Another Oríkì (praise poem) dedicated to the Yorùbá goddess of trade and wealth, Aje (see also Salute to Aje, Goddess of Wealth).
The man who poverty makes a beggar among friends
Knows how the world dodges the needy…
Salute to Aje, Goddess of Wealth
Eshu-Elegba in the Marketplace
A previous poem for the Yorùbá trickster god Èṣù, or Eshu (see Eshu, God of Fate) describes him as a deity who loves disrupting the laws of probability and creating impossible contradictions of time and space. As an Òrìṣà who crosses boundaries, his shrines are usually located at crossroads and at the entrances to homes. Another important station for Èṣù is the marketplace.
People of the market, clear the way!
We are coming through the market gate…
Oriki Inagije
A Yorùbá praise poem or Oríkì, commemorating the figure of Balógun Ìbíkúnlé, the great ruler and commander-in-chief of Ibadan forces in the nineteenth-century. Ìbíkúnlé was born in Ogbomoso, a city in Oyo State, south-western Nigeria, during the first decade of the nineteenth century. This was at a time when the Fulani jihads were beginning to make incursions into various territories within Yorùbáland.
Ìbíkúnlé, the Lord of his Quarters,
The proverbial magnificent doer…
In Praise of Shango
Shango, or Ṣàngó, was the third Alafin (king) of the Oyo kingdom. He was deified after his death and is one of the most popular Òrìṣàs across the Caribbean and the Americas. These praises are sung by devotees of Ṣàngó and emphasise the daily duty of paying respect to the Òrìṣà.
When the elephant wakes in the morning,
he must pay his respects to his new wife…
