Frequently Asked Questions

Direct answers, plus sources, including questions wey people dey fear to ask out loud. For place wey answer hard to swallow, we still give am like that, and where evidence never settle question, we tok am open instead of to cover am.

Basics

Shey na religion or na culture?

Na the two, and different people dey separate them for different ways, na why this question dey cause plenty argument.

Religious system dey: òrìṣà, Ifá, ẹbọ, priesthood, shrine them, initiation, cosmology. Cultural inheritance dey: language, oríkì, proverbs, naming, music, dressing, food, family relation, festival, respect custom. Before nineteenth century, the two no dey separate, and na modern arrangement people come make when plenty people convert enter Christianity and Islam.

That arrangement dey work for real for most Yorùbá people. Person fit do oríkì, name pikin by traditional rule, attend festival, and follow funeral custom while still being committed Christian or Muslim, as them dey separate wetin be culture from wetin be religion for their mind. Whether that separation make sense na him be the main argument, and this work no dey try to settle am. E good make person notice say plenty Yorùbá cultural things still carry the old cosmology inside them, especially the language, so the separation no pure completely.

How many Yorùbá people dey?

Roughly fifty million or pass so, wey plenty pass for southwestern Nigeria, with plenty population for Benin and Togo, plus diaspora 1. The number wey person fit defend pass na Ethnologue language count of about forty-eight million first-language speakers as of 2023 1. All these ones na estimate; the last census wey Nigeria do wey show ethnic breakdown na for 1963.

Shey Yorùbá people still dey practise the traditional religion?

Na small minority dey practise am as their main religious identity. Plenty people wey pass that number dey keep cultural forms. People wey we no fit count but plenty well well dey go meet diviners, herbalists and traditional healers when need arise while identifying as Christian or Muslim, and this thing dey happen pass how people dey gree. Survey numbers wey dey show say traditional religion dey well under one percent for Nigeria na only how people take choose answer where Christian and Muslim na the socially accepted options, no be wetin them actually dey do 2.

Shey òrìṣà religion dey die?

Wetin dey happen for Africa continent and wetin dey happen for diaspora dey point different direction.

For Nigeria, how to pass the knowledge na the problem. Wetin UNESCO evaluate when them register Ifá na say the priests, wey most of them don old, get "only modest means to maintain the tradition, transmit their complex knowledge and train future practitioners" 3 Tradition wey person need spend years learn under master no go survive if one generation refuse to enter am.

Against that one, diaspora traditions for Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and North America dey grow, international interest for Ifá plenty, Yorùbá cultural reclamation movement dey wey get plenty people wey no even plan to practise, and academic books and papers plenty pass and better pass before. Wetin no clear na whether the growth for these places fit cover for the loss of the way them dey pass am from family line for Yorùbá towns, and reason no dey to assume say e dey cover am.

The uncomfortable ones

Shey human sacrifice happen?

Yes, for specific contexts wey record dey, and people wey get reason to blow am out of proportion also exaggerate the scale. The two statements na true and honest answer require the two.

Wetin dey recorded: human sacrifice happen for Yorubaland mostly for royal funerals and community crisis, and record show am for several West African societies during the same period 4. Olatunji Ojo don do deep study on the Yorùbá case for eastern Yorubaland for late nineteenth century, and e link am to slavery, economic inequality and chief privilege, and show how e take end through fight between chiefs wey dey do am and their opponents among slaves, Christians and British officials, as the Yorùbá wars dey end and colonial rule dey come close 4. The victims na mostly slaves and captives, wey mean say the practice connect directly to slavery institution instead of being different thing.

Wetin dey recorded as well: European observers from fifteenth century go front focus and exaggerate human sacrifice for West African societies so say they go fit paint Africans as barbaric people and find excuse to conquer them, and this na standard warning wey scholars dey give 4.

