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TrinidadOrisha, also known asOrisha religion andShango,[1] is asyncretic religion inTrinidad and Tobago and theCaribbean, originally from West Africa (Yoruba religion). Trinidad Orisha incorporates elements ofSpiritual Baptism, and the closeness between Orisha and Spiritual Baptism has led to use of the term "Shango Baptist" to refer to members of either or both religions. Anthropologist James Houk described Trinidad Orisha as an "Afro-American religious complex",[2] incorporating elements mainly fromtraditional African religion andYoruba and including some elements fromChristianity (Catholicism andProtestantism),Hinduism,Islam (especiallySufism),Buddhism,Judaism (especiallyKabbalah),Baháʼí, andAmerindian mythologies.
"The religious practice involves a music-centered worship service, in which collective singing and drumming accompany spirit possession and animal sacrifice (typically goats, sheep, and fowl)."[3]
Trinidad Orisha's beginnings and development in the Caribbean "can be traced back to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when Africans were brought to the island to work oncolonial sugar plantations."[4]
Over time, as local religions were suppressed under colonial rule, Orisha practitioners disguised places of worship using Christianparaphernalia, which eventually began to be used in some ceremonies. Some Catholic elements were adopted, and asglobalization continued and cross-cultural engagement intensified, the religion adopted increasingly diverse practices and beliefs from around the world, entangling into the syncretic religion it is today.[5]
Trinidad Orisha practice involvescall-and-response singing accompanied by a trio of drums. Orisha drums are double-headed bi-tensorial cylinders derived from Yorubabembe drums (similar to the CubanIyesá drums and VenezuelanFulía drums). The drum that is lowest in pitch is called thebo orcongo. The lead drum is called "center drum," "big drum," orbembe. The smallest drum, highest in pitch, is calledumele. The first two drums are played with a single stick plus hand combination, while theumele is played with a pair of sticks. All of the sticks are curved at the end, and resemble a shepherd's staff or crook.[6] The language of the songs has been referred to as "Trinidad Yoruba"[7] and is derived from theYoruba language.
The one supreme god in Trinidad Orisha isOludumare, the Yoruba supreme being who created the aye, the world of the living, visible to us, and the orun, the invisible spiritual world of the gods, spirits, and ancestors.[8]
Orisha spirits, also referred to as gods, are the messengers of Oludumare, communicating through possession during spiritual rituals such as the feast. Yoruba categorizes the orisha into several categories:
While not Christian, many Orisha spirits are equated with Christiansaints. Orishas include:
Eshu was seen as the most powerful god who emanated all the other gods in some Orisha traditions.[9] Eshu created, merged with, and exists in the spiritual cosmology where the gods Ogun, Shango, Shakpana, Ọya, Oshun, andYemọja (and other gods on her level) exist, being as respectively powerful compared to each other in the order of the list.[9] The gods give power to stools used in worship that exist in a similar hierarchy, which in turn give power to a divine "Palais" and perogun shrines.[9]Babalú-Ayé andỌlọrun ground this cosmology and give it stability, whileaṣẹ exists on the bottom of it, while still being extremely powerful and an enabling force behind it that connects to Babalú-Ayé, Ọlọrun, and Eshu.[9]
The main Orisha event is the feast. Lasting for two to four days during the season of sacrifice and thanksgiving, the large ceremonial gatherings, often involving up to 100 people, are characterized byspirit possession,animal sacrifice, and nearly constant drumming and singing. The ceremony happens throughout the night, ending with a communal meal each morning around dawn. The ritual concludes on Saturday night, and an outdoorpilgrimage usually follows the feast on Sunday.[10][5]
Flag planting is also an important element of the religion.Shrines and houses usually display long poles with colored fabric on the ends, with different colors representing differentorishas.[11] A red flag, for example, represents Ogun, while red and white represents Shango.[10] "It is reminiscent of a ritual sequence described in the Holy Odu OfunAjitena, which calls for the ritual raising of different colored flags at specific times of the year in order to be blessed by Olodumare." Common flags displayed are for Shango and Orun.[12]
Women in Orisha-Baptist events are required to follow a strict dress code including floor length skirts, long sleeve blouses, and wrapping their hair inhead scarves. Men are not held to such standards, thoughmongwas (Orisha priests) andchantwells (Lead singers in Orisha song performances) typically wear flowing robes in the Spiritual Baptist or Nigerian fashion. Drummers – mostly men – "dress as they choose, typically in jeans and t-shirts, some even wearing baseball caps as they play." While not completelytaboo for women to be ceremonial drummers, it is rare and generally frowned upon due to social convention. It is also agreed that women should not enter a shrine or touch a drum during hermenstrual period, and in many places should cover their head before entering a shrine.[13]
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