Hi! Any intellectual fellow here who's interested in discussing Yoruba deities?

I'm not a Yoruba tho.

I love mythology! And respect the African culture...

Any one here who knows about the Yoruba creation story, deities, priests/priestesses, ancient culture... Etc.

Drop a message on the thread, I'll drop my email.

Thanks!

Go on culture and spirituality section you see enough material to enjoy your curiosity

Sonmvayina
Omoluabi1stborn
Rossukku
Emmanuelpopson
Pagan9ja
Imperialyoruba
Abohboy


Can you guys help me out? Thanks!

sweetshisha:
Go on culture and spirituality section you see enough material to enjoy your curiosity

Yeah... I did. Nothing much. Plus it helps if I have some to chat with.

This is the second busiest section... Thanks!

ePoster:
Yeah... I did. Nothing much. Plus it helps if I have some to chat with.

This is the second busiest section... Thanks!

Ok

Yoruba mythology is pretty much straight forward... We have one God or Supreme being called Eledumare, then we have 17 dieties, Orisha or lesser gods sent by Eledumare to earth to fulfill specific task in helping humanity.

Like most myth... God Eledumare sent specific instructions to guide the Yoruba race through Orunmila and the scroll bis known as Odu IFA, it is accessible only through binary of IFA chain Opele, palm, or Kola nut.. like binary system in maths, everycode in Odu IFA(Yoruba Bible/Quran) is in 0s and 1s



.

ePoster:
Yeah... I did. Nothing much. Plus it helps if I have some to chat with.

This is the second busiest section... Thanks!

Aunty evening newspaper Is bored lol.....

sweetshisha:


Ok

Yoruba mythology is pretty much straight forward... We have one God or Supreme being called Eledumare, then we have 17 dieties, Orisha or lesser gods sent by Eledumare to earth to fulfill specific task in helping humanity.

Like most myth... God Eledumare sent specific instructions to guide the Yoruba race through Orunmila and the scroll bis known as Odu IFA, it is accessible only through binary of IFA chain Opele, palm, or Kola nut.. like binary system in maths, everycode in Odu IFA(Yoruba Bible/Quran) is in 0s and 1s



.

Hmm. Thanks!

I was searching for books on Yoruba mythology. But couldn't find any.

I really want to know each Orisha. For example, I absolutely admire OYÁ. I want to know her story... Same with the others...

If there's any site/book to read or historian that I am follow who's published works on this... I would really appreciate it.

I have so many Yoruba friends... But most Nigerians don't appreciate their history, they prefer to tag it as juju....

Soo, I can't go about asking people about ancient deities

I know the simple stories like the creation story with the gold chain, hen and kernel nut and how Sango was defeated.. but I would love a compilation.

Evolutionlove:


Aunty evening newspaper Is bored lol.....

Get a life...

How does my quest for knowledge equate to boredom?

I've left nairaland for your kind, be grateful.

Watch them on YouTube.

ePoster:
Hmm. Thanks!

I was searching for books on Yoruba mythology. But couldn't find any.

I really want to know each Orisha. For example, I absolutely admire OYÁ. I want to know her story... Same with the others...

If there's any site/book to read or historian that I am follow who's published works on this... I would really appreciate it.

I have so many Yoruba friends... But most Nigerians don't appreciate their history, they prefer to tag it as juju....

Soo, I can't go about asking people about ancient deities

I know the simple stories like the creation story with the gold chain, hen and kernel nut and how Sango was defeated.. but I would love a compilation.

Havard University website has a comprehensive data
Let me check for the link

I think this is it https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/yoruba or you can google Harvard coarsewares on Yoruba, IFA and Divinity

sweetshisha:


Havard University website has a comprehensive data
Let me check for the link

I think this is it https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/yoruba or you can google Harvard coarsewares on Yoruba, IFA and Divinity

The information on the link claims, Yoruba name was given to the people by Hausa. Sources:
April Gordon, Nigeria’s Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2003).

Unfortunately, before Hausa Arabic script, was 1615 by Buba Ahmed,who identified these people with the same name two hundred and fifty years or so earlier. And it shows , Hausa were not the people who named yorubas as Yoruba but from a source, yet unravel because the man who had knowledge of the Yoruba people in his account is of Berber or Maghreb in origin.

Olu317:
The information on the link claims, Yoruba name was given to the people by Hausa. Sources:
April Gordon, Nigeria’s Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2003).

Unfortunately, before Hausa Arabic script, was 1615 by Buba Ahmed,who identified these people with the same name two hundred and fifty years or so earlier. And it shows , Hausa were not the people who named yorubas as Yoruba but from a source, yet unravel because the man who had knowledge of the Yoruba people in his account is of Berber or Maghreb in origin.

