The
Ifa divination system was added in 2005 by UNESCO to list of the "masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity".
"
Ifa Divination Trays from Isale-Oyo." Cadernos de Estudos Africanos 21 (2011): 1-19.
150) notes the universalizing Jungian qualities of
Ifa divination as imago mundi.
At one end stood
Ifa divination and herbalism practiced by babalawos (male diviner-priests whose patron deity is Orunmila), referred to as La Regla de Ifa; at the other an array of devotional and therapeutic practices mediated by olorichas (priests and, more often, priestesses--literally "owner of the oricha"), referred to as La Regla de Ocha.
Unlike studies of specific African traditional genres such as Trevor Cope's book on the Zulu izibongo praise poems or Wande Abimbola's on the Yoruba
ifa divination poetry, Poetry, Prose and Popular Culture in Hausa is both a survey and an in-depth study of Hausa literature.
Mora had been initiated as a high priest of Ifa in Cuba on January 27, 1944, by Babalawo Quintin Lecon, a renowned Cuban Ifa priest, and was the first babalawo in New York to practice
Ifa divination (Murphy 49-50).
On getting home, I was told that I had been picked by
Ifa divination as the oba of the town.
In keeping with this year's theme, the Almanac provides informative essays on various oracle practices, such as African
Ifa divination and the arcane use of ribbons to discern the future, which originated in Western Europe and Scotland.
Given the controversy of authority surrounding the Carnival issue, he was careful to consult with his cohorts and advisors in Nigeria who, according to Massetungi, confirmed through
Ifa divination that Olodumare (Creator Supreme) and the Orisha supported his shrine's intentions for Carnival.
If the point of this passage is that a full understanding of the meaning of a specific Yoruba text - an
Ifa divination performance, for example - requires a reading practice that contex s that text, then such a proposition could hardly be considered novel.
The babalawo is the custodian of the paraphernalia of
Ifa divination (he can also be referred to as curator of Ifa literary corpus).