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The Traditional Theologians and the Practice of Òrìṣà Religion in Yorùbáland
Author(s): Thomas Mákanjúọlá Ilésanmí
Source: Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 21, Fasc. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 216-226
Published by: BRILL
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Journal of Religion in Africa XXI, 3 (1991)
THE TRADITIONAL
PRACTICE
OF ORISA
AND THE
THEOLOGIANS
IN YORUBALAND
RELIGION
BY
THOMAS
MAKANJUOLA
(Obafemi Awolowo University,
ILESANMI
Ile-Ife, Nigeria)
Introduction
Theology and philosophy which have successfully moulded the
behaviour of man at different epochs, have always been dependent
on the harsh facts of life, the response to local discoveries and, more
often, to external contacts. Man does not make metaphysical
investigations in a vacuum. Ideas which give birth to theories are
generated through observations and discoveries in a particular
environment. Like commercial goods, theories are advertized,
popularized and sometimes postulated as fundamental principles or
articles of faith. In a community that has become tenaciously married to a theory, myths may become history, and a few epochs may
be labelled eternity. Very often, political trumpets deafen the internal rancour of the proletariat who are forced to smile at grief. However, academic research grants one some immunity from the
tyranny of rigid ideas and static one-directional gazes.
The idea of Olo6dimare as a Yoriuba Supreme Deity has often
been advertized both by the Babalawo (Iff priests and prophets),
and by pioneering researchers in the theological adaptation of
Christianity to Yoriuba culture.' They hold that all the people who
are labelled Yoriuba today had always believed that Olo6dimare is
a Supreme Deity and that the Orisas are his intermediaries. The
Babalawo make the distinction between tales/stories and history.
They claim that history is factual and empirical but tales/stories are
not. What many of us may term myths today, are, to the Babalawo,
history, which relates events which are believed to have actually
happened in the far distant past. Although Feldmann (1963:11)2
warned that 'we must beware of reading into native categories of
sacred and profane, our distinctions between truth and fiction, or
history and poetry', nevertheless, the Babalawo seem to make the
Religionin Yoruibaland
217
very distinctions we make between these arts. The Babalawo would
not tell tales, because tales are fiction and fiction has no historical
basis in actual life. Ese Ifa are regarded by them as true stories,
accounts of things that actually happened i.e. the history of the
Yoriuba community in general, and of individuals in particular
which are recounted to enlighten every subsequent generation.
This paper is set out to re-examine these notions of the traditional custodians of culture, in the light of recent happenings within
the culture, especially in the light of the move to update traditional
theology by diplomatically using modern tools.
Historical Assessment
The present day Yoriuba claim a common origin but this claim
is being challenged by historians.3 History does not support a
homogeneous Yoriuba community, nor does research support a
universal religion for the various Yoriuba subgroups.
The term 'Yoruba' applied initially to the Oyo speaking group,
(now found in Oyo and Kwara States of Nigeria), but it was later
extended to a conglomeration of several ethnic groups. These
groups are sometimes referred to as dialect groups, but some of
them face the practical difficulty of understanding other dialect
groups of the same 'language'. A distant dialect group may therefore regard some of the dialects as foreign languages.4
Until now, not much research has been carried out on the dialectology of 'Yoruba'; the proto-type language of the multitudinous
'Yoruba' dialects is not yet known. It would seem that Yorubai, as
we know it today, has been adopted by the rest of the community,
as a result of western education which adopted the Yoruba (Oyo)
dialect, for certain religio-political reasons: the first crop of influential missionaries came from Oyo or the environs; the Alaafin, the
Oba of Oyo, was declared by the colonial rulers King of the
Yorubai. Thus the Alaafin became more powerful, and the Oyo
dialect assumed hegemony over other dialects. Since then, the real
language, the proto-type Yoruba with all its dialectal branches
(except the Oyo Yoruiba) have been termed dialects.
