Èṣù is both an orisha

Orisha

An Orisha is a spirit or deity that reflects one of the manifestations of Olodumare in the Yoruba spiritual or religious system....

 and one of the most well-known deities of the Yoruba mythology

Yoruba mythology

The Yorùbá religion comprises the original religious beliefs and practices of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in Southwestern Nigeria and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo, a region that has come to be known as Yorubaland...

 and its related New World traditions

Afro-American religion

Afro-American religions are a number of related religions that developed in the Americas among African slaves and their descendants in various countries of Latin America, the Caribbean, and parts of the southern United States...

.

He has a wide range of responsibilities: the protector of travelers, deity of roads, particularly crossroads, the deity with the power over fortune and misfortune, and the personification of death, a psychopomp

Psychopomp

Psychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage...

. Èṣù is involved within the Orisa (also spelt Orisha or Orixa)-Ifá

Ifá

Ifá refers to the system of divination and the verses of the literary corpus known as the Odú Ifá. Yoruba religion identifies Orunmila as the Grand Priest; as that which revealed Oracle divinity to the world...

 system of the Yoruba as well as in African diasporic faiths like Santería/Lukumi

Santería

Santería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....

 and Candomblé

Candomblé

Candomblé is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion, practised chiefly in Brazil by the "povo de santo" . It originated in the cities of Salvador, the capital of Bahia and Cachoeira, at the time one of the main commercial crossroads for the distribution of products and slave trade to...

 developed by the descendants of enslaved West Africans in the Americas, where Èṣù was and is still sometimes identified with Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Michael  or Santo Niño de Atocha

Santo Niño de Atocha

The Santo Niño de Atocha is a Roman Catholic depiction of the Child Jesus and is popular in the Hispanic cultures of Spain, Mexico, Philippines and the southwestern United States, especially New Mexico.-History:...

, depending on the situation or location.