What is Oduduwa the god of?

What is Oduduwa the god of?

Oduduwa (Odudua, Oduwa) is the chief goddess of the Yoruba, the creator; she represents the earth. She is the wife of Obatala, but she is contemporary with Olorun—not made by him, as was her husband. She came from Ife, the holy city, in common with most of the other gods.

What is the story of Oduduwa?

Oduduwa was a Yoruba divine king. According to tradition he was the holder of the title of the Ooni of Ile-Ife, the Yoruba holy city. He was not only the first ruler of a unified Ife, but also the progenitor of various independent royal dynasties in Yorubaland and ancestor of their numerous crowned kings.

What does Oduduwa mean?

The great repository which brings forth existence
Etymology. The etymological derivation of the Yoruba name “Oduduwa” is: Odu-ti-o-da-uwa (i.e. Odu-ti-o-da-iwa). This translates literally to: The great repository which brings forth existence.

Is Oduduwa from Mecca?

The Yoruba migration tradition regarding Oduduwa is a view according to which Oduduwa originated from Mecca through his biological father Lamurudu, who was a king in Mecca (Folorunso 2003:87). Oduduwa, then a prince, came to Nigeria together with his two children.

What is Obatala religion?

Obatala or “Orisa Nla” (known as Obatalá in Yorubaland and in Caribbean and South American Spanish and Oxalá in Brazil) is an orisha. He is believed, according to Yoruba cosmology, to be the Sky Father and the creator of human bodies, which were brought to life by the smooth breath of Olodumare.

Who is father of Yoruba?

Oduduwa was not only the first ruler of a unified Ife, but also the progenitor of various independent royal dynasties in Yorubaland, and is today venerated as “the hero, the warrior, the leader, and father of the Yoruba race”.

How did Oduduwa create the world?

He created the world by emptying the sand on the sea because the earth was flooded. It was a formless waste-land as recorded in the Bible (Genesis chapter 1). Oduduwa then placed the chicken on top of the sand.

Who are the 7 Sons of Oduduwa?

These are the names of the seven grand children of Oduduwa according to their order: Olowu of Owu, Onisbe of Sabe, Onipopo of Popo, Oba of Benin, Orangun of Ila, Alaketu of Ketu, Alafin of Oyo.

Who is father of Yorubaland?

Are Yorubas from Mecca?

The Yorubas are said to have sprung from Lamurudu one of the kings of Mecca whose offspring were:—Oduduwa, the ancestor of the Yorubas, the Kings of Gogobiri and of the Kukawa, two tribes in the Hausa country.

Why did Oduduwa left Mecca?

Oduduwa was exiled from Mecca because he refused to accept the state religion which was Islam. Oduduwa left Mecca and arrived at Ile Ife in Yorubaland where he met with Agbo-niregun (or Setilu), the founder of Ifa cult (Agai 2013a:13).

How did Oduduwa descend from heaven?

And the Supreme Being commissioned Oduduwa, a “sky-god”, to carry out a terrestrial task; he descended from heaven with a cockerel which had six fingers. And the earth was made by him through the ingenious deployment of his avian subject.