In the Yorùbá religion, Sàngó ( also spelled, Sango or Shango, often known as Xangô or Changó in Latin America and the Caribbean, and also known as Jakuta[1]) is perhaps one of the most popular Orisha; also known as the god of fire, lightning and thunder. Shango is historically a royal ancestor of the Yoruba as he was the third king of the Oyo Kingdom prior to his posthumous deification. In the Lukumí (Olokun mi = "my dear one") religion of the Caribbean, Shango is considered the center point of the religion as he represents the Oyo people of West Africa, the symbolic ancestors of the adherents of the faith. All the major initiation ceremonies (as performed in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela for the last few hundred years) are based on the traditional Shango ceremony of Ancient Oyo. This ceremony survived the Middle Passage and is considered to be the most complete to have arrived on Western shores. This variation of the Yoruba initiation ceremony became the basis of all Orisha initiations in the West
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Following Oduduwa, Oranyan and Ajaka, Shango (or Jakuta) was the third Alafin (king) of Oyo.[2][1] In Johnston's mythological account of racial heros and kings, contrary to his peaceful brother Ajaka, he was a powerful and even violent ruler. Moreover, he is said to have had supernatural forces because he could produce thunder and lightning. He reigned for seven years, the whole of which period was marked by his continuous campaigns and his many battles. The end of his reign resulted from his own inadvertent destruction of his palace by lightning.[3]
According to the palace tradition of Oyo, Shango was a king before he became a thunder god. Recent research shows that the classical dynastic tradition of Oyo corresponds to a large extent to reminiscences of ancient Near Eastern history. As indicated by the flight of Oduduwa from "Mecca" (Nineveh) the tradition was brought to sub-Saharan West Africa by groups of refugees from the crumbling Assyrian empire at the end of the seventh century BCE. [4] In this context Shango can be understood as an Assyrian epoch ruler who at one stage conquered Israel and at another was conquered himself by his Babylonian and Median adversaries in 612 BCE. The name šàngó is apparently derived from the Assyrian priestly royal title šangû.[5] On account of the Assyrian king's incarnation of the thunder god Baal, Shango is among the Yoruba at same time an ancestral king and a thunder god .[6]
The religious ritual of Shango was possibly designed in order to help the devotees of Shango gain self-control. Shango's beads tell the story of "his" essence, the logic of Obatala (white) alternating in balance with the fire of Aganyu (red) in passion towards some goal. Historically, Shango brought prosperity to the Oyo Empire during his reign.[2] After his deification, the initiation ceremony of the cult of his memory dictates that this same prosperity be bestowed upon followers, on a personal level. According to Yoruba and Vodou belief systems, Shango hurls bolts of lightning at the people chosen to be his followers, leaving behind imprints of stone axe blades on the Earth's crust. These blades can be seen easily after heavy rains. Veneration of Shango enables—according to Yoruba belief—a great deal of power and self-control.
Shango altars often contain an often-seen carved figure of a woman holding her bosom as a gift to the god with a single double-blade axe sticking up from her head. The axe symbolizes that this devotee is possessed by Shango. The woman's expression is calm and cool, expressing the qualities she has gained through her faith.[7][8]
Shango is venerated in Haitian Vodou, as a god of thunder and weather; in Brazilian Candomblé Ketu (under the name Xangô).[1]
In art, Sango is depicted with a double-axe[8][9] on his three heads. He is associated with the holy animal, the ram, and the holy colors of red and white.
"Shango usurped the duties of an older deity, Jakuta, who hurled fire stones to punish people when they acted against the wishes of Olodumare, the Supreme God".[10] The name "Jakuta, "Hurler of stones", or "Fighter with stones" (Ja to hurl from aloft, ... and okuta, stone)" is an allusion to "stone implements ... believed to be his thunderbolts." Jakuta was "associated with a fellowship of meteorites".[11]
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