florida grass, sponges, coralline, majagua linden, salt water rushes.
Ornaments: Yemaya is summoned at the seashore with a gourd rattle. She always has a fan made of duck feathers.
She owns an anchor, a key, a sun, a half moon, a siren which she holds in her open arms. It holds in its hands a ray, the head of a shovel, a conch shell and a sea shell. All her ornaments are made of lead.

$6.25

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