stories_from_the_ifa_oracle.pdf

This translation was done by Ulli Beier and Bakare Gbadamosi.

The section consists of 10 stories as told by an Ifa diviner and translated by Beier and Gbadamosi. The stories are titled:

1. The Sun
2. The Moon
3. The Creation of Land
4. Orishala Who Made Man and Animals
5. The Origin of the Oro Cult
6. The Origin of the Egungun Masquerade
7. The Bird Who Brought Fire from Heaven
8. What Agbe, Aluka and Akoko Say in the Morning
9. The Rock
10. Oduduwa

The stories presented here feature the frequent appearance of Orishas, which are spirits or deities in the Yoruba tradition. There are hundreds of Orisha involved in origin stories similar to these. Many Orisha also take part in ongoing interactions with humans.

The ten stories in this piece are not oracular in themselves. Rather, they are origin stories that involve the use of the Ifa system of divination. The practice of Ifa (which is also the name of an Orisha) originated in West Africa but is also practiced in the Americas.

This story details how the god Orishala turns an iroko tree into the white metal called oje. The blacksmiths of heaven forge the oje into a boat and a pot containing heavenly objects. Orishala's slave You-don't-hear-what-i-say becomes the boatman of the sun, driving the boat containing the pot from heaven to the world and back each day.

In this tale, the Moon is told by Elaporo, the rainbow, that it must perform a sacrifice in order to find “rest of mind.” The moon refuses and the god Olodumare commands the moon to live fifteen days on earth and fifteen days in heaven, constantly moving. The god Ifa laughs at the moon because its stubbornness has kept it from finding rest.

In this story Odudwa becomes the first Orisha to set foot on land. He and the other Orishas encounter only water in the world below heaven, so the the others turn back while Odudwa climbs below using the chain of Orunmila. He places sand on the water to create land and tests its stability with a chameleon and a hen. One by one the other gods come to live on the earth and Odudwa is appointed as their leader because of his bravery.

Olodumare gifts Odudwa and Orishala the calabash of good character. They travel to the world and Orishala becomes drunk on palm wine provided by a traveling woman. Odudwa returns the calabash to Olodumare. When Orishala awakens, he asks Olodumare what has happened to the calabash. In place of a response, Olodumare teaches Orishala how to create human beings and animals.

Asehin is dismayed that his wife has had no children. He performs a sacrifice to his father, who refuses it. Asehin learns that his true father is not human. His mother reveals that she was raped by Iro (Gorilla) and was later able to trick and kill him. Asehin retrieves the bones of the dead Iro and returns them to town. The townspeople sing first “Iro is coming” and then “Oro is coming,” which begins the tradition of Oro.

The Orishas do not know how to correct the “spoilt” world. Obara Osa directs them to make different kinds of cloth into a shroud and to prepare food and drink for strangers coming from heaven. Twenty strangers, called Egun, arrive and set the world straight. Odudwa, fearful that the Egun will claim the land, drives them away from Ile Ife. They establish the town of Oje and spread from there.

The son of Ajalaiye sets fire to the house of Olodumare, but his own tail catches fire as well. When he returns to his father's house, that house also burns down, with the fire eventually spreading to the whole town. This leads to the proverb: Anyone who puts fire on his tail Will not take it anywhere else Except into his father's house.

Agbe, Aluko, and Akoko the Cock (three kinds of birds) are brothers. When their mother is gone they put their heads in palm oil and run away to separate areas. When their mother returns, Akoko is the closest and sees that she is not angry. He calls to his two brothers who respond. This explains why all three of them shout in the morning.

The hill wishes to be higher than the ground. Tewure pronounces the oracle and tells the hill to gather ten fingernails, ten palm leaves, ten silk cotton leaves, and one cow. Because fingernails are higher than the finger, leaves higher than the tree, and trees higher than the town, the hill will become higher than the ground. The cow presumably is for sacrifice.

Odudwa had two wives who fought with each other. The senior wife killed the junior. Odudwa throws the senior wife out, pursues her, and kills her. Her body becomes the river Opa at Ife. Rather than taking another wife, Odudwa cuts off his penis and slashes his body, giving himself a vagina. He is then able to produce children.

In addition to Ifa divination and an explanation of origins, another recurring feature in these stories is the presence or conspicuous absence of sacrificial rites. For instance, in “The Moon,” the moon's constant movement is figured as a direct consequence of his failure to perform a sacrifice as instructed.

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