Till date nobody knows who named the world Earth

British didn't name England, Scotland or Ireland

French didn't name France

Back then your town name is mostly what you trade partners refer you to


Like nameless Ibadan was tagged by travellers eba odan

Op, if you are looking for Yoruba myth.

1. Go to google and search for few quotes, to enhance

2. Add yourself in some groups of Risa worshippers on Facebook or others

3. visit different Ifaodu priests to enhance your knowledge; both educated in western knowledge and pure indeginous Yoruba Ifaodu priests.

4. Send me a mail. Xylovoice@gmail.com. Let me share three account of Yoruba creation myth,in which you will see understand the creation myth which is devoid of politic that involved two believer of OduduIwa and Obatala.



Cheers

sweetshisha:


Havard University website has a comprehensive data
Let me check for the link

I think this is it https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/yoruba or you can google Harvard coarsewares on Yoruba, IFA and Divinity

Thanks alot! I'll do so.

sweetshisha:


Till date nobody knows who named the world Earth

British didn't name England, Scotland or Ireland

French didn't name France

Back then your town name is mostly what you trade partners refer you to


Like nameless Ibadan was tagged by travellers eba odan

People have indigenous name for cosmos even if people differ on how the earth came to be in each group's mythology

The word used by Brits is what you mentioned as Earth. Thus, this is what you and I understand itto be in Anglo phone termology.

What you posted as a name of my town is often found amongst groups of people who settled down in such location. Importantly,your case study on 'Eba Odan'. The name Ibadan was what you reffered and I am sure you realise that the speakers of the language actually named the place,in which the outsider accepted and inhabitants accepted . More realistically ,the indigenous founder of the land.

question is: Who named Scotland , Britain Ireland or whatsoever , you intend to posit. Or, is your intention not what you stated on your reply to me? Kindly clarify.

MikeofKd:
Watch them on YouTube.

oh. Thanks.

Any channel you can recommend?

Olu317:
Op, if you are looking for Yoruba myth.

1. Go to google and search for few quotes, to enhance

2. Add yourself in some groups of Risa worshippers on Facebook or others

3. visit different Ifaodu priests to enhance your knowledge; both educated in western knowledge and pure indeginous Yoruba Ifaodu priests.

4. Send me a mail. Xylovoice@gmail.com. Let me share three account of Yoruba creation myth,in which you will see understand the creation myth which is devoid of politic that involved two believer of OduduIwa and Obatala.



Cheers

I'll send a mail! Thanks so much.

I have joined several groups on Facebook... Thanks.

ePoster:
oh. Thanks.

Any channel you can recommend?

Yeah check out the legends of history on youtube .They have gat stories about the Yoruba deities.

I have interest too in Yorba mythology. But will be more interested in igbo traditional religion or omenani. I know lucifer is oshun, she is also Mary the mother of Jesus, Ishtar, astarte, inanna , apheodite...

She is the orisha of love, war and death...

sonmvayina:
I have interest too in Yorba mythology. But will be more interested in igbo traditional religion or omenani. I know lucifer is oshun, she is also Mary the mother of Jesus, Ishtar, astarte, inanna , apheodite...

She is the orisha of love, war and death...

Yoruba tradition do not place authority on any devil but on the intricasy on good and bad, which were the positive and negative force.

And if you understand how negative power and positve attract /fuse to generate electricity , remains the same pattern in Yorubas Creation myth are established in Yoruba traditional ifaodu corpus.

Olu317:
Yoruba tradition do not place authority any devil but on the intricasy on good and bad,which were the positive and negative force.

And if you understand how negative power and positve attract /fuse to generated electricity , is also the same way Creation myth is established in Yoruba traditional ifaodu corpus.

I understand...thanks for the clarity...

sonmvayina:


I understand...thanks for the clarity...

No p in the first place. Just informing from my research angle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnBlGO4tjzo

sonmvayina:
I have interest too in Yorba mythology. But will be more interested in igbo traditional religion or omenani. I know lucifer is oshun, she is also Mary the mother of Jesus, Ishtar, astarte, inanna , apheodite...

She is the orisha of love, war and death...

Ther is no lucifer in ancient Hebrew Torah,written in ideograms . These ideogram have been continously transliterated and translated to mean 'adversary'. And the word in theTorah is not same as English interpretation made it to be. It

Funnily, Yoruba tradition has no room for any rivalry with the Eledumare or Ela,who was/is the voice of Eledumare,and wreath with every other power that is in Yoruba's ori(God's head-Ela-Eledumare). So, devil is just anti human and not human being,which theyare known in Yoruba as ṣọtẹ̀ní.Ọṣùn being defied has history as a woman but later in life became venerated. It is just as my ancestors were defied as I stand to be defied .


