J.
Arrencivia, Ambita (as murciélago [bat]); cedar, 10.25”x7.25”x2.75”;
Havana, 2001. One of at least three principal figurative styles of Ambita
in Havana,the “bat” is actually an anatomical blend of ferocious
bat and human male, complete with a muscular chest and a prodigious penis.
The two other versions of Ambita are variations on the theme of an anthropomorphic
Devil, a bearded Dracula-like figure with bat’s wings. Ambita is
an orisha received by babalawos who follow, and have access
to, the tradition of Miguel Febles Padrón Odí Ká
(1911-1986), a famous and controversial figure who was also a priest of
Changó. Ambita, some say, is one part Osain--the master of sacred
plants and charms-one part Changó, and one part “El Diablo”
(The Devil). Practically speaking, it seems, Ambita is a powerful form
of Osain that Miguel Febles developed out of a principal “road”
(camino) of his personal Ifá sign, Odí Ká.
It is an aggressive and offensively oriented Osain based in witchcraft
(brujería). Indeed, as some babalawos explain, the
sign that Miguel Febles “lived,” and from which Ambita emerged,
is the sign and origin of the“vampire” (vampiro), a being
that lives by sucking dry the lifeblood of others. Moreover, one ofOdí
Ká’s “sayings” is: “the spider that procreates
in the cemetery,” that is, grows and multiplies by consuming human
bodies. While Febles’ harshest detractors define Ambita as merely an invention (i.e.,subverts tradition), his advocates define Ambita as
a "creation” based precisely, and justifiably, in the fierce
“logic” of Odí Ká. Though the “Vampire”
and “The Devil” are figments of Western theology, Ambita’s
searing “fire” and “witchcraft” link up within an
Afro-Cuban logic with a highly dangerous Eshu called Alosí, popularly
associated with “The Devil.” Eshu, an orisha who is a
trickster and troublemaker, can do evil as Alosi.
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