Ogbe Otura (Ogbe Tuanilara)

Rezo of the patakín.

Adifafun awoni eri dilogun obagdo ife awo oddun ogide eweni oddun iyasí edun pokon lade ejepa okotashe inle Ogbe Tuamora Oya oba lodafun Olofin, kaferefun Orunmila, kaferefun Oduduwa.

Ebbó. Eyele medilogun, akuko, okan, gbogbo tenuyen, opolopo owo.

Nota. In this road is signaled why ikifa de Oduduwa and de Oddun is taken to open the year, and it is done in the month of June.

The story. In the land Okotoshe Inle, lived Awo Oddun Ogido, who was Ogbe Tua, and was always in his ile, where he received the visits of his brothers --- also of the awoni-tierra --- for in the land of the awoni they had spent time studying Ifá, to see in what form they could direct the life and conduct of their semejantes whom they led.

One day, in one of those gatherings, Awo Oddun Ogido was visited by Shango, who, on seeing them assembled, said: you wish, together with Ogbe Tua, the felicity of your semejantes, but to achieve that you must trace a road that Ifá dictates, that may serve as pause, that during each year may serve as law for the inhabitants of the earth --- and for that you must ask the power of Olofin and Oduduwa. But first you must take offerings to them and make sacrifices to the distinct positions, that they may permit you to reach Olofin and Oduduwa.

There was no medium able to undertake the work. Ogbe Tuamora, seeing the indisposition of his brothers and knowing that not doing this would mean the destruction of his land, said: I shall go myself to Olofin and Oduduwa, and each of you must help me to make the ceremony to each of the positions, to clear the road.

As it was the month of June, when the harvests were at the point, they gave Ogbe Tua a basket of food, fruits, and animals to take as offerings to Olofin and Oduduwa. When Ogbe Tua arrived, he knelt before the door of Olofin and Oduduwa and called them with the suyere:

Omode inle awo Ogbe Tuamora egba yi Olofin ati Oduduwa.

Olofin and Oduduwa answered: Ire tete Olofin wa, ire tete Oduduwa wa. They sent him in and said: we know that you come because you wish the secret of how to receive the ashe to be able to trace the road for the children of your land during life. But that will only have force for one year --- every year on this same date you must return to perform the same ceremony.

Olofin gave him ashe ekifa. Oduduwa gave him ashe ekifa. And with that compounded Ifá, Awo Oddun Ogido was able to trace an Ifá-oddun-Ifá that would direct his land during that year. He gathered his brothers and instituted the apertura del año, to save humanity.

Nota. In this road the apertura del año is spoken of, which must be done in the month of June and not in January.

The babalawo's reading. This patakín is the institutional founding of the apertura del año and a doctrinal cornerstone of Cuban-Lukumí Ifá. Five institutional facts emerge:

First, the ceremony's date is June, not January. The patakín is direct about this: como era el mes de junio donde las cosechas estaban a punto. The chapter's cosmological cycle is agricultural, not calendrical-Western. The babalawo of this sign carries the institutional memory.

Second, the ceremony has annual force only. Eso solo tendrá vigencia por un año. Each year the rite must be performed anew. The babalawo will read this discipline directly to the consultor structurally responsible for opening --- a household, a ilé, a lineage, a year's operation.

Third, the rite is double-handed. Olofin gives ashe-ekifa; Oduduwa gives ashe-ekifa; only the compound is operative. The babalawo of this sign does not improvise the singular hand; he carries the institutional memory of the double-ashe-ekifa.

Fourth, the rite is performed by one, with the offerings of many. Ogbe Tua went alone; each of his brothers gave food, fruits, and animals. The chapter teaches: the door of Olofin opens to one petitioner; the offerings come from the lineage.

Fifth, the rite is preceded by the clearing of the road. Para limpiar el camino --- the chapter institutionalizes the structural pre-rite of clearing the way to the doors of Olofin and Oduduwa.

The babalawo at the chair, when reading this patakín, holds the institutional charter of the apertura del año.

Ebbó. Una flecha, mani, y un muñeco.

The story. In Irepe lived a sage who had a fine life on the capital he had. But whenever he engaged in his deceptions, he took along one of his sons --- the one who lent himself to deceiving his own mother --- and the son always received money from his father's hand.

The son too made a show of capital, for he had a great storehouse of herbs which he sold in great quantity to foreigners, and from that fruit he extracted aceite de maní. But one day the father fell ill and could not attend to the business; he had his secret at the entrance of the storehouse, and on a day he registered, this odu came up, on the road of perdida and robo. He went to the storehouse to see what was missing --- but apparently nothing was missing.

Meanwhile, the son was carrying off the sacks of maní one by one, so the loss could not be noticed, and selling them as his father did, enjoying the same life. But one day, when the father had recovered, he made a balance and noted the missing merchandise; he gathered the family to ask for help in watching for the thief --- and the trusted son was the first to protest. The others refused. So the father, indignant, set a trap: an arrow that would discharge when a sack was moved.

The babalawo's reading. The patakín is incomplete in the source --- the trap is set, but the resolution is not narrated. The institutional reading is direct:

The trusted son is structurally suspect. The chapter teaches that the one most loudly protesting is often the structural agent of the loss. The father in this patakín cannot detect the theft because the thief is the one he himself has formed in deception. The chapter compresses: the deceiving father produces the deceiving son.

The babalawo at the chair will read this patakín when the consultor is the father whose household is being depleted. Look first at the son who is loudest in protest; look first at the one whom you yourself trained in deception. The arrow-trap is the rite of detection --- but the cosmological lesson is the structural recognition.