this is a link to the google doc

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KqPcjf-NsBxyzSE64VhDEaa8Oh1SR5RMuSXYR9jdo9k/edit#

Ifa Divination isn’t an altar, it’s not part of an altar. It doesn’t belong on an altar. So instead when it’s in a museum where altars are present it gets represented on the wall and in a case. The museum exhibition, Spirited Things, houses these objects, some are displayed on an altar while others are in cases or hanging on the wall in a room. The objects representing Ifa Divination, hang on the left wall in the room with the Haitian vodou altar, and in the corner where gender specific objects are found. What makes me curious, is that divination is a Yoruba religion practice, so I get pulled in further. Then I notice it’s tucked behind a long display case. This brown wooden tray sits back behind the case. It wouldn’t be the first object you notice walking into the room, being concealed behind this big glass case. Then as I walk closer, the detail of the 4-inch board starts to become more vivid. There are faces and there’s animals, looks like armadillos and horses, and designs that are unknown but have a snake structure to them. The details on the face are flat and smooth. The grooves along the face are deep. But what’s different is that each design is pointed towards the middle. Like something should be demonstrated there, like a stage for a show, but the center is blank. Nothing but smooth, hard, brown wood. The whole board is about a foot and a half by a foot and a half and about 1-2 centimeters thick. There are two big faces, the biggest face rests at the top of the board. It has a flat nose and big protruding eyes. When looking at the board it’s the first carving that really pops out. I notice there is some symmetry on the board. The faces are across from each other, then there are the snake like designs on the left and right side of the board and then there are people and animals that looked scattered at first but then when you take a closer look you notice that they have some sort of pattern. There are two people, one of each sex, embracing on either side of the big face and they each have some sort of animal around them. Then there are other people around the board that look like the animals or the objects next to them have some sort of purpose to be placed next to them. Then as I read the description there are more parts that are described with this tray. There were two more items listed; pair of divination chains and the divination tapper. It then goes on to describe this person, a babalawo or what they also called it the “father of mysteries” so of course this “father of mysteries” is just, that a mystery to me. So naturally with my curiosity getting the better of me I wanted to know more about what these mysteries were and about the secrets of the babalawo. As I continue to read the description there is mention of Ifa, the first of the diviners. This again makes me wonder what the story is behind these diviners, what do they do? The description mentions that they have to memorize 256 odus. Which were poems, tales and prescriptions from the god Ifa himself. This was something that baffled me. Who could possibly remember that many poems, let alone some of them being stories. To me that was just insane. Naturally my curiosity grows. Then I take a look at these object, the chains and the tapper that is being described in the article. The chains are in a glass display case to the left of the tray. One of the chains didn’t really look like a chain. The other one however, was a made out of actual chain links. This one made sense to me, small, grey chain links that made up the whole chain. At one end of the chain links there is one washer, one small white shell and one small brown shell. The other end has one bell, a small white shell and one small brown shell.  I noticed these bigger black shells that were present in each of the two chains. There was 8 in both of them. Then between the fourth and fifth shell there was a bigger gap that split the chain into two halves with four shells on each half. This again made me curious. How could these chains fit with this board? Do they hang them? Do they form some sort of pattern that corresponds to the board?  Each shell on the first chain is separated by a yellow blue pattern of beads. At one end, there is a washer and one small white shell. On the other end, there is one small bell present. The questions continued to fill my head. Now I look at the tapper, also found in the same display case as the chains. Now my head really has some questions. This tapper is different, nothing like I’ve ever seen before. First, thing I notice is the huge head that this man has. It’s a giant head. Looks like it holds so much information. The man sits upon this upside-down cone. I go back to his head, he’s bald, he has this one protruding thing about his left ear. Almost looks like a tuft of hair. His head making him look very top heavy, if it were to be picked up. His neck is also incredibly long and skinny and he has a necklace around it. He holds something in each hand, looks like something flat and square in one hand and in the other he holds something to write with. All of this is made out of carved, solid, polished wood. If its name has anything to do with what it does, then I couldn’t imagine how. I don’t foresee this object being tapped on something. It’s too detailed too oddly shaped to be tapped on something. Just from looking at these objects I don’t know what to think. There are so different from anything I’ve ever seen and different from each other. I wanted to know more about how objects that look so different could possibly fit together and how they are used. In this essay, I will first give some background information on Ifa Divination then I will explain how these objects are used in the processes of and then I will go on to compare the objects with the concept of altars in the Yoruba religion based on the uses of these objects.

