The Yoruba Ifa literary corpus
- Date of account
- Long oral formation; European documentation from the 19th century onward
- Location
- Yorubaland
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
Ifa is a Yoruba divination system whose Odu corpus contains verses, genealogies, etiological narratives, moral instruction and accounts of deities and human figures. Although systematic European documentation is later than 1800, the tradition is relevant to early modern folklore research because its transmission was oral, specialized and embedded in ritual practice before recording. It offers comparison with other traditions in which myth is preserved through performance rather than a canonical book. Individual verses vary by lineage and reciter, and modern compilations are selective. AI-recalled; source quality 5; corroboration 0.
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