Commonalities and Disparities in the Iconography of Opón Ifá and Ìróké Ifá in Òyó, Sábe, and Ifè-Ana Yorùbá Communities

all photos by the authorScholars abound in the study of Ifá divination and its worship artifacts. The present study, however, focuses on the transfer of these artifacts from Òyó-Yòrùbá—their community of origin—to other parts of West Africa: Sábe-Yòrùbá in the Benin Republic and Ifè-Ana Yòrùbá in the Atakpame region of Togo (Fig. 1), especially the variations in iconography that have arisen over time. Ifá is a popular divination system in Yòrùbá communities, carried out by a babaláwo who throws sixteen palm-nuts (ikin Ifá), whose permutations result in any of the available 256 odù,1 or divination poems, of Ifá. These poems or storylines will shed light and proffer a solution to the problem of the babaláwo's client. Among the Yòrùbá, Ifá divination is carried out for a wide range of reasons, from attempts to know the esèntáyé/àkosèjáyé (destinies) of newborn children to finding out the reasons for the untimely deaths of sovereigns and the likely outcome of certain journeys or, generally, to foretell the future or know the likely outcome of events. The popularity of Ifá divination indeed led, in 2005, to UNESCO proclaiming it an intangible cultural heritage of humanity and listing it on the organization's Representative List in 2008.2 Traditional wooden artifacts of the Yòrùbá religion used in the worship and divination of Ifá include opón Ifá, ìróké Ifá, and agéré Ifá.Opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá are selected in this study as cultural traits found in three Yòrùbá communities located in different geographical contexts. They were chosen with the aim of identifying shared commonalities and points of divergence in their iconography. Elsewhere, I established that some traditional Yòrùbá religious artifacts in wood have travelled from the west (Nigeria) to the east (Benin Republic, Togo), and even farther in West Africa (Akande 2015). I maintained that many of these artifacts have continued to maintain their archetypal model in their new environment. I further observed that these carved wooden paraphernalia (opón Ifá, ìróké Ifá, agéré Ifá, and Èsù, osé Sàngó, and Gèlèdé masks) are resilient because they have retained their iconographic features outside their original geographical locale, despite their displacement in time and space and the presence of extant autochthonous cultures of their new “worlds.” Furthermore, they have metamorphosed into cultural icons in their own right. The present study is a continuation of this work, focusing on the iconographic similarities and disparities in Yòrùbá opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá in Òyó-Yòrùbá, Sábe-Yòrùbá in the Benin Republic, and Ifè-Yòrùbá in Togo.The Yòrùbá, one of the major cultural groups in Nigeria, are found mostly in Lagos, Òyó, Kwara, Èkìtì, Kogí, Òsun, Òndó, and Ògùn states in the southwestern region of the country. The 2006 population and housing census (the last actual counting) records them as constituting about 23.8% of the total population of Nigeria (National Population Commission of Nigeria, 2017).3In times past, the Yòrùbá built large, strong empires and kingdoms. These expanded beyond their immediate domain to distant lands. For various reasons, ranging from war to dispute to economic and social reasons, large groups of Yòrùbá people moved from the central group to form communities of their own; that is, many from the core Òyó-Yòrùbá in Nigeria travelled to other lands to form independent Yòrùbá communities (Ojo 2017), including the two communities in this study. At its establishment, the Sábe-Yòrùbá community was simply an extension of the Òyó-Yòrùbá community. Unfortunately, during the imperialist colonial rule of the British, these two Yorùbá communities were partitioned into different geographical countries for administrative and ownership reasons.According to scholars, Sábe-Yòrùbá people dispersed mainly from the Òyó-Yorùbá, westward, in the course of the expansionist wars of the Old y empire.4Morton-Williams (1966), Akinjogbin (1966, 1976), and Law (1975) have written extensively on the sixteenth to eighteenth century expansionist wars of Old Òyó toward the Benin Republic. In Morton-Williams' 1966 account, the Yorùbá armies from Old y attacked and subdued Dahomey (Benin Republic) around 1730 in order to gain access to the coast in a bid to expand its slavery business.The account of the movement of the Ifè-Ana Yorùbá group from Ilé-Ifè (Nigeria) to Ifè-Ana (Togo) has been mostly oral and mythologized. Ajayi and Akintoye (1984) narrate a tradition that tells the story of the dispersal of the Yorùbá from Ilé-If to Togo and other parts of West Africa: When Odùduwà, the progenitor of the Yorùbá, became old and blind, he called his children together and ordered them to go and found kingdoms of their own, giving each one a royal scepter. The founding of all Yorùbá groups in and outside Nigeria is unceremoniously tied to this unsubstatiated account.However, Gayibor (1992) and Odji (1997: 14–21) applied a plausible approach by chronologically collating a series of historical events in the oral traditions of the Ifè-Ana Yòrùbá people to arrive at a possible period of arrival in their present location and their possible place of origin. They conjectured that the people are from a quarter of Ilé-Ifè (Nigeria) and that their migration to their present location happened in two phases. The first phase, they believed, likely took place between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries ad.Odji, in his account, indicates that in the first phase, the people moved from Ilé-Ifè through Òkè-Òyán (Nigeria), a presently unknown location, to Ifita, a