I had some background information of Ifa. He was the first of the diviners meaning he is the oldest babalawo. A babalawo is a messenger of sorts. He performs the divination for the client and then he recites what happens in the terms of verses or stories that he must memorize. Each story, or odu, has a meaning, and that meaning will correspond to what is going on in the client’s life. Then sacrifices can be made to try and get the good fortune back. When the babalawo is initiated into this priesthood, after about 12 years of training, he must memorize the 256 odus that can be recited during divination. Now you may wonder how an odu may be displayed during divination. There is a chain that is tossed on the divination board, where this marking and reading happens. The chain consists of 8 shells with a smooth side and a rough side. The chain is tossed 16 times and the babalawo marks down on the tray what the results of the shells were when they were tossed, whether or not they landed on the rough side or the smooth side. This pattern will then describe what odu Ifa is trying to relay to the client. The babalawo must recite what is being said by Ifa and express that to the client without knowing any information about why the client might be there to begin with. The client must decipher what the odu means to them and do as they see fit. This is strictly the job of a babalawo, he performs Ifa Divination is whole life until his time is up. As I continued my research another god, different from Ifa, kept popping up, Orunmila. The book Ifa Divination; Knowledge, Power and Performance, made Orunmila clearer; “Orunmila refers to exclusively to the deity himself, the name Ifa refers to both the deity and his divination system.” (Abimbola 1989 pg 51). Deity is another term for god, and from this information, Orunmila and Ifa are the same god, Ifa just refers to this process of divination itself. Therefore, when Ifa and Orunmila are mentioned during the divination process, the communication of the odu could come from either of the gods.

I look at the first of the three objects to get a better understanding of how the structure relates to the function of each, an image can be found at the end of this paragraph. On the top of the tray there was the biggest carved face. This face will represent Eshu, he is the messenger god. Because he is the messenger god, he is the god the babalawo will communicate with who will in turn communicate with Ifa or Orunmila. Some representation of Eshu must be present on every divination tray. This is because Eshu can be known as a trickster and having him on the client’s side, so they can get their information from the gods, is essential (Dialogue and Alliance pg 28). During Divination, Eshu is faced towards the babalawo, which forms a diameter that gives Eshu no shame in being present on both halves of the diameter, because he is known to be the only god who directly communicates with humans, therefore, they don’t want Eshu to be looked down upon (Dialogue and Alliance pg 28). There must also be a sacrifice given to Eshu before the divination can start as well. The other designs on the board are never to be constant out of respect for Eshu. Meaning that the other carvings differ from board to board making each one unique (Dialogue and Alliance pg 26). However, this brought up another question; why would these objects be present in the gender corner or the museum? The other carvings that are part of the board, usually represent other Yoruba life tasks. This would explain the animals, it could be the sacrifices or their food source, the loving embrace is reproduction, and so on. The most important carving is Eshu, which is clear that it is important in this Tray. The tray is used for communication between the gods during divination. However, the tray is only one of three very intricate objects.

