Батыс Африкалық Йоруба Діні және Орисалар

Religion of the Yoruba people of Africa / West African Orisa

The Yoruba religion (Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), 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
It shares some parallels with the Vodun practiced by the neighboring Fon and Ewe peoples to the west and with the religion of the Edo people to the east. Yoruba religion is the basis for a number of religions in the New World, notably Santería, Umbanda, Trinidad Orisha, and Candomblé. Yoruba religious beliefs are part of Itàn (history), the total complex of songs, histories, stories, and other cultural concepts which make up the Yoruba society. Every thought and action of each person or being in Aiyé (the physical realm) interact with the Supreme force, all other living things, including the Earth itself, as well as with Orun (the otherworld), in which gods, spirits and ancestors exist. The Yoruba religion can be described as a complex form of polytheism, with a Supreme but distant creator force, encompassing the whole universe. The anthropologist Robert Voeks described Yoruba religion as being animistic, noting that it was "firmly attached to place". Each person living on earth attempts to achieve perfection and find their destiny in Orun Rere (the spiritual realm of those who do good and beneficial things). One's ori inu (spiritual consciousness in the physical realm) must grow in order to consummate union with one's "Iponri" (Ori Orun, spiritual self). Perhaps one of the most important human endeavors extolled within the Yoruba literary corpus is the quest to improve one's "Ìwà" (character, behaviour). In this way the teachings transcend religious doctrine, advising as they do that a person must also improve their civic, social and intellectual spheres of being; every stanza of the sacred Ifá oracular poetry (Odu Ifa) has a portion covering the importance of "Ìwà". Central to this is the theme of righteousness, both individual and collective.

Adherents of the Yoruba religion regard Olodumare as the principal force of creation. According to one of the Yoruba accounts of creation, at a certain stage in the process, the "truth" was sent to confirm the habitability of the planets that were newly formed. The earth, being one of these, was visited but considered too wet for conventional living. After a successful period of time, a number of divinities led by Obatala were sent to accomplish the task of helping earth develop its crust. On one of their visits to the realm, the arch divinity Obatala took to the stage equipped with a mollusk that concealed some form of soil, winged beasts, and some cloth like material. The contents were emptied onto what soon became a large mound on the surface of the water and soon after, the winged beasts began to scatter this around until the point where it gradually made into a large patch of dry land; the various indentations they created eventually becoming hills and valleys.

Yoruba Religion is a blend and combination various practice of indigenous beliefs, myths and legends, proverbs, and songs, all influenced by the cultural and social contexts. Traditional Yoruba beliefs hold that all people experience Ayanmo, which is destiny or fate. As a part of this, there is an expectation that everyone will eventually achieve the state of
Olodumare, which is becoming one with the divine creator who is the source of all energy in the Yoruba religion belief system. This list below emphasized on the name of various orisha religion name.

The Irúnmalẹ̀, from the words; Ìrun meaning ' Origin ' and Imalẹ̀ meaning ' Primal divinity ' are the original entities sent by Olorun to complete given tasks, often acting as liaisons between Òde Ọ̀run (the invisible realm) and Ilé Ayé (the physical realm). Irunmale(s) can therefore best be described in English as the highest ranking divinities; whereby such divinities are regarded as principal Orishas. The Irunmale or Imalẹ̀ are the primary foundational divinities or divine entities. In summary, all Imale are also Orisha, but not all Orisha are Imale.

The Yoruba believe in Atunwa, the possibility of reincarnation within the family. The names Babatunde (father returns), Yetunde (Mother returns), Babatunji (Father wakes once again) and Sotunde (The wise man returns) all offer vivid evidence of the Ifa concept of familial or lineal rebirth. There is no simple guarantee that one's grandfather or great uncle will "come back" in the birth of a child, however. Whenever the time arrives for a spirit to return to Earth (otherwise known as The Marketplace) through the conception of a new life in the direct bloodline of the family, one of the component entities of a person's being returns, while the other remains in Heaven (Ikole Orun). The spirit that returns does so in the form of a Guardian Ori. One's Guardian Ori, which is represented and contained in the crown of the head, represents not only the spirit and energy of one's previous blood relative, but the accumulated wisdom he or she has acquired through myriad lifetimes. This is not to be confused with one's spiritual Ori, which contains personal destiny, but instead refers to the coming back to The Marketplace of one's personal blood Ori through one's new life and experiences. The Primary Ancestor (which should be identified in your Itefa) becomes—if you are aware and work with that specific energy—a "guide" for the individual throughout their lifetime. At the end of that life they return to their identical spirit self and merge into one, taking the additional knowledge gained from their experience with the individual as a form of payment.

, professor of literature at Meiji University, became the first Japanese person to be initiated as a babalawo in 2013.