Religion: Ifa, the Orisa and Their Spread
Olodumare and the orisa, ase, Ifa divination with its 256 odu and verse corpus, the babalawo's training, major orisa (Obatala, Sango, Ogun, Osun, Yemoja, Esu), festivals such as Osun-Osogbo, the mistranslation of Esu, UNESCO recognition, and how orisa worship travelled to the Americas (part 9).
A religion held in memory
Ifa's corpus is one of the largest bodies of oral literature in Africa: each odu has many verses, and a trained babalawo spends years memorising them. The verses carry history, ethics and medicine as well as ritual, which is why historians use them as sources, carefully, for earlier periods.
Orisa and place: many orisa are tied to towns: Sango to Oyo (in tradition a deified Alaafin), Osun to Osogbo, Ogun to Ire and Ekiti, Obatala to Ife. Festivals such as the annual Osun-Osogbo festival draw pilgrims from Nigeria and the diaspora.
Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976); William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969); Jacob Olupona, City of 201 Gods (2011); UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage listing for the Ifa Divination System.