(picture from the Spirited Things website)

The chains are the next object that came to my attention to analyze and understand, an image can be found at the end of this paragraph. The 8 shells on each chain was constant in both, so I did some research on this as well. These chains are used to be tossed on the board and some sort of pattern will come from this. The shells have a smooth side and a rough side. The babalawo uses the chains to cast patterns that will either show the shells facing the smooth side or the rough side, then the number of shells on either side is recorded. There is a total of 16 sections of odu that the babalawo has to work with. Each pattern will represent a different section that the babalawo has to interpret. There are a total of 16 shells or nuts because it is said that when Ifa left earth his children climbed a tree to get him to come back and in return he gave them each 16 nuts (Thompson 1983, pg 34). Another thing that seems to come up with this tree is white powder. This white powder also comes from this same tree and is used during divination to be sprinkled over the tray so the babalawo has something to record the patterns he sees that form the shells (Thompson 1983, pg 35). There are 8 on each chain and 4 on each half because when the babalawo is recording the patterns this way the possible combinations will equal 16. (witches almanac 2017). This is just a faster way to obtain these patterns instead of using just 16 shells off the chain. Most babalawos prefer to use the chains because it is a faster method. The function of the chains is more clear and easier to memorize with the structure because of the shells present on each chain. They are the information that is being communicated between the gods to the babalawo.

(picture form the Spirited Things website)

Every Babalawo uses a tapper. An image of the tapper being described can be found at the end of this paragraph.  The tapper has a very easy job. It simply summons the gods, Ifa, Orunmila and Eshu. To bring to them their attention that there is a divination going on and they need them to participate (collections 2017). A tapper can have many different looks. It all depends on the artist who made it. Because I don’t have the artist at my disposal, I like to draw some conclusions as to why the tapper may look like this based on my knowledge. I think the size of the head represents that number of odus the babalawo has to memorize. There is so much information that he has to memorize that it makes his head swell with all his knowledge. I believe the flat square object in his hand is a divination board and the other is a tapper as well, but a much smaller version. I think the man himself, represents the babalawo. I did find out why the man sits on a cone like structure. It is actually supposed to represent a tusk, and elephant tusk. In the Yoruba religion, the cone is an ideogram for ashe. Ashe is divine power. Which represents all the power that is present and is needed for a divination ceremony. Therefore, the tapper is thus represented in this way (collections 2017). Now that the reason for the structure and how it relates to the function of these objects is known, there is also a reason why they are represented in a museum exhibition that has four different religious altars.

 (picture taken by Alyssa Falco)

An altar is something that is worshiped by the people and made for the gods. The altar has many different objects that are worshiped and are placed in certain areas of the altar based on the liking of the gods. Each object represented on the altars have some connection to the gods. They are activated with the form of ashe, they all have ashe in them. Ashe is divine power. “Ase diminishes with inaction and strengthens with activity.” (Drewl, Pemberton, Abiodun 1990, pg 25). The objects must be worshiped on this altar in order for the gods to interact with the objects and for them to be worshipped and have meaning. “The altar is considered a threshold into another world.” (Thompson 1995, pg 50). The altar is the connection between the gods world and the human world. The divination tray is like an altar itself. As I mentioned when describing the board, it looked like a show was taking place. This is the altar; the divination tray is the altar that connects the world of the gods to the world of the humans. The objects themselves have to be activated as well. This is when the concept of ashe comes in, the objects have ashe in them in order for them to communicate with the gods. The objects have ashe in them that allow somebody who participates in the Yoruba religion to accomplish what they want. While performing divination the ashe in the objects and the tray as the altar, which is the connection between the worlds, allows for the client to get insight into their future. Therefore, the tray is like an altar and it belongs in this exhibition for that reason.

The museum exhibition has four different altars that represent each religion. Then there are objects that also fit into each religion based on what they may represent. The divination items can be found in the gender section of the museum. At first this may be very puzzling. However, when you take a closer look at the objects, you can see gender is displayed in the carving found on the tray. The tray has carvings of both male and female showing their dependency on one another in everyday life, but also their independence is displayed. The embracing is needed of both sexes to then move on and move forward in life. But then some of the carvings there is only one-person present on the tray border. The women can do everyday tasks on their own as well as the men. Symbolizing that each gender can be independent as well as they depend on each other. The tapper itself is also a carving of a man. Then for obvious reasons this would fit into the gender category. The structure of each object has a specific function in order to allow the process of divination to be performed. Without the 16 shells then the odus wouldn’t be able to be recited, without the tapper the gods won’t be summoned and no odu will be present and without the tray there would be no communication between the two worlds. The idea of divination itself is a ceremony that is for the people but it ties the gods into it as well. By asking them for their help or be asking them for a favor. The presence of an altar is again the same concept. It is made by the people and worshiped by the people because they want a sense of faith that they will have a good life as well. They feed their altars which then feed the gods to ensure a good life, Ifa Divination has the same idea. The people of these religions want to have a good life, they put their faith into their gods just as any other religion would. The objects that are used in Ifa Divination put on an excellent performance and allow the people of the Yoruba religion to have faith that they will have a happy life, something that every person wants, good fortune and a happy life.