Three points of balance. E be occasional and e happen for specific institutions instead of being regular part of everyday religious life; ordinary Yorùbá person regular religious activity na kola nut. E end for late nineteenth century and no be wetin people dey do today. And the category "human sacrifice" na something wey them apply selectively to non-European societies, during period wey European governments dey do public execution and just recently end judicial torture, in a way wey serve their purpose through that selective treatment.

Wetin this one no mean na to deny say e happen. E happen.

Wetin about the slave trade, and shey Yorùbá participate?

Yes, as sellers and also as victims wey suffer heavy damage, and this work no dey try to make am sound light.

The Yorùbá enter the Atlantic trade late and exit heavily, because the nineteenth-century wars produce the captives. Estimates based on models from Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database show say roughly 121,000 people be exported from the Yorùbá-speaking region between 1817 and 1836, roughly 42 percent go Brazil and roughly 40 percent go Cuba 5. Captives wey Yorùbá forces catch for Yorùbá wars na wetin Yorùbá states and Yorùbá merchants sell enter that trade, and the trade and the wars dey feed each other: guns wey them buy with captives come produce more captives.

Domestic slavery inside Yorubaland self expand during dat same period, and di work wey Ojo do on human sacrifice join hand with dat fact, since na mostly enslaved people dem sacrifice 4.

Two things dey true and dem no be excuse. Di demand wey drive di volume come from Atlantic and Europe, and di wars wey bring di captives get causes wey include di collapse of Ọ̀yọ́ and di pressure from Ilọrin wey no just be response to dat demand alone. And na di same period bring out di Sàró, Yorùbá people wey dem free from slave ships and wey return from Freetown, wey bring Christianity, ability to read and write, and di beginning of Yorùbá print come back, so di trade self shape di culture wey follow am.

Samuel Àjàyí Crowther, wey translate di Bible go Yorùbá and make di decisions wey shape how Yorùbá Christians understand dia own inheritance, dem capture am self when e dey around thirteen years old as people from im own region raid im town 6. Na di short summary of di whole century be dat.

Shey pre-colonial society good?

Na society e be, with di normal mix of things. E get constitutional control on kingship wey real and wey people hijack and abuse. E get women institutions with real economic and political power wey colonial administration destroy. E get slavery, and e expand am. E get law, medicine, art, intellectual tradition and cities. E get war, and by di nineteenth century di war don turn to big disaster.

Dis corpus no dey present di pre-colonial past like say na paradise, because e no be paradise and because reader wey accept dat kind version go later find out truth, and dem go come doubt everything else wey dem tell dem.

About Ifá

Shey Ifá na fortune-telling?

No be for di way wey dey predict things wey go happen for future wey fixed already. Di way UNESCO put am na say Ifá "no depend on person having oracular powers but na on system of signs wey diviner dey interpret" 3 Di process dey produce one out of 256 signs, each sign dey point to body of verses wey dem memorize, and di verses dey give story examples wey di diviner dey interpret match di client situation, and e dey usually prescribe sacrifice or offering and many times change of behavior.

Wetin dat one dey do na to bring plenty wisdom and judgment wey dem don store over time come solve present problem, through random selection wey di diviner no fit control, with action wey dem prescribe for di end. Whether e still dey do wetin di tradition talk say e dey do na separate question wey evidence never settle.

Shey Ifá really binary? Shey na computer?

E binary for real and e no be computer.

Binary for real: eight positions, each one dey end up as one of two states, wey random device dey produce, wey dey give 2⁸ = 256 signs, and each of dem na address for body of verse. E positional, e no be tally. E dey arranged by seniority. E dey index corpus wey reach hundreds of thousands of verses wey dey human memory. Ron Eglash treat am as one of di indigenous mathematical systems wey develop pass and find combinatorial reasoning inside am; Olu Longe analyse am in terms of binary representation, Boolean algebra and memory addressing; UNESCO talk about di system mathematical formulas 37.

