Where is the origin of oduduwa

In all of the Yoruba oral traditions pertaining to the creation of the earth and humans, plants and animals, the image of Oduduwa and that of Obatala an anthropomorphic sky-god are portrayed as central. The Yoruba people believed that there would not have been creation without Oduduwa and Obatala Oyebade The Yoruba creation myth is a tradition according to which God Olorun laid down a long chain from heaven until the chain reached the surfaces of the earth.

When Olorun laid down the chain, it landed specifically in Ile-Ife, a town in Yorubaland. Those who upheld Oduduwa as a creator believed that Ile-Ife is the centre of the universe, and they regarded the entire city as a sacred place because they believed that it was from Ile-Ife that all humans were created and spread to other parts of the world Ayandele ; Lange The Oduduwa creation myth is a view according to which, before the creation of humans, the surface of the earth was filled with mainly bodies of water.

When Olorun made Oduduwa to decent from heaven, he gave Oduduwa some items to bring along to earth. The items included a cock, sand or soil and a palm kernel.

Oduduwa spread the soil on the earth's surface that contained mainly water, and the cock helped Oduduwa to spread the soil across the earth, forming a landmass. According to the Yoruba tradition, this single event marked the first landmass on earth. The palm kernel was also thrown to be grown until it was rooted, and it germinated and formed 16 lateral branches.

The 16 branches are believed to represent the 16 traditional kingdoms of the Yoruba people Johnson ; cf. Ojo Another view regarding Oduduwa as a creator portrayed that the entire earth was a water-mashed body without any land.

Olorun decided to send some of his messengers to earth with the aim of creating farmlands. Obatala was tasked with the responsibility of leading all the other Oye. Olorun gave the Oye some items to bring to earth. The items included five pieces of iron given to each Oye, a cockerel and a white piece of cloth. Wrapped inside the white cloth was a lump of soil. Unfortunately, on their way to earth, Obatala got drunk of palm wine, so Oduduwa decided to lead all the other messengers to earth. They all landed in Oke Oramfe at Ile-Ife.

The five pieces of iron they came with were set down and the lump of soil spread across the body, providing a landmass. The cockerel spread the soil across the whole earth, leaving some areas filled with water Akintoye ; Ayandele It is not surprising that the Yorubas have high regard for farming and sculpting using iron ores as items and farming as a profession prescribed to them by God himself.

The identity of Oduduwa as an independent god is sometimes debated among the Yoruba people. Some Yoruba oral traditions portray Oduduwa as an independent deity who was not created by Olorun, rather a coeval with Olorun Ellis However, in some instances, both Obatala and Oduduwa are regarded as subjects, inferiors or servants of Olorun Omolewa There is another unpopular tradition according to which Oduduwa was created as a blind female and as the wife of Obatala. Ellis explained this Yoruba oral tradition and noted that there was a time when Obatala and Oduduwa were locked up together in darkness by Olorun and kept inside a calabash for many days.

Whilst being locked up, both deities became tired and hungry and this resulted in anger, especially for Obatala, who blamed Oduduwa for all their predicaments.

Oduduwa also blamed Obatala for causing Olorun to tie both of them in a calabash. Because of his anger, Obatala tore the eyes of Oduduwa and Oduduwa began to see. Instead of being grateful for being able to see, the tradition points that Oduduwa was angry and cursed Obatala for tearing her eyes. Oduduwa cursed Obatala by saying '[ n ]aught shalt thou eat but snails' Ellis To this day, the Yoruba people make sacrifices of snails to Obatala.

Ellis stated that this myth also contributed to making the Yoruba people sacrifice snails to some of their gods. Ellis mentioned another tradition regarding Oduduwa, according to which Oduduwa, depicted as a female, met a handsome man who was a hunter in a place called Ado 15 miles north of Badagry. Ado literally means a wayward person of either sex. Oduduwa walked the forest and enticed the hunter. It resulted in both having sex for many weeks.

Oduduwa became tired and disliked the hunter but promised to protect him in the forest. She also promised protection to all those who passed and worked along Ado Ellis The discussion about Oduduwa as a female goddess in this research is based on the views of Ellis. Ellis depended on the oral interviews he made with some Yoruba people around the s. Lucas believed that describing Oduduwa as a female deity can be a reasonable idea because, according to him, Oduduwa was originally a female.

Lucas thought that the name Oduduwa was degenerated to a man because her worshippers thought that the role she played in creating the earth should not be attributed to a woman but a man.

Lucas said stories portraying Oduduwa as evil had to be invented so that she would be dissociated from creation:. Oduduwa as a migrant legend. The Yoruba migration tradition regarding Oduduwa is a view according to which Oduduwa originated from Mecca through his biological father Lamurudu, who was a king in Mecca Folorunso Oduduwa, then a prince, came to Nigeria together with his two children.

The names of the two children are not known or mentioned in any book used for this research, but the parts of Nigeria they went to are mentioned. In the Yoruba tradition, Oduduwa is portrayed as a popular person in Mecca because he rejected Islam, a religion practised by his ancestors. His interest in paganism was supported by some Muslim adherents whom he convinced to join him and especially a priest called Asara, whose father Braima was a committed Muslim. Asara became an image or idol maker because he hated Islam unlike his father who loved Islam.

Braima's father was an idol seller and he introduced the trade to Braima. Johnson said that when Braima was an idol seller during his childhood, he used to invite buyers by using the euphemism '[ w ]ho would purchase falsehood' p.

Oduduwa was determined to promote idolatry to the point that he converted one of the mosques in Mecca and made it a shrine for idol worship. Oduduwa ordered his followers to go for 3 days hunting in the bush to prepare them for a ritual that was meant to please their idols. Whilst they were away, Braima went through all of Mecca searching and destroying idols made by Oduduwa and his followers using an axe. Johnson ; Ojo Oduduwa and his followers knew that it was Braima who destroyed their idols.

