Vodún or vodúnsínsen is an African traditional religion practiced by the Aja, Ewe, and Fon peoples of Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria. Practitioners are commonly called vodúnsɛntó or Vodúnisants.
Ogun or Ogoun is a Yoruba Orisha that is adopted in several African religions. Ògún is a warrior and a powerful spirit of metal work, as well as of rum and rum-making. He is also known as the "god of iron" and is present in Yoruba religion, Santería, Haitian Vodou, West African Vodun, and the folk religion of the Gbe people. He attempted to seize the throne after the demise of Ọbàtálá, who reigned twice, before and after Oduduwa, but was ousted by Obalufon Ogbogbodirin and sent on an exile – an event that serves as the core of the Ọlọ́jọ́ Festival.
Ọrunmila is the Orisha of Wisdom, knowledge, and Divination, is the creator of Ifá and Babalawo concept. He is a high priest of Ifá.
Orishas are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The preferred spelling varies depending on the language in question: òrìṣà is the spelling in the Yoruba language, orixá in Portuguese, and orisha, oricha, orichá or orixá in Spanish-speaking countries.
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. Examples of initiation ceremonies might include Christian baptism or confirmation, Jewish bar or bat mitzvah, acceptance into a fraternal organization, secret society or religious order, or graduation from school or recruit training. A person taking the initiation ceremony in traditional rites, such as those depicted in these pictures, is called an initiate.
Egungun, Yoruba language: Egúngún, also known as Ará Ọ̀run in the broadest sense is any Yoruba masquerade or masked, costumed figure. More specifically, it is a Yoruba masquerade for ancestor reverence, or the ancestors themselves as a collective force. Eégún is the reduced form of the word egúngún and has the same meaning. There is a misconception that Eegun/Egun is the singular form, or that it represents the ancestors while Egúngún is the masquerade or the plural form. This misconception is common in the Americas by Orisa devotees that do not speak Yorùbá language as a vernacular. Egungun is a visible manifestation of the spirits of departed ancestors who periodically revisit the human community for remembrance, celebration, and blessings.
Ifá is a divination system originating from Yorubaland in West Africa. It originates within the traditional religion of the Yoruba people although is also practised by followers of West African Vodun and in African diasporic religions like Cuban Santería.
The Yoruba religion, West African Orisa (Òrìṣà), or Isese (Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in present-day Southwestern Nigeria, which comprises the majority of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Lagos states, as well as parts of Kogi state and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo, commonly known as Yorubaland.
The Gẹlẹdẹ spectacle of the Yoruba is a public display by colorful masks which combines art and ritual dance to amuse, educate and inspire worship. Gelede celebrates “Mothers”, a group that includes female ancestors and deities as well as the elderly women of the community, and the power and spiritual capacity these women have in society. Focusing not only on fertility and motherhood but also on correct social behavior within the Yoruba society.
Akara is a type of fritter made from cowpeas or beans by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Benin and Togo. It is found throughout West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cuisines. The dish is traditionally encountered in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, especially in the city of Salvador. Acarajé serves as both a religious offering to the gods in the Candomblé religion and as street food. The dish was brought by enslaved Yoruba citizens from West Africa, and can still be found in various forms in Nigeria, Benin and Togo.
Jacob Kehinde Olupona is a Nigerian-born American professor, writer, and scholar of religious studies. He is a professor of African Religious Traditions at the Harvard Divinity School with a joint appointment as Professor of African and African American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. Olupona was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in April 2023.
The Yoruba of West Africa are responsible for a distinct artistic tradition in Africa, a tradition that remains vital and influential today.
Yorùbá medicine, or egbòogi, is a Yoruba system of herbalism practiced primarily in West Africa and the Caribbean.
The Yoruba people are a West African ethnic group who mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by the Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 50 million people in Africa, are over a million outside the continent, and bear further representation among members of the African diaspora. The vast majority of the Yoruba population is today within the country of Nigeria, where they make up 20.7% of the country's population according to Ethnologue estimations, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Most Yoruba people speak the Yoruba language, which is the Niger-Congo language with the largest number of native or L1 speakers.
Trinidad Orisha, also known as Orisha religion and Shango, is a syncretic religion in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean, originally from West Africa. Trinidad Orisha incorporates elements of Spiritual Baptism, and the closeness between Orisha and Spiritual Baptism has led to use of the term "Shango Baptist" to refer to members of either or both religions. Anthropologist James Houk described Trinidad Orisha as an "Afro-American religious complex", incorporating elements mainly of traditional African religion and Yoruba and incorporates some elements of Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Baháʼí, and Amerindian mythologies.
An Oba's crown represents the highest level of authority vested in Yoruba rulers. Referred to as an Adé, the bead-embroidered crown is the foremost attribute of the ruler and the greatest mark of honour and sanction of divine authority together with the "Opa Ase" and the Odigba/Ejigba . An Oba's crown may also be referred to as an Adé ńlá, literally: Big Crown. Ade in Yorubaland are elaborate conical head gears that feature a heavily beaded veil and fringes that shields or obscure the face.
Iyalawo is a term in the Lucumi religion that literally means Mother of Mysteries or Mother of Wisdom. Some adherents use the term "Mamalawo," which is a partially African diaspora version of the Lucumi term, Iyaláwo and Yeyelawo are two more versions of mother of mysteries. Ìyánífá is a Yoruba word that can be translated as Mother (Ìyá) has or of (ní) Ifá or Mother in Ifá & is the Yoruba title for Mother of mysteries & the female equivalent of a Babalawo.
Iyami Aje is a Yoruba term of respect and endearment used to describe a woman of African ancestry who is considered to be an Aje, a woman who wields myriad arcane creative biological, spiritual, and cosmic powers.
The Ibadan National Museum of Unity is an ethnographic museum in Aleshinloye Ibadan, Nigeria. The museum is dedicated to the culture of the different ethnic groups of Nigeria.
