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Africa
Explore myths, traditions and legendary beings grouped under Africa.
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Orishas
Orishas (Yoruba: òrìṣà; also written orisa, òrìṣá or orisha) are sacred powers and divine beings in the religious traditions of the Yoruba-speaking peoples of West Africa. Yoruba communities are concentrated especially i…
Orunmila
Orunmila is a central orisha in Yoruba religious tradition, especially associated with Ifá, the divination system through which knowledge, guidance and insight are sought. He is linked with wisdom, human destiny, moral c…
Osanyin
Osanyin is a Yoruba orisha associated with leaves, herbal knowledge, healing, and the powerful life of the forest. His name is also written as Òsányìn, Osain, or Osaín, depending on the language, orthography, and religio…
Oshe
Oshe is usually the name given to the distinctive ritual axe or staff associated with Ṣàngó, the Yoruba òrìṣà of thunder, lightning, authority and warrior power. It is not generally understood in Yoruba religious traditi…
Oshun
Ọ̀ṣun, commonly written as Oshun in English, is a major òrìṣà of Yoruba religious tradition. She is associated especially with fresh water, rivers, fertility, love, beauty, prosperity, diplomacy and forms of feminine pow…
Oshunmare
Oshunmare is a Yoruba orisha associated above all with the rainbow, the serpent, movement between realms, and the continuous circulation of life’s forces. The name is also written Ọ̀ṣùmàrè, Osumare, or, in Brazilian reli…
Oya
Oya is a major òrìṣà in Yoruba religious tradition, associated especially with wind, sudden change, storms, transformation and the boundary between the living and the dead. Her name is also written Ọ̀ya, while related tr…
Sopona
Sopona is a Yoruba divinity associated chiefly with smallpox and other dangerous epidemic diseases. The name appears in several spellings, including Ṣọ̀pọ̀nná, Soponu, Shopona and Shapona. In Yoruba religious thought, So…
Yansan
Yansan is a name used chiefly in the African diaspora for Ọya, one of the powerful òrìṣà of Yoruba religious tradition. She is especially associated with wind, storms, sudden change, warfare, transformation and the bound…
Nyambe
Nyambe is the supreme creator figure in the traditional religious thought of the Lozi people of western Zambia, especially in the cultural region historically known as Barotseland. He is generally described as the maker …
Nyame
Nyame is the supreme creator and sky deity in many Akan religious traditions of West Africa, especially among Akan-speaking peoples in present-day Ghana and parts of Côte d’Ivoire. Akan religion is not based on one unive…