Orunmila vs. Orisa Nla in the creation of the world

The creation myth of the Yoruba people is one of the earliest stories I posted to this website as it was one of those I 'remembered'. I always loved the story - the climbing down from heaven on a rope, the chicken (or lizard or chameleon - I have probably heard versions with these) spreading the earth which was contained in a calabash and especially one of the creators (Orunmila) getting drunk on the way and Oduduwa, his helper taking over his responsibilities. But do I have the participants in this creation myth wrong? I would like to thank the reader who wrote today to point out that possibility:

About your creation myth, I've heard this in several variations both in Nigeria and the diaspora, but never has Orunmila been involved, always Orisa Nla. As a bababalwo, I understand that Orunmila is Eleri Ipin (witness to creation), witness, but not the actual creator himself. I'm fair positive you might want to modify this story to reflect that. Can I ask where you heard this version?

In answer to that question, I am unable to cite a source. I wrote the story as remembered from numerous tellings and retellings (with slight variations) from many years ago. It is quite possible that I have the characters in the story switched up. He also suggested a book on the subject:

From a scholarly standpoint, a very good english version is in the book called "Olodumare: god in Yoruba belief" by Prof. E. Bolaji Idowu the former head of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria AND fomer head of the Methodist Mission in Nigeria. Though a christian, he was very interested in traditional thought/practices and did a very good job in the book of presenting the stories without a christian bias.

I will have to update the story as soon as possible and hope I have not mis-educated too many people in the interim. If you know other versions of the Yoruba creation myth, I would love to hear them - you can post in the comments here or send me a note.

Bird steals babies

Posted this folktale yesterday about a bird that stole Iyawo's baby, then rewarded the woman. Iyale gets greedy and tries to get same reward but is punished instead. Iyale and Iyawo are Yoruba words meaning "senior wife" and "junior wife" respectively. They are terms used to label wives in a polygamous situation to indicate their order of seniority and many tales abound in Yoruba folklore depicting iyale/iyawo interactions. Such stories, as in this tale almost always portray disharmony in the family - a mean iyale and a long-suffering iyawo with the husband rarely playing any role in the drama. Apparently, the tales did not warn enough people off the practice considering its dominance in ancient Yoruba culture.

Reading A.B. Ellis's Yoruba Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa helped me remember most of this story. In his version, there are three wives, not two so you may want to head over to read that.

[GRIPE]
I posted this commentary yesterday night. Then decided to upgrade to blogger-beta after reading about the new features. Completed the upgrade without a hitch (none expected either). Then today, I wanted to edit my post and alas, just like iyawo, my post was gone. Blogger-beta had taken my post and no matter how fervently I sang, it wouldn't give it back to me. I did not have copy of that post and I think it was nicer than this one. Lost posts always are.
[END GRIPE]