Index and reading guide to the orisa section, covering what an orisa is, how worship is organized, each major orisa, the masquerade and cult societies, the festival calendar, the ancestors, and the tradition today.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Dis section dey cover di òrìṣà: wetin dem be, how devotion to dem actually dey organized, di major figures one by one, di masquerade and society tradition dem wey follow dem, di ritual calendar year, di relationship with di dead, and how di tradition dey today.
E dey describe wetin people dey do, e no dey command wetin dem suppose do: ritual instruction no dey here at all, and for place where na only initiates get di knowledge, di files talk am clearly instead of to fill di gap.
Start with 01-what-an-orisa-is. Everything wey remain depend on am. E cover di different definitions from scholars wey dey drag against each oda, di argument wey Karin Barber make about di give-and-take relationship between devotees and òrìṣà, why "god" and "deity" and especially "idol" na bad translation, wetin di number 201 and 401 really dey do, and how òrìṣà relate to Olódùmarè and to di ancestors.
Den 02-how-orisa-worship-is-organized, wey explain say no Yorùbá church dey, and describe wetin dey instead.
Den any òrìṣà wey you come for. Each file stand on im own.
25-orisa-tradition-today na di one to read if your question na about today: how many practitioners dey, why nobody know, and wetin dey actually happen inside Christian and Muslim Yorùbá families.
01-what-an-orisa-is. Di different scholarly definitions; Awolalu three categories and where dem leak; Idowu diffused monotheism and di case against am; wetin Barber find say òrìṣà and devotees dey shape each oda; why standard English translations dey distort meaning; di 201/401/601/801 formulation dem as way to show say e no get number wey fit count am instead of census; òrìṣà in relation to Olódùmarè and to ancestors; and di rule wey keep wetin tradition talk, wetin historians document, and wetin missionaries claim separate from each oda.
02-how-orisa-worship-is-organized. Di congregation as di unit; town and lineage connection dem; priesthood titles and wetin dem mean; di four ways wey person dey take reach an òrìṣà; initiation and di things wey dey restricted about am; ojúbọ, cult house, and grove; household observance against town festival; and why di harmonized "Yoruba religion" wey dey popular talk no match any real place.
04-obatala. Ọbàtálá / Òrìṣàńlá. Di moulding of bodies, coolness, white, di òrìṣà funfun; di creation dispute with Ọdùduwà for inside di two versions and how dem interpret am politically; di Ìtàpá festival as how dem dey perform di dispute every year; di palm wine story and di alámọ̀ rere position wey reject di disability explanation; di Beier pseudonym problem; Oxalá and di Festa do Bonfim.
05-sango. Ṣàngó. Thunder and di Ọ̀yọ́ state cult; Johnson fourth-Aláàfin account and how e take debunk di origin of di cult; Ọba kò so; Duro Ladipọ's 1963 folk opera as di source of most things wey people "know" now; Idowu Jàkúta absorption thesis; Akínyẹmí's revisionist argument say di divinity dey before di state; di festival wey UNESCO recognize; Changó and Xangô. Contested.
06-oya. Ọya. Wind, storm, and di Niger; Johnson verified couplet inside three-layer translation; di buffalo story and di unverified source wey e come from; di twin swords, buffalo horns, and mutton taboo; di correction to di "mother of Egungun" claim; and di Brazilian divergence where Oyá Igbalé keep relationship with di dead while di egun cult separate institutionally. Contested.
07-ogun. Ògún. Iron, war, hunting, di road; di Ògún méje ìjálá verse in full three-layer translation; di Irè massacre with di Irè-Èkìtì variant wey deny Ọdùduwà descent; Ṣóyínká's reading of Ògún as di Yorùbá tragic principle; di occupational cult wey now include drivers and mechanics; Ogum split between Saint George and Saint Anthony for Bahia.
08-esu. Èṣù as òrìṣà. Di crossroads, di carrying of ebọ, di activation of àṣẹ, di testing function; di two-coloured cap; di one verified bilingual oríkì; Johnson 1921 passage as example of accurate ethnography and theological distortion inside di same sentences; di Cuban Eleguá/Eshu split and how Umbanda treat Exu as one class of spirits. Di history of how dem join am with Satan dey inside 04-cosmology, no be here.
