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Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? - Culture - Nairaland

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Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ektbear: 11:50pm On Jul 27, 2011
When and how did this happen?

I was listening to the bible in Yoruba and they used the word "Esu" for Satan. Yet from my understanding, Esu was more of a trickster god (like the Norse Loki), and shouldn't be considered the devil.

So was it the missionaries who identified him with Satan? This seems wrong to me.

Finally, do people worship Esu in Yorubaland?
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ChinenyeN(m): 11:56pm On Jul 27, 2011
Same as with Ekwesu. It was a trickster/war god/spirit, but now it is called the Devil. If you ask me, I blame Missionaries.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ektbear: 11:59pm On Jul 27, 2011
Very unfortunate that they did that. It is better to try to understand a culture than to impose yours into it.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by PAGAN9JA(m): 12:06am On Jul 28, 2011
st.upid missionaries. they must be dragged to a Pagan Shrine, beaten raww and sacrificed to the Gods. that will teach them for corrupting the minds of young 9ja ppls. angry angry angry angry

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Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ektbear: 12:11am On Jul 28, 2011
The missionaries did more good than evil, imo. Brought English and education. They helped my hometown a lot.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ChinenyeN(m): 12:14am On Jul 28, 2011
ekt_bear:

Very unfortunate that they did that. It is better to try to understand a culture than to impose yours into it.
Exactly. We all know though that understanding wasn't their objective. In fact, Ekwesu was one of the tutelary deities of my people. We had (and still have) festivals in which the deity would feature. Villages as well as families in my area also bear (or in the case of some, bore) the name of the deity or a name connected to it.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by PAGAN9JA(m): 12:17am On Jul 28, 2011
the missionaries came along with the british. the britsh sucked all our wealth. We were quite well of in those days and anyways after WWII i am sure we would have progressed more, had we been left untouched.

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Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by pleep(m): 12:31am On Jul 28, 2011
I think the missionaries did this to try and make the natives belive that the gods they were worshipping before were actually the devil in desguise.

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Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by Rgp92: 12:45am On Jul 28, 2011
I wonder too, infact Eshu help saved the world from Olokun. He wasnt a bad guy. Hes just like hades, people also associat him with satan.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ChinenyeN(m): 12:54am On Jul 28, 2011
pleep:

I think the missionaries did this to try and make the natives belive that the gods they were worshipping before were actually the devil in desguise.
That's often times the objective. Either that or make the people believe that their gods are lesser deities. The mentality of the pre-modern era can be summed up to one simple statement, if you want to conquer a people, then you must conquer their gods. That is what the Missionaries did.

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Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by Nobody: 1:06am On Jul 28, 2011
We ve dealt with a similar case last yr in the religion section. Brb with my contribution
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by Nobody: 1:09am On Jul 28, 2011
The missionary did not assiociate Esu with satan. They just taught us the machinations of satan. Then our own repentant forefathers saw some of those traits in their form of worship or gods and termed satan 'ESU WHATEVER' in yoruba and 'EKWENSU' in igbo[color=#000099][/color]
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by Rgp92: 1:12am On Jul 28, 2011
Very sad the yorubas didnt have writen system at that time. If they did, the yoruba mythology would have been more popular than it is now. Very sad that our people abandon it for christianity   undecided

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Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by PAGAN9JA(m): 1:17am On Jul 28, 2011
Sogyboy:

The missionary did not assiociate Esu with satan. They just taught us the machinations of satan. Then our own repentant forefathers saw some of those traits in their form of worship or gods and termed satan 'ESU WHATEVER' in yoruba and 'EKWENSU' in igbo[color=#000099][/color]
nonsense. in South America and the philipines, most of the old Gods have been converted into some form of the devil or another. Also the xtians depict the devil with horns and a trident.

the horns are of certain Gods, with features of the Ram or the Cow. the Trident is the trident of Neptune, the God of the Seas. also used in other Pagan cultures like Hinduism.

Rgp92:

I wonder too, infact Eshu help saved the world from Olokun. He wasnt a bad guy. Hes just like hades, people also associat him with satan.

exactly. In fact, the Pagan concept of God is different. some Gods can be a bit evil. this again has something to with the laws of opposing forces. Hades was a God. he was Right even if at times he might have become evil. his evil was for the right purposes.

for E.g. when an animal is injured to the point that there is no recovery, in some western countries or in america, i heard that they euthanise it/put it to sleep. Euthansia is an evil and bad thing. However in this case it is the right thing, because if you dont do that, the animal will suffer for the rest of its life.

I repeat again, Paganism does not distinguish between good or bad. it only distinguishes beween Right or Wrong.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ChinenyeN(m): 1:17am On Jul 28, 2011
Sogyboy:

The missionary did not assiociate Esu with satan. They just taught us the machinations of satan. Then our own repentant forefathers saw some of those traits in their form of worship or gods and termed satan 'ESU WHATEVER' in yoruba and 'EKWENSU' in igbo[color=#000099][/color]
Of course our forefathers had a role in it all, but it was the Missionaries themselves who had a vested interest in propagating the idea of 'Satan' in our cultures (an idea which we apparently lacked) & they had to conquer Esu & Ekwesu to do that, since Esu & Ekwesu were closest culturally relevant approximations we had to their 'Satan'.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ektbear: 1:20am On Jul 28, 2011
Rgp92:

I wonder too, infact Eshu help saved the world from Olokun. He wasnt a bad guy. Hes just like hades, people also associat him with satan.

