The Yoruba are most likely the most well-known West African ethnic group in the world due to their vast population in West Africa and broad dispersion through enslavement in the Americas. The Republic of Benin and Nigeria contain the highest concentrations of Yoruba people and Yoruba faiths in all of Africa. Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Tobago are the Americas countries where Yoruba cultural influences are the most noticeable, particularly in popular religions like Vodon, Santéria, Camdomblé, and Macumba. (In 1989, it was believed that more than 70 million individuals in Africa and the New World participated in Yoruba religion in one way or another.) The most prevalent West African religions, both in Africa and the Americas, are likely those of the Yoruba people or those that were influenced by them. These West African faiths may also have the most intricate theologies. For instance, the Yoruba are thought to have a pantheon of up to 6,000 deities. The following is a list of

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

orisha Orishas (singular: orisha) are spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. T ...

(òrìṣà), or deities. Some in Oyo say Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì is female, Ogun's wife.

Supreme being

The Supreme God has three manifestations: * Olodumare - The Lord God of the Source of Creation * Olorun - The Lord God of Heaven * Olofi - The Lord God of the Palace, conduit between Orún (Heaven) and Ayé (Earth).

Metaphysical personifications or spirits

* Orunmila - spirit of wisdom, divination, destiny, and foresight * Ori - personification of one's spiritual intuition and destiny

Àwọn òrìṣà ọkùnrin (male orishas)

Aganjú Aganju (known as Agayú or Aganyú in Spanish speaking counties) is an Orisha. He is syncretized with Saint Christopher in the Cuban religion known as Santería. In Yoruba language, aginjù (not Aganjú) means a wilderness, inhospitable habita ...

- orisha that was a warrior king, walked with a sword as a staff, and is associated with fire. He is not associated with volcanoes in Yorùbáland in West Africa, contrary to what is believed in Cuban-style practice of orisa. * Agemo - the chameleon servant of the supreme god Olorun. * Ọbalúayé - orisha of the Earth and strongly associated with infectious disease and healing * Erinlẹ̀ - an elephant hunter and physician to the gods * Èṣù - Èṣù is the orisha of crossroads, duality, beginnings and balance *

Ibeji Ibeji (known as Ibejí, Ibeyí, or Jimaguas in Latin America) is the name of an Orisha representing a pair of twins in the Yoruba religion of the Yoruba people (originating from Yorubaland, an area in and around present-day Nigeria). In the di ...

- twin orisha of vitality and youth * Lógunẹ̀dẹ - a warrior and hunter * Ọbàtálá - creator of human bodies; orisha of light, spiritual purity, and moral uprightness * Odùduwà - progenitor orisha of the Yorubas * Ògún - orisha who presides over iron, fire, hunting, agriculture and war * Okó - a hunter and farmer * Osanyin - orisha of the forest, herbs and medicine * Oṣùmàrè - divine rainbow serpent associated with creation and procreation * Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì - orisha of the hunt, forest, strategy and of the knowledge *

Ṣàngó Shango (Yoruba language: Ṣàngó, also known as Changó or Xangô in Latin America; and as Jakuta or Badé) is an Orisha, a deity in Yoruba religion. Genealogically speaking, Shango is a royal ancestor of the Yoruba as he was the third Alaafi ...

- orisha of the thunders and lightnings * Akògún - a warrior and hunter, wear straw

Àwọn òrìṣà Obinrin (Female Orishas)

* Ajé - orisha of wealth *

Ayao Ayao is an orisha in the Santería pantheon. She is the orisha of the air. Ayao is considered to reside in both the forest and in the eye of the tornado. She works closely with Osain and is a fierce warrior. Ayao has among her implements a cross ...

- orisha of air *

Yewa The Ẹgbado, now Yewa, are a subgroup of the Yoruba people and inhabit the eastern area of Ogun West Senatorial District, Ogun State, in south-west Nigeria, Africa. In 1995 they changed their name to the Yewa which comes from the Yewa River whi ...

