Primal Religions- Yoruba

Location: The Yoruba are located in West Africa; predominately in Nigeria. However, they are also located in Benin and Togo. This area includes savanna grassland in the north and tropical rain forest region in the south.  The Yoruba favor living in cities, such as Ife, the center of the Yoruba religion

Cosmological view: The Yoruba see reality as being divided into two; heaven and earth. Heaven is the invisible home of the gods and ancestors, and earth is visible home of the human beings. The purpose of the religion is to maintain the balance between the worlds. 

The Yoruba believe that Olorun is the original source of power in the universe. He has deities who act as an in between the people and himself.

Sacred Symbols:  The Yoruba have a lot of symbols in their religion. For example, they use wood and metal carvings, plants and animals as symbols of gods and ancestral spirits. Some symbols are made to identify divinities. These include sculptures, bowls, stools and masks. Wooden figures are also very common, especially when representing twin birth.  Edan, one male and one female figure, joined by a chain, is another symbol. They are used for initiation into the Ogboni society.

Edan Symbol

Sacred Locations:  One sacred location is Osun-Osogo Sacred Grove. It is believed that the goddess of fertility Osun landscaped the grove with shrines, sculptures and art in honor of Osun. The Yoruba people see it as a symbol of identity. At many sacred locations, one can find an Akoko Tree, which is a symbolic marker for sacred spots in the Yoruba religion.

Sculptures in Osun-Osogo Sacred Grove

Gods: The major god is Olorun, who is believed to be the original source of power. There are many lesser deities under Olorun called orishas. Whiler they are lesser than Olorun, they are still very significant. One orisha is Orisha-nla, who created the earth. Another important god is Ogun, the god of war. He inhabits the area between the ancestors and the rest of the orishas.

Orisha Ogun

Totems,taboos:  The Yoruba primarily use totems as their totems. There are a number of taboos in the Yoruba religion. In fact, they are actually very important to the religion. It is taboo to say that the King is dead because the Yoruba view the King as a mortal God. It is it taboo to say that a fat person is heavy. One final example is that it is taboo to ask whether a project was successful or not.

Shaman: The Shaman leads the people and helps to restore their soul. They call on Olorun, the father of all creation to do so. He gives the Shamans wisdom, purity and peace to help them with their responsibility.

Rituals: There are many important death rituals in the Yoruba religion. For example, when the corpse is lowered to the grave, the survivors bring an animal victim and offers his gift to the minister. Another ritual is the daily worship of gods. Every morning, the worshiper stands in front of the shrine, usually alone, and proceeds to worship the god.

People waiting to eat after a funeral

Extra Images

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_people#Benin

http://obafemio.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/4/2/5142021/04-1_162.pdf

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1118

http://newafricanspirituality.com/page3/files/category-yoruba002c-shamanism002c-obatala.html

http://www.cte.ku.edu/gallery/visibleknowledge/salami/22/historyYoruba.htm

http://reasonbelieve.blogspot.com/2010/01/introduction-to-yoruba-religion.html

Chapter Review

1. Some forms of religion are called primal because they came before the religious traditions most people practice today. Some characteristics are that they have preserved a mythic orientation toward life. They tend to be traditions of nonliterate tribal peoples and very diverse.

2. They gave shape to the landscape and created the various forms of life, including human beings. They determined tribe’s language, social rules, customs.

3. The spiritual essence remains

4. A totem is the natural form, such as an animal or other feature of the landscape, in which the Ancestor appeared in the Dreaming.  Taboo dictates that certain things and activities are set aside for specific members of the group and are forbidden to other.

5.It is only through ritual that the sacred power of the Dreaming can be accessed and experienced. Every ritual has a myth that tells of certain actions of the Ancestors during the Dreaming.

6. From the Ancestors in the Dreaming

7.They awaken young people to this spiritual identity and redefine their social identity within the tribe. They bring about the symbolic death of childhood and prepares the way for the spiritual rebirth.

8. Knocking the two lower middle teeth out and burying them in the ground and circumcision

9. The Western regions of central Africa, in Nigeria, Benin and Togo

10. Because there the god Orisha-nla first began to create the world

11. They believe that reality is divided into two separate worlds: heaven and earth. Heaven is the invisible home of the gods and ancestors, and earth is the world of normal experience.

12. The supreme God. He is the primary source of power in the universe

13. The others gods in the Yoruba religion.  They function as mediators between Olorun and human beings. They are lesser deities than Olorun, but are still sources of sacred power and can help or harm human beings.

14. One is Orisha-nla who created the earth. Another is Ogun, the god of iron and of war. He was originally a human being, but became a god after his death.

15. A trickster figure is a sort of mischievous supernatural being

16. Family ancestors gained their supernatural status by earning a good reputation and living to an old age. Defied ancestors were important human figures known throughout Yoruba society.

17.They mediate between the gods and ancestors in heaven , and human beings on earth.

18.One’s future can be learned through divination.  It is essential because knowledge of one’s future is considered essential for determining how to proceed with one’s life.

19.They migrated from Asia, probably by crossing the Bering Strait some twenty thousand to thirty thousand years ago

20.It serves as the model of pan-Indian religion

21.The Lakota name for the supreme reality

22.The Lakota trickster figure

23.They believe that four souls depart from a person at death. One journeys along the “spirit path” of the Milky Way. The soul meets an old woman, and other parts enter unborn children.

24.Spiritual power that will ensure greater success in activities

25.A dark and airtight hut made of saplings and covered with animal skins. It is intended to represent the universe. It causes the participant to sweat profusely.

26.It arrives in the form of an animal usually with a message.  Sometimes the participant acquires a guardian spirit.

27.A woman of outstanding character

28. The axis or center of the universe. In the dance, it represents the supreme being.

29. They believe their bodies are the only things they truly own, so it is the only suitable sacrifice to offer to the supreme being.

30. They were a highly developed civilization, and were urban. They are similar because they emphasized the interrelationship between myth and ritual and it predated Catholicism.

31. Most of present-day Mexico and extended southward to present-day Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica

32. Quetzalcoatl ordered the world and in Tenochtitlan.

33. Quetzalcoatl’s earthly devotee. He provided the Aztecs with the perfect role model for their own authority figures

34. The age of the fifth sun. They believed that it would be the last to ever shine.

35. The spatial world had four quadrants, which connected the earthly realm to the heavenly realm above and the underworld below.

36. Because each human had two divine forces, one in the head and another in the heart, that nurtured the human being with basic needs. They connected the earthly realm to the divine realm.

37. They could communicate with the gods and make offerings through language, providing an alternative to sacrifice.

38. The Aztec king believed that the Spanish leader was Topiltzin Quetzl-coatl, the long-lost priest-kind of the Toltects. The king welcomed the Spanish leader and provided him with gifts.

39.The Aztecs performed similar rituals devoted to the same purpos

40. The boundaries between the supernatural and human worlds are thing and easily crossed. The all-encompassing nature of religion, and change.