region of Savalou, Benin Republic. At Ifita, Fon warriors incessantly raided the Ifè-Ana people, selling them off as slaves. Gayibor and Odji believed that this was the menace that made them move further, to their present location in the Atakpame region of Togo, around the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries (Odji 1997).It is important to note that the entire people of Ifè-Ana Yòrùbá in Togo agree with the claim that they are from Ilé-Ifè, Nigeria. One compelling fact that resoundingly buttresses their claim is that, despite their long distance from the Òyó and Sábe-Yorùbá communities, they still speak a strong but seemingly archaic form of the Yorùbá language. Their Yòrùbá can be understood, to a large extent, by other Yòrùbá communities. Much more, they still have some Yòrùbá deities within the register of their pantheon. From this, we can safely say that the historical and cultural connection between the three Yòrùbá groups is Yorùbá took their religion with them to their new communities. they continued the worship of their and as Sàngó, Ifá, Èsù, and the artifacts in their these communities built a of religious large to be and from this of I on the iconography of opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá, two paraphernalia of Ifá worship from Òyó-Yòrùbá to Sábe-Yòrùbá and Ifè-Ana They were chosen in because of the iconographic observed in their features in the three communities. The paraphernalia of Ifá, the Ifá, is out because it has been a of by and and many other for this selected of in Òyó, in and three in opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá were was in each of the communities. The to the of the from and of Ifá traditional and selected in the Yòrùbá in Òyó and two in who opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá were and and of were The were and the and iconographic of the were with the of the and during the is in the iconography by in on of the Yòrùbá of and its of from oral and and and the established features of traditional Yòrùbá religious artifacts in wood in Òyó and them with of and observed that iconography is of an study of and or are chosen over in the of its In this study features of traditional Yorùbá religious wooden artifacts in the of between Òyó, and of artifacts in their original and in the other the is in the present study as a form of movement of people and their from Òyó to and Ifè-Ana at a time in to in The the of dispersal is as one from and cultural to the present study the three Yorùbá communities at of as a from the and is dispersed to the of the The present study that two and of the three communities from the other one and as they all one and are all Yorùbá is the geographical and the of Òyó the for the that the is important to in that of the and Ifè-Ana communities agree that they were from Òyó-Yòrùbá and speak the Yòrùbá in different the other Òyó-Yòrùbá people and their to the of and Ifè-Ana as Yòrùbá communities outside the fact that the three communities were all from the it be that they have as independent communities, in different and religious for is the of their independent over time and space that the of the of their religion is this study out to The is further on the of the of extant autochthonous cultures that have or these artifacts in and on the of in his of the of and as a for Yòrùbá that this is a of the of Yòrùbá artifacts. that, conjectured that the of for the of and of the these he can to out a of the of Yorùbá artifacts. as in a In and in the present study, this be on its own the is applied to an of to the of an In his own that with the and of the in the of a as from the of it is a In with this this study of an is a of as the shared commonalities of opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá from Òyó, and and of a as the of opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá from Òyó, and study to out an the of the of the within their of from various and because and as by are of a these have been to the in the of but as with this was carried to is a system of one of the used by the Yorùbá to gain of their and the of the The of Ifá worship as by as and is, that of many other Yorùbá in and is mostly in oral tradition the Ifè-Ana people by the of is The 256 or Ifá was to a in a was to with as his the Ifè-Ana who were to his and of the traditions of the of Ifá in Òyó and Ifè-Ana is that that Ifá divination has in their communities from time the of or the Yorùbá ìróké Ifá and opón Ifá found in Òyó, and with an on the Ifá, with the wooden is and who is by of the iconography of the artifacts. The of the iconography are from from and from of Ifá in Òyó, and Ifè-Ana during the of selected ìróké Ifá and opón Ifá from each community are and each and points of from their archetypal are and features of the artifacts established by the and are as of for their iconographic and of the iconography of opón and two major of their were their and In of opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá in this the of the artifacts are the or of and features of opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá. with are the cultural and of the artifacts. the other with the iconography of the and of the artifacts. The two and are and to them to as one paraphernalia of connection between the and the The paraphernalia is as as long observed the for in the study of that to and to the study of its be its cultural and religious contexts. this are the of the of Òyó, the in a he at the of the of in Yòrùbá as the of and and and and and and and and and to the of and in from two of to the paraphernalia of Yòrùbá as the we in this is the of the of the and the by opón and ìróké Ifá that them to as religious paraphernalia with to and to to is the and of Yòrùbá and