09-oduduwa. Ọdùduwà as òrìṣà. Creation divinity and migrating conqueror wey dem join together; di sixteen crowns as compression; di gender question and di Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ shrine to Ọdùduwà as mother of di Yorùbá; di Kisra tradition and wetin e serve as evidence of; and how di name take dey useful for modern politics. Contested.
10-orunmila. Ọ̀rúnmìlà as òrìṣà. Ẹlẹ́rìí Ìpín, di witness to di choosing of destinies; di partnership with Èṣù; di babaláwo as distinct professional structure; and di Brazilian divergence where Ifá no pass down like how e reach Cuba. Di Ifá corpus itself dey inside 05-ifa.
11-osanyin. Ọ̀sanyìn. Ewé, di leaves, and di knowledge of wetin plants dey do; di body with one limb and di ears wey no match; di ọ̀pá Ọ̀sanyìn staff of birds; Verger Ewé; and why dis na di file where di no-instructions rule tight pass.
12-sonponna-obaluaye. Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà and Ọbalúayé. Smallpox and di naming taboo; how di priesthood take control epidemic; Dr Oguntọla Ṣapara and di 1907 colonial ban, together with di reasons to doubt di colonial account; how di ban fail and di permanent damage wey e do to documentary record; and how òrìṣà's take get much bigger prominence for diaspora as direct consequence.
13-osun. Ọ̀ṣun. Di river and Òṣogbo; Ọ̀ṣẹ́túrá, di story of di seventeenth òrìṣà wey dem exclude wey make di arrangement of di world scatter; di founding covenant with Olútìmẹ̀hìn and Ọba Lárooyè; brass, di abẹ̀bẹ̀, honey; di Arugbá and di Àtàọ́ja; di festival and di UNESCO grove; how di focus shift go love and sensuality inside di diaspora, wey dem state as shift in focus instead of new presence.
14-yemoja. Yemọja. River òrìṣà of di Ògùn river and di Ẹ̀gbá, no be di sea; di Ẹ̀gbá change of seat and wetin Verger find out say di objects move and dem reassign di water; di itan wey river carry am go meet Olókun, wey already dey before any ship sail; Ìyájí and di requirement say woman must don reach menopause; and di 31 December celebration for beach for Rio, wey be di African-derived religious practice wey people dey do pass for di whole world.
15-the-smaller-orisa. Òrìṣà Oko, Erinlẹ̀, Ọba, Ajé, Olókun, Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì, Aganjú. Dem group dem together instead of giving dem small separate files. E include: di staff wey dem forge from hoes for Ìràwọ̀; di hunter wey sink enter inside ground for Ìlọ́bù; di story about ear wey Ọba's own priesthood reject; di ajé / àjẹ́ tone confusion; how Olókun gender dey change systematically as distance from sea dey change; wetin make Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì big pass for Brazil dan for Yorùbáland; and di finding say Aganjú no get any connection at all with volcano for Yorùbáland.
16-ibeji. Ìbejì. Di highest rate of twins for di world and Igbo-Ora; Táíwò and Kẹ́hìndé and wetin make di second pikin be senior; wetin di tradition remember about how dem change from killing twins to worshipping dem; di ère ìbejì carving and wetin mother wey lose pikin dey do with am; and how photograph come replace wood carving since di 1980s.
20-egungun. Di ancestral masquerade. Wetin make am be lineage institution and no be òrìṣà cult; ará ọ̀run; di Aláàgbà, Atòkùn, and Ìyá Àgan; di way dem cover everything and wetin di spinning dey do; di taboo say make person no touch am and di two reasons for am; and four different ways wey dem don take misrepresent di tradition, both from rationalists and from missionaries.
21-gelede. Di Efe and Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ spectacle. Àwọn ìyá wa, our mothers, and why "witch" no be correct translation for àjẹ́; di freedom wey Efe singer get to talk wetin nobody fit talk; di different types of headdress and di sewing machines wey dem carve put for sacred objects; di female leadership of di society; di 2001 proclamation and 2008 UNESCO inscription, plus warning about di claim of "former matriarchal order" wey dey inside di nomination file.
22-oro-agemo-and-cult-societies. Orò, Agẹmọ, Ògbóni / Òṣùgbó. Di bullroarer and di night curfew; di judicial and death penalty functions wey dem explain clearly; di Ìjẹ̀bú Agẹmọ with im sixteen priests and di Ìmọ̀ṣan pilgrimage; how Ògbóni connect with di Earth and im power to remove kings; and di difference between traditional Ògbóni and di twentieth-century fraternities wey most modern arguments dey actually face. People dey drag am; big parts dey strictly restricted.
