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179-112. O.U.P., 1974. 

The Refection of Voodoo in Toni Morrison's Sula and 
Tade Adegbindin's The Saint

Nasir Hashim

Department of English and Drama, 

Kaduna State University, Kaduna

nasirhashimhydara78@gmail.com

08135295865

&

Hajara B.K. Mohammed

Department of Languages, 

College of Administrative Studies and Social Sciences

Kaduna Polytechnic

hbkmohammed@kadunapolytechnic.edu.ng

Abstract

Despite the existence of Islam and Christianity, lots of Africans and their 

displaced relatives in America tend to retain certain ideas associated 

with traditional religion, such as voodoo, occultism and magic. This 

paper traced and examined these ideas in Toni Morrison's Sula and Tade 

Adegbindin's The Saint. The paper exposed how some Africans African-

Americans blend Christian practices with voodoo, magic and occultism. 

It highlighted how religious perception varies in these communities. 

Also, the paper exposed the category of people that regards voodoo and 

occultism as relevant religious traditions even in the twenty first century. 

As text-base, the study relied on textual materials: the primary and the 

secondary texts. The study found that many Africans and African-

Americans practice syncretism.  

Keywords: Voodoo, occultism, myth, magic and syncretism 

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Sula and Tade Adegbindin’s The Saint

mailto:nasirhashimhydara78@gmail.com
mailto:hbkmohammed@kadunapolytechnic.edu.ng


Introduction

Religious ideas in whatever form are indispensable condition in human 

life. It is very rare to have any historical record or archeological 

evidence which proves that a particular human race existed in some parts 

of the world without one form of religion or the other.In my opinion, 

even the so-called “pagans” are given the label not because they lack 

religion, but because they refuse to accept the religion of the majority. In 

short, religious ideas existed in all parts of the worldthroughout human 

history. Just as people evolve certain modes of production; they also 

develop certain kind of religious ideas and practice. Archeological 

research shows that history of religious idea goes back many hundreds 

of thousands years— to lower and middle Paleolithic periods. 

Archeologists, Edward Burnett (1832-1917) and Herbert Spencer 

(1820-1932) found some evidence of intentional and well arranged 

burial of the dead dated about (50,000-13,000 BCE). They also found 

evidence such as symbolic artifacts from Middle Stone Age sites in 

Africa, which suggests the existence of religious practice on the 

continent.

In the present and in the past, religion is perceived in many different 

ways. In the past, different perception led to the emergence of the 

myriads of religious traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, 

Christianity, Islam, the list continues. In the present, perhaps due to the 

impact of modernity, religion is not only perceived differently, but also 

doubted and rejected by some people. Today, while some old Africans 

and African-Americans revert to the traditional religion, many young 

people openly declare themselves atheists. It is pertinent to observe that 

the teachings of the masters of suspicion: Karl Marx (1818—1883), 

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844—1900) and Sigmund Freud (1856—1939) 

have a huge impact on peoples' religious perceptions, including young 

Africans and African-Americans. The three philosophers named above 

regard religion as false consciousness, whose purpose is to deceive, 

oppress and subjugate people. Marx for example, argues that social 

structure of any human society is not natural but constructed by some 

people in order to subjugate others. Marx is remembered for popular 

statement against religion: “religion is the opium of the people”. Like 

Marx, Nietzsche rejected the belief that religion has a divine origin. 

Nietzsche encourages the masses to reject any form of faith. On his own 

part, Sigmund Freud argues that “religion is an illusion and it derives its 

strength from its readiness to fit in with our instinctual wishful 

impulses” (33). 

African Experience

The great majority of African people are either Muslims or Christians; 

but then it is common knowledge that many of them still tend to look 

back to their former traditional religious practices. Akin-Okiko 

Akinnmayowa and Abbas Aremu Rahman claim that many Africans, 

though are either Christians or Muslims but they still mix up their 

religious practice with some elements of African Traditional 

Religion(ATR)  (27).  Akinnmayowa and Rahman observe that 

“although huge numbers converted from African Traditional Religion 

into Islam or Christianity, many of them make a return to the practice of 

ATR or patronize it together with Christianity or Islam” (28).

African--American Experience

Historically, African Americans were taken to America as slaves. Many 

of them lost their religious identities in the strange land. Though some 

Muslims among them retained Islam for a short time; others remained 

believers of one kind of African Traditional Religion or the other. In 

most cases, their masters imposed Christianity on them. Many of them 

decided to change their religion when they got their freedom; some 

returned to Islam and others to traditional religion. Many of those who 

remained in Christianity tended to practice a syncretized form of 

Christianity (Christianity mixed with traditional practices).Yvonne P. 

Chireau observes that many “African- American clergymen showed an 

inclination towards Voodoo”(54). Chireau narrates a story of an African-

American pastor who made several unsuccessful attempts to attract 

people to his church. One day as the pastor was seated in his house; a 

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conjurer came to him and asked him about his source of worries. The 

pastor told the conjurer about his failure to get many people attending to 

his church. The conjurer asked the pastor if he could accept a luck charm 

from him. The pastor accepted, and the charm was fixed for him. To his 

surprise, the following week, his Church was over-crowed with people. 

