This article is about the type of spirit. Orishas is also the name of a hip-hop/latino fusion band whose members are Cubans living in Spain. Orixa is also the name of a rock en español/alternative rock band. Los Orishas is a rap group popular in Cuba and France. ... This article is about the music band. ...

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 Santería/Lucumi. These varieties or spiritual lineages as they are called are practiced throughout areas of the United States, Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Mexico. As interest in African indigenous religion grow, Orisa communities and lineages can be found in parts of Europe and Asia as well. Ilê Axé Iya Nassô Oká - Terreiro da Casa Branca Candomblé is an Afro_American religion practised chiefly in Brazil but also in adjacent countries. ... Lukumí, Regla de Ocha or Afro-Cuba, most widely known as Santeria, (Santería in Spanish) is a set of related religious systems that superficially seem to fuse Catholic beliefs with traditional Yorùbá beliefs. ... Trinidad (Spanish, Trinity) most commonly refers to the larger island of the nation Trinidad and Tobago, the subject of this article. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... World map showing location of Asia A satellite composite image of Asia Asia is the central and eastern part of the continent of Eurasia, defined by subtracting the European peninsula from Eurasia. ...

These traditions originated several thousand years ago from the Yoruba people of West Africa, who stresses alignment between Human and Ori. Orí translates as head, but but also to one's spiritual intuition and personal destiny. Ase, which also spelled "Axe", "Ashe" or "Ache" is the life-force that runs though all things, living and inanimate. Ase is the "power to make things happen". It is an affirmation which is used in greetings and prayers, as well as a concept about spiritual growth. Orisha devotees strive to obtain Ase through Iwa-Pele or gentle and good character, in turn they experience alignment with the Ori or what others might call inner peace or satisfaction with Life. The Yorùbá are the largest ethnic group in Nigeria, comprising approximately 26 percent of that countrys total population, and numbering about close to 100 million individuals throughout the region of West Africa. ...

Yoruba were brought to the New World during the Maafa or African Slave Trade along with other West African ethnicities. Yoruba's religion beliefs were most popular among the spiritual expression of African populations of the New World because a large number of Yoruba were captured and sold into slavery. Many Yoruba priests chose to be captured and sold into slavery so that Africans would have spiritual support in the New World. The New World is one of the names used for the continents of North and South America and adjacent islands collectively, in use since the 16th century. ... This article discusses the history of the slave trade of Africa, and its effect upon the continent. ... The New World is one of the names used for the continents of North and South America and adjacent islands collectively, in use since the 16th century. ...

Orishas include Shango, Olokun, Ifá, Osun, Obatala, Ogun, Oko, Soponna, Oya and Esu, among countless others. The Yoruba also venerate their Egungun, or Ancestors. In Yorùbá mythology, Shango is perhaps the most important Orisha; he is a Sky Father, god of thunder and the ancestor of the Yorùbá. Shango is worshipped in Haitian Vodun, as a god of thunder and weather; in Brazilian Candomblé Ketu (under the name Xangô); in Umbanda, as... Olokun is experienced in male and female personifications, depending on what region and of West Africa He/She is worshipped. ... Ifá is a system of divination that originated in West Africa among the Yoruba people. ... In Yoruba mythology, Obàtálá was a creator god; he made human bodies, and his father, Olorun (husband of Olokun), breathed life into them. ... In Haitian Vodun, Ogoun (or Ogun) is a loa who presides over fire, iron, politics and war. ... Esu is an alternate spelling for the Yoruban god Eshu, which see for more details. ... Egungun is a part of the Yoruba Pantheon of divinities. ...

Further reading

• John Mason, Black Gods - Orisa Studies in the New World
• by Chief Fama, Fundamentals of the YORUBA RELIGION (Orisa Worship)
• Baba Ifa Karade, The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts
• William Bascom, Sixteen Cowries
• James T. Houk, Spirits, Blood, and Drums: The Orisha Religion of Trinidad. 1995. Temple University Press.
• Raul Canizares, Cuban Santeria

Captain John Mason (1586–1635) was born in Norfolk. ...

External Links

• Ile Orunmila Temple (http://www.ifainc.org)
• Church of Lukumi (http://www.church-of-the-lukumi.org)
• Roots and Rooted (http://rootsandrooted.org)
• Awo Study Center (http://www.awostudycenter.com)
• Mimo Anago Ile Oshun (http://www.geocities.com/anagooshun)
• Oyotunji Village (http://www.oyotunjivillage.net)
• Ijo Orunmila (http://www.ayodele_falade.tripod.com)