White clothSnailCoconutWhite flowersShea butterCocoa butterWhite chalkCool water
Invocation Approach
Tone
Reverent quiet
Address
Baba ObatalaOrisa-nlaKing in White
Relationship
The father who makes the body and asks for peace
Warning
His priests do not drink palm wine and he does not tolerate cruelty
Resonance
Those who make things with their hands those who need peace
Symbols
White clothSnail shellStaffElephantWhite chalkCalabash
Mythology Summary
Obatala is the orisha of creation, whiteness, peace and wisdom, and in the Ifa account Olodumare gave him the work of making the land at Ile-Ife with a chain, a snail shell of earth and a hen. He also moulds human bodies, and the tradition says he drank palm wine before one such moulding and made bodies that were deformed; his followers therefore abstain from palm wine, and he is the orisha of those born albino, blind or disabled. 'Orisa-nla' is his praise-name, and the white cloth, the snail (igbin), the staff and the cool water are the tradition's. In Cuba he is syncretised with Our Lady of Mercy (24 September).
Modern Practice
Obatala is served in white: white cloth, white flowers, coconut, shea and cocoa butter, cool water, and the snail. His priests keep the palm-wine prohibition, and his shrines are places of peacemaking and of care for children and for those whose bodies the tradition marks as his. The white is not a colour scheme but the orisha's own.