Lineage variations of Iyanifa The position of Iyalawo is found in both West Africa and in the Americas. Every town, country and lineage has different customs, although most towns in Yorubaland initiate women at present. The priesthood of women is denied by many in the Lucumí tradition in Cuba. As with the various lineages throughout the Caribbean and the Americas, the Lucumí lineage is distinct from African lineages, as can be seen in an accord reached by a group of Lucumí Oba Oriatés, Babalaos, and Olorichás on June 2, 2010. Initially, the Cuban lineage dominated the United States due to the large influx of Cuban immigrants settling in its large cities. As a result, the position of Iyanifa did not become well known in the States until the 1990s, when African American women began to go to Africa for their initiations. In the book Orisa Devotion as World Religion, Dr. Eason recounts how in 1992, the King of Oyotunji, Adefunmi, under pressure from women at Oyotunji to allow them to be initiated as Ifá priests, went to Benin, having assumed that Ile Ife did not initiate women at the time.Eason, Ikulomi Djisovi. “Historicizing Ifá Culture in Oyotunji African Village.” In Orisa Devotion as World Religion: The Globalization of Yoruba Religious Culture, edited by Jacob Kehinde Olupona and Terry Rey, 278–85. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008.
Lineage variations of ìyáláwo The position of Ìyáláwo is found in both West Africa and in the Americas. Every town, country and lineage has different customs, although most towns in Yorubaland initiate women at present. The priesthood of women is denied by many in the Lucumí tradition in Cuba. As with the various lineages throughout the Caribbean and the Americas, the Lucumí lineage is distinct from African lineages, as can be seen in an accord reached by a group of Lucumí Oba Oriatés, Babalaos, and Olorichás on June 2, 2010. Initially, the Cuban lineage dominated the United States due to the large influx of Cuban immigrants settling in its large cities. As a result, the position of Ìyánífá did not become well known in the States until the 1990s, when African American women began to go to Africa for their initiations. In the book Orisa Devotion as World Religion, Dr. Eason recounts how in 1992, the King of Oyotunji, Adefunmi, under pressure from women at Oyotunji to allow them to be initiated as Ifá priests, went to Benin, having assumed that Ile Ife did not initiate women at the time.Eason, Ikulomi Djisovi. “Historicizing Ifá Culture in Oyotunji African Village.” In Orisa Devotion as World Religion: The Globalization of Yoruba Religious Culture, edited by Jacob Kehinde Olupona and Terry Rey, 278–85. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008.
R
Iyanifa
ìyáláwo
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Iyalawo
Ìyáláwo
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Iyanifa
Ìyánífá