Qui est Exu dans le candomblé et la santería ?

Exu, au Brésil, et Elegguá, à Cuba, sont l'orisha messager et gardien des carrefours. Salué le premier dans chaque cérémonie, il ouvre les chemins entre les hommes et les divinités et reçoit la première part des offrandes. Ses couleurs sont le noir et le rouge. Il prolonge l'Èṣù yoruba, porté dans les Amériques par la traite atlantique.

Exu est-il le diable ?

Non. L'assimilation d'Exu au diable est un contresens né de l'évangélisation chrétienne, qui a projeté sur lui le manichéisme catholique étranger à la pensée yoruba, comme l'a montré le sociologue Reginaldo Prandi. Exu est un messager et un médiateur, garant des échanges entre humains et orishas. Figure ambivalente et imprévisible, il ouvre les chemins, mais il n'incarne pas le mal.

Quelle différence entre Exu au Brésil et Elegguá à Cuba ?

Ce sont deux visages du même orisha. Au Brésil, Exu reçoit le padê au début de chaque rituel du candomblé. À Cuba, Elegguá est le premier des Guerriers reçu par l'initié, matérialisé par une tête de ciment aux yeux de cauris gardée derrière la porte, et associé au Saint Enfant d'Atocha ou à saint Antoine de Padoue. Tous deux gardent les carrefours et ouvrent la communication.

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EXU (ELEGGUÁ)

neutral

Doors, cunning, messages, beginnings

💨 AirCandomblé / Santería / Yoruba →Diaspora — Brésil / CubaChild

Gender: Masculine

Exu, in Brazil, and Elegguá, in Cuba, are the diasporic faces of the Yoruba orisha Èṣù, messenger and keeper of the crossroads. In Brazilian Candomblé, Exu receives the first share of every ritual, the padê, for no prayer reaches the orishas without passing through him: he opens and closes the roads, conveys offerings and requests. A figure of movement, cunning and exchange, he was tragically assimilated to the devil by Christian missionaries, who projected onto him a Catholic manichaeism foreign to Yoruba thought. Specialists, among them the sociologist Reginaldo Prandi, have traced this demonisation: Exu is not a figure of evil, but a principle of circulation and negotiation. His colours are black and red, and he is offered cachaça, dendê farofa and tobacco. In Cuba, Santería receives him under the name Elegguá, first of the Warriors received by the initiate with Ogún, Ochosi and Osun; materialised as a cement head with cowrie eyes kept behind the door, he is associated with the Holy Child of Atocha or with Saint Anthony of Padua. His number is three; Monday belongs to him. Present everywhere in the Afro-diasporic pantheons, he converses with Papa Legba of Haitian Vodou, another heir of the same messenger of the peoples of the Gulf of Benin.

Powers & Attributes

doorscunningmessagesbeginnings

Role in the ROHO universe

A flash of the liminal Breath, keeper of beginnings and of forks in the road.

Sacred Mask

A black and red mask with short horns — a symbol of cunning, humour and movement.

Era

1500–1900 — Cycle of the Crossings

Spiritual Lesson

To learn the art of negotiating with the unforeseen and of dancing with chaos.

Words of the Spirit

“At the crossroads, every road leads to a different truth.”

Frequently asked questions

Who is Exu in Candomblé and Santería?

Exu, in Brazil, and Elegguá, in Cuba, are the messenger orisha and keeper of the crossroads. Saluted first in every ceremony, he opens the roads between humans and the deities and receives the first share of the offerings. His colours are black and red. He carries on the Yoruba Èṣù, borne to the Americas by the Atlantic slave trade.

Is Exu the devil?

No. The assimilation of Exu to the devil is a misreading born of Christian evangelisation, which projected onto him a Catholic manichaeism foreign to Yoruba thought, as the sociologist Reginaldo Prandi has shown. Exu is a messenger and a mediator, guarantor of the exchanges between humans and orishas. An ambivalent, unpredictable figure, he opens the roads, but he does not embody evil.

What is the difference between Exu in Brazil and Elegguá in Cuba?

They are two faces of the same orisha. In Brazil, Exu receives the padê at the opening of every Candomblé ritual. In Cuba, Elegguá is the first of the Warriors received by the initiate, materialised as a cement head with cowrie eyes kept behind the door, and associated with the Holy Child of Atocha or Saint Anthony of Padua. Both keep the crossroads and open communication.

Sources and references

Reginaldo Prandi, Exu, de mensageiro a diabo. Sincretismo católico e demonização do orixá Exu (2001)
Lydia Cabrera, El Monte (1954)
David H. Brown, Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion (2003)