From then on, the pastor began to practice voodoo alongside 

Christianity.

The Impact of Christianity and Islam

There is no doubt about the fact that Christianity and Islam pre-dominate 

religious space in West and in the Near East respectively. With over two 

billion followers, Christianity is the major religion on earth. In 2015 

Frank Newport claims that 75% of the people the United State of 

America tilt towards Christianity. In Nigeria according to The Fact-

book, Muslims represent 51.6%, Christian population is about 46.9% 

while followers of Traditional religion is about 9%. In 2015 the Pew 

Forum claims that Muslims population is 50%, Christians represent 

48.1% and Traditional religion stands at about 8.6% of the total 

population of the biggest country in Africa. In Southern part, especially 

in South-east of the country, Christianity is the dominant religion. Islam 

dominates Northern part. 

However, despite the dominant status of Christianity in both USA and 

Southern part of Nigeria, sentiment for other religions exists. Traditional 

Religion is still relevant in some communities of Southern Nigeria as 

well as among some African-Americans. It is evidence of the situation 

highlighted above that this paper examines in Sulaand The Saint.

Methodology

This is a qualitative study. Thus, all data are drawn from written 

materials: primarily, the two literary texts, namely Sulaand The Saint 

provide the basic substance of the literary analysis. Other important 

sources are critical writings on religion, especially three religious 

traditions: Christianity, Islam and Traditional Religion. 

Theoretical Framework

Folklore can be studied from numerous theoretical perspectives, such as 

Humanistic, Psychological-Psychoanalytic, Structuralist, Etiological, 

Empirical and Anthropological. This study applies the anthropological 

theory on the two texts (Sula and The Saint) in order to examine the 

relevance of Traditional Religion among some Africans and African-

Americans. The famous anthropologist, Malinowski advanced and 

advocated for the use of anthropological theory in the study of human 

customs and beliefs. Using anthropological theory enables sociologists 

to uncover the origin of human beings as well as their beliefs and 

customs. Like anthropologists, sociologists and ethnologists attempt to 

trace people's beliefs in all forms as embedded in literary texts such play, 

poem and prose-fiction. Geoffrey Stephen Kirk (qtd in Ahmad Babajo, 

32) claims that elements of folklore such as myth, magic and rituals 

associated with voodoo and other forms of Traditional Religions can be 

traced in texts, and effectively examined using anthropological method. 

Since human memory is limited, certain folkloric items cannot be orally 

narrated; thus the need to peruse through written documents, including 

literary and historical texts (Babajo, 33). However, Kirk suggests that 

before attempting to find folkloric elements in any text, a researcher 

needs to have good knowledge about the subject. Babajo opines that 

“myths, legends, customs, beliefs, rites and rituals are important 

components of folklore” (34). In 1975American Folk-life Preservation 

Act defines folklore as:

….the traditional expressive culture shared within the various 

groups in the United States: familial, ethnic, occupational, 

religious, regional; expressive culture includes a wide range of 

creative and symbolic forms such as custom, belief, technical skill, 

language, literature, art, architecture, music, play, dance, drama, 

ritual, pageantry, handicraft; these expressions are mainly learned 

orally, by imitation, or in performance, and are generally 

maintained without benefit of formal instruction or institution 

(Public Law 94-201).

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Taking the above ideas and guide into consideration, this paper 

highlights the reflection of voodoo as well as other metaphysical entities 

such as magic and occultism in Sula and The Saint.

Definition of the Key terms

In order to ease understanding the study, selected terms such as voodoo, 

occultism, myth, magic and syncretism have been defined.  First, 

voodoo, as folkloric element is characterized by mythical narratives 

about deities, the purpose, origin of life, and so forth. Cambridge 

Dictionary (2021, updated edition) defines voodoo as religious tradition 

which involves magic originated in Africa. According to Merriam-

Webster (2021, updated edition), voodoo is a form of religion originates 

in African ancestral worship polytheism. Voodoo is has connection to 

ancestral oral tradition passed on from one generation to another. It 

involves rituals such as worship to mythical and legendary figures. It 

originally associated with Yoruba, Ewe and Fon people of pre-colonial 

Nigeria. Voodoo was introduced to North and South Americas in the 

cause of slavery and indenture.Whileoccultism is any theory or practice 

that involves a belief in or knowledge about supernatural forces. 

Occultism encompasses phenomena such as spirituality, magic, 

mysticism, and so on. Unlike, voodoo, occultism is a non-religious 

metaphysical idea. It is practiced as underworld agency— a kind of 

astrology and natural magic.

