OGUN and EXU: where do the timeless deities reading of postmodernity1 Álvaro Roberto Pires2 Unusual social situations when they appear, carry the signals of distress evident in the position to which we are required to keep a rapid response to stimuli suggested. The momentary lack of preparation that the new framework requires us, articulates and puts into action our ability to generate "a number one hundred" of creative possibilities which we will choose one, maybe two, they will serve the purpose in focus. This was true when we become aware of the event for which this paper was prepared. The event will be a guiding principal myths of origin, produced by European countries, in the interface opposite to those that were conceived by non-European nations, whose focus of critical discussion will involve the fields of communication literature, history, the arts, from anthropology to sociology, political philosophy. We are facing some possible themes in the set of six panels that make up the parallel sessions of the event, all intriguing in relation to the development of feasible arguments that can assist in the discussion and production of new knowledge in the field of human sciences, considering that anthropology african-Brazilian populations of the area chosen for this purpose. Among those issues that relates to the myths of origin and post- modernism was the choice made, thereby centralizing our focus, at least temporarily, in the direction that will give ballast to the narrative discourse that follows, taking into account the existence of other vectors interfere with the locus of attention. Firstly it is necessary to mention that we are speaking from coherences given within the non-European nations, whose diversity of cultural, economic, political, set the tone of colors, meanings, senses, creativity, go-and-forth of "subjects "interacting intensively through the slots of the social fabric. This construction has, in its dynamic, dialectical elements that when confronted with other cultures and nations, hybrids produce results as interesting as its genesis, from which it is possible to create new accents, new swings, new knowledge, new flavors , others wanting in human polyphony. The union of the theme mentioned above along with the macro universe of non- European nationalities led us to construct arguments that are close to the existing reality in the religion of African origin, known among us, Brazilians, as african-Brazilian3, found in its fullness within the communities-yard4, where sociality, convergence for mutual aid, 1 Text presented at the International Congress of Nationalities Europe Myths of Origin: speeches modern and postmodern, held fron 9 to 11 May 2011 at The University of Aveiro, Portugal, The panel Myths of Origin and Postmodernity. 2 Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology at The Federal University of Maranhão (college) Faculty of The Graduate Program in Social Sciences (PPGCSoc/college), researcher at the Center for African Studies, University of Porto (CEAUP) responsible for the line Religion and Ethnicity Research Group for Research and Rhythms of Identity (college/CNPq). E-mail: [email protected]. Skipe: logunede 54. 3 We will beusing here the category of “african-brazilian” to designate the religious pantheon found today in Brazil covering a variety of ritual (among which we mention Candomblé, Umbanda, the barrel-of-mine, Xangô, the drumming, among others), which were derived from the black african culture, amalgamated in the country through slavery and the diasporic processes. 4 Is called in Brazil the term community-yard happens to the place where the sacred ceremonies in praise of the deities of the pantheon of african-brazilian religion. The uification of the terms gives us the exact measure of the complexity that exists in ritual is found in candomble, barrel-of-mine, umbanda, etc. “Communities” was linked to religions or social activies perfmed in-house, everything there is made has the characteristic of being from the collective point of view, although the individual actions have an important role (the orisha is reciprocal gestures and attitudes, is merged in the sacred territory, where the deities of the pantheon that black religiosity celebrate with the fans and the guests tributes prepared on the circularity of myth. The framework of social relations maintained within the communities-yard configures other forms of man's relationship with the sacred, and is the breeding ground for considering the joints in order of discourse that may assist with the construction of reading about the social phenomenon known as post-modernity. For both the presence of two important bodies of religious pantheon african american will be fundamental to our relationship, with regard to the construction of distinct worldviews that can show the difference of a constituent untamed look according to the logic of contemporary thought. We are talking of Ogun and Exu. Orishas that the second title of this paper are timeless, that is, beyond the human temporality given through the demarcation of their chronology. In an attempt to better understand the meaning of the deity, which will have an important role in our arguments, it is necessary to bring to light Verger (1981) when he talks about this deity. The religion of the orishas is linked to the notion of family. The families, originating from a common ancestor, which encompasses the living and the dead. The orisha would, in principle, a deified ancestor who, in life, had established ties who had guaranteed a certain control over the forces of nature, like thunder, wind, salt or fresh water, or else, assuring his ability to exercise certain activities such as hunting, metal work, or even acquiring knowledge of the properties of plants and their use. Power, àse, the ancestor-deity would, after his death, the power to incarnate itself momentarily in one of his descendants for possession of a phenomenon caused by it. (P. 18). The phenomenon of possession is to be the link before the passage of human life for my divinity within the mythic power that provides meaning and direction to a certain coherence given to the world-yard built by the communities. We can illustrate the above argument by noting that "Ogun would have become deity when he realized was lamenting that had just been massacred in a thoughtless moment of anger, the inhabitants of the town of Ire, founded by him and no longer recognized her when he returned there after a long absence" (ibid., pg. 18). So the possession within the communities-yard has fundamental significance for the initiation and continuation of the rites of religion african-Brazilian, regardless of the ancestral family which will be part of. This post here the circularity of the matrices that sacred, through the established relationship with their deities, expands the power of individuals to perform as well as its social, optimizing the balance in the world, from a particular position of those who are located in interior of the sacred territory. While we have made mention in the excerpt above the deity Ogun, would be appropriate to start our arguments with him that comes first in any ceremony of religion african-Brazilian Exu. This is a controversial divinity, contradictory, as defined by a single point may result in errors. The best way to define it would be from the word individualized offerings are unique...). The “yard” approuches the concept of territory (sacred or profane), in wchich there are seated the headquarters of the ancestral family, in wchich the deities “assembled” in their children are honored at public festivals, thereby remarking the circularity of the myth fouding through the rite. The community-yard is the space of ambivalence and asymmetry. ambivalence. His ambivalence is so notorious that perhaps we could say that Eshu is the very embodiment of the dialectical aspects of the world. The sociologist Bauman in introducing his book Modernity and ambivalence ambivalence precisely defines the term with the properties that can be used to understand the forces which support the actions of the deity Eshu, like the universe turned on which it acts. Ambivalence, the possibility of giving an object or event more than one category, is a specific disorder of language, a failure in the nominating (...) that language must play. The main symptom of the disorder is the acute discomfort we feel when we are unable to accurately read the situation and choose between alternative actions. (Bauman, 1999: 9). (Emphasis added.) This ambivalence has spoken of Bauman proximity to Exu, the god par excellence of communication, one that possesses the power of the word and sending offerings to other deities. Many believe that this deity is responsible for communication between the diviner Orunmilá, the god of the oracle, the men and the deities, as have the myths. The communication through the art of divination has a primary role within the african-Brazilian religion and that originated with African roots. The right to carry out set of shells in the yard-communities of Brazil and is given to babalorixás yalorixás, those who are positioned at the very top of the hierarchy of their homes. Exu is the master of communication when it is present in this guessing game, this time the pair disorder / order of language is present in the active principle of Eshu, which makes this switch appear in human actions, leading subsequently to equilibrium, which yields again the ambivalence in a dialectical circularity. This binomial is present everywhere, but symbolically it materializes in places where people do their shopping, weekly, daily or monthly, the food will make the fortified body, and soul that will be served through the offering brought by Exu. I speak of markets and fairs. We know that the fairs or markets are important for the African people but also for the saint-in Brazil and other countries, cities.