Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Ossain












Ossain is one of the many gods that the religious practice of candomble has. Literally speaking, Candomble means a dance in honor of the gods. Food is passed out as the dance usually continues all night. Candomble is a call to the spirits and as the spirit enters the body it falls into a state of trance. After several hours, a change of clothes represents a connection with the spirits. The dancers return to dance to even more complex and symbolic rhythms (itacare.com). Ossain and all the deities are interesting to look into but the most interesting part about them is that they have similarities to christianity.

Ossain is the master at using herbs and healing plants. According to tanzbrazil.de, Ossain is the Orixá of vegetation, of leaves, herbs, and especially of the powers of herbs. He has a deep insight about the secrets of plants and their preparation. All herbal compounds are produced under his protection. He has a large influence on homeopathy, which is a method of treating diseases, and is regarded as a kind of a medicine man and a wizard. Plants and their health effects are available u can get them anywhere. In candomble, the same is true about Ossain: He serves all mankind. He can take revenge through his herbs, but he can also bring joy, health, love and fertility. His colors are green and pink; his symbol is the bird and his stone the malachite (malachite is attributed with protecting powers for small children from dangers and illnesses.) He lives in the forest, leaves, plants, and herbs. Saturday is his day. Syncretism is also something is present in the every candomble dance; many of the deities have connections to the religion of Christianity.

Ossain’s dance is very complicated and is intended for advanced Candomblé dancers. It involves a lot of balance since it is done on one foot. His hands are a key component of what the dance is about because the movement is symbolic of crushing and mixing herbs to create a healing “potion”. You start with both of your hands in a fist spreading them outward. The next step is to open them as if you are bringing them in and cross them slightly. Pull your arms slightly out and twist them like your mixing herbs. I it very complicated because it involves a bouncing motion and while moving around with one leg. The story goes that Ossain has the ability to die and come back to life with his mystical powers of healing.(the deity’s name) asked Ossain to prove that he could actually come back to life once he was dead and he did. When Ossain woke up he found his leg missing and that is why his dance is done on one leg.










are sometimes displayed in candomblé temples, and African deities were often identified with specific Catholic saints. Ossain was identified with Saint Benedict. Syncretism was in part a reaction to Church-inspired persecution by authorities and slave owners, who viewed Candomblé a pagan/witchcraft practice. There are reports of Christian devotional altars being used in early slave houses to hide African cult icons and ritual objects. Even after the end of slavery, the claim that ritual dances of Candomblé were in honor of Catholic saints were often used, by practitioners and authorities alike, as an excuse to avoid confrontation. Religious persecution may not be the only reason for Candomblé's syncretism. People should lokk at the syncretism because it was more natural for a polytheist and multi-ethnic Candomblé religion than for the centralized, strongly monotheistic religions such as Christianity and Judaism. I think It is worth noting that some Candomblé rites have also incorporated local Indian gods, which to the Church are just seen as pagan as the Orixás. Orixá is the way gods is spelled in Portuguese, it is mostly commonly spelled this way but it has many other ways of being spelled. One example of this would be orisha.

They were seen as the "Orishas of the land". many practitioners of Candomblé through the times had not only African roots but European ones as well (globaloness.de).Although syncretism still seems to be prevalent, in recent years the lessening of religious and racial prejudices has given rise to a "fundamentalist" movement in Candomblé, that rejects the Christian elements and seeks to recreate a "pure" cult based exclusively on African elements. Ossain is commonly connected with the Christian Saint known as Saint Benedict (http://www.itacare.com/). I dont think it would be a good idea fro this fundamentalist group to create a"pure" cult because it takes away from the unique quality that Candomble has, which is incorporating other religions.
There are many different types of dances done for every orixá and usually they dances are done in a circle with the deities in the center of it. Everyone else is just in a fixed position in the room. The circle usually rotates in a counter clockwise movement in fron of the drummers and the house lady. Anyone present may dance the roda base step. The body is held upright, but the sternum pulses slightly in 4/4 time. There are many instruments used in these dances but the ones you will see the most are drums and singers using their voice as an instrument. They take place in a ritualistic fashion and each dance is a full complete story and every story is different (Choreostories).





For Ossain, his story is about healing the sick and using his powers to help others with their sickness. On Youtube.com, the video depicts Ossain’s costume as a very natural costume. It looks as if Ossain’s costume would typically have leaves over the clothes to indicate the color green on his costume. To me it looks as if he is a tree with the brown color of his clothes. In the video there are some plants lying on the floor I guess it symbolizes that he is beginning the process of healing and everyone is looking at him move. To me there is a strong connection between Ossain’s powers and the powers of Jesus Christ. Jesus also had the power to revive himself and heal others such as healing the blind or the people who couldn’t walk. Although Candomblé is a polytheistic practice, you can see how syncretism is taking place in this religion/practice. It is the most interesting thing to me about Candomble being that I am a practicing catholic.


Daniel Godinez




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1 comment:

  1. DoctoradancerJune 22, 2009 at 5:44 PM

    Daniel, where is the bibliography? You have citations, but they are not hot-linked, so I cannot check them. Whoops!

    Though I sense this topic troubles you greatly, thank you for diving into it and giving it a go. Your writing, however, gets to be a jumble towards the last 3 paragraphs or so. Did you run out of time? Always give yourself enough time to go over your work. You obviously have the skills to do well. use them more effectively.
    √

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