Origin Stories

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Origin Stories

• Origin Stories are stories that we humans tell
  ourselves about where our species, and oftentimes
  our cultures, originally came from!
• The origin story told by Biological
  Anthropologists is called Evolution, the
  scientific theory that living things change over
  time and that existing species give rise to new
  species.

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Throughout human history, different cultures
have told very different stories about where and
how their people or the people (often referring
to their specific culture) originated.
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YORUBA CULTURE
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WHO ARE YORUBA PEOPLE?

• There are over 10 million Yoruba-speaking people
  in Nigeria and over 10 million Yoruba and
  Yoruba-descended people who have migrated
  throughout the worldover
• 30 million Yoruba people in 2008.
• The term Yoruba refers to 1) a language 2) an
  ethnicity and 3) a culture
• Millions of Yoruba slaves were captured and held
  as slaves between 1400-1800 and thus have
  descendents throughout the Caribbean, South
  America, and North America.

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YORUBA CREATION STORY

• ODUDUWA is the legendary creator of the Yoruba.
• OLODUMARE is the supreme deity.
• Before there was life on earth, Olodumare called
  OBATALA, one of 12 arch deities.

Bronze Statue of Ooni of Ife in full regalia at
Ife Museum
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OBATALA IMAGES
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• Olodumare decided he wanted to create dry land on
  the waters of the Earth, Ile Aye
• Olodumare gave Obatala ase (power) to make land
• 1) snail filled with earth
• 2) 5-toed chicken
• 3) palm nuts

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• How do I make the journey?
• Gather all the gold in the sky and take it to
  OGUN. Ogun forged a gold chain to link the sky
  with the earth.

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• Ogun flung the chain towards Earth Obatala
  began to descend, BUT the last rung was still far
  from waters of earth!
• Obatala removed the snail shell from pouch
  sprinkled earth soil on waters.
• He dropped 5-toed chicken on land, it started
  to scratch spread dirt across the surface of
  the waters.

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• When Obatala saw firm ground, he dropped a palm
  nut on the land, which sprouted into a palm tree.
  
• The palm tree grew to reach the last rung of the
  gold chain, so Obatala climbed into the palm tree.

Palm Trees in Abeokuta, NI
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• Then, Obatala started to mold humans from the
  earth clay, but he became tired and made palm
  wine from the fruit of the tree and got drunk!
  So, he accidentally created humans with some
  abnormalitieslike blindness or skin conditions.
  But he kept drinking until he fell asleep!
• Olodumare gave the task of finishing Creation to
  Oduduwa, who told Obatala that it was taboo to
  drink palm wine again. Obatala then agreed to
  protect all children and humans born with
  physical challenges.

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• Oduduwa then went on to finish creating the human
  species!
• Or(another version) When Obatala woke up, he was
  embarrassed and apologetic. Olodumare forgave him
  and then gave him the responsibility of molding
  the physical bodies of human beings.

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Ile-IfeThe Cradle of Yoruba Civilization