Bibliography

Abimbola, Wande. “Aspects of Yoruba Images of the divine: Ifa divination artifacts.” Dialogue and Alliance 3, no. 2 (1989): 24-29.

Clarke, J. D. “Ifa Divination.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 69, no. 2 (1939): 235-56. doi:10.2307/2844391Olupona, Jacob K., and

Drewal, Henry J, John Pemberton III, and Rowland Abiodun. “The Yoruba World .” In Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought  , 13–43. New York : Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1990. https://bb.uvm.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-2315560-dt-content-rid-10754571_1/xid-10754571_1.

Rowland O. Abiodun. Ifa Divination: knowledge, power and performance. N.p.: Indiana University Press, 2016.

Thompson, Robert  F. “Face of the Gods: The Artists and Their Altars.” African Arts 28 (1)1995: 50–61. https://bb.uvm.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-2315560-dt-content-rid-10661100_1/xid-10661100_1.

Thompson, Robert F. Flash of the Spirt . Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc1983.

Website Sources

https://collections.dma.org/artwork/5327077 – will be known as collections 2017 in the paper.

http://thewitchesalmanac.com/yoruba/ – will be known as witches almanac 2017 in the paper.

Alyssa Falco

Alyssa Falco

Ifa Divination isn’t an altar, it’s not part of an altar. It doesn’t belong on an altar. So instead when it’s in a museum where altars are present it gets represented on the wall and in a case. It hangs on the left wall in the room with the Haitian vodou altar. What makes me curious, is that divination is a Yoruba religion practice. Then I notice it’s tucked behind a long display case. This brown wooden tray sits back behind the case. It wouldn’t be the first object you notice walking into the room. Then as I walk closer, the detail of the 4 inch board starts to become more vivid. There are faces and there’s animals, looks like armadillos and horses, and designs that are unknown but have a snake structure to them. The details on the face are flat and smooth. The grooves along the face are deep. But what’s different is that each design looks like it’s pointed towards the middle. Like something should be demonstrated there, like a stage for a show. But the center in blank. Nothing but smooth, hard, brown wood. The whole board is about a foot and a half by a foot and a half and about 1-2 centimeters thick. There are two big faces, the biggest face at the top of the board. It has a flat nose and big protruding eyes. When looking at the board it’s the first carving that really pops out. I notice there is some symmetry that is on the board. The faces are across from each other, then there are the snake like designs on the left and right side of the board and then there are people and animals that looked scattered at first but then when you take a closer look you notice that they have some sort of pattern. There are two people, one of each sex, embracing on either side of the big face and they each have some sort of animal around them. Then there are other people around the board looking like the animals or the objects next to them have some sort of purpose next to them. Then as I read the description there are more parts that are described with this tray. There were two more items listed; pair of divination chains and the divination tapper. It then goes on to describe this thing, a babalawo or what they also called it the “father of mysteries” so of course this “father of mysteries” is just, that a mystery to me. So naturally with my curiosity getting the better of me I wanted to know more about what these mysteries were that the secrets of the babalawo. As I continue to read the description there is mention of Ifa, the first of the diviners. This again makes me wonder what the story is behind these diviners, what do they do? The description mentions that they have to memorize 256 odus. Which were poems, tales and prescriptions from the god Ifa himself. This was something that baffled me. Who could possibly remember that many poems, let alone some of them being stories. To me that was just insane. Naturally my curiosity grows. Then I take a look at these object, the chains and the tapper that is being described in the article. The chains are in a glass display case to the left of the tray. One of the chains didn’t really look like a chain. The other one however, was a made out of actual chain links. This one made sense to me, the small, grey chain links that is made out of chain links. At one end of the chain links there is one washer, one small white shell and one small brown shell. The other end has one bell, a small white shell and one small brown shell.  I noticed these bigger black shells that were present in each of the two chains. There was 8 in both of them. Then between the fourth and fifth shell there was a bigger gap that split the chain into two halves with four shells on each half. This again made me curious. How could these chains fit with this board. Do they hang them? Do they form some sort of pattern that corresponds to the board?  Each shell on the first chain is separated by a yellow blue pattern of beads. At one end there is a washer and one small white shell. On the other end there is one small bell present. The questions continued to fill my head. Now I look at the tapper, also found in the same display case as the chains. Now my head really has some questions. This tapper is different, nothing like I’ve ever seen before. First, thing I notice is the huge head that this man has. It’s a giant head. Looks like it hold so much information. The man sits upon this upside down cone. I go back to his head, he’s bald, he has this one protruding thing about his left ear. Almost looks like a tuft of hair. His head making him look very top heavy, if it were to be picked up. His neck is also incredibly long and skinny and he has a necklace around it. He hold something in each hand, looks like something flat and square in one hand and in the other he holds something to write with. All of this is made out of carved, solid, polished wood. If it’s name has anything to do with what it does, then I couldn’t imagine how. I don’t foresee this object being tapped on something. It’s to detailed to oddly shaped to be tapped on something. Just from looking at these objects I don’t know what to think. There are so different from anything I’ve ever seen. I wanted to know more about how these things so different could possibly fit together. Thus the questions soon lead to answers.