E no be computer, and e no be di origin of computing. Eglash suggest say connection dey from African divination through Arab geomancy go reach Leibniz, but di evidence for dat particular chain weak; historians of mathematics wey dey work on Leibniz no see any of di external influence wey dem suggest as plausible, since manuscript evidence show say e no pay attention to alternative number systems at all before e develop binary 8. Di careful writers wey dey argue di case say Ifá dey binary no claim say na im be di origin 7.

Di true version strong pass. West African oral tradition independently build formal binary addressing scheme over massive corpus and keep am without writing. Dat one no need any hype.

Shey person fit use Ifá without believing in am?

People dey do am. Di three ways to view Ifá, as religion, as storehouse of knowledge wey gather over time, and as decision process wey dey stop overthinking and bring stored judgment to bear, fit stand separately, and plenty scholars wey document Ifá with care hold di second and third one without di first one.

Wetin no honest na to present stripped-down version as if na wetin practitioners hold. Practitioners hold di religious side, and reader wey take di intellectual content while e dey call di religious content superstition dey do wetin di tradition no go recognize. Dat one fit be position wey person fit defend; dem just suppose state am as dia own instead of making am look like say na wetin tradition talk.

Shey I fit learn Ifá from book?

You fit learn plenty about am from books, including di corpus wey dem publish for Abímbọ́lá's and Bascom transcriptions and di plenty secondary literature. You no fit become babaláwo from book, and no book contain di whole system.

Ifá training na long apprenticeship. Dem dey learn di Odù in sequence, dem dey pass particular material at particular stages, and some of dem dem no dey repeat outside grove. Any source wey claim say e dey give you di complete system dey tell you something about itself. Dis corpus mark dat boundary instead of trying to fill am in.

Practice, initiation and access

Shey person fit practise without initiation?

E depend on wetin "practise" mean, and di answer different between di continental and diaspora traditions.

Plenty Yorùbá people dey maintain relationship with di òrìṣà of dia lineage, dey make offerings, dey attend festivals and dey consult diviners without dem initiating into any priesthood. Initiation dey necessary for priestly function, no be for participation.

To do divination with Ifá dey different. To read di corpus for other people na priestly work wey need initiation and training, and di diaspora traditions particularly dey strict about dis one. Boku material dey online wey dey present Ifá divination like sometin wey person fit just pick up, and practitioners inside every branch of di tradition dey see dat one as illegitimate.

Di diaspora traditions generally more formalise their initiation pass continental practice, because na so dem must do am: as dem cut dem off from lineage and place, initiation lineage come turn di mechanism for continuity and legitimacy in a way wey no be so for continental practice, where person belonging na by birth into lineage wey already get its own relationships.

Shey e dey appropriative make non-Yorùbá person engage?

Di tradition own most senior public voice say no. Wándé Abímbọ́lá, wey hold di title Àwíṣẹ Awo Ni Àgbáyé, world spokesperson for Ifá and Yorùbá religion, maintain say Ifá no be for only Yorùbá but for all humanity, and e don argue say make people recognise di validity of all religions and share am without forced conversion 9. Na position wey come from inside di tradition by di person wey get di strongest claim to talk for am publicly.

Engagement sef no be just one tin, and di distinctions matter:

To study am as history, philosophy, art or literature: nobody dey say dis one na problem.

To practise inside am, with initiation, lineage and teacher: na dis route di tradition itself define, and di tradition don always welcome outsiders; di American traditions almost fully consist of people wey dem no born into Yorùbá lineages.

To practise outside am, to take pieces without initiation, teacher, lineage or obligation, wey dem typically pack together from books and internet: na dis one practitioners dey object to, and di objection generally no be about ethnicity but about lack of accountability. Nobody dey to correct you and nothing dey wey you owe.

To sell am: divination services, initiations and "Ifá readings" wey people without standing dey offer for commercial, and boku of am dey online. Practitioners together dey strongly against dis one.

Argument sef still dey inside di tradition, wey sharp well-well between continental and diaspora practitioners, about who fit validate initiation and which lineage count. Na dispute among practitioners, no be question wey dis corpus fit resolve.

Dem fit initiate women into Ifá?

