Thursday, May 7, 2009

History of Ossain’s origins
Ossain is one of the Orishas that is part of the Candomblé religion. As said in the article tittled Candomblé this religion was originated in the city of Salvador which is the capital of Bahia. This religion is based on the rituals that are performed by the Orishas. Another component of this religion is rituals and offerings. This religion was founded with the understanding of the African priests. Candomblé was not a very well known religion and even the Catholic Church did not accept it. Regardless all of the withdraws this religion faced it was able to survive and nowadays many of the attributes, gestures, movements are still present in the 21st century.
Ossain the God of the Herbs
As said in the internet source named, Ossain or Ossaniyn, Ossain is well known as being the God of the herbs; he had the power over the medical leaves. He did not like to work with plant that grows from a garden; he only works with the wild plants. Also as describe as the Herbalist Warrior because not only does he use the plants for the benefits of others he also uses them to make the poison that people use for their arrows in order to defend themselves from the enemies. Not only is he such an important god, but without him no ceremony can take place. His presence is needed while a ceremony is taking place. Ossain knows the power that many herbs have, for example some of the herbs help people with having luck, misery or accidents. Many of the other Orishas did not have any power related with the plants, this means that they depended on Ossain to have a healthy life. Ossain seems to be one of the most important Orishas and plays the role of being the curer of all the other Orishas. In a way this means that he plays the role of a doctor as it would be called nowadays. Although he is in chanrge of looking out for the health of the other Orishas not all of them seem to be gateful. This was the case with the Orisha named Xangó who get the possession over Ossain’s leaves. This gives the understanding that some of the other Orishas may have envy his power to the point that they wanted to have the power and to know the secrets of cure that is behind the leaves. Ossain is the one and only owner of the knowledge that it is required to have in order to released the power and benefits of the leaves. Because he is the only one that knows the secrets of the leaves he has become a figure to be well known as not only a doctor, but also as a doctor.
">’s Appearance
Ossain has specific physical characteristics that distinguish him from the other Orishas. He lives alone in the mountains and there he spends most of his time. Ossain only has one eye, one leg, one arm, and one of his ears is small and the other one is large. This makes him stand up next to the other Orishas that have their pair of legs, eyes and ears under perfect conditions.

Religion after Ossain
Ossain is the God of the herbs and he had followers. These people were called the Ossainistas. These people had to be able to learn and memorize all the sacred songs. Also these followers may be females or males, but in the case of the females they have to wait until they go through their menopause to participate and be present in the ceremonies. It seams to be that the males have the superiority over the women because they are able to participate and observe the ceremonies no matter the time and stage of their lives. The followers most have been greatly rewarded for believing in Ossain. Many people just know him as Ossain but his followers know that his whole name is Ossain Aguenegui Aguaddo and also well known as Kuri Kuri and also as Ossain Agguchuiye.

Ossain’s Movements
As seen in the video below named, Ossain! O Conhesedor das folhas!! Ossain’s movement consists of dancing in circles and moving his hands. He continues to go in circles until it comes to a point that he opens his arms and then puts his right hand as a fist on top of his left had in the form of a fist as well. Once he has his hands in that position he starts to do a rotational movement representing him pounding the herbs that he uses to cure others. Then after these movements he lowers himself to the ground and starts to mimic as if he was making a hole in the dirt. He stays mimicking that he is making a whole for a while and then he comes back up and starts to move his body and moves his arms in semi circles. When he is moving his arms at this point Ossain is curing all the ones that are in his presence. This shows how this ceremony takes place in order for him to be able to perform his powers.

Ossain is an Orisha that has many qualities that make him who he was and why he acted the way he did. Many of his important qualities that make his personality are the following, quite, nervous, nostalgic, and tireless. Also he is very generous and loves animals especially the birds. The bird is one of the animals that have been an important part of the life Of Ossain. One of the main parts of his personality parts is that he was very studious, this makes perfect sense do to the fact that he was a doctor and the master of the leaves. He must have very well have known all the important and key things that were needed to be known about the wild leaves. He was balanced and did not trust that others could keep their secrets to themselves. Meaning that he would have never told anyone the secrets that he knows about the leaves because he knew that he secret was not going to be well saved. Even though he did not like to do the evil, he was capable and if he ever decided that he wanted to do wrong by using the leaves no one could be able to stop him because he was the only one to know the secrets of how to make the leaves cure.

By: Jenniffer Avalos


1 comment:

  1. Wonderful images, Jennifer. Very complete treatment of the orixá. However, your section on "ossainista" is from Cuba, not from Brazil. kKeep that in mind. The two countries have different perspectives often on gender. The word for herbal leaf is 'Ewe' in Yoruba and there is a saying that translates as, "without ewe there is no party, without ewe there is nothing." Ossain is very important indeed. Watch your syntax!