Chango The King of Lightning by Ire Aye
copyright 2010 ire aye
Chango is one of the most talked about and most favorable orisha of Santeria. Chango also know as Shango, Sango, Alufina, Xango in Brazil, was a great warrior. He is the orisha of the thunder and thunderbolt. He is the thunderbolt that falls from the sky upon the land. When you hear the loud sound of thunder roaring through the heavens, it is Chango that is riding his white horse looking to serve justice. Chango is seen as a tall handsome man with an extreme physique. He is always dressed in satin outfits with his tiger skin wrapped around him. His crown is always firm on his head and it is always shining. His colors are red and white and in the home of a priest, he lives in a wooden batea (vessel), where his secrets and implements are kept. Chango loves to dance and he knows how to hype up a party. When he arrives, the party has just begun as he will dance and impress everyone that is there. He is also the owner of the bátá drums (the double headed drums in Santeria). When he finishes his dance, he is quick to grab the drums to show his skills.
Chango is a womanizer. He loves to flirt with all women. His dance is very seductive in which he uses to seduce his woman onlookers. Chango had many relations with females from every village. Maybe out of all the orishas he had the most with all and any woman. He had 3 wives that he loved dearly, each for their own special characteristics. Ochun, Obba and Oya. He loved Ochun for her flirtatious and cunning ways, as she kept the lust between them. Whenever Chango needed that spark for lust he will look for Oshun sometimes at a festival where should we be dancing and flirting amongst all the orishas. Oshun would bedazzle him with her exotic dance.
Obba he loved dearly for she was the way a wife is idolized. The relation he had with Obba was so pure that he made her his legitimate wife and queen of his village in Oyo. She was the one who tended to his every need and made sure that the king was satisfied as the way he should be as well with her cooking as she knew how to get to a mans stomach. She kept the castle clean and organized and for that Olofi created the first marriage to be recognized. Due to a trick by his jealous mistress Oya (before Oya and Chango were married), Obba did something so disgusting that the king never forgave her and that ended their marriage.
Last Oya, who he stole from his brother Ogun, loved because she did not fear anyone. Oya was the one that gave him that life and spark that he needed. She always surprised him. She was a warrior that could stand right next to the king Chango. She would go with him into any and all battles that Chango had. It is said that Oya would ride on her horse first before any battle that Chango had. If you look today, when a storm is approaching, lightning which is also Oya, flashes across the sky, then soon after you will hear the sounds of Chango's horse galloping through the skies which is the thunder. If you're lucky enough, you will also see Chango throwing a thunderbolt down to the earth.