I had some background information of Ifa. He was the first of the diviners, so this means that he must be the oldest babalawo. As I continued my research another god kept popping up, Orunmila. The book Ifa Divination; Knowledge, power and performance made Orunmila more clear; “ Orunmila refers to exclusively to the deity himself, the name Ifa refers to both the deity and his divination system.” (51). Deity is another term for god, and from this Orunmila and Ifa are the same god, Ifa just refers to this process of divination itself. Therefore when Ifa and Orunmila are mentioned during the divination process, the communication could come from either of the gods. I look at the first of the three objects, an image can be found at the end of this paragraph.  On the top of the tray there was the biggest carved face. This face will represent Eshu, he is the messenger god. Some representation of Eshu is present on every divination tray. This is because Eshu can be known as a trickster as well and to have him on the client’s side so they can get their information from Ifa then Eshu must be happy and represented as well. Therefore, Eshu is the god the babalawo is connecting to and Eshu is connecting to Ifa to the transfer the information to the babalawo. During Divination, Eshu is faced towards the babalawo, which forms a diameter that gives Eshu no shame in being present on both halves of the diameter, because he is known to be the only god who directly communicates with humans, therefore, they don’t want Eshu to be looked down upon (Dialogue and Alliance 28). There must also be sacrifice giving to Eshu before the divination can start as well. The other designs on the board are never to be constant out of respect for Eshu. Meaning that the other carvings differ from board to board making each one unique (Dialogue and Alliance 26). However, this brought up another question to myself; why would these objects be present in the gender corner or the museum? The other carvings that are part of the board, usually represent other Yoruba life tasks. This would explain the animals, it could be the sacrifices, the loving embrace is reproduction, and so on. The most important carving is Eshu, which is clear that it is important in this Tray. However, this is only one of three very intricate objects.