- orisha of the

Yewa River The Yewa River is a trans-boundary river between Republic of Benin and Nigeria, running along the Bight of Benin; at one point it crosses the border between the two countries. Other variants of the name are Yeoua, Yewa, Yéoua, and Yéwa. Its elev ...

. Also associated with cemeteries, dreams, virginity, clarity and magic as well as the patron deity over abused or abandoned children and the initiator of change. She is Oya’s younger sister and brings the souls of the dead to her. * Nàná Bùkùú - orisha of the river and of the earth * Ọbà - first wife of

and orisha of domesticity and marriage * Ọtìn - orisha of the river Otín, she is hunter and wife of Erinlẹ̀ * Olókun - orisha of the seas * Ọ̀ṣun - orisha who presides over love, intimacy, beauty, wealth, diplomacy and of the Ọ̀ṣun river *

Ọya Ọya ( Yorùbá: ''Ọya'', also known as Oyá or Oiá; Yàńsàn-án or Yansã; and Iansá or Iansã in Latin America) is an orisha of winds, lightning, and violent storms, death and rebirth. She is similar to the Haitian Lwa, Maman Brigitte ...

- orisha of the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

; associated with wind, lightning, fertility, fire, and magic. Oya is thought to be the offspring of the prehistoric god Obatala and his wife Yemoja. Oya is linked to acts of creation and fertility, perhaps in acknowledgment of the vital role that water plays in the survival of plants, animals, and people. In addition to taking the essential herbs indicated by the Babalawo, women who seek to become pregnant could also be instructed to offer food and beverages as sacrifices to Oya on a riverbank. *

Yemọja Yemọja (also: Yemaja, Yemanjá, Yemoyá, Yemayá; there are many different transliterations in other languages) is a major water spirit from the Yoruba religion. She is the mother of all Orishas. She is an orisha, in this case patron spirit of ...

- a

mother goddess A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or th ...

; patron deity of women and of the

Ogun river The Ogun River is a waterway in Nigeria that discharges into the Lagos Lagoon. Course and usage The river rises in Sepeteri Oyo State near Shaki at coordinates and flows through Ogun State into Lagos State. The river is crossed by the Ikere ...

* Yemowo - wife of Ọbàtálá and of the water. Said to be the original form of most female orishas i.e. Yemoja, Oshun, Yewa, etc.

Difference between Yoruba òrìṣà worship and what is practiced among Afro-Hispanics

These are the major orisha worshipped in Santería / Regla de Ocha / Lucumí religion: *Elegua, Yemayá (Yemọja), Oshún (Ọ̀ṣun), Shangó (Sangó), Obatalá, Oya, and Ogún etc. (missing: Elegba and Oshosi), or: *Elegba, Yemayá (Yemọja), Osún, Shangó (Sangó), Obatalá, Oya, and Oshoshi. (missing: Elegua and Ogún) As one can see,

Babalú-Ayé Babalú-Aye (from yoruba ''Obalúayé''), ''Oluaye'', Ṣọpọna, or even ''Obaluaiye'', is one of the orishas or manifestations of the supreme creator god Olodumare in the Yoruba religion of West Africa. Babalú-Aye is the spirit of the Eart ...

(whom "

Ricky Ricardo Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, also known simply as Lucy and Ricky or the Ricardos, are fictional characters from the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', portrayed respectively by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The Ricardos also appear in '' The ...

" sings to in his famous song) is a very lesser deity in Afro-Hispanic worship. Cuban African worship, sometimes referred to as

Santería Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between the tradit ...

, is still widely practiced in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Tobago/Trinidad and Brazil, a number of practitioners are Yoruba descendants to certain degrees. Remnants of the Yoruba language is still used ceremoniously as a ritual language, and is referred to as Lukumí. Due to 200 years of separation from the motherland, Lukumí became a lexicon of words and is not a spoken language. Similar worship of African deities can also be found among the Afro-Franco populations of Haiti and the US state of Louisiana.

References

{{List of mythological figures by region Yoruba deities

Deities, Yoruba