ELEGUÁ

Crossroads, luck

Elegua, also written Eleguá or Elegguá, is the oricha of the roads, the crossroads and the doors in Cuban Santería, the Regla de Ocha. First to be saluted in every ceremony, for nothing circulates between humans and the orichas without his consent, he is also the first received by the initiate, with Ogún, Ochosi and Osun — the group of the Warriors. He is materialised as a head of cement or stone with cowrie eyes and mouth, kept behind the front door, which is fed with spirits, cigar smoke, sweets, toys, smoked fish and coconut. By turns a mischievous child and a wise old man, he possesses many roads, or avatars, which tradition often counts at twenty-one. His colours are red and black, his number is three and Monday belongs to him. Catholic imagery associated him with the Holy Child of Atocha and with Saint Anthony of Padua. He descends directly from Eshu-Elegba, the divine messenger of the Yoruba of Nigeria and Benin, carried to Cuba by the Lucumí during the Atlantic slave trade. His face is found again in Papa Legba in Haitian Vodou and in Exu in Brazil, a sign of the vitality of the Afro-diasporic pantheons.