Mythology figures prominently in most religions, and most mythology is tied to at least one religion.
For the purposes of this article, therefore, we use the word "mythology" to refer to stories that, while they may or may not be strictly factual, reveal fundamental truths and insights about human nature, often through the use of archetypes.
Mythology is alive and well in the modern age through urban legends, scientific mythology, and many other ways.
For centuries, the Yoruba have lived in large, densely populated cities where they are able to practice the specialized trades that provide goods and services for the society as a whole.
The descendants of each of these deities are said to have spread Yoruba culture and religious principles throughout the rest of Yorubaland.
Much of Yoruba art is commissioned for use in the ceremonies and shrines connected with these founding kings and related deities.
The Yoruba have a strong sense of cultural identity, partly due to their allegiance to two urban centers: Oyo, the source of political power; and the holy city of Ife where, according to myth, land first emerged from the primordial waters.
Yoruba cultural unity is illustrated by an art style which, despite local variations, remains consistent throughout their geographic area.
Yoruba artistic forms present a rich and highly diverse array of image which are primarily dedicated to religious use.
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In the study of mythology and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit or human who breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously (Loki) but usually with ultimately positive effects.
In many North American Indian mythologies, the coyote spirit stole fire from the gods (or stars or sun) and is more of a trickster than a culture hero.
This is primarily because of other stories involving the coyote spirit; Prometheus was an intellectual Titan, whereas coyote is usually seen as a jokester and prankster.
Curiously, the Yoruba never actively worship their all-powerful god, variously known as Olorun ("the owner of the sky") or Olodumare (roughly translates as "the almighty"), among many other names.
The Yoruba explained to early missionaries that these minor gods descended from the single almighty god, just as Jesus was the son of the Christiangod.
The Yoruba treat their ancestors with great respect, as might be expected in a culture with only oral records of the past, but anthropologists debate as to whether the rituals dealing with ancestry are religious in nature, or simply respectful.
Yoruba is also natively spoken in othe Republic of Benin and Togo.
According to Yorubamythology, the Yorùbá; people are all descendants of Oduduwa, a mythological figure through whom the world had started at Ile Ile, the cradle of mankind.
In Brazil, Nago is the Yoruba dialect that is spoken, in Cuba, it is Lucumi and Trinidad Yoruba is used widely in the West Indies.
A Yoruba king's crown identifies the status of its wearer and gives the king the power to interact with the spirit world in order to benefit his people.
A veil, a large face, and a group of birds are commonly appear on a Yoruba king's crown.
Oduduwa was the first ruler of the kingdom and the father of all Yoruba.
The first of these important states was Ile-Ife, which according to Yorubamythology was the center of the universe.
Although the people of Benin are primarily Edo, not Yoruba, they share with Ife and Oyo many of the same origins, and there is much evidence of cultural and artistic interchange between the kingdoms.
It was a trading post between the Benin Kingdom and the Portuguese until the arrival of British traders in the 19th Century, presaging the colonization of the interior.
This sacred mystic curio is deeply rooted in Yorubamythology from the African continent.
The Monkey is a trickster figure of Yorubamythology (Esu-Elegbara in Nigeria and Legaba among the Fon in Dahomey), who became Exu in Brazil, Echu-Elegua in Cuba, Papa Legba in the pantheon of the loa of Vaudou in Haiti, and Papa La Bas in the loa of Hoodoo in the United States).
His power in reality is supposed that he can trick the future to what he wants it to be.
