What Is The Name Of The Yoruba Divination System?

Ifá is an ancient divination system originating from Yorubaland in West Africa, a traditional religion practiced by the Yoruba people and also practiced by followers of West African Vodun and African diasporic religions like Cuban Santería. The divinatory system revolves around Orunmila, the deity of wisdom and divination, who is believed to possess it. The Ifa divination system, which uses an extensive corpus of texts and mathematical formulas, is practiced among Yoruba communities and by the African diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean.

The philosophy of Ifá is a rich and complex spiritual and divinatory tradition with deep roots in history, culture, and the Yoruba people. For the Yoruba people, divination or consultation with the supreme divinity (Orunmila) is of crucial spiritual importance. The oral tradition emphasizes the parit, making Ifa divination an oasis of wisdom, love, and morality.

Ifa is the alternate name for Orunmila, the Yoruba deity around whom the Ifa divination system revolves. Orunmila is described as the creator of the Ifa divination system, the central ritual. The Ifa diviners are most commonly called babalawo or “father has secrets” (baba-li-awo), or simply awo, meaning secrets or mysteries. Ifá divination has been central to the culture of the Yoruba people in south-western Nigeria for about 2,500 years.

What is the divination system of the Yoruba?

The Ifa divination system is a traditional practice among Yoruba communities and the African diaspora in the Americas and Caribbean. It uses a vast corpus of texts and mathematical formulas to interpret signs, interpreting them by a diviner called the Ifa priest or babalawo. This system is used for important decisions and involves a literary corpus called odu, which consists of 256 parts subdivided into verses called ese. Each odu has a specific divination signature determined by the babalawo using sacred palm-nuts and a divination chain.

The ese, considered the most important part of Ifa divination, are chanted by priests in poetic language, reflecting Yoruba history, language, beliefs, cosmovision, and contemporary social issues. The knowledge of Ifa has been preserved within Yoruba communities and transmitted among Ifa priests.

Does Ifa believe in God?

Ifa is a monotheistic religion with a supreme creative figure, Olodumare, who shares power with numerous subsidiary deities representing life or nature elements. These deities act as intercessors between humans and the creator. Ritualistic practice allows believers to access their wisdom and counsel through incantations, prayers, and divination. These deities may speak to the petitioners’ ancestors in dreams, audible sounds, or even in conversation during in-person visits.

What is Yoruba spirituality called?

The Yoruba indigenous religion, Ìṣẹ̀ṣẹ, refers to the traditions and rituals that encompass Yorùbá culture. The term comes from the contraction of the words Ìṣẹ̀, meaning “source/root origin”, and ìṣe, meaning “practice/tradition”, meaning “the original tradition” or “the tradition of antiquity”. Many of the practices, beliefs, traditions, and observances of the Yoruba originate from the religious worship of Olodumare and the veneration of the Orisa.

According to Kola Abimbola, the Yorubas have evolved a robust cosmology, with “Ase” being central to the religion. Every thought and action of each person or being in Aiyé interacts with the Supreme force, all living things, including the Earth, and Orun, the otherworld, where gods, spirits, and ancestors exist. The Yoruba religion can be described as a complex form of polytheism, with a distant creator force encompassing the whole universe.

What is divination Yoruba religion?

In Nigeria, the Yoruba practice divination through a diviner called a babalawo, who seeks information from the deity Ifa to assist in resolving personal, medical, social, political, and religious issues. Ifa provides humans with the capacity to comprehend life forces, to exert influence over events through prayer and sacrifice, and to perform rituals that facilitate healing from illness.

What is the system of Ifa?

Ifa divination, a Yoruba practice, involves interpreting signs in a literary corpus to guide personal or collective decisions. This project aims to ensure intergenerational and peer transmission of Ifa knowledge by formalizing the transfer of knowledge of Ifa priests through the creation of a school. It plans to collect Ifa verses and medicinal recipes to improve training quality and upgrade existing documentation. Awareness-raising activities will be organized among the Yoruba to enhance their culture pride and inform the public about the importance of Ifa.

What is Yoruba music called?

The Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria are a socially diverse group with a unique accomplishment in the arts and entertainment industry, particularly in music. Popular genres such as Jùjú, fùjì, àpàlà, and sákárà music originated among the Yoruba people during the colonial era and gradually became popular forms of music in Nigeria after independence in 1960. This paper traces the origin and significance of Yoruba traditional music in Nigeria, as well as its roles in popularizing the cultural values and heritage of the Yoruba people at home and in the diaspora. Music is argued to be an important medium through which Yoruba values have been sustained in society amidst aggressive cultural imperialism encroaching the African continent.

Ensembles using the dundun play a type of music called dundun, which consists of various sizes of tension drums and special band drums. The leader of a dundun ensemble is the oniyalu, who uses the drum to imitate the tonality of Yoruba. Much of Yoruba music is spiritual in nature, often devoted to Orisas. The most commonly used key pattern in traditional Yoruba drumming is the seven-stroke figure, expressed in both a triple-pulse (12/8 or 6/8) and a duple-pulse (4/4 or 2/2) structure, often sounded on an iron bell.

Is the Yoruba religion voodoo?

The religion of Santaria, which originated in Cuba, is based on the Yoruba religion. Despite their distinct origins, Santaria and Voodoo, which originated from Vodun in Benin and Togo, share similarities.

What is the Yoruba system?

The Yoruba political system was a constitutional monarchy with a system of checks and balances, with the Oba at its apex. It was a large system, but it was subdivided into smaller governmental units. The Oba was not an absolute monarch.

What is the Yoruba Orisha system?

Yoruba tradition suggests there are 400+1 orishas, a sacred number associated with daily life. Practitioners believe that proper alignment and knowledge of one’s Orí, a portion of the soul that determines personal destiny, is crucial. Some orishas are rooted in ancestor worship, with warriors, kings, and city founders being celebrated after death and joining the Yoruba deities. These ancestors were seen to have “disappeared” and become orishas. Some orishas are confined to worship in their families or towns of origin, while others are venerated across wider geographic areas.

What is Ifa divination?

Ifa divination is a unique form of Yoruba spiritual practice that relies on a system of signs interpreted by a diviner, the Ifa priest or babalawo. This system is used for important decisions and is based on the Ifa literary corpus, odu, which consists of 256 parts divided into verses called ese. The ese, considered the most important part of Ifa divination, reflect Yoruba history, language, beliefs, cosmovision, and contemporary social issues. The knowledge of Ifa has been preserved within Yoruba communities and transmitted among Ifa priests.

However, under colonial rule and religious pressures, traditional beliefs and practices were discriminated against. The Ifa priests, who are mostly old, have limited means to maintain the tradition and train future practitioners. As a result, the youth and Yoruba people are losing interest in practicing and consulting Ifa divination, leading to growing intolerance towards traditional divination systems.

Who is the orisha of divination?

Orunmila, the orisha of wisdom and divination, was the only one allowed to witness the creation of the universe by Olorun and our destinies in its making. His priests, known as babalawos, are “Fathers of the Secrets” who devote themselves to divination and accompanying arts. Through the Table of Ifá, Orunmila’s priests reveal the secrets of the universe and our lives. His colors, green and yellow, symbolize his relationship with Osayín, the secrets of the plant world, and Oshún, his apeteví. Orunmila represents wisdom, while Oshún represents knowledge. Wisdom without knowledge is useless, and knowledge without wisdom is a danger to oneself and others.