Sopona

Sopona Africa
The Yoruban god of smallpox. He prowls about ‘when the sun is hot, robed in scarlet’. Though zealously propitiated, he lacks the authority of Esu, whose task is checking upon the correctness of worship and sacrifices, and reporting to Olorun on the deeds of men and divinities, orisa. Sopona is an erratic manifestation of disease, a sudden calamity, while Esu represents the watchfulness of heaven, judging the blameworthy and the blessed.