EXU AND THE YORUBA NOTION OF PERSON: KNOWLEDGE AND LESSONS FOR HUMAN EXISTENCE

Abstract

Exú is one of the most important orixás, a main character in the Yoruba cosmology and in Yoruba know-how. His knowledge is available in several oral narratives and cults in African countries, in Brazil and other places that were the destination of the African diaspora caused by the enslavement process of the black African people. The Orixás are important divinities in Yoruba culture, a way to understand them is to think about them as identification models, sources of axé, divine parents who represent the relationship of belonging of the human being to the cosmic order, which can inspire roles and behaviors. Our goal is to think about how the Yoruba knowledge, through the representation of Exú, can enable understandings about human existence, and bring knowledge and lessons for the way of being and being in the world. For this, we will reflect on some concepts that are closely related to the Yoruba notion of person, such as Iwá (character), okàn (consciousness; heart; intuition), ará (body), orí (head; real essence of the being and its existence, symbolized by the orixá Orí), egbé (community), ojó (time), and onilé (space and environment). We understand in this study that Exú's knowledge is intrinsically related to the Yoruba notion of person, his nature gives us ethical lessons based on rectitude, patience, transgression, emancipation, and self-determination. A dimension of being and being open, creative, dynamic, and pluriversal.