Irete Kután

Oshún had three sons, and all three were Awoses, sons of Oluó Ikoñí: Teteregun, Ishu Omalabo and Ifá Eledá. They lived well, with money to spare, and that same thing brought a lot of envy down on them.

Both Orunmila and their Oluó had marked several ebboses for them, so the arayé would not reach their heads and they would not end up ofo lerí. But the oldest one only looked after his corn; the second one, his yam; and only the third one paid attention to what his Oluó advised him.

Teteregun, the oldest, did nothing and died; his shadow stayed wandering and calling his brothers. He called them so much that Ishu Omalabo, the second one, fell sick in the head soon after and died too, so he went to join him. Together now, the two shadows started working on the head of the youngest, Ifá Eledá, who came to feel his own head as if it belonged to someone else.

Oshún, his mother, seeing him like that, sent for Oluó Ikoñí, who saw Irete Kután for him and announced that Ikú was after him. He did Oparaldo for him and warned him: "The yam goes under the ground and comes up; the corn does the same. But if you go down into the ground, you do not come out again."

Meanwhile the shadows of all the Egun, of Ikú and of Arun were coming out of the graves and going into the houses of those people. Nobody lived in peace: there was no way to sleep, because the Egun would not let them.

Obatalá had not seen his son in a long time, so he set out for the land of Buruku Yale. When he got there he found many people with fits and with their nerves wrecked because of the Egun. Since it was night, he looked for a place to sleep in a house and decided to wait until the next day to look for his son; but the Egun would not let him rest either. He asked what was going on and they explained: Okuburo spent his time in the land of Yewá calling all the Egun, and because of him nobody had any peace.

Obatalá headed for the land of Yewá and there he found his son Okuburo. When he saw him, Okuburo was very happy, gave him foribale and started complaining about the people of that land, since the only ones who understood him were the Egun and Ikú. Right away he fed the Egun with the jio jio, and the shadows started to come out. Obatalá thought to himself: "This comes to my son from the side of Oyá, his mother, and she is the only one who can save him, because Okuburo is going crazy." So he set out to look for Oyá, with agogó and three doves, and on the road he sang: OYA JERIJERI JEKUA IYANI BEBEWA OKUBURO IYA SOKU ONILE...

Oyá heard him and came out to meet him. Obatalá told her everything that was going on with Okuburo in the land of Buruku Yale, and she decided: "Let's go to Orunmila's house." The two of them arrived, and Orunmila, who had already seen Irete Kután for himself, spoke to them this way: "You come because of a very big worry you have with Elegbá, who is your son, since he is always among all the strange things. We have to go to that land to save him, and give him untefá, so that land will be calmer."

Oyá, Obatalá and Orunmila set out. Going into the land of Buruku Yale they saw what state the people were in: like fools, half asleep, and the Egun walking among the living. Obatalá took a dove and with it he cleaned them all, while he sang: SARAYEYE IWORIWO IWORE EGGUN EGBAROKO MA BAYE. That way they all started waking up. Then they came to where Okuburo was, and at the door of the land of Yewá Oyá called him: OKUBURO IÑA COSI COSI ELESE EYO OMO SOKUN OMO LAYINI IYANSAN.

Okuburo came out, and between Obatalá, Oyá and Orunmila they took him — along with the stone he had in the land of Yewá — to an aroma tree. There Orunmila cleaned him with the same jio jio he had, and sang to him: SARAYEYE LABERO UNLO IKU BEBEWA ELEGBA LONA...

From there Orunmila took him to his house, made Untefá for him and Irete Kután came out. It was set down that he could never again set foot in the land of Yewá, and they also left this instruction: "So that all the people of this land get away from the shadow of the Egun, they must keep a basket of fruit under their beds, changing it often, and a large plate of water with aro, so the shadows of the Egun do not know this land and go back to their own."

From then on that land began to prosper and the people took Okuburo into account, and from that day he carried the name Awó Kogda.

From this road comes the ebbó of the three agboranes: a rooster, 3 jio jio and 3 white doves; 3 loaded cedar dolls; earth from three different trees of the land of Yewá; three pieces of beef and three hooked sticks of aroma wood; earth from three different graves; all kinds of grains; three necklaces, of Obatalá, Elegbá and Oyá; a basin of water with indigo; a basket with fruit; three fresh fish heads and three hen eggs; an arrow and a trap; the clothes off the body, and all the other ingredients.

The jio jio are for Elegbá, at the foot of an aroma tree, and the three hooked sticks also go to Elegbá. The beef is used for the head rogación, with aguardiente and pepper. The basin of indigo water is placed at the head of the bed and that water is later thrown into the street. The basket with fruit spends seven days under the bed and from there it goes to the sea. The three fish heads are smeared with corojo, placed for Elegbá and from there taken to the corner.

Load of the agboranes: earth from a bibijagüero, earth from three graves and earth from every place you can get; afoshé of the three trees of the land of Yewá; ilekán; heads of hummingbird, of rooster and of guinea (hen); hearts and heads of the three doves (which are given to the empty agboranes in the land of Yewá, after the ebbó, one at each grave); vulture heart; turtle head; shell from a hatched egg; roots of álamo, of atiponlá and of coconut; ikín fuzz; vergonzosa; crushed cotton seeds; the sticks amansa guapo, cambia voz, paramí and yamao, ceiba, batalla, guamá, caja and ramón; 16 peppercorns; jutía, obí, kolá and orogbo, airá, osun and obí motiwao, and the iyefá of the ebbó.

Each doll wears a necklace: one of Elegbá, another of Obatalá and another of Oyá. The agboranes are washed with omiero of guamá; they live next to Elegbá and eat with him. A little of that omiero is set aside, and with the rest the person bathes.

At the beginning of the world, God created every form that comes out of the 4 primary elements — air, earth, fire and water — and those forms kept refining until they became the Eda Murin, given out-of-body perception.

Above them were the Agba Odun spirits, forged in fire. Olofin ordered all of them to worship the Eda Murin, who were made of clay. One of those Agba Odun, named Alosin Buruku, refused: "How am I going to worship those beings of clay, when I am made of fire?"

So Olofin sent him to live far from him, and from that day Alosin Buruku set about pushing the Eda Murin toward evil, so much so that they almost stopped worshiping Olofin.

Olofin called Ikú Alashona, who was the Angel of death, and with this song he set out his task on Earth: OPOLOPO ELERI IKU BOGBO EDA MURIN IKU LOBI OSHA ORISHA EGGUN.

Death took them all away, one by one. Olofin put Omalye Egun, King of the dead, in charge of the planet, and he turned each Eda Murin who died into a stone (otá). Each one kept his name, but to pay for the fault he had to come back to Earth and be worshiped in stone. From there came Obatalá, Shangó and the rest.

From there comes IKU LOBI OSHA INTORI EGUN: without passing through death nobody becomes a Saint; you have to die first to get there.