Cheers

TAO11:
My Position:

(1) “Ọbàtálá” (from: “Ọba-Ìdẹ̀ta-Ńlá”) = “Great King of ìdẹ̀ta”. (Was deified as Òrìṣà-Ńlá. He ruled Ìdẹ̀ta).

(2) “Òrìṣà” (from: “Òrìṣẹ̀”) = “The Source of Emergence”. (Applies originally to God Almighty himself, and later to the deified heroes & heroines).

Cc: macof

I think this is a better thread for this.

I have to commend this here. It shows a deep attention to details and I never saw the possibility of "ideta" being referenced there but I can see how it is possible now.


Here's mine...
I'm also playing around with the idea that "lá" could be an old word for "sleep" hence connecting it to "àlá". Ie. "Ọbà ti ó lá"

Obatala is one of the most ancient deities to be worshipped if not oldest but I just don't see the name "Obatala" to be anywhere as old as the veneration of the deity. Just like you, I think the name is from the Ife-Ugbo schism era in reference to the historical events of that time. Those who are familiar with Obatala's reputation to have slept on the job would know that is what is regarded to have cost him his loss to oduduwa. Another possible name in reference to this could be "Obalesun". Òrìṣà Ńlá and Òrìṣàlà are the more ancient names of the deity

Another factor to this is that in Igbo, "la ula" means to "to sleep" where Yoruba would say "la ala" to say "to dream"

You may ask what then happened to the older word for "dream" if my theory is correct Well I'll respond later.. I promise its interesting

As to "òrìṣà" I'm still trying to understand the - Ṣà/ṣẹ̀ - bit. I don't want to focus only on yoruba since forms of the word is present in related languages. But just as I said about ọbàtálá being in my opinion the oldest deity worshipped by our ancestors.. Aspects of this diety today might be derived from the supreme being or vice versa. Names like Lisa among the Fon, Olisa among the Igbo, Oniso/Osa among Edoid speakers and Oritse in Itsekiri influence this thought.

@redbonesmith, 0balufonlll

I like the “Ọbà tí ó lá” angle to explaining the name Ọbàtálá.

It clearly has a greater explanatory scope and power than the popular etymology from: “Ọba ti àlà”.

The bigger question (to which a related one is already anticipated), however, is as follows:

Can we be certain that the Yorubas (or any Yoruba subgroup) use, or once used “lá” for “sleep”?

More than that, there seems to be a difficulty (one which may be impossible to fix) with this etymology.

This difficulty stems from the phrase “Ọbà tí ó lá” as the proposed components of the name Ọbàtálá.

This phrase is supposed to literally mean: “the king who fell asleep,” the word “Ọbà” as it appears there doesn’t translate to “king”.

On the flip side, even if one were to propose that the etymology is: “Ọba tí ó lá,” (in which case the “Ọba” now translates to “king”), another problem surfaces.

And this is the problem of reconciling this etymology (Ọba tí ó lá) with the actual name “Ọbàtálá“ which shows “Ọbà,” and NOT “Ọba”.

In other words, how does one account linguistically for the shift of the “Ọba” in “Ọba tí ó lá“ (particularly the ‘re’ sound of the “a”) to the “Ọbà“ in “Ọbàtálá“ (particularly the ‘do’ sound of the “a”)?

In contrast to the etymology from “Ọba Ìdẹ̀ta Ńlá,” the shift of the “Ọba” in “Ọba Ìdẹ̀ta Ńlá“ to the “Ọbà“ in “Ọbàtálá“ is clearly explainable — just as the shift from the “ta” to “tá”.

Regarding the Yoruba word “Òrìṣà,” to which its nearest corresponding form is the Istesikiris’ “Òrìṣẹ̀“.

This present Itsekiri version appears to be the oldest known Yoruba form and usage.

In other words, it is the form whose components can be reasonably analyzed in the Yoruba language.

If that indeed is the case, then the Yoruba word “Òrìṣà” would have initially applied to the supreme being himself.

In that case this word would clearly translate to “the source from which all emanates” — that is, “Òrìṣẹ̀“.

There appears to be some scholarly support for this as we read the following from Professor Akintoye’s “A History of the Yoruba People”:

“The realm of the spirits was conceived as consisting of two spheres — a higher and a lower. The higher was the place of the Supreme Olodumare who created all things and ruled over all existence. This Supreme Being was first given the name Orisa — roughly meaning “the source from which all things emanated.” Later, to this name was added Olorun (king of heaven) and Oluwa (king over all). Though some Yoruba groups (especially the southern and eastern peoples like the Ijesa, Ondo, Ikale, Owo and Ekiti) continued to apply the name Orisa to the Supreme Being, that name generally came to be used for the highest heavenly beings who were said to have being with the Supreme Being at the time when the Supreme Being created all things, and whom the Supreme Being later sent to the lower spiritual sphere where they became the most senior gods.” ~ S. Adebanji Akintoye, “A History of the Yoruba People,” Amalion Publishing 2010, pp. 31-32.