I have never heard this story. Can you tell it or link to it?
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by PAGAN9JA(m): 1:21am On Jul 28, 2011
ChinenyeN:

Of course our forefathers had a role in it all, but it was the Missionaries themselves who had a vested interest in propagating the idea of 'Satan' in our cultures (an idea which we apparently lacked) & they had to conquer Esu & Ekwesu to do that, since Esu & Ekwesu were closest culturally relevant approximations we had to their 'Satan'.

heh. your forefathers didnt have any role in it. a couple of coins and some food and promise of education was all that was needed to convert them.

Rgp92:

Very sad the yorubas didnt have writen system at that time. If they did, the yoruba mythology would have been more popular than it is now. Very sad that our people abandon it for christianity   undecided

dont worry. most of it still survives. If you are so interested in preserving your tribes religion, then   I suggest you get innitiated and start following immediately.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by ChinenyeN(m): 1:23am On Jul 28, 2011
PAGAN  9JA:

heh. your forefathers didnt have any role in it. a couple of coins and some food and promise of education was all that was needed to convert them.
They had a role in disseminating the idea of 'Satan', as well as a role in 'paganizing' our traditional beliefs.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by kabukabu50(m): 1:33am On Jul 28, 2011
Someone,Anyone move this thread back to "Religion" please, this is way too obnoxious to be on the "FRONT PAGE" grin grin
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by Rgp92: 1:44am On Jul 28, 2011
ekt_bear:

I have never heard this story. Can you tell it or link to it?

http://www.gateway-africa.com/stories/Yoruba_Creation_Myth.html
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by scholes0(m): 2:40am On Jul 28, 2011
I think it stemmed from the Translation of the Bible from Englishh to Yoruba.
I think Ajayi Crowther used the God Eshu for Satan because there was basically no native word for Satan in the local language {Yoruba}, and aming the Yoruba Orisha pantheon, he found the characteristics of Esu most similar to Satan's {I.e} Tricky and all that stuff.
After many Yoruba converted to Christianity, They started associating the god Esu with Satan, which is quite unfortunate, to say the least.

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Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by scholes0(m): 2:42am On Jul 28, 2011
[QUOTE]
I have never heard this story. Can you tell it or link to it?
[/QUOTE]
Sometimes, I find it quite disturbing that The Yoruba and other African people have lost a great chunk of their culture and Heritage.
I was suprised, that many Afro-Brazillians and carribbeans actually know more about Yoruba Mythology than many actual Yoruba people.

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Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by scholes0(m): 2:44am On Jul 28, 2011
[QUOTE]omeone,Anyone move this thread back to "Religion" please, this is way too obnoxious to be on the "FRONT PAGE" [/QUOTE]

What do u mean ''Obnoxious''??
What is obnoxious about it
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by logica(m): 2:48am On Jul 28, 2011
The same reason the god known as Pan by the Greeks gave the well known features of the Devil manifestation: horns, hooves et cetera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god)
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by dayokanu(m): 2:53am On Jul 28, 2011
Hmmmm
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by amor4ce(m): 3:45am On Jul 28, 2011
Wasn't Esu kicked out of heaven for rebellion according to Yoruba mythology?
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by japhet2233: 4:04am On Jul 28, 2011
criminal Yoruba just like OBJ they are thief
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by Nobody: 5:56am On Jul 28, 2011
japhet2233:

criminal Yoruba just like OBJ they are thief

All your geneartions rotten and unborn are criminals.
@topic
Esu wasn't really a good guy so that is why it's been associated with satan.
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by NegroNtns(m): 5:57am On Jul 28, 2011
There were two problems:

1. Yoruba cults - Ogboni, Osugbo.

2. Translation

Before I share what I mean here let me first ask same question I have asked on various forums and coultdnt correct answer to.

Who is Neferu Tintin?
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by Nobody: 6:09am On Jul 28, 2011
scholes0:

I think it stemmed from the Translation of the Bible from Englishh to Yoruba.
I think Ajayi Crowther used the God Eshu for Satan because there was basically no native word for Satan in the local language {Yoruba}, and aming the Yoruba Orisha pantheon, he found the characteristics of Esu most similar to Satan's {I.e} Tricky and all that stuff.
After many Yoruba converted to Christianity, They started associating the god Esu with Satan, which is quite unfortunate, to say the least.

The only answer! No further discussion necessary. Just like the germanic Gudan became "God".
Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by odumchi: 6:18am On Jul 28, 2011
ekt_bear:

The missionaries did more good than evil, imo. Brought English and education. They helped my hometown a lot.

Leave that one sha. As if there was no education and language before the missionaries.
In the 1400s werent Africans attending universities and studying mathematics in a time when Europe was struggling to feed its people?

But this is another striking similarity between Yoruba and Igbo. Two similar words with the same meaning.

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Re: Why Is Esu Associated With Satan? by NegroNtns(m): 6:29am On Jul 28, 2011
Odumchi,

What does ekwesu mean?

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