O: Oak to Ova-herero 209
Obatala
Along the Gold Coast of West Africa, fronting the Atlantic Ocean, there are
several accounts of the Atlantean deluge among the Yoruba people. They tell
how Olokun, the sea-god, became angry with the sins of men, and sought to cause
their extinction by instigating a massive flood that would drown the whole world.
Many kingdoms perished in the ocean, until a giant hero, Obatala, standing in the
midst of the waters and through his juju, or magical powers, bound Olokun in
seven chains. The seas no longer swelled over the land, and humanity was saved.
In this West African version of the flood, Obatala is the Yoruba version of the
Greco-Atlantean Atlas: Oba denotes kingship, while atala means “white.” Yoruba
priests wear only white robes while worshipping him, and images of the god are
offered only white food. Among these sacrifices are white kola and goats, recall-
ing the Atlantean goat cults known to the ancient Canary Islanders, off the coast
of northwest Africa, and the Iberian Basque. Obatala’s chief title is “King of
Whiteness,” because he is revered as the white-skinned “Ancient Ruler” and
“Father” of the Yoruba race by a native woman, Oduduwa. Like Atlas, Obatala
was a giant in the middle of the sea, and the “seven chains” which signal the end of
the Deluge may coincide with the seven Pleiades, associated throughout much of
world myth with the Flood’s conclusion. Directly across the Atlantic Ocean, in the
west, the Aztec version of Atlantis—Aztlan—was referred to as the “White Island.”
In the opposite direction, in the east, Hindu traditions in India described ancestral
origins from Attala, likewise known as the “White Island.”
Olokun, the Yoruba Poseidon, is commemorated at the ceremonial center of
Ife, Nigeria. Its foremost ritual feature is the Opa Oran Yan, a 12-foot tall stone
obelisk with nails driven into its side to form a trident. The monolith also bears
the Egyptian hieroglyph, sekhet, initial of the god Shu, the Egyptian Atlas. To the
north, 2 miles away, lies the presently overgrown Ebo-Olokun, a sacred grove
reminiscent of the same holy precinct described by Plato at the innermost sanctuary
of Atlantis. The site was excavated in the early 20th century by the famous German
archaeologist Leo Frobenius, who found a cast bronze head which “cannot said to
be ‘negro’ in countenance, totally unlike anything Yoruban” (328). These Yoruba
cultural features unmistakably point up the impact made by Atlantean culture-
bearers in West Africa. Even in the remote lower Congo region, an oral tradition
recalls an ancient time when “the sun met the moon and threw mud at it, which
made it less bright. When this meeting happened there was a great flood.”
(See Basque, Leo Frobenius, Guanche, Shu)Oceania Deluge Tradition
Commonly related throughout the islands is the story of an octopus which had
two children, Fire and Water. One day, a terrible struggle broke out between their
descendants, during which the whole world was set on fire, until Water extinguished
the flames with a universal flood. The myth appears to preserve the folk memory