The chains is the next object that came to my attention, an image can be found at the bottom of this paragraph.The 8 shells on each chain was constant in both, so I did some research on this as well. These chains are used to be tossed on the board and some sort of pattern will come from this. The shells have a smooth side and a rough side. The babalawo uses the chains to cast patterns that will either show the shells facing the smooth side or the rough side, then the number of shells on either side is recorded. There are a total of 16 sections of odu that the babalawo has to work with. Each pattern will represent a different section that the babalawo has to interpret. There are a total of 16 shells or nuts because it is said that when Ifa left earth his children climbed a tree and in return he gave the each 16 nuts (Thompson 34). Another thing that seems to come up with this tree is white powder. This white powder also comes from this same tree and is used during divination to be sprinkled over the tray so the babalawo has something to record the patterns he sees that form from the shells (Thompson 35). There are 8 on each chain and 4 on each half because when the babalawo is recording the patterns the way the possible combinations will equal 16. (http://thewitchesalmanac.com/yoruba/) This is just a faster way to obtain these patterns instead of using just 16 shells off the chain. Most babalawos prefer to use the chains because it is a faster method.

Every Babalawo uses a tapper. An image of the tapper being described can be found at the bottom of this paragraph.  The tapper has a very easy job. It simply summons the gods, Ifa and Eshu. To bring to them their attention that there is a divination going on and they need them to participate. A tapper can have many different looks. It all depends on the artist who made it. Because I don’t have the artist at my disposal, I like to draw some conclusions as to why the tapper may look like this based on my knowledge. I think the size of the head represents that number of odus the babalawo has to memorize. There is so much information that he has to memorize that it makes his head swell with all his knowledge. I believe the flat square object in this hand is a divination board and the other is a tapper as well, but a much smaller version. I think the man himself, represents the babalawo. I did find out why the man sits on a cone like structure. It is actually supposed to represent a tusk, and elephant tusk. In the Yoruba religion the cone is a ideogram for ashe. Ashe is divine power. Which represents all the power that is present and is needed for a divination ceremony. Therefore, the tapper is thus represented in this way (https://collections.dma.org/artwork/5327077). Now that reason for the shape and appearance of these objects is known and how these objects are used, I can finally look at why somebody in the Yoruba religion might want to even have a divination performed for them in the first place and I can look more at the babalawo himself who is a very important man in this ceremony.  

In a normal human life there are some bumps in the road that may need some resolving. So a person may go to therapy and talk with somebody to work through their problems and perhaps get some guidance. Now if we look at people who practice the African Diaspora religion, they do the same thing, but instead of going to see a therapist, they go to see the babalawo. A babalawo is a messenger of sorts. He performs the divination for the client and then he recites what happens in the terms of verses or stories that he must memorize. Each story, or odu, has a meaning, and that meaning will correspond to what is going on in the client’s life. Then sacrifices can be made to try and get the good fortune back. When the babalawo is initiated into this priesthood, after about 12 years of training, he must memorize the 256 odus that can be recited during divination. Now you may wonder how an odu may be displayed during divination, well there are no words that give you hints. There is a chain that is tossed on the divination board, where this marking and reading happens. The chain consists of 8 shells with a smooth side and a rough side. The chain in thrown 16 times and the babalawo marks down on the tray what the results of the shells were when they were tossed, whether or not they landed on the rough side or the smooth side. This pattern will then describe what odu, Ifa is trying to relay to the client. The babalawo must recite what is being said by Ifa and express that to the client without knowing any information about why the client might be there to begin with. This is strictly the job of a babalawo, he performs Ifa Divination is whole life until his time is up. There are many different reasons why somebody might need to have a divination performed.

Ifa divination is a process that is used maybe during a milestone in somebody’s life. For example a newly married couple may go to divination to then look to their future. Somebody might go when they are looking from some insight into a new job they are starting. Maybe they would go if the just had a family member die and somebody else was sick in the hospital and they just feel like they need a change or have no more go fortune left in them. These people then go to this babalawo to have them perform a divination for them. They look to Ifa to give them some hope to hopefully turn their life around or point it in the right direction. This ceremony may often end in a sacrifice that the client might need to do. The sacrifice may be an animal or a gift for Ifa. This sacrifice will be a thanks to Ifa for the knowledge that he gave the client on the future and in hopes for good fortune.

