It is known in Yoruba as efo tete or arowo jeja ( meaning " we have money left over for fish ").

The first Yoruba state was Ile-Ife, said to have been founded around 1000 CE by a supernatural figure, the first oni Oduduwa.

Historically the Yoruba people have been the dominant group on the west bank of the Niger.

In arguably its most influential manifestation, the system of prophecy practiced by the babalawos and iyanifas of the historically Yoruba regions of West Africa have bequeathed to the world a corpus of fortune-telling poetic methodologies so intricate that it has been added by UNESCO to its official intangible cultural heritage of the World list.

* The vast majority of Niger – Congo languages, such as Ewe, Igbo, Lingala, Maninka, Yoruba, and the Zulu, have register-tone systems.

The Yoruba of West Nigeria utilized soapstone for several statues most notably at Esie where archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of male and female statues, about half of life size.

A modern example of this phenomenon, meanwhile, is that of the priestly monarchs of the Yoruba holy city of Ile-Ife in Nigeria, where ritual ceremonies have been performed for centuries by the reigning Onis of the realm for the sustenance of the entire planet and its people.

African " Afrobeat " big bands have existed from 1970 to the present when Fela Kuti of Nigeria, fused big band jazz with Yoruba tribal rhythms, highlife, and American James Brown funk music.

Ekiti is near the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers, and is where the Yoruba language is presumed to have separated from related ethno-linguistic groupings like Igala, Igbo, and Edo.

Each is said to have made his or her mark in the subsequent urbanization and consolidation of the Yoruba confederacy of kingdoms, with each child or grandchild fashioning his or her state after Ile-Ife.

The Yoruba also venerate their ancestral spirits through Egungun masquerades, Orò, Irumole, Gelede and Ibeji, the orisha of Twins ( which is no wonder since the Yoruba are officially known to have the world's highest rate of twin births of any group ).

More than 250 ethnic groups are native to Nigeria, and many more have immigrated there in recent years ; the largest ethnic groups are the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba.

The king, known as the Oni of Ife, is reputed to have sent Oranyan ( also known as Oranmiyan ), one of his sons by the Yoruba princess Okanbi.

Junkanoo may have West African origins as the costumes and conduct of the masqueraders bear similarities with the Yoruba Egungun festivals.

In the Yoruba religion Santería, godparents must have completed their santo or their Ifá.

A Yoruba and native of Ikenne in Ogun State of Nigeria, he started his career as a nationalist in the Nigerian Youth Movement like some of his pre-independence contemporaries and was responsible for many of the progressive social legislations that have made Nigeria a modern nation.

The Yoruba claim to have originated in Ife.

On account of his creation of the world Oduduwa became the ancestor of the first divine king of the Yoruba, while Obatala is believed to have created the first humans out of clay.

Only a very small number of languages, of which the best known is Yoruba, have pronoun retention as their sole grammatical type of relative clause.

The Iwo people, like all other people of Yoruba stock are said to have originally belonged to Ile-Ife from where they migrated sometimes in the 14th century.

According to this version, there existed a civilization at Ile-Ife prior to the arrival of Oduduwa ( unlike the others, this Oduduwa was a Yoruba emissary ); said to have come from the east, sometimes understood by some sources as the " vicinity " true East on the Cardinal points, but more likely signifying the region of Ekiti and Okun sub-communities in Yorubaland, Nigeria.

Santería and Abakuá both have large parts of their liturgy in African languages ( Yoruba, Igbo and Ñañigo, respectively ) while Palo Monte uses a mixture of Spanish and Kikongo.

In July 2002, a Nigerian woman arrived in the UK from Germany, claiming to have fled from a Yoruba cult that practised ritual murders.

It is the highest chieftaincy title available to commoners amongst the Yoruba, and has only been conferred by the tribe 14 times in its history.

The Yoruba paid ( and a number of them around the world still pay ) tribute to a pantheon composed of an impersonal Supreme Deity, Olorun, and 400 lesser deities who perform various tasks.

When the male Irunmole attempted to subjegate Oshun due to her femaleness, she removed her divine energy ( called ase by the Yoruba ) from the project of creating the world and all subsequent efforts at creation were in vain.

In Yoruba mythology, Oshunmare ( also Oshumare, Oxumare ) is a divine serpent which is believed to create the rainbow, both male and female, and is a symbol of creation, human procreation and the link between the world of the mundane and that of the ancestors.

In fact, the world capital of twins is the Yoruba town of Igboora, with an average of 150 twins per 1 000 birth.

" King " Sunny Adé ( born Sunday Adeniyi, September 22, 1946 ) is a popular performer of Yoruba Nigerian jùjú music and a pioneer of modern world music.

