Codex of FaithsAn illustrated atlas of belief

Sacred objects

Opon Ifá

The opon Ifá, the carved divination tray of the Yoruba: how a babalawo uses it to read the signs of Ifá, the face of Èṣù at its top and its place in Yoruba art.

Also called Ifá divination tray

In brief

  1. I.The opon Ifá is a round or rectangular wooden tray used in Ifá divination.
  2. II.The diviner, a babalawo, scatters dust on it and traces the signs, odu, that reveal the answer.
  3. III.At the top of its border is the face of Èṣù, the messenger between gods and humans.
  4. IV.Ifá divination was recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.

Chapter I

What it means

The tray is the meeting place of heaven and earth. In Ifá divination a person brings a question, and the babalawo, “father of secrets”, seeks the answer of Ọ̀rúnmìlà, the orisa of wisdom. The signs traced in the dust on the tray point to verses of the vast oral literature of Ifá, which tell stories and prescribe sacrifices.

The carved border is a picture of the world. The face of Èṣù, the trickster and messenger who carries sacrifices to the gods, looks out from the top, facing the diviner, since no message passes without him.

Chapter II

Where it comes from

Ifá divination is centuries old among the Yoruba of present-day Nigeria, Benin and Togo, centred on the sacred city of Ile-Ife. Master carvers made elaborate trays for diviners and kings. Through the Atlantic slave trade Ifá reached Cuba, Brazil and elsewhere in the Americas.

Chapter III

Where you see it today

Babalawos still consult Ifá in West Africa and the Americas, and new trays are carved for them. Old trays are prized in museums of African art around the world.

Questions people ask

How are the signs chosen?

The babalawo manipulates sixteen palm nuts, or casts a divining chain, and marks single or double lines in the dust. The pattern points to one of 256 odu, each with many verses that the diviner recites.

Who is Ọ̀rúnmìlà?

The orisa of wisdom and divination, witness of creation, who speaks through Ifá.

Sources and further reading

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa”
  2. William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (Indiana University Press, 1969)
  3. Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (Oxford University Press Nigeria, 1976)
  4. Henry John Drewal and John Pemberton III, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought (Center for African Art, 1989)
  5. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Religious symbolism and iconography”

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