Rights And Responsibilities
“A Guide to Rights
and Responsibilities in the Ilé Ocha”
CLBA Journal June 2005
Author: Michael A. Mason
In Cuba and Nigeria, many people are born into families and communities where they see appropriate behavior in oricha houses modeled again and again. However, separated from those larger contexts and where many people enter the religion as adults from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, it is important to lay out the norms as a way to know what is expected on all sides.
The traditional model of an oricha house in the Lucumí religion in Cuba is a family. The godparents and godchildren give and take reciprocally for the good of the whole house. Some houses do not have the same two godparents for everyone, and the intricate webs of relationship should make the house stronger, but at the same time they require more clarity. Still it is only possible to lay out the specific activities and expectations that typify the spirit of these norms; it is impossible to lay out appropriate behavior for every scenario.
Expectations vary between families everywhere and also between oricha houses in the Lucumí world. A generation ago, godparents expected their godchildren to earn the privilege to any knowledge about the religion through hard work, respect, and devotion; godchildren who made mistakes were often humiliated and/or ostracized, depending on the gravity of their transgression. During confrontations between elders and godchildren in Cuban Lucumí houses, it is still relatively common to hear an elder sanction someone saying, “I will never teach him anything again.” This approach shows that learning from the elder has historically been considered a privilege and not a right. As the Lucumí world has spread, some people have adopted and reproduced this attitude, but others have modified it—a fact that reflects the changing social and cultural context of the religion.
The last few years have given birth to another kind of oricha house, where the social working principles are slightly different: The hierarchy does still exist, and loyalty, devotion, and generous, thoughtful, ethical and moral behavior are still important values. However, blind dedication to elders and unreasonable social control by them are not the goals. Rather, each community works to nurture everyone to have a clear sense of their individual path and to actively cultivate good character as they live their specific destinies. As elders and godchildren move through our journeys, all of us must cultivate our strengths and gifts—our aché—and also acknowledge our weaknesses and mistakes. Ideally, we can all learn to clean up our own psychological and social messes, continue to face each other, and help out as we travel our road.
The process of religious education and building character begins even before any initiation. Newcomers and omoricha (those who worship the orichas but are not fully consecrated to them) are constantly learning ritual details, from new words in Lucumí to appropriate ways to honor their elders. With time, they may receive their necklaces as an expression of commitment to the orichas and their oricha house. They may also receive their Warriors (Oricha Ebora, Oricha Odé). The weekly ceremony for the Warriors and regular attendance at ceremonies in the godparent’s house begin to provide people with an experience of the power of the orichas and the discipline required to work with their aché. In time, the orichas may suggest that a person needs to receive additional orichas and care for them. The orichas chose some people to make ocha and consecrate their lives to their head-ruling oricha. At this point, the person becomes an olocha, one who belongs to oricha.
Rights and Responsibilities of the Elders
Elders have a responsibility to teach godchildren about the religion in its various aspects. This responsibility includes determining when a godchild has earned the right to knowledge by demonstrating good character and dedication, what knowledge best suits the godchild’s destiny as revealed through divination, and what knowledge the godchild is ready to assimilate. While basic skills learned vary from house to house, they usually include the basic customs, greeting the orichas, the moyuba, throwing coconuts, and specific foods for the various orichas. Elders share responsibility with godchildren for maintaining privacy about issues in the lives of godchildren and discretion about ritual knowledge. It is helpful to provide direct information about confidentiality when appropriate, but both sides should assume confidentiality when in doubt. This helps foster openness between elders and godchildren and mitigate gossip.
An elder has a right to ask for help with ceremonies and other activities related to the work of the orichas house without offering derechos (ritual offerings of money) to godchildren. This is because the aché all emanates from the oricha of the elder: The opportunity to learn and the experience are valued over money. The godchildren begin as trainees, and in time they find compensation.
Elders have a right and a responsibility to respectfully express their opinions or teachings about the behavior of godchildren. Elders do not have a right to dictate the behavior of their godchildren outside the religious sphere.
Different houses have different expectations about when an olocha has full liberty in the public sphere of the religion: some say after the ebó meta, the iyaworaje, and giving a drumming for the godparent’s orichas, and some say after the person has received the knife. It is useful to think of it as increasing freedom based on increasing rank and knowledge in the religion. Regardless of the status of the olochas, the elder always remains elder, and therefore olochas should always invite their elders to throw the coconuts at their oricha’s birthdays and to participate in any oricha event that the godchildren host or lead; this practice reflects respect and inclusion more than liberty or a lack of liberty. Some elders also expect a derecho for each significant ceremony performed by their godchildren.
