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Iyanifa
is a term in the Lucumi religion that literally means "mother of mysteries" or "mother of wisdom" (''iyá'': “mother”; ''awó'' “mysteries"). Some adherents use the term "mamalawo," which is a partially African diaspora version of the Lucumi term, iyaláwo and yeyelawo are two more versions of mother of mysteries. ìyánífá is a Yoruba word that can be translated as "mother (''ìyá'') has or of (''ní'') Ifá" or "mother in Ifá" and is the Yoruba title for mother of mysteries and the female equivalent of a babalawo. Differences between terms While iyaláwo and ìyánífá are often used interchangeably, the terms have different denotations and connotations. The term ìyánífá specifically relates to Ifá and could indicate that a female undertakes Ifá divination or is a custodian of Ifá in a personal or professional capacity; the term may also indicate that a woman has had Itefa or itelodu initiation. The term iyaláwo indicates a woman who has knowledge of sacred w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Oshun
Oshun (also Ọṣun, Ochún, and Oxúm) is the Yoruba orisha associated with love, sexuality, fertility, femininity, water, destiny, divination, purity, and beauty, and the Osun River, and of wealth and prosperity in the Yoruba religion. She is considered the most popular and venerated of the 401 orishas. In the mythology, Oshun was once the queen consort to King Shango of Oyo, and deified following her death, honored at the Osun-Osogbo Festival, a two-week-long annual festival that usually takes place in August, at the Oṣun-Osogbo Sacred Grove in Osogbo. A violín is a type of musical ceremony in Regla de Ocha performed for Osún. It includes both European classical music and Cuban popular music. Mythology According to the Ifa Literary Corpus, Oshun was the only female Irunmole (primordial spirit) sent to assist Shango to create the world by Olodumare, the Supreme God. The other spirits sent ignored Oshun, who went to Shango for guidance. One version of the stor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Iyami Aje
Iyami Aje is a Yoruba language, Yoruba term of respect and endearment used to describe a woman of African ancestry who is considered to be an Aje, a woman who wields myriad arcane creative biological, spiritual, and cosmic powers. Etymology In Yoruba language, ''Ìyá mi'' literally means "my mother". In Yoruba mythology, Yoruba cosmology, the mother's roles as the force of creation and the sustainer of life and existence elevates her to the realm of the divine. Consequently, ''Ìyá mi'' - with alterations in tones - becomes ''Ìyààmi'' or ''Ìyàmi'', which can be translated as "the super-powerful ones" or "My Mysterious Mother." ''Àjẹ́'' is a Yoruba word that signifies the biological and spiritual power of African women that has myriad potential, including but not limited to, powers of elemental, biological and artistic creation; healing; destruction; spiritual and physical development and fortification; and political organization and empowerment. In ''The Architects of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Adefunmi
Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi (born Walter Eugene King, October 5, 1928 – February 11, 2005) was the first documented African-American initiated into the priesthood of the Yoruba religion, who would then go on to become the first African-American to be crowned ''Oba'' (King) of the Yoruba of North America in Abẹ́òkúta, Nigeria. Biography King was born in Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State .... King left the Baptist faith that he had been baptized into at the age of 12. He grew up with an interest in African culture and began African studies at the age of 16. At the age of 20, King traveled to Haiti to study the Haitian culture and Haitian Vodou. In 1959, just before the Cuban revolution, he traveled to the Matanzas Province, Matanzas r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Religious Occupations
Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. It is an essentially contested concept. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith,Tillich, P. (1957) ''Dynamics of faith''. Harper Perennial; (p. 1). and a supernatural being or beings. The origin of religious belief is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams. Religions have sacred histories, narratives, and mythologies, preserved in oral traditions, sacred texts, symbols, and holy places, that may attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena. Reli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Mãe-de-santo