Before the turn of the nineteenth century, only the Oyo speaking
sub-ethnic group were called Yoriuba by the other dialect groups;
the rest knew themselves as Ijebui and Egba/Egbado (in Ogiun
State), Ife and Ijesa (in Oyo State), Ekiti, Ikale, Akuire, Ak6k6,
218
Thomas Mdkanjuold Ilisanmi
Ogho, Ondo and part of Igbomina (in Ondo State). Apart from
being an extension of the original dialectal connotation, and QOy
denotation,5 the term 'Toruba', as used today, has a certain
political colouring. The historical heterogeneity of the Yoriuba is
again brought into focus in the recent research of the author at
AramQko (Ekitiland) and in Ijesaland (comprising Ilesa, Ob6kun
Government Local Council and Atakum6osa Government Local
Council). It is to be noted that some fairly big towns such as Osu,
Ipetujesa, Ijebujesa, Ifewara, Ibbkun, Esa-Oke, Imesi-Ile, Erin
Ijesa, Erin Oke, Ipend6, Otan-Il, Iwara, Odo, Ilaro and a host of
other smaller towns and villages make up the Atakuimosa and
Obokun Local Councils. Oral and written references are copiously
made to some aborigines in the two places before the advent of the
present generations of rulers. The aborigines, as well as the
newcomers, had religions that were peculiar to each group.
Besides, the Igbo mentioned in the legend of Moremi at Ife
(Abiri 1970:1-2) did not live too far away from Ife. However, if
they had had any linguistic or cultural affiliation with the Ife, they
would not have operated totally as strangers as their masquerading
habit depicted.
As Abiri (1970:1-2) puts it:
A throng of people long ago
Fled for faith their primeval home;
From East to West for years they sped,
By princely Oduduwa led ...
Quite soon a foreign tribe by stealth,
Cast envious eyes on Ife's wealth,
Longing to plunder men and goods
To serve their needs far in the woods.
Some would aver what's rather moot
That the tribe thus with envy moved
Were indigenes of Ife land
Dislodged by Oodua's mighty hand.6
In the above excerpt, the issue of aborigines or indigenes is again
raised. If the Oduduwa group of people came from the East to settle
at Ife, they did not bring with them the different types of animal
life found there. The animals, the birds, the trees, the geographical
features are certainly indigenous to Ife. But if indigeneity for these
beings is contended, there is no justification to deny indigeneity to
human kind in the land prior to the advent of Oduduwa. If the
aborigines were politically displaced, there is no evidence that they
Religion in Yorzbaland
219
were totally annihilated. The fact of historical heterogeneity, rather
than homogeneity, led the various 'Yoriuba' dialect groups to see
themselves as separate entities rather than as a nation. If they were
historically heterogeneous, could they be religiously homogeneous?
The Traditional Theologiansand the Place of Orisd in the life of the Yorutba
All notions of God have to be expressed in the moulds of man.
The monotheistic idea does not in any way elevate traditional
religion. Polytheism, monotheism, trinitheism, pantheism, panentheism and all other forms of the theories of God, are essentially
forms of theodicy-human
conceptions for a revealing God. We
cannot pass universal value judgement on all or any religion, unless
all religions use the same measure. But all religions have a cultural
origin, hence a common measure for value judgement is impossible. Religion does not even admit humanly provable rationalizations; it very often defies the empiricism of philosophy and science.
It is in this light that I proceed to examine the place of the orisd in
the life of the Yoruba.
Oba Laoye I, Timi of Ede, a town in Oyo State, points out that:
The Yoriuba deify their heroes and great men,
and refer to them as orisa and each orisa
has his particular oriki: also every important
personage has his own oriki, and Yoruba
drummers and native bands are very learned in
these orikis, which they know by heart. Each
Orisa also has his own special kind of dance...7
This excerpt is a general statement about the nature of Yoriuba
deity, and, by implication, reveals the sub-ethnic origin of each
orisd, rather than a universal theological pontification that certain
orisd descended from heaven by means of a chain. This is particularly true of Odudua, who, although he is said to have descended
from heaven through a chain, also has a natural human origin. The
founding of the earth as revealed in the myth of origin by the
advocates of the Ifa divinatory system, also alludes to a chain by
which the orisa descended, close to an extensive stretch of water
into which they poured the sand from heaven, which late became
the earth. Only in ese If does this myth of the descent of orisdexist
among the Yoruba.