is in the bid to study the two of that further into traditional oral and that Yòrùbá observed that, to and the of of original of the of Yòrùbá have been long to and can be mostly through the many Yòrùbá oral and the and of and the of a and approach to the study of can to a of the The present study, at Yòrùbá of Ifá, and in order to the commonalities and disparities of Yòrùbá opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá in Òyó, and and an Ifá divination and the features of opón Ifá, it is to these in the present study. Ifá is carved in wood and is or it be in the opón Ifá, to as a model for iconography. Ifá is carved with a large, by These are between is and in the of the to the of permutations from the of the Ifá and each is The is with and to and a Yorùbá opón Ifá can be into with on the the of the opón the the are opón of the located the and opón of the located the of the is the is The between opón and is who with the and the between opón and is who with the The between and opón is called who and and opón is who has a and is The of the is the is called opón of the has the the of the opón Ifá is with and to of Òyó, the has the to the and carved on the opón Ifá, in the babaláwo the to that because many their opón Ifá from they have a say over the on the and seemingly as the on the of the it be that they are chosen from a and of that to the and the within the Ifá divination and the In the of the iconography of opón Ifá, it will be observed that is When the on the it to be an a in of Ifá), an with and that it is the Èsù, located at the that all other on the other and are to the of the and the of the The is of the between and Ifá. the of Ifá divination and to the to the divination to Ifá on to a of all made by who in his own account, that at the time of to the and was the and of of these and the of an important of opón Ifá. is the of on the the of the opón be the of Òyó to the that between Ifá and The further the of on opón Ifá. The to this was a in time in and were and indeed they shared was in the of their that the divination to on the to a in the of was that it was for this that the located at the central on opón Ifá is to as a in the divination is to this of and that can be is the that has the of is, the the of opón Ifá. established iconography of opón Ifá, we to the of selected opón Ifá in Òyó, and Ifè-Ana with the aim of identifying their iconographic with and points of from archetypal opón Ifá in to of In an made it that the opón was carved for many by a from Yorùbá about of but he the At the time of this opón Ifá was the one used for The on the are of and The is at the the of the the opón and the has of a and a the between the opón and are of a who to be and who is with in of to the is a carved The between and two the one at the a on its the a to be and is the between and is the of a with a on of with in Yòrùbá of one of the in Yòrùbá is believed by the Yòrùbá that it is at the of that a its Yòrùbá people, this and its as and The is that its is to the on is a with long can be of a of are used to the and the of Ifá. are believed to be with deities as Ifá and Èsù, in the of in Yòrùbá in the of the of within the in the Yòrùbá to them as of In the to the The to all the and on his are of Ifá. out that the on this are of the found on other used by in is observed that divination the features of a Yorùbá opón Ifá. has the as by is for divination its have and the is located at the central the The and applied at the independent but can be this is and they that these they the in the Yòrùbá and the and his and is an opón Ifá from an Òyó-Yòrùbá about of The to of to the he this from his in it from his he has this from who artifacts and them to In his the of the be At the time of this this was the he used for The on the of the are but the is the they The is at its central in The of the and has and it a to the of the The and are with and the other to the and are with divination the one with the archetypal iconographic of Yòrùbá divination an of opón Ifá from Benin Republic. The of of are the for the of One of the Ifá is in is in with and around its the for At the central is the Èsù, a large of the of the The has large a and two the The is within the it to the of the The and are with and The and and is The and have and is with light and The is the is light is still in observed to be within the of the is to found in Òyó and by the on this with the one by the from Nigeria, as by and iconographic to the connection between y and Yorùbá is the Ifá of of The of the of this Ifá, on the are is with the from and The is at the the form of the of on this is and The into the of the The to the and and to the of the is with and The is its from the on the The applied are and The is two opón Ifá from are archetypal of Yorùbá opón Ifá. it is observed that their is as as found in is the opón Ifá of the and Ifá of Ifè-Ana Yòrùbá in and Atakpame of the is a the in Òyó and but was made by a out of with a wood about an The at the has but at the central are two of the are to the and to the are for the the established iconography of opón Ifá, one is that the are of the is because it is with it in the features of a Yòrùbá opón Ifá. from the iconographic found on from the other two communities is of of opón Ifá found in to of is in divination is and has a of the at the central of the divination the two each other with their at the of the is at the the and are of from the to the of the of are carved on each of the as this to the of and found on other Yorùbá divination the of at the central the of the that is by the on the and The of on carved Yòrùbá wood and other is but the claim by that in Yòrùbá iconography be the of in Yorùbá including some of as in the of in Yòrùbá to the continued of the Yòrùbá and