Nigeria. Ṣàngó is viewed as the most powerful and feared of the orisha pantheon. He casts a "thunderstone" to earth, which creates thunder and lightning, to anyone who offends him.
Shango is the king of the Oyo Empire. He is the Yoruba god of thunder who now serves as a member of the Vindicators.
The feasts of Obatala, Ellegua, and Chango are common days of celebration. The Orisha-worshiping community may request to have their ceremonial meal on one of these days. According to the legends (patakis)of Orisha worshipers, Obatala is the oldest and wisest of the Orishas.
Strength Level: Shango has superhuman strength and resistance to injury. He is able to lift a tank over his head with ease and throw it fifty meters. He is able to take a tank round full on the chest and survive the explosion.
Elegba is always propitiated and always called first before any other orisha as he opens the door between the worlds and opens our roads in life. He recognises himself and is recognised by the numbers 3 and 21.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Ayagunna is the youngest path, or avatar, of the undergod Obatala in the Lukumi (Santería) pantheon. In this manifestation, Obatala is a youth who battles with a scimitar. He is credited with having spread gunpowder throughout the world.
American folklorist William Bascom notes: “Oya is the favourite wife of Shango, the only wife who remained true to him until the end, leaving Oyo with him and becoming a deity when he did. She is Goddess of the Niger River, (Odo Oya), but she manifests herself as the strong wind that precedes a thunderstorm.”
No other orisha will give higher jumps, dance more violently or make stranger gestures. The dances of Shango usually are erotic or warrior like. Commonly Shango is portrayed with an axe (the symbol of thunder), and his favorite colors are red and white, which are regarded as being holy.
As the god of thunder and lightning, Shango has some powerful energy. In artwork he is often depicted with a double ax on his head, the symbol of a thunderbolt, or he is depicted as a fierce ram.
Number. Yoruba tradition often says that there are 400 + 1 orishas, which is associated with a sacred number. Other sources suggest that the number is "as many as you can think of, plus one more – an innumerable number". Different oral traditions refer to 400, 700, or 1,440 orishas.
Finally, we have Olodumare, who is also the most powerful god according to Yoruba mythology. He is the “supreme God.” He is omnipotent and is the one who breathes life into the creations of Obatala. He is the creator also of the other gods and powers in the universe.
Often depicted as a queenly mermaid, Yemaya is considered the Ocean Mother Goddess in Santería, an Afro-Caribbean religion practiced around the world. With anchored roots in the Yoruba religion, Yemaya was brought over to the New World by enslaved Africans as early as the 16th century.
Oshun is commonly called the river orisha, or goddess, in the Yoruba religion and is typically associated with water, purity, fertility, love, and sensuality. She is considered one of the most powerful of all orishas, and, like other gods, she possesses human attributes such as vanity, jealousy, and spite.
Oya is one of the seven primary orisha in the Yoruba religion, which originated in the Old Oyo Empire of Ancient Yorubaland, present-day Nigeria. The name Oya is defined by the action “she tore,” “O-ya” in Yoruba. The River Niger, the thunderbolt, fire, tornadoes, buffalo, and the wind represent this female orisha.
Shango is the deity, orisha whose power is imaged by thunder and lightning. As the legendary fourth king of the ancient kingdom of Oyo, Shango's rule was marked by capricious use of power.
Shango is said to have played bata drums to summon storms; they continue to be used by his devotees for that purpose.
orisha, also spelled orixa or orisa, any of the deities of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. They are also venerated by the Edo of southeastern Nigeria; the Ewe of Ghana, Benin, and Togo; and the Fon of Benin (who refer to them as voduns).
In Yoruba mythology, Ọba or Obbá is the first wife of Shango, the third king of the Oyo Empire and the Yoruba Undergod of thunder and lightning.
He had three wives, Olori Oba, his first, Olori Osun (Oshun) and Olori Oya. Of all three wives, he loved Osun the most because she was the best cook.
Oya is often described as the tempest, the winds of destruction, change and progress. She is the orisha of rebirth and is often depicted with her husband Shango.
Their number is usually given as 400 + 1 as a kind of shorthand for "without number" or innumerable. Belief in the Orishas is thought to have developed between 500-300 BCE but is most likely much older, as this dating is supported by archaeological evidence and there are many West African sites still unexcavated.
An individual may over the course of a lifetime worship several Orisha. In fact, according to Bascom, most Yoruba worshiped a group of five or six deities acquired under different circumstances, and regardless of how one came to the worship of an Orisha, he or she was eligible to become a priest of that Orisha.
The beginning of the week, Monday is Eleguá's day. Followers often put a shrine to him behind the front door to protect the house.