Probably, by the creation of the myth of descent of the Orisa, Ifa
tries to theologize. Theology is not a prerogative of the Western
220
Thomas Mdkanju'oldIlesanmi
mind. The theory of the superiority of theology over philosophy
propounded by Thomas Aquinas is not peculiar to the West; the
Yoriuba have traditional theologians who reason in like manner.
Orunmila/Ifi, who established the complex divinatory system, also
created in the corpus the aforementioned cosmology, which served
as the genesis for the hierarchical structure which the system
attributed to Olo6dmare. The Babalawo, as Akiwowo8 rightly
points out, is not a rote reciter of Ifa verse; he adopts the device of
aural retention, which gives him the opportunity of personal interpretation of certain aspects of the corpus. Some Awo, who may be
described as intellectual advocates of the Ifi system, are, together
with the Babalawo, theologians.
Theology deals with the expert interpretation of the mind of the
deity, an explanation of the divine purpose for humanity. This is
exactly what the Babalawo do. They always present Ifi verses as
divine truths, which should not be questioned without commensurate punishment for any questioning client. They do not even
make any distinction between revelation, myths and theology.
Every ese Ifa assumes the status of historical fact among the
Yoriuba.
The Babalawo, through the Ifa system, mould the conscience of
the people, thus creating the hegemony of theology over human
reasoning. As with most other theologians, the voice of revelation
is declared to be the ideal and reasonable par excellence.It should be
noted that this theology and mythology is the prerogative of the
Babalawo in the Yoruba system. The advocates or the devotees of
the other orisd seem to limit their pontification to their individual
orisd, while the Babalawo go beyond Ifi, to legislate on all the
ramificated aspects of Yoriuba life. The Ifa system claims that
Ol6dumare, in sharing his attributes with some selected orisd, gave
wisdom to Ifi. But wisdom spreads her tentacles over the
multitudinous phases of the entire universe, hence Ifa pontificates
over the affairs of every other orisd, human beings and lower beings.
If the Ifi theory conforms with the actual practice all over
Yorubaland, then, it may seem justified to say that ab initio, Ifi has
served as the moulder of the entire socio-religious life of the
Yorubai. But it does not.
Recent research reveals that the religious generalization frequently made by the practitioners of the traditional divinatory
institution is not often corroborated by practices and beliefs in the
Religion in Yoruibaland
221
many dialect groups of the Yoriuba race.9 Reification and deification are the general practice of religion in many dialect groups of
Yoriubaland. The local practitioners of Yoriuba religion have always
treated their orisas as independent deified heroes and heroines or,
in some cases, as nature gods (reification), who are approached as
the final point of worship with no reference to a supreme deity.
Osun worshippers in Oluponna, Osogbo and Iponda, see their
deity as the only point of reference, and not as an intemediary or
mediatrix between them and another superior being. Sang6 is ubiquitously treated as the supreme controller of all the activities of his
advocates. The worshippers of Oglyan in Iragbiji believe that their
deity does everything for them; they do not send him to any
Olo6dumare. Babarake controls the traditional life in Igangan without any reference to Olo6dmare; while Ogun wields total divine
power in Ond6, Ipole, Ire Ekiti and in many parts of Yorubaland,
without his advocates feeling that he refers their cases to a superior
deity. The Ikere people in Ekitiland in Ondo State have a nature
they believe does all things for them without
god-Olosuta-who
to
other
any
power. The catalogue can be extended
alluding
copiously.
That the world conference on the religion of the Yoriuba is not
named after Olo6dmare but after all the orisas, is a pointer to the
practical acceptance, that the Yoruba worship Orisa per se, and
make them the focus of their rituals rather than the intermediaries
between them and Olo6dmare. Even the term 'orisa' is only
recently universally attributed to all 'Yoriuba' deities. Many dialect
groups are only familiar with Umole, Esidale, Olua, Osutai, Ale,
Olokun, Eegun, etc and not with the term, '6ria'.