and strong of and of the as be to his to other and a in out that on Ifá the between Ifá and Èsù, but as a to the and the of the in the be simply be for the of the of the one as by it to the of the of the to the between and and this account for with the of to the to this the of was to by At the of was to be and used to however, it Ifá and was to to Èsù, and was its to and and this made it by of is the of from the that have between and Èsù, it is important to out that can in the of the and of to in the form of or any other or the of as on the present opón Ifá further as it is to have original from a Yòrùbá community that has and from Òyó and to and an ìróké is a mostly and carved of wood or used by a babaláwo to the of the opón Ifá during divination in order to the of that were to the at the to the ìróké as an as as a of for a When go out on important they with them their ìróké as a of and the of can be observed during a divination At the of a the babaláwo will the presence of the of Ifá, who have and other important that in the divination a In the course of the from time to to the of his divination with the is at but the in order to the presence and of the and established that an ìróké is a of in an Ifá further the of ìróké beyond an is to be as it were a of the the ìróké as important paraphernalia of Ifá worship as as an that is of iconographic features of ìróké have been by a who has on Ifá worship and artifacts. observed that the ìróké of three the or the and the order of to the features that an are its three The is at the is with a is the that is used for the opón Ifá during divination The is the or and observed that the is the place some form of or by the is the is an that the The babaláwo the ìróké with some other of we the is carved and are it that the babaláwo the of the opón with the is a the babaláwo the to and that can to to during When the the and of the wood the around and ìróké be to about and strong to the of the divination three of ìróké from Òyó, and The ìróké in is from to of In its the three that a ìróké are The is the The is the of the of the from the The carved on the is to the traditional Yorùbá to this is the two each other are The features of the are and them of the Yòrùbá The the of the is with an The is to as a for the is and on the are The ìróké is and to archetypal of Yòrùbá ìróké ìróké Ifá (Fig. from Òyó a in its The has a in the at the are and in Yòrùbá especially in observed that the of the is found in West Africa as an of Among the Yòrùbá, carved wooden of warriors are in the of of out that the of the in wood but in is in by the can be found in or of or in the of that this can be found in the of some The central at the ìróké Ifá in this is is the place for of by the ìróké Ifá in this one has to its and is carved is in are found on many Yorùbá carved wood the iconographic features of Yòrùbá ìróké Ifá are is and this to the of Benin Republic. In the central is a an to its is likely a because of its it a major of in Yòrùbá of wood in a on the of the this is the At the is a long that as the its opón Ifá from is with ìróké in is from the Ifè-Ana Yòrùbá community at is different from the from Òyó and are two in this the and the The is as to the found in Òyó and at the ìróké that it is but by a or a Ifá that extant traditional Yòrùbá religious and artifacts in wood in Òyó and many iconographic features with each other with from The opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá from Òyó and have features and indeed in the two communities. In the artifacts in Ifè-Ana are different in iconography from found in Òyó and The disparities between the traditional Yòrùbá religious artifacts in wood in Ifè-Ana are be on its long distance from Òyó and from the from in distance and the of a in Ifè-Ana to be the for the iconographic in the worship artifacts In the for traditional Yòrùbá religion worship artifacts is to the and of to the of traditional Yòrùbá and in that community. is from that traditional out that some of the artifacts are from Yòrùbá communities as and that are traditional in is from the as who to other as and have with the paraphernalia of their In the course of this I any in the community. the of they their worship that they and that they from reasons for disparities in the iconography of Ifè-Ana from that of Òyó and be of this community retained the iconographic tradition of the Yòrùbá people the that be the result of from autochthonous of Atakpame and as and be In the with and to the of the of between Ifè-Ana people and the outside especially the Yòrùbá in Òyó and this to was to a on the of other cultures on their iconography. The of this claim is as it is a to some of the paraphernalia found in Ifè-Ana are however, the of (Fig. as Ifá is an of Ifá worship in it is made with 256 of into about or on each They are at the and together in a the of each is of of paraphernalia indeed because it was found in Òyó or fact that of all the of on and paraphernalia are found in the a that this paraphernalia be an that out of an to a of the original of the that be of is from a who a Yorùbá and with of the Yòrùbá observed that the of the Ifè-Ana Yòrùbá the that of (Nigeria), from the people claim to have is and can be to by opón Ifá and ìróké Ifá found in as the in this study are and their are as and as of The of this paraphernalia be with the fact that many Yorùbá traditional of religious artifacts in the community in they on their is to carved in but they they are to have been from that is a transfer of people and between Òyó and Yòrùbá communities. between these two Yorùbá communities that economic reasons, as by (1966), are and of and some other parts of Benin Republic in the eighteenth this is

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