Rites & Ritual

what its people do — and when Part of Practice →

Daily

Throwing the kola. Four lobes of kola nut thrown on the ground, read by how many land face up. It is a simple oracle giving yes, no and shades of both, and anyone can use it without a priest. Ifa is for the difficult questions; obi is for asking whether the offering you just made was accepted. When daily, and before any decisionWho anyone; no priest is required Go deeper — context →

Oriki. The string of praise names belonging to a person, a family, a town or an orisha — compressed history, epithets, boasts and warnings, delivered at speed. It is how an orisha is properly addressed, and it is also how a grandmother greets a grandchild. Not knowing your own lineage's oriki is a genuine gap. When daily — and at every greeting of an orisha or an elderWho anyone Go deeper — context →

Weekly

The four-day week. The traditional Yoruba week has four days, the market rotates on it, and each day belongs to an orisha — so when you make an offering is part of the offering. The four-day cycle still governs rural market life alongside the imported seven-day week, and people keep both. When weekly — every four days, on the traditional calendarWho everyone in the town Go deeper — context →

Yearly

When the egungun comes out. Before dawn, covered entirely, moving strangely, speaking in a voice that is not a human voice, attended by young men with switches who keep people at a distance. The tradition does not treat this as a man in a costume representing an ancestor. Women traditionally may not approach, which is itself a live argument. When annual, and at family occasionsWho the lineage; the wearer is never named Go deeper — context →

Osun Osogbo. Two weeks in August, ending with the Arugba — a virgin of the royal house — carrying the covered calabash of offerings on her head through the crowd to the river, in silence, untouchable. Hundreds of thousands attend, including Nigerians who are Christian or Muslim, and the sacred grove is a UNESCO World Heritage site. When annual — two weeks in AugustWho hundreds of thousands, from Nigeria, Brazil, Cuba and the United States Go deeper — context →

Olojo. The Ooni of Ife emerges wearing the Are crown, said to be Oduduwa's own and worn once a year, and the town stays awake. The festival marks the day the tradition says the world was made — at Ife, which is why Ife holds that it is the place where the world was made. held by most When annual — the Ooni's festival at Ile-IfeWho the Ooni, the chiefs, and the town Go deeper — context →

Once in a life

Initiation. The head is shaved and painted, the orisha is seated on it, and the initiate spends days in seclusion in white, is fed like an infant, learns their prohibitions and emerges with a new name. In Cuba the year that follows requires white clothing every day. It costs a great deal and people save for years. When once in a lifetime — seven days minimum, often longerWho the initiate, the godparent, and the assembled priests Go deeper — context →

The naming, on the seventh day. Water, salt, honey, palm oil, kola, bitter kola, pepper, sugar cane and dried fish are touched to the newborn's lips one at a time, each with a spoken wish about the life ahead. Then the names — and a Yoruba child will have several, one recording the circumstances of the birth and one often saying which ancestor has come back. When once — the seventh, eighth or ninth day after birthWho the whole compound; the eldest names first Go deeper — context →

The funeral of someone old. Drumming, dancing, a great deal of money spent, and a second burial to complete the passage some time later — because an elder with surviving children has finished the journey and is joining the ancestors. The funeral of a child has none of this, and the difference between the two is the clearest statement the tradition makes about what a good life is. When once — over days, and then the second burialWho the whole town for an elder Go deeper — context & 1 source →

Ongoing

Ebo — the offering. Divination names what is required and where it goes: a specific food at a crossroads, cloth in a river, an animal at a shrine, a number of cowries at the roots of a tree. Much of what is offered is then cooked and eaten by everyone present, which is the part outsiders miss — a great deal of ebo is a meal. When as prescribed — after any divination that calls for itWho the person, a priest, and whoever the offering feeds Go deeper — context →

Ifá divination. The chain is cast, the odu falls, the verses are chanted — and the question is placed inside a story older than the asking. When whenever a question pressesWho the querent and the babalawo Go deeper — context →

The drums, and being mounted. Bata drums play the rhythm that belongs to one orisha and no other, the praise names are sung, and at some point a devotee is taken — the orisha rides them, speaks through them, and they will not remember it. The community's test is behavioural: if it is Shango, it must behave as Shango behaves. When at festivals, initiations and emergencies — through the nightWho drummers, a chorus, dancers, and whoever the orisha chooses Go deeper — context →

The leaves. Several hundred plants, each with uses, gathered with the correct incantation — and the incantation is not ornamental, since the tradition holds that a leaf picked without the words is inactive. Yoruba herbal practice and Yoruba religion are one field of knowledge, and Osanyin owns it. When as needed — and it is needed constantlyWho the herbalist, the onisegun, or a babalawo trained in leaves Go deeper — context →

Feeding your own head. Cool water, gin, kola, honey — whatever your Ori was told it takes — pressed to your own head with your own palms while you speak to it. No priest, no shrine, no money, no permission. It is the most private act in the religion and the one that addresses the only divinity that is yours alone. When periodically — and when things are going badlyWho you, alone or with a priest Go deeper — context →