Until the advent of missionaries to Yorubaland, the orisadcontinued to increase at a geometrical ratio. Each local hero became
locally deified. And if a local community was fortunate to dominate
other communities through conquest, the conquering community
used its hegemony to popularize its deified hero and thus a one time
local deity soon assumed a universal status. Some orisa are
popularized through the devotees in diaspora, by disseminating the
attributes of their deities whereever they visit. If it were not for the
influence of the Islamic and Christian religions, heroes like Ogunmla6, Ogedehgbe, $odeke, Akintola, Adilo6ju and even Anikfir
and Oyeenusi would have been locally deified. Madan Tinumbu
and Efinsetan have today become legendary women. Oya, Osun,
222
Thomas MdkanjtioldIlisanmi
Oba and Odu might not have made a greater impression in the
minds of their communities than the aforementioned legendary
women.
Oguin, Sang6, Osun, Orunmila, Qbatatla and Odudua were once
local heroes/heroines before their subsequent popularization. Some
of these oricsahave been so politically popularized and theologically
mythologized, that they have now assumed universal recognition,
in theory, among the Yoriuba, without reference to their original
local and historical background and importance.
Daram6la and Jeje10 clearly point out the local and natural
existence of some Yoriuba deities. Ogun, for example, was born by
Tabiutu and his father was Or6rinna; he cut through a forest to
pave the way for his colleagues who later became deified like
himself. Orisa-oko was a farmer; Aginju and Yemoja were children
of Obatala, their mother was said to be Odudua believed to be a
female deity." Sang6 is universally known as a historical figure.
Recent research by the author reveals that Osun was a local
Ekiti/Ijesa deity, before she became popularized at Osogbo, and
politicized as the wife of Sang6, Obatala and Oguin at different
times.
Ijesa deities include Obokun, Owairi, QOwalus, Atakumosa,
Obalogun, Biladu, Agbelekui (Agbeleye), Babaraike L66gun-ede,
Osun, Sanponna, Olua, Abeere-ogun and a host of others, who
were first heroes/heroines of the land before they became deified.12
The situation in Ijesaland is typical of many towns in Ekiti and
Eastern Yoruba towns. Besides, students' research on Yoruba
deities in the Universities of Ibadhan, Lagos, Ilorin and Obafemi
Aw6o1wo University, Ife, reveals that Yoriuba deities are not
treated as intermediaries between the communities that worship
them and Olo6dumare. They are seen by their devotees as the final
point of worship and as the supreme powers that can satisfy their
various needs.13
The musical ensemble associated with each orisadis indicative of
their independent and local origin, igbin belongs to Obatala, batdis
associated with Sang6, agogo with Ifa, agere with Oguin,'4 lukorzgi
with most orisa in Ijesaland, etc. None of these musical ensembles
has a celestial origin; each of them has a temporal origin and a
physical location. Each was either a personal invention of an orisa,
or a favourite of a deity. They were all environmentally produced
to accompany local cultural dance steps. Their rendition varies in
Religionin Yorubaland
223
tempo and in pitch, and their local association and popularity are
still unobstructed by interdialect borrowing.
Other material objects of each orisa also reveal an orisa's local
origin and environmental adaptation. Artistic representations of
each trisa vary in form and style. While some are naturalistic,
others are mere abstract representations. Some are even depicted
by natural phenomena. Certainly, many local restraints are responsible for the diversity in the material representation of orisd. As the
Latin proverb states: 'nemo dat quod non habet', no environment
can offer what it does not possess. Creativity is culture bound;
development is always a product of the societal mentality of a
locality. People 'create' the type of deity they want for themselves.
The Influenceof Ifd on the theologyof Olddumare
Ifa divinatory system is a very complex matter. Ifa is a deity, a
religion and a philosophy of life. The minds that formulated and
organized the system cannot but be highly philosophical and
theological. It is a system that works on the psychology of people,
and puts into consideration all the multitudinous facets of man's
life. Like the christian scripture, the system creates a genesis, a
development and an apocalypse to guide the future not only in
heaven but also here and now on earth.