23-the-ritual-year. Di four-day week and di òrìṣà days; how annual festival dey be; den Ọ̀ṣun-Òṣogbo, Ṣàngó for Ọ̀yọ́, Olójó for Ifẹ̀, Ìtàpá, Ìgògò for Òwo where di king dey wear women dress for seventeen days, Agẹmọ, and Ojúde Ọba with im Islamic origin; and di four pressures wey dey reshape all of dem.
24-ancestors-and-the-dead. Death as transition; di good death and di bad death and di serious consequences of dat difference; ìsìnkú and di second burial; ọ̀run rere and ọ̀run àpáàdì, with warning about Christian influence; àtúnwáyé and di names wey carry am; and how plenty of dis things still dey happen inside Christian and Muslim families under other descriptions.
25-orisa-tradition-today. Wetin make census number no dey and wetin make every attempt to count practitioners dey fail, in five specific ways; di documented drop from 50 percent for 1931 go 18.2 percent for 1963; Aládùrà Christianity and Ojúde Ọba as di two clearest examples of real mixing; Pentecostal opposition and where di real conflict dey; Susanne Wenger and di Òṣogbo grove with di complications well stated; di Ọọ̀ni's authority-without-power; and how dem assess di return-to-tradition movement as real development wey structurally different from wetin e claim.
04-cosmology get Olódùmarè, orí, àṣẹ, ìwà, destiny and àyànmọ́, ebọ, àbíkú, and di history of how dem join Èṣù/Satan together.
05-ifa get di 256 Odù, di binary structure, di ẹsẹ verses, di training of di babaláwo, di instruments, and di controversy about women-in-Ifá.
07-arts get di sculpture, di ironwork, di beadwork, di textiles, and di masquerade material culture as objects.
08-diaspora get Lucumí, Candomblé, Umbanda, Vodou, and Trinidadian Orisha on dia own terms, instead of looking at dem as copies of di Yorùbá forms.
03-history get di Ifẹ̀ and Ọ̀yọ́ evidence, di nineteenth-century wars, and di encounter with missionaries.
Dem mark files as confidence: contested where di sources genuinely no agree, and medium where di documentation dey less dan wetin reference work go like. Dem name several specific gaps inside di files demself instead of covering dem up:
Ṣàngó no get verified oríkì with di Yorùbá original and named translator for accessible sources. Ọya no get enough documentation for English compared to how important she be, and di buffalo story no get any scholarly primary source wey person fit trace. Di best Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ and Ọ̀ṣun texts dey for print, for Lawal, Badejo, Abiodun, and the Drewals, no be online. Four decades of criminalisation deliberately weaken Ṣọ̀pọ̀nnà's record. And e be like say tone-marked Yemọja oríkì with named translator no dey inside accessible form.
Where dem no fit find source for claim, dem cut am commot. Where claim wey people dey repeat plenty times fail verification, several files talk am clearly, because reference work dey more useful when e record wetin dem never establish dan when e just dey fill space.
The competing scholarly definitions of òrìṣà, why "god" and "idol" are bad translations, what the numbers 201 and 401 are doing, and how òrìṣà relate to Olódùmarè and to the dead.
There is no Yoruba church. Òrìṣà devotion is organised town by town and lineage by lineage, with local priesthoods, local shrines, and local festivals, and this page explains how those structures work.
How many practitioners there actually are and why nobody knows, the real relationship with Christianity and Islam including genuine syncretism, Susanne Wenger and the Osogbo grove, the Ooni and traditional authority, and the return-to-tradition movement.
The white orisa who moulds human bodies, the contested creation narrative in which Oduduwa takes his place, the palm wine story and what Ife devotees actually say about it, and the politics carried inside the itan.
The thunder orisa and fourth Alaafin of Oyo, the contested question of whether a king became a god or a god absorbed a king, the Oba ko so narrative, and Sango in Cuba and Brazil.
The orisa of wind, storm and the Niger river, wife of Sango, the buffalo narrative, her relation to the dead, and the difference between the Yoruba Oya and the Oya of Cuba and Brazil.