People dey drag am, and di argument still dey active. Women dey hold di title ìyánífá, and historical scholarship dey wey describe female priestly roles including di Ìyá Mọlẹ̀ and di requirement say royal mothers of Yorùbá rulers must hold Ìyáláwo or Ìyánífá titles 9. As Ifá don grow internationally, particularly for Cuba and United States, women wey dey look for di highest levels of initiation don challenge priesthood wey don become predominantly male, and dis one na real ongoing controversy wey both sides hold strong positions 9. Dis corpus report di dispute, e no judge am.

Women dey hold priestly authority across òrìṣà practice generally without dispute; di controversy dey specific to di highest levels of Ifá.

Faith

Shey I must choose between dis one and my faith?

No, for di sense say boku people no dey feel say dem must choose, including many scholars wey dis corpus cite their work, wey be practising Christians and Muslims. Yes, for di sense say some positions genuinely no match at all, and no framing fit make dem match.

Di distinctions wey dey do di work:

To understand no mean commitment. To learn wetin àṣẹ mean, how dem organise di Ifá corpus, and why dem mistranslate Èṣù na to know sometin about body of thought. Nothing inside am say person must practise am. Di fear say to check di material na participation inside am na specific product of spiritual-warfare theology, no be general feature of religious commitment.

To keep cultural traditions na di majority Yorùbá position. To hold committed Christian or Muslim faith alongside full participation for Yorùbá cultural life na wetin most Yorùbá people dey do, and di people wey dey do am no dey see am as hypocrisy.

To practise na different question. To make offering to òrìṣà na religious act, and both Christianity and Islam dey exclusive on dat point. Person wey hold say dis tin na forbidden dey follow their own tradition position consistently, and dat one no be narrow-mindedness.

Where di tension dey real, e dey real. Burials and chieftaincy na di two occasions wey person no fit avoid decision, and both of dem dey bring long-lasting family conflict. Dis corpus no go pretend say e no be so.

Shey dis corpus wan make I convert?

No. E no dey argue say Yorùbá tradition na truth, e no dey argue say Christianity or Islam na lie, and e no get position on wetin any reader suppose do. Its position na say to make decision on dis questions better when e come from accurate picture of wetin di tradition contain pass picture wey demonization provide, and to provide accurate picture na sometin wey worth doing no matter wetin person come decide after.

Why di corpus spend so much time on di demonization?

Because for boku Yorùbá readers, na di obstacle wey stand in front of everything else. Person wey dem don teach say di whole pre-Christian Yorùbá world na satanic no get way to encounter Ifá as formal system, Yorùbá ethics as ethics, or di Ifẹ̀ sculpture as art, because di label wey dem give di whole domain block person from looking into any part of am. Di file document how dem assign di label, with dates and names, and leave di reader to decide wetin to do about am.

Practical

Where I go start?

If you be new person: start with di fifteen-minute explainers for dis section, den di conceptual map for foundations. Roughly ninety minutes.

If dem teach you say this heritage na demonic: read the demonization file for foundations first, then wetin Yorùbá tradition no be.

If you come because of Ifá as information system: check the Ifá explainer for this section, then the Ifá section.

The learning paths file for this section get four arranged routes with time estimates.

Why dem write everything with accent mark?

Because na part of the spelling dem be. ẹ, ọ and ṣ na separate letters, and the tone marks dey differentiate words: ra, rá and rà mean to rub, to disappear, and to buy. To write Yorùbá without tone dey closer to writing English without vowels than to writing English without italics. The pronunciation guide for this section explain the system inside like fifteen minutes.

I fit trust this corpus?

Check am. Every serious claim get source marker wey dey point go Sources block, dem name the sources with URLs where dem dey open access, dem mark confidence level for each file frontmatter, and where scholars disagree, dem state each position clear instead of trying to smooth am. Where source weak or dey behind paywall and na only abstract the summary depend on, the file talk am. Na that standard the corpus take hold itself, and any reader wey find where e fail that standard anywhere don see real defect.