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c h a p t e r t h r e e  A River of Many Turns The Polysemy of Ochún in Afro-Cuban Tradition Isabel Castellanos The Afro-Cuban orichas—and Ochún is not an exception—are far from being simple, monolithic entities. On the contrary, they are multi-vocal, polysemous categories that express a multiplicity of often contradictory meanings. I have used the word “category” advisedly, since orichas, for the most part, are not mere individuals , but sets of personalities or “paths” (caminos) that refer to particular domains of human experience. I will begin by assessing the meanings of Ochún conveyed by her various caminos, followed by a close reading of a few of the patakı́s (myths) associated with her. Finally, I will examine the layers of significance revealed by observing Ochún in interaction with orichas such as Changó, Yemayá, Ogún, and Babalú-Ayé. As John Pemberton III has stated in reference to the o .̀ris .a in Yorubaland: it is when one considers the pantheon as a whole, as a total system, that one discerns that the total assemblage of the gods . . . expresses in its totality a world view. (Pemberton 1977: 8) The Paths of Ochún The term that Afro-Cuban devotees employ to express the multiple guises of the orichas is not “faces,” “personalities,” or “avatars” but caminos, which literally means “roads” or “paths.” Paths indicate movement and are intimately linked to another metaphor frequently present in Afro-Cuban thought—and elsewhere— namely, “life as a journey.”1 Paths are the surfaces that are followed in or defined by a journey. They also indicate the route or course of a journey. Paths have a source and a goal, a point of origin and a point of destination. In other words, most orichas, but not all, as we will see later, are perceived as dynamic, moving, dialectical actors who frequently change their location in the exercise of their power or aché. The faithful usually employ three distinct sentences to speak of an oricha’s “paths” and these sentences engage different and very significant verbs: (1) Los orichas tienen muchos caminos (Orichas have many paths) meaning that the deities are perceived as either “spaces” or “containers” that “possess” or “hold” various “roads,” or as entities capable of owning various “paths”; (2) X es un camino de Y (X is a path of Y)—as in “Ayágguna is a path of Obatalá”—which emphasizes the notion that orichas not only have or follow paths but are paths themselves ; (3) Y viene por camino de X (Y comes by way of X) which foregrounds the imagery of motion, of a journey undertaken by the oricha, who follows a specific, well-known route that has as its ultimate destination the space inhabited by the speaker, i.e., the believer.2 Ochún has five ritually recognized caminos.3 Ochún Ibú-Akuaro—related to the partridge—is hard-working, joyful, young, beautiful, and fond of music and dance. She lives at the point where rivers meet the ocean and under this particular guise she is the wife of Erinle, whom she later abandons to elope with Changó. Erinle causes his wife to lose her wealth, according to a patakı́. Ochún Ololodı́ is Orúnmila’s wife. In this manifestation, she is quite serious and, like her husband, a good diviner. Under this visage Ochún rules over waterfalls and is a conscientious homemaker who enjoys sewing and embroidering. Ochún IbúKole ́—affiliated with the buzzard—is a powerful sorcerer who relies on the buzzard to bring her carrion to eat. Ochún Yumú is an old woman who lives in the depths of the river.4 She is the richest of all Ochúns and so deaf that the faithful must ring a large bell to make themselves heard. Ochún Ibú-Dokó is the wife of Oricha-Oko and the patroness of the sexual act. Instead of the latter camino, some worshipers include among Ochún’s “official” roads Ochún Ibú-Añá, the queen of the drums. Besides these ritually recognized paths, believers recognize other manifestations of this oricha, such as Ochún Yeyé-Moró or Yeyé-Karı́, the most coquettish, alluring, gorgeous, and joyful of them all.5 Despite the diversity of the caminos, the faithful insist that there is but one Ochún. They recognize unity in diversity. The set...

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