Ifa

From Wikipedia

Ifa and Related Genres

L.O. Adewole

Ifa

L.O. Adewole (ed.) (2001), Ifa and Related Genres: CASAS Book Series No. 13 Cape Town: CASAS ISBN 1-919799-54-D.


Opolopo awon nnkan ti o je mo Ifa ati awon nnkan ti o fara pe e ni awon eniyan soro le ninu iwe. Oro wa lori owe, iwure, awon ibo, oogun ibile, Ifa funraare, bi ese Ifa se je yo ninu iwe itan-aroso, Iroke, Ojulowo oriki Ifa ti A.F. Agboola, afiwe awon aladuura ati Ifa, oju ti awon onkowe ere-ori-itage fi n wo Ifa, imo ijinle ti awon onifa ni, esin ibile ni Venezuela ati eerindinlogun. Asamo ohun ti owa ninu iwe yii ni a ko ni ede Geesi ni isale yii.

This work contains the edited version of essays written on Ifa and topics related to it. The work comprises fourteen papers.

In the first paper, Dr. Yusuf discusses some misogynous English and Yoruba proverbs. In his opinion, in bilingual situations, where sexist English ‘and Yoruba proverbs coexist with Christian and traditional religion, the misogynous proverbs may be mutually reinforcing and the sexist custom may diffuses.

In the second paper, Mr. Opefeyitimi appraises the beauty of iwure. The iwure he examines contains the supplication, blessing and the wishes of Professor Wande Abimbola for the newly admitted Yoruba students into the Department of African Languages and Literatures, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria in the 1981/82 session. The poetic aesthetic values of iwure according to him, depend on the pleasant nature of the semantic message of the chant, the beauty of the Yoruba language experience in the auditory perception of the poet’s rhythmic, varied and flowery mode of delivery as well as the effects of the functional literary, stylistic devices employed in uttering the poetry. He notes, however that to really appreciate the socio-cultural and literary phenomena upon which the beauty is founded, one needs to be physically present to see and hear the artist during performance.

Dr. Olajubu’s paper sets out to ask questions about the divinities. Some of the questions she asks are as follows: Is it true that the divinities take messages from God to Man and from Man to God? Are some of the divinities ends in the themselves or a means to an end? etc. She discusses these questions at length and makes recommendations that will help in understanding the cult of the divinities in African traditional religion.

Dr. Osunwoles’s paper sets out to investigate the relationship between African health and the healing system in oral traditions. His investigation shows that oral traditions provide a rich and adequate information on practically all aspects of medicine in terms of diagnosis, aetiology and management of illnesses. He advises that efforts should be made to preserve this knowledge through documentation, particularly, in a society which is fast becoming literate and where training in traditional education is dying out.

Dr. Ajayi’s paper deals with Ifa divination process. After touching on the various forms of divination, he goes on to discuss the babalawo, the client, the Ifa divination practice under which he discusses (i) some instruments used in the practice of Ifa divination such as ikin, opele and ibo (ii) the structure of Ifa divination process and (iii) the divination practice. She concludes the paper with his discussion of sacrifices in Ifa divination.

Dr. Laide Sheba shows the importance of Ifa and ese Ifa in Yoruba written plays. She finds that the way playwrights present ese Ifa, in most case, is different from how ese Ifa are presented in actual practice. She notes, however, that the use into which ese Ifa are put in the play are as varied as in real life with happiness for those who carry out Ifa’s injunctions and regrets for those who do not.

Mr. Eben Sheba traces the origin of Iroke in Ifa divination system. He explains what Iroke is, its form and its importance to the life of both the Ifa priest and his client. He concludes the paper by making some suggestions to the government on what to do to encourage researchers and students of Nigerian artifacts.

Dr. Adebowale’s paper is on the form and structure of ese Ifa in Ojulowo Oriki Ifa 1 written by A. F. Agboola. In the paper, she presents the structure, forms and the narrative presentational style of the ese Ifa in the book. She concludes by saying that Ojulowo Oriki Ifa 1 is distinct from the poetic presentation in the works of the previous researchers. The work reveals that the Babalawo employs only a few lines of poetry and expounds the ese Ifa to the client in prose.

Mr. Ogungbile attempts an exposition of Ifa divination process as well as models of revelation in Aladura Churches. He locates the spiritual bases upon which the two systems of asoteric knowledge operate and interact and examines the extent to which the practices have sustained societal harmony and integration in the process of religious pluralism and interaction.

Mr. Ademilokun concentrates on how a nation or society is seen by the Yoruba traditional religion. According to him, the Yoruba traditional religion sees a nation or society as God’s ordinance. The adherent of the religion sees no difference between the secular and the religious realms. He examines what the religion scorns and what it rewards and touches upon how the members of society see themselves.

Dr. Adejumo’s paper highlights the perception of Ifa by the playwrights. She is of the opinion that the playwrights clearly show that Ifa is consistent but that his representatives, the priests, are the ones who are abusing their art to make the people doubt the authenticity of Ifa’s pronouncements. The representation of Ifa in the works is not far from what obtains in contemporary Yoruba society.

Dr. Opeola focuses on the development of Ifa literary corpus as an esoteric knowledge. He regards Ifa as a Kabbala, belonging to a family of sacred knowledge available to gifted people in the society. Ifa divination system, according to him rather than being a magic (by conjure) is scientific (based on theories of logic) or being rather deductive.

Pollak-Eltz discusses how the Cuban Santeria religion is practised in Venezuela. After a brief introduction, she starts her discussion with what she calls the general aspects of the Religion and goes on to discuss the expansion of the religion after the Revolution. She then deliberates on how the religion is practiced in Venezuela and the Cult of Maris Lionza and Santeria.

Dr. Adewole examines the sacrifices often prescribed in the Eerindinlogun system of Ifa divination. He starts with the discussion of the use of the cowry shells in Ifa divination and goes on to list the 16 Odu of this system and then conclude the paper by analyzing some common sacrifices often prescribed for clients by the babalawo using this system.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

O. Adebowale: Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages,

          Ondo State University, Akungba, Ondo State, Nigeria.

A.G. Adejumo: Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University lof lAdo-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

M. K. Ademilokun: Principal Lecturer, Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, Osun State, Nigeria.

L. O. Adewole: Reader, Department of African Languages and Literatures, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.

Bade Ajayi: Senior Lecturer, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.

D. O. Ogungbile: Lecturer, Department of Religious Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.

O. Olajubu: Senior Lecturer, Department of Religions, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Ayo Opefeyitimi: Senior Lecturer, Department of African Languages and Literatures. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.

S. M. Opeola: Department of Curriculum Studies , Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

S. A. Osunwole: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Angelina Polllak-Eltz: Universidad Catolica, Andres Bellow, Caracas.

Eben Sheba: Senior Lecturer, Department of Fine Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.

Laide Sheba: Lecturer, Department of African Languages and Literatures, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.

Y. K. Yusuf: Senior Lecturer, Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.