Odun Ifa. Ifa Festival
This book won The Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 2001.
Ifa, a system of divination, is one of the cults comprising the traditional religion of the Yoruba. ‘Odun Ifa’ is the annual Ifa festival, during which rites and ceremonies are performed. The book provides coverage of Ifa history, and an extensive sample of Ifa verses, both in the original Yoruba and in English translation.
Contents: What is Ifa?; the language of Ifa; religious and philosophical ideas in Ifa; translation and orthography; rites of the annual festival; invocation and petitions; the 16 principal paired Odu of Ifa; Inaugural Odu; Conjuration Odu; casting the Kola nuts; concluding sacrificial rites; changes after sacrifice; divination for the year; and sacrifice after annual divination.
ISBN 9781904855781 | 684 pages | 229 x 152 mm | B/W Illustrations | 2000 | West African Book Publishers, Nigeria | Paperback
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Reviews
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‘The work is an outstanding and significant cultural document, and an important part of the movement of cultural reclamation from within Africa. It assumes direct intellectual responsibility by the Yoruba for their collective history and culture; and extends the scope of Ifa studies in a new and original way…the author displays deep familiarity with indigenous sources, living practitioners and scholarly literature. The book, the product of thirty year’s work, will stand as a benchmark for years to come.'
- Noma Award Jury Citation
