Human world
Eshu personal charm
Follow the links in the navigation panel to see some of the Nigeria: Yoruba collection.
“Aye l’oja, Orun n’ile”
The world is a market place (we visit), heaven is home.
The Yoruba have been a mainly urban people for centuries, living in large towns presided over by a king (oba) whose palace is often at the centre. Each town has a market and supports craft associations. Many towns still keep shrines to the gods and have masquerade societies that perform in honour of the ancestors.
Many Yoruba are Christians or Muslims, but belief in Yoruba gods, the orisha, is still strong. The most important include Orunmila, god of divination, Shango, god of thunder and Ogun, god of iron. The creator god, Oludumare, is said to have made the world at the sacred Yoruba city of Ile Ife.
Since Europeans transported a large number of Yoruba across the Atlantic as slaves during the 18th and 19th centuries, many people around the world can trace their origin to Yoruba roots. Yoruba gods travelled with them and Yoruba culture was reinvented as Santeria in the Caribbean and Candomble in Brazil.