Ofún Sá

Orula's son started arguing with death that the Moon would not come out that day. Orula, when he heard about it, made ebbó at once with ekó and palm butter, and put it on a hill.

When the Moon was ready to come out, a dog got there first, lay down on the ekó and dirtied the whole Moon, who was so upset that she would not come out again for three nights.

So that death will not recognize you, you have to have Idefá. If this is a woman, her monthly blood is held back.

Notes: bragging is a man's ruin; promises turn hollow; do not argue. If an animal dirties your clothes, do not go out: clean yourself with ekó and epó and take it to a hill. Everything is up in the air.

As soon as man reached the Earth, Death came to take men by the thousands, every day. Orunmila stopped this when Ikú came to take his son Ebbó (the sacrifice), since he helped people against the attack of death.

Ikú found this out in Heaven — that Ebbó helped people guard themselves against Death — and came in person. Ebbó was famous for playing the game of Ayó. Death decided to go down to Earth and challenge him, with the warning that, if she beat him, she would take him to Heaven (which would mean the end of every form of sacrifice on Earth); if Ebbó came out the winner, Death would stay away from the world forever.

The game began in good faith and, over several rounds, Death came out the winner. Toward nightfall, as the players were leaving to go on the next morning, Death remarked that the next day would complete a month since she had been beating Ebbó. Ebbó, not knowing better, answered by asking how she could claim a whole month, when they had played only one day. Death reminded him that the New Moon was going to appear the next day. Ebbó answered that, far from it, the Moon would appear on the third day. The argument was settled when Death declared that the game of Ayó no longer mattered: if, as she claimed, the New Moon appeared the next day, she would not only take Ebbó to Heaven but would go on coming back to the world to take human beings; if Ebbó's word held true, she would not only leave him alone but would stop taking anyone else. And on that bet they parted because of the night.

Afterward, Ebbó ran to his father Orunmila and told him what had happened. Orunmila checked his calendar and confirmed that the Moon would appear the next day, as Ikú had said. He consulted Okpele, which told him: a he-goat to Eshu at once, begging him to keep Death from beating Ebbó, since her victory would have great consequences on Earth.

After eating the he-goat, Eshu went up to Heaven to visit the Moon. The Moon has only one dress to put on when she comes to the world; that morning she had washed it and spread it on the grass of her yard, to put on at night. When Eshu arrived, he asked her when she would make her monthly trip to the world, and the Moon answered that she was going that very night. With that, Eshu left. The Sun was beginning to leave off its daily journey. Eshu gathered the little children of Heaven to play and step on the Moon's white dress, which was already dry: they ruined it completely, leaving it so dirty that the Moon would barely have been visible if she had appeared in it.

When the Moon got up and saw what the children had done, she moved to strike them. God stepped in to find out what was happening, and the Moon told him. God scolded the Moon for wanting to punish innocent children over a simple mistake, and asked her whether it had not been those same little children who cheered her when she made her monthly appearance, with their songs of praise. The Moon apologized for having been so forgetful, forgave the children and said she would wash her dress the next day and spread it on a line instead of on the ground, and that she would appear on Earth the day after.

Back on Earth, Death and everyone else waited in vain for the Moon to come out that night. It was not until the night of the following day that she finally appeared. Before that, the Moon appeared every 30 days; it was from that night on that she appeared every 31. Death admitted to Ebbó that events had proved him right and promised never to come to Earth again. And so Orula and his son Ebbó drove Death from the face of the Earth.

Still, since Death had declared that human flesh would be her main food, she had to come up with a new way to get her food: she turned to the fierce deities, who helped her find food on Earth. They are: Oggún, deity of strife, of accidents and of war; Shangó, deity of thunder, lightning and electricity; Olokun, deity of water, of witchcraft and of spells; Shapaná, who kills through every kind of epidemic. Even when the elders of the night kill human beings, they are carried to Death in Heaven by her messengers. As for Sickness, the wife of Death, she is slow to take her victims, especially if they look for relief in sacrifice or in Ozain, deity of medicine.

When Orula found this out, he reminded the other deities of the command God had given in Heaven that they were not to kill on Earth: God allowed Death only to feed on those who did evil or on those sentenced in the weekly court of the divine council. Why then did Death take the innocent along with the guilty?

This was when Orunmila spoke his famous treatise, telling the other deities that, when God made man to serve them, he expected men not only to be good as they were, but also to live forever. He added that good might have had a better chance of winning over evil if God had told apart those who did good from those who did evil when he allowed Death to step in: if he had ordered that those who did good live forever, while Death took those who did harm, the generations would have seen that only the wicked died, and the wicked would have been persuaded to do good and hate evil. Given a choice, no one wants to die. And here Orula points to the basic mistake made in creation, since as a rule those who do good die younger than those who do harm.

Prayer: Ofún Sá Aleté Omá Ikú Guiña Guiña Omá Orunmila Orugbó.

Ebbó: akukó, adié, eyelé meyi, obí meyi, ekú, eyá…

Alete is the father of Guiña Guiña, and he was talking over a very deep matter with Kabarán Ikú, who is the Power of Death. Guiña Guiña heard it all. One day, while Alete was away, Kabarán Ikú turned up. Guiña Guiña told him Alete was not there, but that it did not matter, that he knew about the matter to be discussed and, without realizing it, he said what he may and what he may not, arguing with Ikú.

Ikú left, and shortly after Alete came home, and Guiña Guiña told him everything they had said. Alete told him that was very badly done, and asked him if he knew who he had been talking to. He said no. «Well, that is Kabarán Ikú, the Power of Death, and you have bound yourself over the secret of Oshukpuá. Now you have to make ebbó, so nothing bad happens to you or to your family. You know Oshukpuá is bound to discuss an important matter with me about the secrets of the Oshas, and she has to come white and shining as always».

She had to pass first by the house of Oké, and there Guiña Guiña had argued with Kabarán Ikú that Oshukpuá would not come. And Kabarán Ikú got angry and said: «If it does not turn out that way, then even though you are the son of Alete, my friend, it will cost you your life».

Guiña Guiña read for himself and saw this Ifá, where Oshukpuá had to come by the road of Obatalá, which was Oké. So he did orugbó with an ounko and plenty of epó for Oké. He carried it all in the hide full of epó. When Oké unwrapped the hide together with Elegbá to eat the ounko, the epó spilled all over the road.

And when Oshukpuá arrived, hurrying and dressed in white, her clothes were dirtied. Having no others, she could not leave Oké's house or go to the meeting, and so Guiña Guiña was able to win the argument against Kabarán Ikú.