The museum exhibition four different altars that represent each religion. Then there are objects that also fit into each religion based on what they may represent. The divination items can be found in the gender section of the museum. At first this may be very puzzling. However, when you take a closer look at the objects, you can see gender is displayed in them. The tray has carvings of both male and female showing their dependency on one another in everyday life, but also their independence they display. The embracing is needed of both sexes. But then some things there is only one person present at a point in the tray border. Symbolizing that each gender can be independent as well. The tapper itself is also a carving of a man as well. Then for obvious reasons this would fit into gender as well. I mentioned earlier that the tray’s carvings were pointed toward the center as if a show was going to happen. Now that the purpose of the blank middle, it is almost as though there is a show that it happening there. The messages from the gods is being conveyed in the center of this board. Now because the museum is full of altars, we can see that each altar has a show of its own. There are things present on each altar that are there for presentation to the gods they correspond to. In a way this is the same thing going on with the divination board. There is sacrifices that are made for the gods during divination just as there are for the altars. Maybe not a dead animal, but there are things present that are meant to give thanks to the goods, which is that same idea. The idea of divination itself is a ceremony that is for the people but it ties the gods into it as well. By asking them for their help or be asking them for a favor. The presence of an altar is again the same concept. It is made by the people and worshiped by the people because they want a sense of faith that they will have a good life as well. They feed their altars which then feed the gods to ensure a good life. Ifa Divination has the same idea. The people of these religions want to have a good life, they put their faith into their gods just as any other religion would. The objects that are used in Ifa divination put on an excellent performance and allow the people of the Yoruba religion to have faith that they will have a happy life, something that every person wants. Good fortune and a happy life.

Alyssa Falco

Annotated Biography

Abimbola, Wande. “Aspects of Yoruba Images of the divine: Ifa divination artifacts.” Dialogue and Alliance 3, no. 2 (1989): 24-29.

This source was found by using a database, the ATLA Religion Database. The keywords entered in the search were Ifa and Divination. To summarize this article talks about three different tools used in Ifa Divination; the chains, the tray and a container, which does not pertain to my research. He ties the tools into a god, Orunmila, and describes how the tools or artifacts and associated with him. The author talks about what the objects mean and why they are important as well as giving details about what the objects may look like. He states how each object has a certain movement that is important. He gives a little background story of the objects to help better understand them. He was key on characteristics of the gods and how they may have behaved that would have an affect on the board in the way they were represented.

The author himself gave off a tone that was very resourceful. He did not use language that may offend the objects meaning in anyway. He was an outsider with background knowledge that he wished to share with the audience. He wrote in a way to help the reader understand why these objects mean something, and by helping to enhance this, he added in quotes from poems. The author was very informative about meaning and the story behind the artifacts.

Clarke, J. D. “Ifa Divination.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 69, no. 2 (1939): 235-56. doi:10.2307/2844391

This source was found using JSTOR. I typed into the search bar of the title of a known article which was African Arts and in that I did a sub search using the words Ifa Divination to then come accross this article. This article can be summarized by an experience that took place in the author’s point of view. The author himself was present at an Ifa Divination ceremony and thus he was able to witness everything and give some sort of background information to the reader based on his previous knowledge. Not only does this article tell an actual story but in the beginning it gives the reader some background information on Ifa himself. Which in turn allows the reader to understand what is going on or why something is going on throughout the story. There were some pictures and charts as well that was accessible to the reader in order to understand what was happening or what some of the vocabulary meant. There is also background information on the Babalawo themselves and what their life might be like while having this profession. Some examples of some couplets and stories that might come up and are recited by the babalawo are also listed with a translation that may be confusing for the reader because of the Yoruba language.

The author tells this story in a way where he is almost in the same position as the reader. By being an outsider. By not actually taking part in the ceremony itself but by reiterating what is going on to then ask the same questions the reader might ask and in turn he may give some answers the reader has based on reading the story. The audience he addresses is to a group of people who have some but limited knowledge of Ifa Divination all together. Making it a little easier for the reader to follow along with what is being done during the ceremony.

