Myth, Ritual, and Visible Expressions of Obatala and Olokun in Ile-Ife`

In Myth, Ritual, and Visible Expressions of O?batala and Olokun in Ile-If?`, Oluwafunminiyi Wasiu Raheem and Ayowole S. Elugbaju explore O?batala's (the Yoruba deity of creation) and Olokun's (the preeminent owner of the ocean) existence in myth, history, and religion through various facets of pan-human worship, belief, and everyday ritual practices. Raheem and Elugbaju explore Yoruba history, culture, and religion to provide an extensive analysis of core themes in O?batala's and Olokun's stories. They argue for a more complex reading of O?batala beyond the often sustained and single narrative of struggle and defeat as well as a more nuanced reading of Olokun as a holy well beyond its popular exemplification of a female deity of wealth, childbirth, and preeminent owner of the world's ocean. Drawing from oral accounts, chants, folk songs, praise poems, and verses from the Ifa corpus, the authors provide new insights into the worlds of both deities hitherto missing in the literature.