Man's desire to have foreknowledge of what will happen to him
has led to a wide range of patronization of the Ifi divinatory
system. All aspects of life are thus brought under the direction of
the Babalawo, the traditional fortune tellers. It is also the duty of
the Babalawo to narrate supernatural 'history', in form of myth
and cosmological structure. They do not see ese Ifd as tales; they are
even prohibited from telling tales, probably to avoid the error of
mistaking one for the other. Thus they give the perennial impression that all the stories in ese Ifd are factual. But they also theologize
about the purpose of man's existence on earth, and the conflict
between good and evil, putting man in the precarious position of
appeasing each of the forces, in order to lead a meaningful life.
Man has no control over his universe, the orizsaand the ajogun
(forces of evil) have. Man has no right to question the deeds of the
two opposing forces. He can only appeal to one force to militate
against or appease the other on his behalf. Personal ingenuity,
creativity, dedication to duty, intelligence and positive interaction,
224
Thomas Mdkanju'oldIlesanmi
are not a passport to success and societal happiness in the Ifa
Yoriuba traditional theological system; it is sheepish conformity to
the will of the orisa and ajogun that gives a person any right to success and happiness.
There is an ongoing modernization of Ifa worship which is a
pointer to the fact that the Babalawo do theologize and update their
system, to cater for changing situations. The Ijo Orunmila
Adulawo Ifek6wapo (a modernised Ifa indigenous church) has published a liturgical 'holy' book, which is being used as christians use
the Bible, and as muslims use the Quran. The book Iwe Odt Mimo15
contains a selection of certain Odu (Verses from the Ifa literary
Corpus), written according to christian biblical style. In the book,
the usual aural retention associated with Babalawo, has given way
to alphabetic imprisonment. If this practice continues on a wider
scale to incorporate all known verses of the Ifa corpus, the creativity
of the Babalawo in the practice of Ifi may come to an end. It should
be noted here that the imitative biblical style has drastically robbed
the indigenous liturgy of its originality if not of its credibility.
Closely associated with this alphabetic imitation, is the new trend
of church building adaptation. There are now not less than six Ile
Ijuba (traditional but adapted worship houses), where advocates of
various orisa traditions meet to share common religious interests
and experiences. Three of these Ile Ijuba are located at M6osifa, Ola
and Isundunrin near Ejigbo; two at Oyo (the Awo Alaafin and Isale
Oyo), and one at Oke Itase at Ife. It is not surprising that a
Babalawo heads each of these collective liturgical centres. Probably,
it is their committed ambition to unite all o3risaitraditions under If,
and uplift the religion from the low position to which it has been
relegated by awaking the consciousness of moribund practitioners.
The imitative church building gathering affords the participants,
without their asking for it, the opportunity of theological training,
based on the myth and cosmology created by the formulators of the
Ifa system.
Again, if this practice continues and spreads to other parts of
Yoriubaland, shrines may give way to 'ecclesia' structures. However, it is not sure whether it will bring greater benefit to Orisa
tradition, than the ancient approach of placing emphasis on
individual orisa, and seeing each as a local communal unifying
factor.
Some educated youths who have lost touch with their local deity
Religion in Yorutbaland
225
because of formal education, seem to favour the 'ecclesia' adaptation. It affords them the opportunity of being initiated, not into one
specific orisd, but to all the orisd together; they may later patronize
the one that best suits their desire. In such initiation, Ifi priests
play prominent roles.
Conclusion
So far in this paper popularized theories have been compared
with traditional practices. What some authors want Yoriuba to be,
has often been presented as the defacto situation. This paper, however, has tried to show the dichotomy between theories and actual
practices. Olo6dumare is probably the Supreme Deity of the Yoriuba
only in the context of the Ifa system which creates the idea and propagates it among advocates of several other orisd who do not have
the philosophical mind of the Ifa system. That the Yoriuba in
general worship Orisa and not Oloduimare, is a thesis copiously
substantiated by orisd (local deities) traditions all over Yoriubaland.
