Topic > Essay on Yoruba - 704

Religion must be recognized, heard and understood and Yoruba belongs to that religion. Yoruba is a religion of understanding, growth and inquiry. In this article the Yoruba religion will be analyzed to understand it better. Yoruba originated from West Africa, Nigeria and was well known and practiced by many from there. There are currently 25 million members of this religion in West Africa alone. This religion was introduced to many different countries and islands through the transatlantic slave trade. Yoruba soon after became a popular religion in many countries and became known by different names, such as Santeria (Brazil), or Lukumia and Regla de Ocho (Cuba), Candomble (Brazil) also known as Shango in Trinidad etc. humans to a new birth, but with birth comes forgetting your old self. A main belief among the Yoruba is that when you are reborn you are assigned a new destiny and as you grow you must attempt to discover what destiny you chose at birth. When one of your many reborn souls is given to Olodumare, the god known as the "Holder of the Sky" gives you a new breath of life, where he allows you to choose your destiny in life. Then we are put on earth and go on a quest to “find ourselves.” As we try to find ourselves, we receive help from the Orishas, ​​“special human beings,” known as babalawo, “men of secrets,” and iyawos, “women of secrets.” Despite the meaning of their names, they do not have the power to dispense any secrets of wisdom themselves. These people are a form of priests and diviners, who are placed on earth to guide human beings on the path of harmony during their journey. The Orishas are believed to be very well connected to the gods and their religion. Like Orisha, they must know by heart a variety of many different scriptures to divine the problems of believers or communicate with them. Olodumare is the sky god who is believed to rule over the cosmos from above, he is also described as remote, distant and difficult to approach. Although he rules the cosmos and is considered the owner of the sky, he is not the main god in this Yoruba. Eshu and Orunmila are the gods that people really look up to. Eshu is known to "deliver sacrifices from the earth to the orishas and other spiritual beings" and Orunmila is believed to deliver celestial messages to humans. The form of communication between the gods is so important that it is believed that without this interaction human existence would emerge from chaos. In this religion it is immediately made clear that to survive the journey of life it is necessary to communicate with the