In the unfortunate case that an olocha joins the ancestors before the elders, they have a right and responsibility to assist ritually in the itutu and honras.
Rights and Responsibilities of Godchildren
The orichas house is literally the home of the orichas and therefore it is traditionally treated as a sacred space. In the house, godchildren should always communicate respect for the orichas through respectful content, tone and volume in speech; relatively modest sexual decorum; and respectful clothing. Junior people should formally greet all elders present in the house, even if they are not from the house.
Everyone has a responsibility to fulfill their obligations to the orichas. This takes various forms:
Omoricha should: Visit the house on the godparents’ orichas birthday and oricha’s feast day and make an ebó with a white plate, two white candles, two coconuts and a derecho. If they cannot come to the house, they should at least call or write, and many elders expect godchildren to send a derecho.
Make ebó (sacrifice) when it is marked for them.
Respect and follow the instructions of the orichas about their lives.
In addition, olochas should:
Follow the instructions of their itás (divination done at the time of initiation).
Complete their obligations after making ocha by doing the ebó meta and the ebó at the end of the year.
Give a drumming for the elder’s head oricha before playing for their own.
Godchildren should always endeavor to show respect for their elders. This respect honors both the human and orichas living in the elders. The most common ways of showing respect include:
Doing moforibale (prostration) before the elder to honor the oricha that lives in his head and asking for the elder’s blessing (bendición).
Greeting the elder in a formal way (“Obá,” “Padrino,” “Madrina,” “Baba,” “Iyá” etc.)
Greeting the elder’s orichas when arriving at their home. In many houses this is automatic, though not always.
Assisting in serving food and drink to elders before eating and drinking.
Asking quietly and respectfully in the case of any doubt about respect or protocol. This alone represents a very significant form of respect which most elders appreciate.
In addition, olochas should:
Consult with the elder, through either discussion or divination, about potential courses of action, especially in the religion sphere.
Offer to include the elder in all ritual activities you sponsor for yourself or others, at least before receiving the knife.
Provide your principal godparent with the opportunity to serve as the oyugbona (second godparent) of the first orichas you make if you have oricha made. This is both challenging and important in the context of communities spread across great distances; this custom developed so elders could train their godchildren, evaluate their readiness for additional religious responsibilities, and protect them from the invasive gossip and attacks of others.
Godchildren should seek the advice and instruction of their elders within the house before soliciting advice from outside the house.
Tensions with elders should be dealt with directly and respectfully. If communication breaks down, godchildren have the option of engaging with the elders or peers of the godparent, as in grandparents and aunts and uncles in a family. Both parties have a responsibility to evaluate their role in creating the tension to determine what comes from bad character and what comes from destiny. Separation between elders and godchildren is all too common, but as in an abusive or dysfunctional marriage, sometimes “losing you win” and destiny does sometimes intervene to create the separation.
When in good standing with the orichas and the elders, godchildren may ask for instruction related to their level of initiation. They have a responsibility to learn the basic practices relevant to their level of initiation. Questions about ritual knowledge are best asked quietly and respectfully, when there are few other people nearby; knowledge appropriate to the initiated is inappropriate to the uninitiated. Similarly, because the elders had to earn their knowledge through hard work, they often guard their knowledge closely.
Godchildren should use knowledge learned in the house primarily to teach others the tradition. In most cases, this means that they will only pass it on to their own godchildren and compadres (people with whom they have initiated others). In many cases, a person will have multiple godparents and knowledge from each should be respected. For example, in general, you should attend to your Warriors in a way that incorporates and respects the knowledge you were given by your Warriors godparent. While subsequent divination might require additions or modifications, you can still honor the basic knowledge given with the fundamento (consecrated objects of the orichas). Once a person makes ocha, the principal godparent from that ceremony assumes full responsibility for the religious education of the iyawó (the new priest or priestess), and the iyawó should defer to godparent’s authority on these matters.
Godchildren should not use the knowledge learned in the house in any academic work without prior consultation and explicit approval from their elders. Oricha houses are religious communities, first and foremost, and not an academic object of study. Godchildren should always seek clarification of the knowledge learned in the house, its sources, and interpretation from their own elders. Otherwise elders spend an inordinate amount of time justifying their actions to outsiders or you end up with a mish-mash of practices from various lineages. Given a healthy respect for your own house and lineage and the understanding that orichas religion in Cuba and Nigeria embraces a great deal of diversity, comparative conversations often deepen understanding and provide unforeseen insight. However, beware of those who will seek to discredit your elders or lineage simply because it is different from theirs or unknown to them. Again, your elders’ elders should provide some solid information about the lineage.