Pierre Edouard Leopold Verger, alias Fatumbi or Fátúmbí ( 4 November 1902 in Paris – 11 February 1996 in Salvador, Brazil ) was a photographer, self-taught ethnographer, and babalawo ( Yoruba priest of Ifa ) who devoted most of his life to the study of the African diaspora — the slave trade, the African-based religions of the new world, and the resulting cultural and economical flows from and to Africa.

This state of mind allows the dancers to see the invisible workings of obeah as well as to transmit messages from the other world …" This borrowing of different African aspects and deities between enslaved Africans in Jamaica is also characteristic of African Tradition Religions, where a Yoruba deity might be accepted as a deity by the Evhe / Fon.

The way in which the Yoruba peoples view the world must be understood before Death and the King ’ s Horseman can be accurately interpreted.

The Yoruba believe that the world we live in is split into two parallel realms that are closely intertwined.

The Yoruba saying, “ Aye l ’ oja, orun n ’ ile " best capture this idea and it means, “ The world is a marketplace we visit, the otherworld is home .” Thus, the Yoruba believe that we all exist forever in the orun once we arrive there.

The Yoruba also believe that human life is unpredictable and fleeting ; another common saying, “ Aye l ’ ajo, orun n ’ ile ” meaning “ The world is a journey, the other world is home .” During one's stay in aye, the Yoruba believe that one should strive to achieve: “ long life, peace, prosperity, progeny, and good reputation .” These are best achieved through seeking to obtain: “ wisdom, knowledge ” and “ understanding .”

Every year, adherents and non-adherents of Osun, one of the Orisa ( the traditional deities of the Yoruba people ), travel from all over the world to attend the annual Osun-Osogbo festival in August.

It is said that the famous Yoruba oba or king, Shango ( also spelt Sango, and also known across the world as ' Xango, Chango, Nago Shango and Jakuta ) who was once an Alaafin of Oyo before being deified following his death, was the son of a Nupe ( Tapa ) woman.

In other parts of the world, it is known as gin-ryu ( Japan ); pokok lipan and penawar lipan ( Indonesia ); airi, baire, and agia ( India ); aperejo ( Yoruba ); sapatinho do diablo ( Brazil ); itamo real ( Puerto Rico ); pantoufle ( France ); and zapatilla del diablo ( Mexico ).

According to Yoruba and Vodou belief systems, Shango hurls bolts of lightning at the people chosen to be his followers, leaving behind imprints of stone axe blades on the Earth's crust.

According to the Yoruba elders, Oshun is the " unseen mother present at every gathering ", because Oshun is the Yoruba understanding of the cosmological forces of water, moisture, and attraction.

In the African Yoruba mythology, Egbere is a malevolent spirit that inhabits woods and is seen at night.

This son is believed to've spent some years in Benin City before returning to Ife to subsequently establish a Yoruba kingdom at Oyo.

These include the Yoruba city of Ife ( noted for its naturalistic art ) and the Oyo Empire, the Benin Empire of the Edo people centered in Benin city, the Igbo Kingdom of Nri which produced advanced bronze art at Igbo Ukwu, and the Akan who are noted for their intricate architecture.

( Muslims were called malê in Bahia at this time, from Yoruba imale that designated a Yoruba Muslim.

After studying the Yoruba culture and its influences in Brazil, Verger became an initiated of the Candomblé religion, and officiated at its rituals.

Yoruba tradition claims many people fleeing the Fulani Advancement settled at Osogbo following the fall of old Oyo.

Igbo and Yoruba leaders, anxious to obtain an independent country at all costs, accepted the Northern demands.

Standard Yoruba is the literary form of the Yoruba language of West Africa, the standard variety learnt at school and that spoken by newsreaders on the radio.

A Yoruba, Aluko was born in Ilesha in Nigeria and studied at Government College, Ibadan, and Higher College, Yaba in Lagos.

Some worked within the media, such as Juan González of the New York Daily News and Democracy Now !, Pablo " Yoruba " Guzman at WCBS-TV New York, Felipe Luciano and Miguel " Mickey " Melendez of WBAI-FM New York.

In Understanding Early Civilizations: A Comparative Study Trigger uses an integrated theoretical approach to look at the meaning of similarities and differences in the formation of complex societies in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Shang of China, Aztecs and Classic Maya of Mesoamerica, Inka of the Andes, and Yoruba of Africa.

On arriving at Ijebu, the inhabitants welcomed him warmly, shouting " oba wa nita " meaning " the king is outside " in the Yoruba language.

* Oduduwa: first monarch at Ile-Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba civilization

Almost every character in Death and the King's Horseman at some point uses a traditional Yoruba proverb.

For over a century, the Yoruba state had expanded at the expense of its neighbors.

The oba ( meaning ' king ' in the Yoruba language ) at Oyo, who was referred to as the Alaafin of Oyo, ( Alaafin means ' owner of the palace ' in Yoruba ), was the head of the empire and supreme overlord of the people.