Ifá

Ifá is a religion and system of divination and refers to the verses of the literary corpus known as the Odu Ifá. Orunmila is identified as the Grand Priest, as he is who revealed divinity and prophecy to the world. Babalawo's use either the divining chain known as Opele, or the sacred palm or kola nuts called Ikin, on the wooden divination tray called Opon Ifá.

Ifá is practiced throughout the Americas, West Africa, and the Canary Islands, in the form of a complex religious system, and plays a critical role in the traditions of Santería, Candomblé, Palo, Umbanda, Vodou, and other Afro-American faiths, as well as in some traditional African religions.

History

The 16 principle system seems to have it earliest history in West Africa. Each Niger-Congo ethnic group has its own myths of origin; Yoruba mythology suggests that it was founded by Orunmila in Ile Ife when he initiated himself and then he initiated his students, Akoda and Aseda. Other myths suggest in the that it was brought to Ile Ife by Setiu, a Nupe man who settled in Ile Ife. Igbo mythology suggests that Dahomey Kings noted that the system of Afá was brought by a diviner known as Gogo from eastern Nigeria.

IFA

IFA may refer to:

Organisations

Academic institutes

Economics and finance

Sports

Odu

Odu may refer to

See also

Odu (album)

Odu is a studio album by Nigerian Jùjú musician King Sunny Adé. It was released in 1998 on Mesa/Atlantic. Recorded at Dockside Studios, Maurice, Louisiana, it was produced by Andrew Frankel and features traditional Yoruba music.

Leo Stanley of Allmusic gave Odu a star rating of four stars out of five. He described it as a "rich, diverse album". In 1999, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best World Music Album category.

Track listing

References

Public Against Violence

Public Against Violence (Slovak: Verejnosť proti násiliu, VPN) was a political movement established in Bratislava, Slovakia in November 1989. It was the Slovak counterpart of the Czech Civic Forum

Velvet Revolution

Public Against Violence (VPN) was founded during the Velvet Revolution, which overthrew the Communist Party rule in Czechoslovakia. After riot police cracked down on a student demonstration in Prague on the 17 November 1989 a growing series of demonstrations were held in Czechoslovakia. On the 19 November Civic Forum was founded in Prague as a coalition of opposition groups demanding the removal of the Communist leadership. The same evening a meeting was held in Bratislava, Slovakia attended by about 500 people where Public Against Violence was founded. The following day a first meeting of the coordinating committee of Public Against Violence took place.

Public Against Violence was similar to Civic Forum in being a broad movement in opposition to Communism. The founders of Public Against Violence included actor Milan Kňažko, dissident Ján Budaj and sociologist Fedor Gál, and the movement included cultural figures, religious and intellectual dissidents. Other early leaders included Catholic dissident Ján Čarnogurský whose trial was stopped during the revolution,František Mikloško and Miroslav Kusy,Vladimír Mečiar and the ex-leader of the Communist Party during the Prague Spring Alexander Dubček. Like Civic Forum, Public Against Violence called for the dominant role of the Communist Party to be ended, with a provisional government composed both of Communists and the opposition, leading to free elections. However Public Against Violence also called for relations between the Czechs and Slovaks to be altered in a new democratic federation.