The natural forces associated with Shango are
fire, thunder, and lightning. Shango has a powerful
aché, and, according to the Lucumi people, when he
opens his mouth or laughs, thunder is heard. His
voice is thunder, and some say he is the god of light-
ning. His most prominent ritual symbol is the oshe,
a double-headed battle-axe. Statues representing
Shango often show the oshe emerging directly from
the top of his head, indicating that war and the slay-
ing of enemies are the essence of his personality and
fate. The oshe is also used by Shango’s priesthood.
While dancing, they hold a wooden oshe close to
their chests as a protection or they swing one in a
wide chest-high arc that battles human and spiritual
enemies. During Shango’s reign, he selected the bata
drums as the specific kind of drum to be played for
him. Shango is said to have played these drums to
summon storms, and they continue to be used by his
devotees. His possession priests perform all sorts of
magical feats at important festivals, including pierc-
ing their tongues with knives without drawing
blood, harmlessly running torches up and down
their bodies, and eating fire.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, thou-
sands of Yoruba, Bini, and Fon people were
uprooted, enslaved, and imported to the
Americas. In some locations in the Caribbean
Islands and South America, they were able to
reestablish Shango’s worship during or after
slavery. Today, Shango is worshipped in Haitian
Voodoo and Cuban Santeria, as well as in the
Candomble of Brazil. Two neo-African religions
in the American context bear his name: Trinidad
Shango (also known as the Shango Baptists) and
the Afro-Brazilian cult Xango, most prominent
in the city of Recife.
George BrandonSee alsoGods; Orisha; Santeria; Yoruba
Further Readings
Bascom, W. R. (1972).Shango in the New World.
Austin: African and Afro-American Research
Institute, University of Texas at Austin.
Brandon, G. (1997).Santeria From Africa to the New
World:The Dead Sell Memories. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.
Carvalho, J. J. (1987).El Culto Shango en Recife, Brasil
[Shango Cult in Recife, Brazil].Caracas, Venezuela:
Consejo Nacional de la Cultura, Centro para las
Culturas Populares y Tradicionales.
Fatunmbi, A. F. (1993).Shango:Ifa and the Spirit of
Lightning.Bronx, NY: Original Publications.
Welch, D. B. (2001).Voice of Thunder,Eyes of Fire:In
Search of Shango in the African Diaspora. Pittsburgh,
PA: Dorrance.SHAWABTI
The shawabti was a small figurine used by the
ancient Egyptians as a companion to the deceased.
The term is probably derived from the word
shawab, which refers to a hard wood used in the
sculpturing of the earliest shawabti. Because it
was believed that death and the afterlife were just
an extension of this life, it was also believed that
the deceased would have the same responsibilities.
For example, many people had to devote time to
shoring up the immigration system as a matter of
fulfilling mandatory duties for the government.
If this were to be the case in the afterlife, the
deceased would not like to break his or her relax-
ation to go to the fields to do this work, thus, the
need for the shawabti to do the work.
In fact, a tomb could have scores of shawabti,
even hundreds of them, depending on the rank
and power of the deceased. There were to be no
activities covered in life that could not be taken
care of in death by the shawabtis. A king who had
been active in life as a hunter, military person, or
visitor to the temples would find shawabtis pre-
pared to carry out these responsibilities for him in
death. Such figurines made out of faience became
some of the classic objects discovered in the tombs
of the nobles and great leaders of Egypt. In many
respects, the idea of the shawabti accompanies
most narratives of death and the afterlife in
African societies. To the degree that the king or
the noble would need workers in the afterlife,
some African societies often requested living per-
sons to “go with the king” to the afterlife to
ensure that all of his needs were met. Some soci-
eties, such as the Yoruba, had a tradition that the
king’s horseman, for example, should accompany
him on his journey. This tradition is directly
linked to the tradition of the shawabti from
ancient Egypt. Whereas the ancient Egyptians
most often used shawabtis, one can find other
African societies where humans were employed in
the same capacity as the shawabtis.614 Shawabti