OBBA AFRICAN GODESS OF MARRIAGE AND HOME LIFE SHANGOS BANISHED WIFE AND DAUGHTER OF YEMAJA Shango OBA OSUN OYA Belle sheets 1 P a g e
Shango was the fourth king of the Oyo people in Yoruba land. He made his people rich and brought wealth to the kingdom. He was also the god of thunder who was very famous. Shango, the great king was married to Oba (Obba). Oba was the Nigerian goddess of the river; she was the daughter of Yemaja who was also called Mother Goddess. Oba had two sisters named Oya and Oshun. Oba was a brave warrior. She was skilled in the art of war. Her sister Oya was the goddess of whirlwind and even 2 P a g e
though she did not know how to fight, she was very interested in learning. Oba, her sister, agreed to teach her. While Oba fought gracefully and gently like the flow of a river, Oya developed her fighting to be cruel and rough like a whirlwind. After many years of being married to Oba, Sango decided to visit his wife s mother. He was served a tasty meal, cooked and garnished by Oshun. Because Sango enjoyed Oshun s meal, he asked her to marry him but this did not worry Oba because she was his 3 P a g e
queen and companion. She was the first wife so her children were to inherit Sango s kingdom. One day, as they trained for war Shango went to check on his army and there, he met the most aggressive warrior he had ever seen. She was the warrior goddess of the whirlwind and the sister to his wives. The last time he had seen Oya, was when his wife was training her in the art of war. She had grown to be the most amazing fighter he had ever met. Shango, himself had been trained 4 P a g e
by Oba on how to fight with a short knife so he knew how good a teacher she was. Now he watched her second apprentice display the skills that she had taught her with more perfection than he had ever seen Oba display. Sango married Oya and took her home with him. Soon, Shango started giving a lot of attention to Oshun and Oya. While Shango liked Oshun s meals, Oya was the only woman Shango would allow to ride with him to battle. Oba started to feel jealous and she 5 P a g e
did not know what to do. Oba begged Oshun to teach her how to cook better so that she might get Sango s attention. Oshun told Oya about Oba s request, and Oya, being a very sly woman, told Oshun that she had just the spell for Oba to use to win back Shango s heart. Oshun went back to Oba and helped her cook the soup which was done with a sacrifice. When Shango sat down for dinner, Oba brought him the soup. She set it down in 6 P a g e
front of him and stood watching. He barely looked up at her as he started eating. Part way through, he noticed something strange in the soup. He fished it out with his spoon and to his disgust, found out it was the ear of a human being. He looked up at Oba and before he could shout at her, he noticed that her head was bandaged beneath her head wrap. She had cut off her own ear and tried to feed it to him. Shango became enraged because he saw she had tried to use a spell on him by 7 P a g e
hurting her own head. He exiled her from the kingdom. Oya had deceived her in order to win all of Shango affection for herself. Oba ran away, crying, and kept running until she found one spot that was hidden. She cried out rivers of water from her eyes and then from her whole body, until she finally turned into the River Oba that meets with the Osun River at a raging waterfalls in the western part of Nigeria. She is still worshipped there. www.africapublic.com>african myths riverlovesme.tumblr.com 8 P a g e