The Yoruba originate from the city-state Ile-Ife in Africa. Now called Ife, it is the center of the religion because the Yoruba believe, that the god Orisha-nla first began to create the world there was. Now most Yoruba live in the western regions of central Africa in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Some however have come to the Americas by way of slave trade in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The religion now consists of about twenty-five million people and is more than one thousand years old. It is famous for its unique works of art and sculptures. .
Yoruba cosmology depicts reality as being divided into two separate worlds: heaven and earth. Heaven is the invisible home of the gads and ancestors. Earth is the world of normal experience and home to human beings. Humans are descended from the gods, but some are believed to be witches and sorcerers who cause disastrous harm if they are not controlled. The purpose of the religion is to maintain the balance between the human beings of earth and the gods and ancestors of heaven, while guarding against the evil deeds of sorcerers and witches.
Yoruba people believe that there is one supreme god and many less powerful deities. The supreme god is named Olorun or Olodumare, and the deities are known as orishas. There are hundreds of orishas. Olorun is thought to be the original source of power in the universe. All other life forms ultimately owe their existence to him. He is distant and is not involved in human affairs. He is therefore hardly ever worshipped. Instead the orishas function as mediators between Olorun and the people on earth. The orishas are all sources of sacred power and can help or hurt humans depending on how well the rituals designed to appease them are carried out. .
One orisha name Esu, contains both good and evil. He mediates between heaven and earth. He is known as a trickster figure, a sort of mischievous supernatural being, because of his mediating between heaven and earth.
