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The Devil or A Trickster: Demystifying The Character Of Esu

By Olu S. Ayo
12 March 2023   |   12:30 pm
Of all the major misconception of the traditional Yoruba mythology, the modern representation of the god, Esu, stands as more ludicrous. The contemporary perception of Esu place him as no more than the renowned devil or Satan in the Christian faith. However, the term Esu did not emerge from contemporary usage. It is a name…

Of all the major misconception of the traditional Yoruba mythology, the modern representation of the god, Esu, stands as more ludicrous. The contemporary perception of Esu place him as no more than the renowned devil or Satan in the Christian faith. However, the term Esu did not emerge from contemporary usage. It is a name that has existed through Yoruba mythology and, the character signifies a different personality.

In Yoruba mythology, the Supreme God is termed Olodumare, who created every living being including humans, natural environments, firmaments, and animals. Olodumare also created other gods called Orishas who he made lesser in power than himself by narrowing their functions to one or two primary duties. For instance, Ogun is made the god of iron and metal works, which made him to become associated with war and justice. Another example is Osun, who is deemed the goddess of the rivers, with her metaphorical functions including purity, fertility and love.
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Similar to Ogun and Osun, Esu stands as another god with a unique primary function—acting as an intermediary mostly between humans and the other gods or deities. His function as an intermediary involves taking up sacrifices prepared by humans to the other gods. For instance, a person, who seeks justice for a wrongful deed done to him or her usually prepares a sacrificial ritual with the completion being that Esu will take the sacrifice over to the heavens where the supreme God resides. As a result of his function as an intermediary, most Yoruba see Esu as having one of the most sensitive duties.

Apart from functioning as an intermediary, Esu also represents the avenger with his function including, dispersing punishments under the command of the supreme God to erring humans. Esu’ primary function of taking and delivering messages from humans to other gods often tempts him to err during his missions. In fact, the Yoruba cosmology revealed that Esu formerly resided in heaven with the other gods. However, as a result of Esu’s nature of being a trickster in his misconstruing the messages he delivered, he was banned from entering the gate of heaven by Olodumare. Thereafter, Esu was made to only reside on earth and continue his primary function of sending sacrifices from humans to the other deities.

The Yoruba cosmology description of Esu differs considerably from those of the contemporary times who placed the character of Esu as a malevolent being, while placing more focus on his trickery than on his primary functions. The contemporary Esu is seen as synonymous to the Christian term Satan, the fallen angel who only seeks to destroy and trick humans to err. However, the character of Esu varies considerably from that of Satan. On one hand, the traditional Yoruba representation of Esu sees him as a messenger of humans to the other gods. The two descriptions of Esu have both similar and dissimilar characteristics. The contemporary and the traditional description of Esu deemed him as a deity that was restricted to only residing on earth. However, the prior and subsequent functions of Esu differ substantially in the description of the traditional Yoruba cosmology when compared to that of the contemporary description of Satan.

As a result of the adoption of Westernisation, the majority of the values, customs and beliefs of traditional African narratives have been lost or made blurry to modern African children. These days, people are more aware of the fight between good and evil represented by God and Satan. These contemporary beliefs have blurred the true narratives of Yoruba cosmology. A good example of the traditional Yoruba narratives misplaced by Westernisation is that of Esu, the messenger god.

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