Shango

From Freepedia

In Yorùbá mythology, Shango or Changó (in Latin America) is perhaps the most popular Orisha; he is a Sky Father, god of thunder and the ancestor of the Yoruba. In the Lukumí (O lukumi = "my friend") religion of the Caribbean, Shango is considered to be the center point of the religion as he represents the Oyo people of West Africa. The Oyo Kingdom was sacked and pillaged and its residents brought in chains as slaves to the Caribbean and Brazil. All the major initiation ceremonies (as performed in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela for the last few hundred years) are based on the traditional Sango ceremony of Ancient Oyo. This ceremony survived the Middle Passage and is considered to be the most complete to have arrived on Western shores. This variation of the Yoruba initiation ceremony became the basis of all Orisha initiations in the West.

The energy given from this Deity of Thunder is also a major symbol of African resistance against an enslaving European culture. He rules the color red and white; his sacred number is 6; his symbols are the oshe (double-headed axe), which represents swift and balanced justice. He is owner of the Bata (3 double-headed drums) and of music in general, as well as the Art of Dance and Entertainment.

Shango is worshipped in Haitian Vodun, as a god of thunder and weather; in Brazilian Candomblé Ketu (under the name Xangô); in Umbanda, as the very powerful loa Nago Shango; and in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela- the equivalent of St. Barbara, a traditional colonial disguise for the Deity known as Chango.

Shango was the fourth king of the Yorùbá, and deified after his death; mythologically, he (along with 14 others) burst forth from the goddess Yemaja's body after her son, Orungan, attempted to rape her for the second time. He has three wives; his favorite (because of her excellent cooking) is Oshun, a river goddess. His other wife, Oba, another river goddess, offered Shango her ear to eat. He scorned her and she became the Oba River, which merges with the Oshun River to form dangerous rapids. Lastly, Oya was Shango's third wife, and stole the secrets of his powerful magic.

In art, Shango is depicted with a double-axe on his three heads. He is associated with the holy animal, the ram, and the holy colors of red and white.

Shango is also the title of a Juno Reactor album.

Shango was also the name of a rock group in the late 1960s. They had a minor novelty hit called "Day After Day", done in Calypso style, and mocking alarmist speculation that a deadly earthquake was imminent in California:

Day after day, more people come to L.A.

Ssh! Don't you tell them that the whole place shakin' away.

Where will we go when there's no San Francisco?

Uuh! Better get ready to tie up the boat in Idaho.