the white-feathered bird called eiye ororo, the
symbolofthemindthatGodputsintotheheadat
birth. The ile ori seems to say: A good head (i.e.,
good character and a good mind) are true wealth.
The head also has other values associated with
it that derive from the hierarchical nature of
Yoruba social life. Yorubas use the head as a
metaphor for supremacy and chieftainship; it
meansthefirstinrankandstatus,themostimpor-
tant and influential person or official. Age, which
is priority in time, is highly valued and respected,
and it is also an important aspect of status and
ranking.
The concepts and values related to the head
form a web of meanings that extends to and
includes the divinities. The honor due any head is
enhancedbyitsdistancefromone’sownstatus.As
that head ascends the hierarchy of age and rank,
and that distance also increases, so does honor
amplify to adulation, praise, and then veneration;
with the orisha, it arrives at worship. The orisha
are heads of the first rank, influence, and impor-
tance; they are also the most ancient of heads.
Kinds of OrishaYorubascholarJ.O.Awolaludividestheorishainto
threecategories:primordialdivinities,deifiedances-
tors,andpersonifiednaturalforcesandphenomena.
Insomecases,thesecategoriesmayoverlap.
Primordial Divinities
Primordial divinities existed long before the
creation of the Earth or the creation of the world
as we now know it. Some of these orisha (such as
Obatala, Oduduwa, and Orunmila) are primor-
dial in the sense that they existed before the cre-
ation of human beings. They emanated directly
from God without any human aid. They areara
orun,peopleofHeaven.TheycamefromHeaven,
and they still reside there. Other orishas areirun-
maleorirunmole. These orisha were the Earth’s
first inhabitants; they are sacred beings that now
dwell on and in the Earth.
Deified Ancestors
Deified ancestors are people who lived in this
world after it was created and made such an
impression that their descendants have continued
to promote their memory. They were kings, cul-
ture heroes and heroines, warriors, and founders
of cities who had a major impact on the lives of
the people and on Yoruba society through their
contributions to culture and social life. In the
Yoruba tradition, these were people who were
able to establish control over a natural force and
make a bond of interdependence with it, attract-
ing its beneficent action toward themselves and
their people while sending its destructive aspects
on to enemies. To achieve this, the ancestor
made offerings and sacrifices. Later these people
disappeared—and according to Yoruba tradition,
often in a remarkable manner: They sank into the
ground or rose into the heavens on chains; they
committed suicide and did not die; they turned to
stone. Their disappearance was not true death;
rather,itwastheoccasionoftheirmetamorphosis
into an orisha. Several primordial divinities have
oral traditions stating that they were once the
chiefs or kings of still existing Yoruba towns.
When these orisha disappeared, their children
begantosacrificetothemandtocontinuewhatever
ceremonies the orisha had performed when they
wereonEarth.Thisworshipwaspassedonfromone
generation to the next. In their native areas, people
formedgroupsthatworshippedandveneratedthese
orishaandsecuredaplacefortheircultgroupinthe
religiousandsocialorganizationsofthetownswhere
they lived. Eventually a local orisha’s cult might
spread to other towns and their orisha’s worship
wouldbecomemorewidelyknown.Theworshipof
other deified ancestors, however, remained confined
to the towns where it originated, even sometimes
restrictedtoparticularfamiliesorlineages.Natural Phenomena
From the Yoruba point of view, any element of
thenaturalworldthathasmanifoldandusefulfunc-
tions for human beings has a spirit dwelling in it.
There are many spirits of this kind, but some of
them are so preeminent that they supercede all
others;theseareorisha.Amongtheseorishaarethe
Earth; rivers, lakes, and lagoons; and mountains,
certain trees, and the wind. Worship is directed at
the orisha that dwells within the natural phenome-
non,oftenatthesitewherethenaturalphenomenon
manifestsitself.Orisha 505