ORISHA

Gilbert Okiya
2 min readOct 4, 2016

--

ornaments of worship

This is a ceremony linked to the rich tradition of the Yoruba people in Lagos Nigeria.

It began in west Africa and it has grown to one of the ten largest religions in the world with over 100 million practitioners. For most people it’s not just a religion or form of worship anymore, it has now become a culture, its music and sacred dance reflects in all aspects of their lifestyle.

Orisha worship spread to the Americas when millions of west Africans were sold to slavery. Recently the faith is being revived in the Afro-Caribbean and African American communities from brazil to Boston. Its popularity in some places have made people name one the neighborhoods in Miami OSUN’S VILLAGE after one of the goddesses of the orisha faith and shops that carry sacred object can be seen in many countries, even online stores now make some of these objects available for purchase via internet.

When the African slaves were brought through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the spirituality of the various African cultures were combined. And in order for them to be able to practice, they had to hide African energy behind Catholicism.

But those curious Africans in the diaspora who want to fully experience the complete Orisha worship, will have to travel to Yoruba land, Lagos, Nigeria.Lagos is the entry point of all pilgrims from all around the world, travelling to the Osun Oshogbo festival, held every August.

--

--