They summoned him for an explanation and Braima said to them '[ w ]hy do you worship things which cannot speak' Johnson ? Oduduwa and his followers intended to burn Braima alive and this led to a revolt between Oduduwa and other Muslims in Mecca.

The revolt led to the death of Lamurudu, whilst his children including Oduduwa were expelled from Mecca Johnson ; cf. Oduduwa had to migrate to Yorubaland from Mecca and it is not known why he chose Yorubaland. He left Mecca and went eastwards, taking two of his idols to Ile-Ife.

Sahibu, an ardent follower of Islam from Mecca, went after Oduduwa to destroy him and his followers. Sahibu carried with him a copy of the Koran. Oduduwa defeated Sahibu in a battle Johnson Johnson said that a copy of the Koran, now referred to as Idi [something tied up], is still available in a temple in Ile-Ife, where it is being venerated unto this day.

No one knew the Oni of Ife when Oduduwa went there Ayandele Johnson narrated the Yoruba oral tradition as a migrant legend, the way he was told by the Yoruba oral historians he came across. However, Johnson contested some aspects of the tradition that concentrated on associating the Yoruba origin with Islam. There are various theories of the Yoruba origin which include the Arab, the Jewish, the Etruria, the local and the Egyptian origin of the Yorubas.

Many more Yoruba people believe in the Arab origin because the theory is popularly linked to the 'East'. In the original Yoruba oral tradition, their origin is associated with the East and the East had been assumed to be Mecca or Arabia. Johnson disputed the Arab theory of the Yoruba origin because it associated the Yoruba origin or Oduduwa with Islam. Johnson recognised that a particular legend by the name Oduduwa might have lived in Yorubaland. He might have included Oduduwa in the writing of the Yoruba history because the Yoruba oral tradition ascribed Oduduwa as the original ancestor of the Yoruba people.

However, Johnson's emphasis that the Yoruba ancestors came from Upper Egypt or Nubia or that they were Coptic Christians deemphasised the regard for Oduduwa as a single person but a group of people. Johnson did not explain the connection between Oduduwa and the Coptic Christians, instead, he mentioned the identity of Oduduwa as a mythical personage, suggesting that Oduduwa, as a specific individual, might have existed or not.

This is also why the Yorubas of today associate any Yoruba achiever with the title 'Omo Oduduwa' meaning 'descendant of Oduduwa' Lucas Ayandele also suggested that the purpose of the inclusion of Oduduwa in the Yoruba oral tradition is not to specifically identify the Yoruba origin but to highlight that the Yorubaland prospered during the reign of Oduduwa.

It can therefore be speculated that for Johnson, whether the name Oduduwa is included or not in the narrative of the Yoruba origin, he would have been satisfied in associating the ancestors of the Yoruba with Christianity. His disagreement with a narrative of the Yoruba origin that associated the Yoruba people with Islam might have been influenced by Johnson's socio-religious and political background, according to which he was a clergy that was expected to convert people into Christianity in addition to the role he played in uniting the Yoruba during the periods of the Yoruba war that ended in the late 19th century.

Falola agreed with this view and said 'his [ Johnson's ] greatest wish was to see the triumph of Christianity over other religions' p. The author declares that there is no competing interest.

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects. This article was written by A. Data availability statement. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study. The views expressed in this article are those of the author. Ade, D. Afolayan, F. Lawal, M. Dopamu eds. Understanding Yoruba life and culture , pp.

Agai, J. Kwarts Publishers, Centurion. Akintoye, S. Ayandele, E. Obaro ed. Awolalu, J. Doortmont, M. Ellis, A. Falola, T. Folorunso, C. Reid eds. Johnson, S. Johnson ed. Lucas, J. Marcus, M. Omolewa, M. In conclusion, the history and culture of the Yoruba race has explained the role of the Oyo empire historically bringing the glory back to the culture of Yoruba people through the development of their cultural inheritance, prosperity, power and respect for the Yoruba people and their culture.

The question is now whether in this modern world and civilization if this people s still devoted to their cultural values and ideas which they embodied. Oladipo Adeyemo. Born and raised in Ibadan, Mr. Adeyemo is married to Mrs.

She came from Ife, the holy city, in common with most of the other gods. Obatala and Oduduwa represent one androgynous divinity, an image of a human being with one arm and leg, and a tail terminating a sphere.

But generally, Obatala and Oduduwa are regarded as two distinct persons. Oduduwa is both a primordial divinity and a deified ancestor. Oduduwa was the creator of the earth and its inhabitants as a result of Obatala's failure through drunkenness to carry out Olodumare's injunction.

See: Obatala. Obatala and Oduduwa, or heaven and earth, resemble two large cut-calabashes, which, when once shut, can never be opened. The shape of the universe is depicted by two whitened saucer-shaped calabashes, placed one covering the other, the upper one of which represents the concave firmament stretching over and meeting the earth, the lower one, at the horizon. According to a myth, Oduduwa is blind. At the beginning of the world, she and her husband, Obatala, were shut up in darkness in a large, closed calabash, Obatala being in the upper part and Oduduwa in the lower.

They remained there for many days, cramped, hungry, and uncomfortable. Then Oduduwa began complaining, blaming her husband for the confinement, and a violent quarrel ensued, in the course of which, in a frenzy of rage, Obatala tore out her eyes, because she would not bridle her tongue. Oduduwa is the patroness of love. She was once walking alone in the forest when she met a hunter, a man so handsome that the temperament of the goddess at once took fire.