Is Eleguá bad? Meet the Owner of the Roads

Eleggua is protection, Eleggua is it luck or misfortune, Eleggua it is tentative and reality.

Eleggua He is a very wise child and one of the seven fundamental gods of the Yoruba Pantheon.

For this reason he is the first to be called in every religious act or festival and the last to say goodbye, thus representing the beginning and the end of all roads, birth and death, good and evil.

Also known as "the little giant", Eleguá lives behind the door of our homes, protects us from everything that enters and leaves, guards our astral and is a lookout for our destiny.

This Orisha is one of the Seven African Powers and he is the messenger of the gods, if he wants it, nothing that is offered to them reaches them.

It is your decision that the prayers and thanks go to their recipients.

Some people ask if Eleguá is bad, if he is a cheating child who does evil in his path, if the rock that represents him can hurt.

Those who do not know our religion are more afraid than respect, but the reality is that the little Orisha has immense power, he is our protection, the one who takes care of all the roads we walk, but he is also extremely righteous and makes pay for what was wrongly done.

Eleguá: Protection and luck

What Cuban, whether or not a devotee of the Yoruba religion, does not know the phrase “Eleggua open the roads ”?

And is that Elegua one of the first Orishas to be received and highly revered in Cuba. He is the first of the group of four warriors (Eleggua, Oggún, Ochosi and Osun), and in nature it is symbolized by the rocks.

For this reason, he lives in that figure in the majority behind the door, taking care of the ilé of whoever owns it.

He is revered like this, for being the absolute owner of the roads and destiny. He can be the decider of the happiness or unhappiness of human beings. This is why it is continually associated with the word "luck."

Symbols and syncretism

The Yoruba religion indicates that Eleggua It sits on an otá (stone), shell, reef, loaded otá, loaded cobo snail, a dry coconut or loaded masa and it is placed in a flat vessel.

Its attributes consist of necklaces used by the worshiper, bells, garabato (cane) of guava, mouse trap, coins, children's toys, guano or straw hat, maraca painted with its colors, door keys, gold nuggets and coins. silver.

How to invoke Eleguá?

When presenting an offering, a ceremonial salute is given:

Echú elewa oga gbogbo namirin ita alagbana baba mi null na buruku nitosi le choncho kuelú kuikuo oki kosi ofo, kosi eyo, kosi ku, kosi ano ni orukó mi gbogbo omonile fú kuikuo odueve, baba mi elewa.

I refresh you to open the way with the permission of my older parents, I play the maraca so that you open the door for me to achieve peace, prosperity, evolution, professional activity, money, love, stability, health, firmness, happiness, abundance, harmony, wisdom and good luck, for me and for all my family and friends. Also counting on my guardian angel, godfather and all the representatives of the Yoruba pantheon.

As part of transculturation, Eleggua he also adopted the name of a Catholic Saint. The best known is Saint Anthony of Padua, a priest of the Franciscan Order, venerated as a saint and doctor of the Church by Catholicism.