CLBA Journal June 2005
Author: Michael A. Mason
In Cuba and Nigeria, many people are born into families and communities where they see appropriate behavior in oricha houses modeled again and again. However, separated from those larger contexts and where many people enter the religion as adults from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, it is important to lay out the norms as a way to know what is expected on all sides.
The traditional model of an oricha house in the Lucumí religion in Cuba is a family. The godparents and godchildren give and take reciprocally for the good of the whole house. Some houses do not have the same two godparents for everyone, and the intricate webs of relationship should make the house stronger, but at the same time they require more clarity. Still it is only possible to lay out the specific activities and expectations that typify the spirit of these norms; it is impossible to lay out appropriate behavior for every scenario.
Expectations vary between families everywhere and also between oricha houses in the Lucumí world. A generation ago, godparents expected their godchildren to earn the privilege to any knowledge about the religion through hard work, respect, and devotion; godchildren who made mistakes were often humiliated and/or ostracized, depending on the gravity of their transgression. During confrontations between elders and godchildren in Cuban Lucumí houses, it is still relatively common to hear an elder sanction someone saying, “I will never teach him anything again.” This approach shows that learning from the elder has historically been considered a privilege and not a right. As the Lucumí world has spread, some people have adopted and reproduced this attitude, but others have modified it—a fact that reflects the changing social and cultural context of the religion.
The last few years have given birth to another kind of oricha house, where the social working principles are slightly different: The hierarchy does still exist, and loyalty, devotion, and generous, thoughtful, ethical and moral behavior are still important values. However, blind dedication to elders and unreasonable social control by them are not the goals. Rather, each community works to nurture everyone to have a clear sense of their individual path and to actively cultivate good character as they live their specific destinies. As elders and godchildren move through our journeys, all of us must cultivate our strengths and gifts—our aché—and also acknowledge our weaknesses and mistakes. Ideally, we can all learn to clean up our own psychological and social messes, continue to face each other, and help out as we travel our road.
The process of religious education and building character begins even before any initiation. Newcomers and omoricha (those who worship the orichas but are not fully consecrated to them) are constantly learning ritual details, from new words in Lucumí to appropriate ways to honor their elders. With time, they may receive their necklaces as an expression of commitment to the orichas and their oricha house. They may also receive their Warriors (Oricha Ebora, Oricha Odé). The weekly ceremony for the Warriors and regular attendance at ceremonies in the godparent’s house begin to provide people with an experience of the power of the orichas and the discipline required to work with their aché. In time, the orichas may suggest that a person needs to receive additional orichas and care for them. The orichas chose some people to make ocha and consecrate their lives to their head-ruling oricha. At this point, the person becomes an olocha, one who belongs to oricha.
Rights and Responsibilities of the Elders
Elders have a responsibility to teach godchildren about the religion in its various aspects. This responsibility includes determining when a godchild has earned the right to knowledge by demonstrating good character and dedication, what knowledge best suits the godchild’s destiny as revealed through divination, and what knowledge the godchild is ready to assimilate. While basic skills learned vary from house to house, they usually include the basic customs, greeting the orichas, the moyuba, throwing coconuts, and specific foods for the various orichas. Elders share responsibility with godchildren for maintaining privacy about issues in the lives of godchildren and discretion about ritual knowledge. It is helpful to provide direct information about confidentiality when appropriate, but both sides should assume confidentiality when in doubt. This helps foster openness between elders and godchildren and mitigate gossip.
An elder has a right to ask for help with ceremonies and other activities related to the work of the orichas house without offering derechos (ritual offerings of money) to godchildren. This is because the aché all emanates from the oricha of the elder: The opportunity to learn and the experience are valued over money. The godchildren begin as trainees, and in time they find compensation.
Elders have a right and a responsibility to respectfully express their opinions or teachings about the behavior of godchildren. Elders do not have a right to dictate the behavior of their godchildren outside the religious sphere.
Different houses have different expectations about when an olocha has full liberty in the public sphere of the religion: some say after the ebó meta, the iyaworaje, and giving a drumming for the godparent’s orichas, and some say after the person has received the knife. It is useful to think of it as increasing freedom based on increasing rank and knowledge in the religion. Regardless of the status of the olochas, the elder always remains elder, and therefore olochas should always invite their elders to throw the coconuts at their oricha’s birthdays and to participate in any oricha event that the godchildren host or lead; this practice reflects respect and inclusion more than liberty or a lack of liberty. Some elders also expect a derecho for each significant ceremony performed by their godchildren.
