What is an orisha?
Orisha (also spelled oricha, orixa or orisa) is an elusive concept to many Westerners. Disappointingly, many of the scholarly works on the subject fail to offer definitions. At best, many of them simply reference Lukumi deities as somehow being an adequate description. Let’s examine definitions of orisha from several published works for a more rounded view:
The deities or gods worshipped in Lukumí religion are called orishas. All the orishas are direct emanations and representatives of Olodumare whom He created and placed on earth to aid and supervise humankind. The orishas serve as mediators between the cosmos and as the major means of communication with the Supreme Being.
Ramos, Miguel, Ilarí Obá, Obá Oriaté. The Lukumí Pantheon: Orishas Worshipped by the Lukumí. Eleda.org
An orisha is a person who lived on earth when it was created, and from whom present-day folk are descended. When these orishas disappeared or “turned to stone,” their children began to sacrifice to them and to continue whatever ceremonies they themselves had first performed when they were on earth.
Bascom, William. The Sociological Role of the Yoruba Cult Group. American Anthropologist number 46.
A central tenet of Cuban Santería is that all humans belong to an oricha, whether or not one chooses to formalize this relationship by becoming an iyawó or initiate. Another way of articulating this inevitable reltionship between orichas and humans in Santería is to say that all humans are children of the orichas, or that the orichas own us and guide us.
Hagedorn, Katherine J. Divine Utterances, The Performance of Afro-Cuban Santería. Smithsonian Institution 2001.
Just as the saints of the Catholic church serve as patrons to various human concerns without detracting from the oneness of God, so the orishas, depicted in the guises of saints, are the projections of a single primal force: ashé. This force evolved into awareness—Olodumare—and then into action—Olofi. Through Olofi, ashé was made manifest in the generations of Orishas, who represent specific aspects of the force in ways more or less comprehensible to mortals.
Canizares, Raul. Walking with the Night: The Afro-Cuban World of Santería. Destiny Books, Rochester: 1993.
The Orisa are deities in the Yoruba religious pantheon. These deities are specific parts or forces within God which govern different parts of the universe. The deities are associated with forces of nature, such as the wind, the volcano, the ocean or the sun. These deities were given names and are respected for their power. This belief can be summarized in the question, “Where do fire, air, land and water not influence man’s existence?” This is the basic thought undwelying belief in the Orisa. The Orisa are specialized forms of the one Supreme God, and there are an infinite number of Orisa.
Mason, John. Black Gods — Orisa Studies in the New World. Yoruba Theological Archministry. Brooklyn: 1985.
An Orisha, also spelled Orisa and Orixa, is a spirit that reflects one of the manifestations of Olodumare (God) in the Yoruba spiritual or religious system. This religion has found its way throughout the world and is now expressed in several varieties which include Anago, Oyotunji, Candomblé and Lucumí/Santería. These varieties or spiritual lineages as they are called are practiced throughout areas of Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Mexico and Venezuela. As interest in African indigenous religions (spiritual systems) grows, Orisa communities and lineages can be found in parts of Europe and Asia as well. While estimates vary, there could be more than 100 million adherents of this spiritual tradition worldwide.
Wikipedia entry: Orisha