Olupona, Jacob K., and Rowland O. Abiodun. Ifa Divination: knowledge, power and performance. N.p.: Indiana University Press, 2016.

This source was found by a request to look up from my professor. I used the library catalog to input the title of the book and was able to access the ebook. This book has a some personal stories inside it. There is a story of a woman going through her own Ifa Divination ceremony. She goes into detail about the things she experiences with the babalawo. Not only does it have primary sources as the stories being told first hand, but it also has essays from scholars that go on to give their professional thoughts about the process as well. The stories that are being told are what make the whole meaning of what the scholars say about this process from an outside perspective, really make the idea come alive to the reader and allow the reader to fully understand in two different ways, personally and professionally.

The author himself doesn’t ever make the reader feel like they should feel poorly about this process of Ifa Divination. He doesn’t deliver the stories in a way to try and persuade the reader from one side to another. He simple tells the story with the detail necessary to get the full picture. He writes the article that is in somewhat of an essay form but also in a personal informal way as well. He has some points that are studies that show research and then he has some personal experiences where he was able to have first hand experience in this ceremony.

I am studying three components of Ifa Divination; the tapper, the divining tray and the pair of divination chains. The tray is what Ifa Divination is performed on, the chains are used to tell a story from the way they lay on the tray, the tapper is used to communicate with the gods, spirits and ancestors. I want to study these objects because they are part of a very important ceremony that many people practicing this Yoruba religion do, and they do this quite often. This is a tool used to give them guidance and help them understand what may be going wrong in their life and instead of accepting that, they wish to fix it. I want to be able to understand the symbolism of these objects when performing such an important process. I want the learn these things in order to help the reader understand how this religion works. I want them to understand that they believe in something that is bigger than themselves, that they are a humble religion and aren’t afraid to ask for help when they need it. I want the reader to understand why these Yoruba people do certain things in their religion that may be foreign to the reader but after reading will then be clear.

Throughout this course it has been a reoccurring theme that the Yoruba religion is looked down upon by outsiders and they look at it as if the religion doesn’t mean anything. Ifa Divination is a way that the people of this religion learn to cope with their problems. These people are strong in the fact they have somebody or something to go to in a in their life when things aren’t going as planned. I believe that more people should be able to admit when they need help, making them a stronger person, and that’s exactly what the Yoruba people are doing. They want to set their life straight, they have a path and they don’t wish to stray from it. On a Divination tray each corner means something. There are ancient forefathers that are displayed on the board. There is a quote from the reading “The Yoruba World” by Drewal, Pemberton and Abiodun that states “when you work, work, work your name will remain in history. That Ona Munu is one of the hard-working, ancient diviners, and he became so famous that we shall remember his name forever.” (23) This is important to the Yoruba people, meaning that all the work they put in will be paid off, they will be grateful for all their work they put in and maybe they will be recognized too. There is another forefather Ona Oganran, they say “His way was straight, a straightforward person…a good man.” (23). Again this also reflects how the Yoruba people are as a religion. They want to get to the point, they want to know what can be done to make sure they are on the right path in life. All these beliefs and these meanings comes from Ifa Divination, this process reflects how they are as a people and how they go about their way in lie. Which to me is inspirational, they aren’t afraid to ask for help, or to seek guidance, something many people should learn how to do, including myself. For this I admire the Yoruba people and wish to know more about their ways.

In order to find this information about Ifa Divination I will need outside resources such as primary resources. These will be articles about a Ifa Divination performance or they could be personal stories from people who have participated in Ifa Divination. I will use the resources provided by the library to obtain these articles and stories. I will also need secondary sources such as book based on the Yoruba religion that may have further explanations of this process. There may also be a film that shows Ifa Divination being performed. If I can find a film, a newspaper article or story and a book that further explains the process from an outsider point of view I should be able to get all the information I will need in order to complete my research.

(Alyssa Falco)