In the unfortunate case that an olocha joins the ancestors before the elders, they have a right and responsibility to assist ritually in the itutu and honras.
Rights and Responsibilities of Godchildren
The orichas house is literally the home of the orichas and therefore it is traditionally treated as a sacred space. In the house, godchildren should always communicate respect for the orichas through respectful content, tone and volume in speech; relatively modest sexual decorum; and respectful clothing. Junior people should formally greet all elders present in the house, even if they are not from the house.
Everyone has a responsibility to fulfill their obligations to the orichas. This takes various forms:
Omoricha should: Visit the house on the godparents’ orichas birthday and oricha’s feast day and make an ebó with a white plate, two white candles, two coconuts and a derecho. If they cannot come to the house, they should at least call or write, and many elders expect godchildren to send a derecho.
Make ebó (sacrifice) when it is marked for them.
Respect and follow the instructions of the orichas about their lives.
In addition, olochas should:
Follow the instructions of their itás (divination done at the time of initiation).
Complete their obligations after making ocha by doing the ebó meta and the ebó at the end of the year.
Give a drumming for the elder’s head oricha before playing for their own.
Godchildren should always endeavor to show respect for their elders. This respect honors both the human and orichas living in the elders. The most common ways of showing respect include:
Doing moforibale (prostration) before the elder to honor the oricha that lives in his head and asking for the elder’s blessing (bendición).
Greeting the elder in a formal way (“Obá,” “Padrino,” “Madrina,” “Baba,” “Iyá” etc.)
Greeting the elder’s orichas when arriving at their home. In many houses this is automatic, though not always.
Assisting in serving food and drink to elders before eating and drinking.
Asking quietly and respectfully in the case of any doubt about respect or protocol. This alone represents a very significant form of respect which most elders appreciate.
In addition, olochas should:
Consult with the elder, through either discussion or divination, about potential courses of action, especially in the religion sphere.
Offer to include the elder in all ritual activities you sponsor for yourself or others, at least before receiving the knife.
Provide your principal godparent with the opportunity to serve as the oyugbona (second godparent) of the first orichas you make if you have oricha made. This is both challenging and important in the context of communities spread across great distances; this custom developed so elders could train their godchildren, evaluate their readiness for additional religious responsibilities, and protect them from the invasive gossip and attacks of others.
Godchildren should seek the advice and instruction of their elders within the house before soliciting advice from outside the house.
Tensions with elders should be dealt with directly and respectfully. If communication breaks down, godchildren have the option of engaging with the elders or peers of the godparent, as in grandparents and aunts and uncles in a family. Both parties have a responsibility to evaluate their role in creating the tension to determine what comes from bad character and what comes from destiny. Separation between elders and godchildren is all too common, but as in an abusive or dysfunctional marriage, sometimes “losing you win” and destiny does sometimes intervene to create the separation.
When in good standing with the orichas and the elders, godchildren may ask for instruction related to their level of initiation. They have a responsibility to learn the basic practices relevant to their level of initiation. Questions about ritual knowledge are best asked quietly and respectfully, when there are few other people nearby; knowledge appropriate to the initiated is inappropriate to the uninitiated. Similarly, because the elders had to earn their knowledge through hard work, they often guard their knowledge closely.
Godchildren should use knowledge learned in the house primarily to teach others the tradition. In most cases, this means that they will only pass it on to their own godchildren and compadres (people with whom they have initiated others). In many cases, a person will have multiple godparents and knowledge from each should be respected. For example, in general, you should attend to your Warriors in a way that incorporates and respects the knowledge you were given by your Warriors godparent. While subsequent divination might require additions or modifications, you can still honor the basic knowledge given with the fundamento (consecrated objects of the orichas). Once a person makes ocha, the principal godparent from that ceremony assumes full responsibility for the religious education of the iyawó (the new priest or priestess), and the iyawó should defer to godparent’s authority on these matters.
Godchildren should not use the knowledge learned in the house in any academic work without prior consultation and explicit approval from their elders. Oricha houses are religious communities, first and foremost, and not an academic object of study. Godchildren should always seek clarification of the knowledge learned in the house, its sources, and interpretation from their own elders. Otherwise elders spend an inordinate amount of time justifying their actions to outsiders or you end up with a mish-mash of practices from various lineages. Given a healthy respect for your own house and lineage and the understanding that orichas religion in Cuba and Nigeria embraces a great deal of diversity, comparative conversations often deepen understanding and provide unforeseen insight. However, beware of those who will seek to discredit your elders or lineage simply because it is different from theirs or unknown to them. Again, your elders’ elders should provide some solid information about the lineage.
