Yoruba Religion

The Yoruba religion, West African Orisa or Isese, is the traditional spiritual practice of the Yoruba people. It is centered in present-day Southwestern Nigeria and adjoining portions of Benin and Togo. It possesses some parallels with the Vodun practiced by the neighboring Fon and Ewe peoples to the west and with the religion of the Edo people to the east. Yoruba religion is the basis for a number of New World religions such as Santería, Umbanda, Trinidad Orisha, and Candomblé. Yoruba observances originate from the religious worship of Olodumare and the veneration of the Orisa. Central for the Yoruba religion is the Ase, or the empowered word that must come to pass, or the life force and energy that regulates all movement and activity in the universe. Every thought and action of every person or being in Aiyé, the physical realm, interacts with the Supreme force Ase, other living beings, and with Orun, an otherworld in which gods, spirits, and ancestors exist. The Yoruba religion can be described as a complex form of polytheism with a supreme, but distant, Creator. Each living person strives to achieve perfection so that they pass eternity in Orun-Rere, the spiritual realm of those who do good and beneficial things. One's ori-inu, or spiritual consciousness in the physical realm, must be cultivated so it can consummate a union with one's Ori Orun, or higher spiritual natue. Well-balanced meditative recitation, or Iwapẹlẹ, and sincere devotion is sufficient to strengthen the ori-inu of most people. Well-balanced people, it is believed, are able to make positive use of the simplest form of connection between their Ori and the omnipotent Olu-Orun: a petition or prayer (Àwúre) for divine support.