10 representative elements of Orisha Oko, the Owner of the Harvest

A Orisha oko We pray to him for good harvests, for the prosperity of the field and for the help of natural elements to obtain excellent fruits. Her name means "Orisha of the Labrador."

He is a very powerful Orisha of the Yoruba Religion, protector of farmers, guardian of fields, savior of humanity when it was dying of hunger. Represents abundance and strength, is a deity of iron chastity and is a judge among the orishas.

Orishaoko and its characteristics:

We present below, 10 of its most representative elements:

1. The deity of the fields

Orisha Oko is the representative deity of the savannas, lands and cultivated fields and helps and gives benefits to those who work them.

For this reason, the peasants pray to him for stability and prosperity and for luck in all work in the countryside. Save from plagues, misfortunes and bad harvests, they are his blessing, food is born and develops healthily.

2. Provides food prosperous

It is a deity that represents the land itself, the life of agricultural work and crops, so it helps people by providing the means of daily support and giving the necessary food to live.

His energy and Ashé brings rain in drought, and takes it in floods, he is the wise protector of abundance in agriculture, thanks to his power we receive food from nature.

3. Prosperity and fertility

Although Orisha Oko is said to be extremely chaste, as his messengers are bees and he represents prosperity and fertility, barren women turn to him to ask him to help them have children. Many are those who pray to her for the fertility of her womb.

4. Trilogy with Oke and Oggue

Orisha Oko forms an important trilogy with Oke, who represents the firmness of mother earth and Oggue who symbolizes horned animals and herds, the three are responsible for the harvests, the rains, the internal fire capable of splitting the earth and animals .

These three Orishas join together to help those who work the land and the fields, and their representative elements have to do with mountains, farmland, animals and the savannah. With their objects of power and energy, they help men on earth to achieve good crops.

5. Two personalities

Orisha Oko has two personalities, during the day she represents the pure and perfect man, and according to the Yoruba legend, at night she disguises herself as Iku (death).

Thus dressed, he receives the corpses that he gives him Yewa, the owner of the grave and those who send Oyá, the lady of the dead, through Babalu Aye, the king of disease. For this reason, Orisha Oko is also closely linked to the cult Eggun and the spirits, and to the work of the death goddesses of the Yoruba religion.

6. Legend with Olokun

The Pataki says that Orisha Oko was the husband of Olokun the owner of the ocean, who had the condition of hermaphrodite, and one day full of anger Orisha Oko mentioned her defect.

Olokun was so ashamed that he flooded the earth in anger and because of it obbatala he ordered her to be chained to the bottom of the ocean. From that moment, Olokun lives tied up in the depths of the sea so as not to see any man, and when she remembers Orisha Oko's outrage, her anger floods all lands.

7. Attributes of Orisha Oko

Its receptacle is a clay pot painted red and white and containing plowed earth, in some cases the earth itself is its place, representing its greatest power.

The attributes that represent them are:

two dry coconuts, loaded and painted red and white (Osun and Efún),
plow land,
a small jar with its secret,
a hand of snails,
7 corkscrew or land snails,
a tile painted white with 7 red stripes,
an otá (stone) collected in the field and
his tool, which consists of a farmer, with his umbrella and two oxen pulling the plow.

8. Offerings to Orisha Oko

Orisha Oko is tied to the land, so all the harvested fruits are offered to her, in addition to all kinds of dried meats, yams, beans, etc. Goats, pigeons and rooster are also sacrificed to him.

Through its Ewe (herbs) it offers us its Ashé, some of them are the bibijagua or bell, red vine, partridge vine, guarana vine, milk vine, sweet potato, hump, yam, pilgrim, custard apple and peony.

9. The children of Orisha Oko

The children of Orisha Oko love the land as much as he does and for this reason they are hard-working and responsible, lovers of field work.

They are also discreet people who like to help others and are very aware of those who depend on them. They are fair by nature and do not like parties or crazy things. Responsibility is your middle name.

10. Catholic syncretism

In syncretism he is compared to San Isidro Labrador, a Mozarabic farmer who dedicated his life to doing good and distributing the fruit of the harvest among the needy.

This saint is the Patron of farmers, provides abundance to crops, makes the land rich and fertile, and everything that is sown with his blessing is born prosperous and abundant, because of its relationship with the land, it is compared to the African orisha.