Ifa should be praised for its ingenuity. It is not only religiously, but
also philosophically, oriented. Its numerical system has been described as a complex computer system by Adetiloye (1987:2-7).16 Its
modern advocates seem to capitalize mainly on its religious contribution. There is no objection to Ifa marrying all orisa systems
but, in doing this, it has created a myth of origin and a cosmology
that can incorporate the other systems. Nonetheless, we should
realize that theological and philosophical geneses are subsequent to
the systems that propagate them.
The unity which the Ifa theologians continue to advocate among
the traditional worshippers in Yoruibaland has not been fully
achieved. Practice, not theory, is our evidence.
NOTES
1. Bolaji Idowu (1962) Olddtumare:God in YorubadBelief, Longman, Nigeria.
Bolaji Id6owu has also published a book on the adaptation of Yoriuba culture to
Christianity. In Towards the Indigenisation of Christianity, he shows the initial
mistakes of the pioneering missionaries who felt that it was ideal for them to condemn all traditional tenets in order to establish 'true' Christianity.
2. Susan Feldmann (ed.) (1963) African Myths and Tales, Dell Publishing Co.
Inc., New York.
3. cf. J. A. Atanda (1973 pp. 1-14) The New Qyo Empire.
4. cf. Olurainkinse, 0. (1982 pp. 20-23) "Of the Idanre and Yoruba
226
Thomas Mdkanjuold Ilesanmi
Language" in Some ProblemsConnectedwith the teachingand learningof YorubaLanguage
in SelectedSecondarySchools in Idanre. An essay submitted to the Faculty of Education, University of Ife, Ile-Ife.
5. cf. Biobaku, S. 0. (1971 p. 6) The Origin of the Yoruiba
Series. No. 1, University
of Lagos Humanities Monograph. The use of Yoriuba for all the dialect groups was
further enhanced by the formation of the Egbe Q,o Oodua in June 1948.
6. Abiri, J. 0. 0. (1970 pp. 1-2) Moremf: An Epic of Feminine Heroism.
Onibonbhe Press, Ibadan, Nigeria.
7. Laoye, I, Timi of Ede 'Yoriuba Drums' in ODU March, 1959 pp. 5-6.
8. Akiwowo, Akinsola (1984 p. 15) 'Understanding Interpretative Sociology in
the light of the Oriki of Orunmila', Department of Sociology and Anthropology,
University of Ife, Ile-Ife.
9. The formulation of the religious generalization can be found in the Proceedings
of The First World Conferenceon Orisa Tradition, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. 1981 pp. 21-31. This
formulation has been expressed in various ways prior to the 1981 Conference.
Many researchers have taken the tree for the forest. A review of the researchers'
tenets is available in J. 0. Awolalu's Yoruzba
Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites, Longman
1979 pp. 3-18. But Karin Barber (1990) 'Oriki, Women and the Proliferation and
Merging of orisa', Africa 60 (1990) pp. 313-37 has shed some new light on the creation of orisc in Yoriubaland.
10. cf. Olu Daramola and A. Jeje (1967 p. 281) Awon Asa datiOrisaiIe Yoruba',
Onibonoje Press, Nigeria.
11. Ibid., p. 224.
12. T. M. Ilesanmi (1985) Hearthstone:A CulturalStudy of Songs in Ijesaland, Doctoral Thesis, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
13. Pierre Verger (1957) and P. R. McKenzie (1976) long noticed this fact as
published in the article by McKenzie: 'Yoriuba Orisa Cults: Some Marginal notes
concerning their cosmology and concepts of Deity' in Journal of Religion in Africa,
Vol. viii facs. 3 pp. 189-99.
14. cf. Laoye, I, Timi of Ede 'Yoriuba Drums' in ODU March, 1959. University of Ife, Nigeria.
15. Iwe Odu Mimodti Orunmila Ifa OldkunAjeti Aiye compiled by Ijo Qrunmila
Adulawo Ifeko6wapo. Fadehan Printing Works, Ile-Ife (n.d.)
16. cf. Adetiloye, P. O. on 'Ifa System of Divination on the choice of Human
Destiny in Yoriubai Culture', Department of Plant Science, University of Ife,
Nigeria. Presented at the Departmental Seminar of the Department of African
Languages and Literatures, University of Ife, Monday, March 2, 1987.