Journal of Religion in Africa 39 (2009) 30-59 www.brill.nl/jra

‘Heepa’ (Hail) Òrìşà: Th e Òrìsà Factor in the Birth of Yoruba Identity1

Olatunji Ojo History Department, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St Catharines, L2S 3A1, Ontario, Canada [email protected]

Abstract Th e popularization of Christianity and Islam among Yoruba-speaking slaves in the diaspora is widely seen as the root of Yoruba ethnic consciousness. Returning ex-slaves, Christians, and Brit- ish colonialists starting in the 1830s, in a form of reversing sail, propagated this identity in the homeland among those who did not cross the Atlantic. Th is essay suggests that the focus on world religions off ers only a partial explanation of the evolution of this consciousness in the homeland. Th e essay identifi es what role orisa worship practice and its conductors played in the birth of Yoruba ethnicity. It argues that as in the diaspora, nineteenth-century homeland Yoruba witnessed substantial population mixture, urbanism and interethnic marriage in ways that trans- formed orisa from local to regional symbols. Based on the web of links created among the Yoruba, the prescriptions of diasporic Yoruba and their supporters could be understood and accepted by the majority of those left behind because they drew upon existing commonly shared beliefs. Nonetheless, these conditions were not suffi cient for the birth of a nation. Th e nation needs its advocates. Returning Yoruba ex-slaves, aided by the Christian church and European colonialists, reduced into writing and made the text the symbol through which others were persuaded and trained to accept the Yoruba nation. In the diaspora and later the homeland, common language distinguished the Yoruba from their neighbors, especially the mul- titude of ethnicities that merged into the Nigerian state.

Keywords Yoruba, Orisa, religion, ethnic identity, warfare, migration, refugees, slaves, rituals, women, children

What is the role of religion in the development of ethnic or national identity? For a long time, many scholars have tried to address this specifi c question. Although some of these writers, particularly those writing on the African diaspora, have highlighted the contributions of Christianity (and to an extent Islam) to the emergence of Yoruba identity, the role of orisa worship in the making of this identity in the homeland has yet to attract major attention. Ironically, not only has this neglected local practice been widely accepted as

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/157006609X408211 O. Ojo / Journal of Religion in Africa 39 (2009) 30-59 31 crucial in the birth and manifestation of the Yoruba Atlantic nations, it is also recognized that religious experts from the homeland aided the Atlantic project. With focus on the nineteenth century, this essay discusses the role of orisa worship and its conductors in the birth of Yoruba ethnic identity. In doing so it argues that the emphasis on Christianity and Islam, especially their popu- larization among exiled Yoruba during the era of the Atlantic slave trade, off ers only a partial perspective in the ‘making of the Yoruba’. Th e paper has three sections. Part 1 discusses the religious basis of Yoruba identity in the diaspora. Th e second part highlights parallel events in the rise of ethnic consciousness in the homeland. Central to this identity were the contributions of population mixture and marriage networks to the transformation of orisa from local to regional/pan-ethnic symbols. Th e third and fi nal part shows that while orisa worship has the qualities necessary to foster ethnic awareness, foreign ele- ments, especially diasporic Yoruba, Christians and Europeans, advocated a common language (standard Yoruba) and defi ned the nation in relation to others who brought the birth of this nation to fruition.

Religion, Ethnic Identity and Yoruba Diaspora Scholars investigating Yoruba ethnic identity have justifi ably argued that until the nineteenth century the people now called Yoruba, despite their cul- tural affi nities, belonged to multiple ethnicities: , Bunu, Ekiti, Ijesa, , Ijumu, Ikale, , Ondo, Owe, , Oworo and Yagba in eastern ; Awori, Egba, , Ijebu, Oyo and Owu in the center; and Ana, Anago, Egbado, Idaisa, Isa, Manigri, , Ohori and Sabe in the western Yorubaland. Each group had its sub-units: Ekiti was divided into sixteen chief- doms; Oyo consisted of the metropolitan, Ibolo, Ibarapa, and Epo districts; Egba had Ake, Gbagura and Okeona divisions; and Ilaje was carved into Ikale, Mahin and Ugbo chiefdoms. Ethnic plurality underpinned centuries of intra- and intergroup tension, most notably the century-long Yoruba wars fought between the 1790s and 1893. Th e wars resulted in mass enslavement and population dislocation.2 Separated from the social turbulence tearing the homeland apart yet faced with oppression and competition from other cultures, the diaspora Yoruba found it useful to unite. Th ey needed each other for spiritual guidance, marriages and other measures to combat life in exile. For instance, due to unequal sex ratio among the slaves, many married, made friends and wor- shipped outside their primary groups, thereby facilitating greater interaction among Yoruba-speaking slaves. Finally, as the slaves encountered other