A ''mãe-de-santo'' or ''mãe de santo'' (, plural mães de santo ) is a Ordination of women, priestess of Candomblé, Umbanda and Quimbanda, the Afro-Brazilian religions. Those Portuguese language, Portuguese words mean literally "saint's mother", a calque of the Yoruba language, Yoruba word ''iyalorisha'', a title given to female leaders of the Yoruba religion. ''Iya'' means "mother", and the contraction ''l'orisha'' means "of orisha", adapted into Portuguese language, Portuguese as "of saint" due to the traditionally Catholic-centric culture that surrounds that language. The priestesses are more venerated in Afro-Brazilian#Religion, African-Brazilian religions than the priests, who are called ''Pai-de-santo, pais-de-santo''. In the Afro-Brazilian religions, the priestesses and priests are seen as the owners of tradition, knowledge and culture; it is their responsibility to pass those on to the new generations, because there is no religious text to use for the record. See also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Babalawo
Babaalawo or babaláwo in West Africa (babalao in Caribbean and South American Spanish and babalaô in Brazilian Portuguese), literally means "father of secrets" (or “father of mysteries”) in the Yoruba language. It is a spiritual title that denotes a high priest of the Ifá oracle. Ifá is a divination system that represents the teachings of the òrìṣà Ọrunmila, the òrìṣà of wisdom, who in turn serves as the oracular representative of Olodumare. The babalawo serves not only as a religious figure but also as a cultural bridge, helping to preserve language, proverbs, and ritual customs that are foundational to Yoruba identity. History of babalawo The term "babalawo" typically refers to a Yoruba religious figure, often considered a priest or diviner, within the Ifá system of the Yoruba people in West Africa. The Ifá system is a complex and ancient divination and religious practice that has its roots in Yoruba mythology and culture and is deeply rooted in Yo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Orisha
Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The preferred spelling varies depending on the language in question: òrìṣà is the spelling in the Yoruba language, orixá in Portuguese, and orisha, oricha, orichá or orixá in Spanish-speaking countries. In the Lucumí tradition, which evolved in Cuba, the orishas are synchronized with Catholic saints, forming a syncretic system of worship where African deities are hidden behind Christian iconography. This allowed enslaved Africans to preserve their traditions under colonial religious persecution. According to the teachings of these religions, the orishas are spirits sent by the supreme creator, Olodumare, to assist humanity and to teach them to be successful on ''Ayé'' (Earth). Rooted in the native religion of the Yoruba people, mos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Oyotunji
Oyotunji African Kingdom is a village patterned after the traditional customs and traditions of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Benin and Dahomey, located near Sheldon, Beaufort County, South Carolina that was founded by Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I in 1970. Oyotunji is named after the Oyo empire, and its name literally means ''Oyo returns'' or ''Oyo rises again''. The village covers and has seven Yoruba temples which were relocated from Harlem, New York to its present location in 1970. During the 1970s, the era of greatest population growth at the village, the number of inhabitants grew from 5 to between 200 and 250. The population is rumored to fluctuate between five and nine families as of the last 10 years. It was originally intended to be located in Savannah, Georgia, but was eventually moved to its current position after disputes with residents over drumming and tourists. The village is constructed to be analogous to the villages of the traditional Yoruba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the List of countries and dependencies by population, third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with about 10 million inhabitants. It is the largest country in the Caribbean by area. The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium BC, with the Guanahatabey and Taino, Taíno peoples inhabiting the area at the time of Spanish colonization of the Americas, Spanish colonization ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Yoruba Language
Yoruba (, ; Yor. ) is a Niger–Congo languages, Niger-Congo language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West (Nigeria), Southwestern and Middle Belt, Central Nigeria, Benin, and parts of Togo. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. Yoruba speakers number roughly 50 million, including around 2 million second-language or L2 speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. Yoruba vocabulary is also used in African diaspora religions such as the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé, the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language, and various Afro-American religions of North America. Most modern practitioners of these religions in the Americas are not fluent in the Yoruba language, yet they still use Yoruba words and phrases for songs or chants—rooted in cultural traditions. For such pra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
