Ogum

According to Yoruba mythology, the supreme god Olorum (or Olodumare) created the orishas. The first of them, Oxalá, created the world and humanity.

In this primordial land, called Ilê-Ifé, human beings and orixás lived side by side. There was a time when the population increased and there was a need to create new planting areas. The orixás got together to decide what to do and some of them even tried to do the job: without success.

That's when Ogun came into action. Wielding a machete, he entered the forest and cleared the land for farming. For this reason, Ogun became known as the orixá that opens the way.

The other orixás watched all that admired, especially for the effectiveness of the material used by Ogun: iron. Until then, few knew the secret of iron, and Ogun was one of them.

The orixás insisted that Ogun reveal the secret of that material, perfect not only for agriculture, but for hunting and war. The warrior orixá only agreed to share his secret when he was offered the reign of Ifé. Ogun then became king.

One day, however, Ogun went hunting and it took him a long time to return. When he returned, he was very dirty and his clothes were torn, which made a bad impression on his subjects. The orishas gathered and decided to remove Ogum from his role as governor.

Deeply resentful, Ogun decided to leave, taking his iron tools with him. He chose a distant place called Irê, where he built his house. Since then, human beings are very grateful to this orisha. After all, it was Ogum who shared with us the gift of ironworks, in addition to teaching the ways of hunting and war tactics.
Characteristics of the children of Ogun

In religions of African matrices, people are guided by some orixás. The so-called Orixá de Cabeça is the one by which people call themselves children and, consequently, have their personality and even physical characteristics. The children of Ogun usually have some of these characteristics:

     They are usually people who get angry easily and have very strong opinions in what they believe;
     Are impulsive;
     They are usually people with strong physique;
     They consider sport a form of leisure and even a way to channel all their energy;
     They are immediate people and considered quarrelsome;
     They are determined about what they want and faithfully follow their values.