FA

Fa is the nameof a de ity amo ng the Fon peopl e
of Beninand the Yorubaof Nigeria.Amongthe
Yoruba,the nameis oftenrendere d Ifa. Fa is the
far-reaching God of fateor de stinywho can
impact on the livesof all humans.Acco rdingto
the tr aditionalteachers of Afri can rel igion,the
no tio n of Fa as the deter minerof destinyis the
centralfo cus of the wor k done by thi s de ity.
It is thoughtthat individuals havetheirown
pe rs onal Fa or Godof de sti ny, and each person
also has theirownLegba.Legbais the onlyGod
whoknowsthe alphabetof Mawu; to interpret
yourFa, you haveto kno w that wri ting of Mawu.
Th us, amongthe Fon of Be nin, Fa, Legba,and
Mawu are connected.One cannot acc ess th e
secrets of Fa with out Legb a, andMawu, of
course, rules over the universe.
The tal e of the eme rgen ce of Fa, ac cording
to Yorub a legend,beginswitha dying,hopeless
hu ma nkindwho had stoppedsen ding sacrificesto
theirGods, and therefore theseGodswe re hungry.
In seekingto give humanssomethingto live for,
Eshu,anothernamefor Legb a, wentto a palm
tree wheremonkeysgavehim 16 pal m nuts.The
monkeys instructed Eshu to trav el aroundthe
worldto hear 16 sayingsin 16 plac es. After doing
so, Eshugave the knowledge he gai ned to human-
kindthroughthe soothsaying Ifa (F a).
Acc or ding to oral historyin Be nin, the he art of
the Beninnation was the Dahomeykingdom,
whi ch wasest ablishedby a Yoruba pr inces s
arou nd the 15thand 16th cen turies.By the 18th

century,the Dahomeykingdomhad emergedas

on e of the mostpowerfulmilitarystatesin West

Africa,and it was a majorplayerin the Eur opean

triangulartradeof the enslaved.

Beforethe Fa deityof divinationwas intro -

du ced,Fon diviners in Beninhad historically

reliedon a metho d calledBo, whichis the oracle

of the ancestors.A diviner among the Fonis

kn own asbokonon —theownerof Bo knowledge.

Withthe arrivalof Fa divination,thebokonon

becamea Fa priestwho is usuallyconsulted before

im por tant decisionsare made. In thebokonon’s

soothsayingritual,palmnuts and a tray that sym -

bo li zes sp ace and otherdivinatoryaccessoriesare

used.The priestsprinklespowderon the tray and

drawsFa signswithhis or her fingertips.

In the 1930s,the Chur ch of Fa was fo undedafter

this de ity in Nige ria. Th is gr ou p has soughtdifferent

waysto keepAf ric an s co nnectedto the indigenous

reli gio n. The y ref er to the Supr em e Beingas Olorun,

as is th e customamo ng the Yorub a. However,for

them,the idea of Fa as the keeperof destiny is

centralto theiroutl oo k on life. Thus , Fa continues

to this day as a maj or contributorto the religious

life of the Fon and Yor ub a peo ples.

IbramH. Rogers

Se e alsoBabalawo;Fo n; Yoruba

FurtherReadings

Asante,M. K., & Nwadiora,E. (2007).SpearMasters:

Introductionto AfricanReligion. Lanham,MD:

Rowman& Lit tlefield.

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