Aganju

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

Aganju
Volcanoes, Wilderness, Desert, River
Member of Orisha
Other names	Aganju
Venerated in	Yoruba religion, Umbanda, Candomble, Santeria, Haitian Vodou, Folk Catholicism
Symbol	sword,fire
Color	red,green,black
Region	Nigeria, Benin, Brazil
Ethnic group	Yoruba people, Fon people
Offspring	Sango
Equivalents
Catholic equivalent	Saint Christopher

Aganju (known as Agayú or Aganyú in Latin America) is an Orisha. He is syncretized with Saint Christopher in the Cuban religion known as Santería.

Aganju is strongly associated with Shango, being either Shango's father or his brotheror somehow having ties; both Orishas being members of the deified royal family of Oyo. Gfftt

Yoruba religion

In the Yoruba areas of Nigeria and Benin Republic, 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 and is said to fight by shooting fire, as opposed to Sango who fights with thunderstones and lightning. Shaki is in the savannah area of northern Yorubaland that has monoliths and boulder outcroppings.

Santería (Lucumí/Regla de Ocha)

In Cuba, Aganju is a volcano deity for the practitioners of Santeria/Lucumi religion. But there are no volcanoes in either Cuba nor 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 also nicknamed "Xangô menino" among Candomblé practitioners. There seems to have been some Cuban influence in the conceptualization of Aganjú among contemporary Candomblé practitioners or at least in some terreiros.

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.