What is ORISA Oro? (The dreadful Deity that Forsake Women)

This write up  was written by Nana DE Oxum from Havana Cuba , an ifa apprentice under tutelage of babalawo Obanifa Ile Ife osun state Nigeria.

I remember vividly when I ask baba Obanifa ‘baba what do you have to share with me on Orisa Oro’?  He just said, ‘ Oro is a male cult before people turn it to a diety.

 I think  what you just is need to know about Oro as a female  ifa apprentice is that Oro is a male diety that Ifa can in some cases during ifa divination reading choses as adimu for a client to Propitiate, Oro  be a male diety have power of punishing the wicked, criminals and witches,it also have power to exonerate the innocent.

 It has power to prevent the evil witch from carry out their evil intentions. It can provide children for barren women. And what you can ask ifa to feed orisa oro with ranging from akara(beans cake), Isu sise(boil yam) emu(palm wine) ewa (cooked beans) akukodiye (cock) elede (pig) ewe ekoya(it is a  a variety of yoruba leaves, he didn’t give me botanical name for this leaves as he normally do,I notice from his intonation he didn’t want to divulge much that day on the topic under discussion)’.I  now said Baba Obanifa is this all you think I need to know about Orisa Oro? His further reply is  intimidating, he said ‘bi obinrin ba for kan oro, oro agbe (that is if a woman witness Oro the woman will be killed’.

 I was discouraged. What is wrong in be a women and Oro. He just told me  he has given enough information on Oro to be useful for me in my field as ifa preistess.

 He is very nice man  open minded and intelligent and alway ready to share knowledge, I respect him a lot, but on this topic of Oro he was a bit different with me. He said it is not  a thing women need to know details about, like any other part of my training. 

On my own personal conversation with others and information I get on orisa image about Oro, I discover while baba Obanifa give little info he thinks will help in practice. But later  when I apologize to him for asking him to much questions on Oro,that I have known it is a male cult. 

After then he give me elaborate lecture on Orisa Oro. So in  this write up, I will like to share what I gain from him and on orisha image.

According to orisha image wish give comprehensive explanation on Oro.

Orisha Orò is a male entity whose cult is closely connected with the political council known as Ògbóni or Òṣùgbó. Orò acts under its command and carries out their sentences. 

The cult is very secretive and excludes women completely. The sound of the sacred bull-roarer, a sound-producing instrument, accompanies the public appearance of the Orò masqueraders in Yoruba towns. In these nights women must hide in the houses, because they – and even men not being members of the cult – run the risk of being killed if they happen to see the procession or the rites. Orò cult survived the middle-passage and the Orisha is still worshiped in Cuba, although not known to a broad audience.