Aganju

This article is about the spirit. For the song referring to the spirit, see Bebel Gilberto (album).

Aganju (known as Agayú or Aganyú in Latin America) is an Orisha. He is syncretized with Saint Christopher. Aganju is strongly associated with Shango, being either Shango's father or his brother; both Orishas being members of the deified royal family of Oyo.

Yoruba religion

In the Yoruba areas of Nigeria and Benin, Aganju is known as a deified warrior king from the town of Shaki in the present-day Oyo State of Nigeria. He was said to walk with a sword. Shaki is in the northern part of Yorubaland that is hilly and rocky.

Santería and Palo

In Cuba, Aganju is a volcano deity for the practitioners of Santeria/Lucumi religion. But there are no volcanoes in Yorubaland, nor is Aganju associated with volcanoes among the Yoruba people.

Candomblé

In the Afro-Brazilian tradition of Candomblé, Aganjú is worshiped as a manifestation or quality of the Orisha Shango, often called Xango Aganjú. Aganjú represents all that is explosive and lacking control. He is the embodiment of the Volcanoes.

Further reading

• Jo Anna Hunter, Oro Pataki Aganju: A Cross Cultural Approach Towards the Understanding of the Fundamentos of the Orisa Aganju in Nigeria and Cuba, In Orisa Yoruba God and Spiritual Identity in Africa and the Diaspora, edited by Toyin Falola, Ann Genova. New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc. 2006.
• Charles Spencer King.,"Nature's Ancient Religion" ISBN 978-1-4404-1733-7
• Charles Spencer King, "IFA Y Los Orishas: La Religion Antigua De LA Naturaleza" ISBN 1-4610-2898-1