Cc: macof, RedboneSmith, 0balufonlll

Following.....

TAO11:
I like the “Ọbà tí ó lá” angle to explaining the name Ọbàtálá.

It clearly has a greater explanatory scope and power than the popular etymology from: “Ọba ti àlà”.

The bigger question (to which a related one is already anticipated), however, is as follows:

Can we be certain that the Yorubas (or any Yoruba subgroup) use, or once used “lá” for “sleep”?

More than that, there seems to be a difficulty (one which may be impossible to fix) with this etymology.

This difficulty stems from the phrase “Ọbà tí ó lá” as the proposed components of the name Ọbàtálá.

This phrase is supposed to literally mean: “the king who fell asleep,” the word “Ọbà” as it appears there doesn’t translate to “king”.

On the flip side, even if one were to propose that the etymology is: “Ọba tí ó lá,” (in which case the “Ọba” now translates to “king”, another problem surfaces.

And this is the problem of reconciling this etymology (Ọba tí ó lá) with the actual name “Ọbàtálá“ which shows “Ọbà”, and NOT “Ọba”.

In other words, how does one account linguistically for the shift of the “Ọba” in “Ọba tí ó lá“ (particularly the ‘re’ sound of the “a”) to the “Ọbà“ in “Ọbàtálá“ (particularly the ‘do’ sound of the “a”)?

In contrast to the etymology from “Ọba Ìdẹ̀ta Ńlá,” the shift of the “Ọba” in “Ọba Ìdẹ̀ta Ńlá“ to the “Ọbà“ in “Ọbàtálá“ is clearly explainable — just as the shift from the ta” to “tá”.

Indeed it is not without complications.

I'm not certain of the "lá" = sleep idea yet among Yoruboid groups as I'm only familiar with two other words that roughly express the same concept "orun" and "sùn"
But - la type words appear in other related languages.
In addition to the example in igbo I mentioned in my previous post.. In Nupe it is "le" ie. "Le ele". Which is consistent with Nupe-Yoruba vowel shift of e - a But on the flip side " to dream" is "na ena" which could be a consonant shift of n - l .. But I have no examples so I'm not holding the consonant shift possibility on the same level as the vowel shift

Alternatively maybe "ena" and "ele" are derived from the same source in Nupe

___

Well, if we look at other historical cum spiritual figures like Ọbàlúayé and Ọbàlùfọ̀n we have "Ọbà" just as in Ọbàtálá
And "bà" which means to "exert oneself", "to perch".
Although I know it is more common to render it as "Ọba".

Regarding the Yoruba word “Òrìṣà”, to which its nearest corresponding form is the Istesikiris’ “Òrìṣẹ̀“.

This Itsekiris’ version appears to be the oldest known form and usage.

In other words, it is the form whose components can be reasonably analyzed in the Yoruba language.

If that indeed is the case, then the Yoruba word “Òrìṣà” would have initially applied to the supreme being himself.

In that case this word would clearly translate to the source from which all emanates” — that is, “Òrìṣẹ̀“.

There appears to be some scholarly support for this as wee read the following from Professor Akintoye’s “A History of the Yoruba People”:

“The realm of the spirits was conceived as consisting of two spheres — a higher and a lower. The higher was the place of the Supreme Olodumare who created all things and ruled over all existence. This Supreme Being was first given the name Orisa — roughly meaning “the source from which all things emanated.” Later, to this name was added Olorun (king of heaven) and Oluwa (king over all). Though some Yoruba groups (especially the southern and eastern peoples like the Ijesa, Ondo, Ikale, Owo and Ekiti) continued to apply the name Orisa to the Supreme Being, that name generally came to be used for the highest heavenly beings who were said to have being with the Supreme Being at the time when the Supreme Being created all things, and whom the Supreme Being later sent to the lower spiritual sphere where they became the most senior gods.”

~ S. Adebanji Akintoye, “A History of the Yoruba People,” Amalion Publishing 2010, pp. 31-32.

Cc: macof, RedboneSmith, 0balufonlll

It's really interesting to think that Òrìṣàlà might have been given the name of the supreme being.. Or perhaps worshipped as one part of the supreme being as it appears there might have been a sort of duality with the supreme being in ancient times.

I wonder how "Olisa" can be broken down in igbo