Unlike occultism, myth is not a practice, but it is central to folkloric 

tradition that consists of tales and other forms of irrational oral 

narratives typical of traditional society. Merriam-Webster Dictionary 

defines myth as any traditional story of “ostensibly historical events” 

which is used to unfold part of the world view of a society, and explain a 

practice, belief and natural processes. A main character in every myth is 

a supernatural being such as god, demon, witchcraft, and so on. And then 

magic is another important element of voodoo; but unlike voodoo, 

magic is a practice of manipulation of natural or supernatural causes. It 

is believed that magicians do communicate with metaphysical world. 

Magic is neither a religion nor science but can be understood in the 

balance of the two systems. Any violation of natural process could be 

considered a magic.

Literally, syncretism means blending of two or more different things so 

that they can exist together. Related to religion—i.e religious syncretism 

refers to any fusion of different religious beliefs and practices. Religious 

syncretism is about combining two different belief systems in order to 

form a new religion. An example of religious syncretism is the blending 

of African traditional religion with Christianity to form a new Christian 

denomination such Cherubim and Seraphim. 

Elements of Voodoo and Occultist Traditions in Christianity

There is lot of evidence in the two literary texts that Christianity pre-

dominates both African American and Southern Nigerian communities. 

However, many people are still interested in one kind of Traditional 

Religion or the other. On one hand, The saint reveals a high propensity of 

practicing Traditional Religion by both young and old people despite the 

gigantic influence of Christianity in Southern Nigeria. On the other 

hand, Sula exposes how Traditional Religion of African origin is still 

being  practiced in America alongside Christianity.

Voodoo Tradition in The Saint

Baba Agba cares not about the religion of the majority. He believes Esu 

is the most powerful god worthy of worship. After all, many Christians 

come to him secretly asking for Orunmila's intervention in their social, 

political or economic problems. Baba Agba's compound is always 

visited by all classes of people. For instance, at the beginning, we see 

five people— four of them men and one of them a woman. They come 

from distant places relatively, wait for so long waiting for Baba Agba to 

attend to them. One of the men is a rich Kongila (contractor). The 

contractor is here not for anything but appreciation for a contract he has 

won supposedly by the power of  Orunmila. Another of the four men is a 

banker, named Ajala. Ajala is afraid that some people may harm him 

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owing to his huge wealth. He is said to be richer than even the bank he is 

working for. For this reason, he comes to Baba Agba looking for 

protection from Orunmila. The only woman on attendance is there 

because her husband is dead, and the husband's relatives try to take all 

his possessions. She wants Orunmila to help her in her plight because 

she wishes to enjoy herself. 

Using religion to make money is not limited to traditional religion; 

Christian men of God also do. Like, Baba Agba, many people come to 

Pasto Ladepo asking him to pray for them due to one problem or the 

other. For example, a federal minister comes to Ladepo asking him to 

pray so that he will be chosen as vice president. Millions have been given 

to Ladepo for such prayers even though he practically does nothing like 

prayers.

While Ladepo is a famous and dedicated Christian, Aremu prefers Baba 

Agba's Traditional religion which seems to be more practical than 

Christianity. Aremu says he is not interested in Christianity; instead he 

wants to worship Orunmila, and acquire his wisdom. Even as a small 

boy, Aremu insists on learning the wisdom of the religion. Baba Agba 

calms him by saying, “there is still time for you to learn the wisdom of 

Orunmila” (8). But then he promises to teach Aremu how to convey 

sanctifies to the gods when the time comes. Aremu will not listen to 

anyone like Iya Olobi who often advises him to go to the city and acquire 

modern education. He prefers being in Alabata. Aremu believes as Baba 

Agba always says, “The gods live in Alabata, Baba Agba says they give 

us protection. Baba Agba says the city is full of evil men, people who 

carry guns and kill without mercy” (10). This explains one of the reasons 

that Baba Agba sticks hard to Voodoo and Occultism. By implication, 

Baba Agba rejects Christianity because the city dwellers practice the 

religion but still do all evils acts against one another. Baba Agba once 

tells Aremu that city people especially the politicians despite their 

Christian belief, are liars and deceivers. “Whenever a politician makes a 

promise— like solving all your problems— you tend to believe him and 

hope that your good tidings are coming, your miseries come to an end. 

“Then you wait and wait and wait for his oath to be fulfilled, until a 

disease creeps into your empty heart” (7). Baba Agba here means to say 

his son's claim is wrong; it is the Christian God who is useless and 

unworthy. And Aremu believes in this fact. Thus, despite his father's 

efforts to convince him that Christianity is the only way of life, and the 

only true religion for human kind, Aremu is not satisfied with 

Christianity; instead, he is convinced Baba Agba's religion is more 

powerful and rather practical. As an indication of the power of 

traditional religion, Aremu has once told his father that he is not 

surprised about the successes in the church as Baba Agba's gods have 

since announced that that (his) Ladepo's name will be heard everywhere. 

Ladepo rejects the prophecy by saying “only God sees tomorrow” (31) 

even though God has never revealed to him any future event.

Ladepo realizes that Aremu's attitude towards Christianity is negative. 

The more he preaches Aremu the more he becomes skeptical about 

Christianity and everything associated it. As a matter of fact, Aremu 

abhors city life where Christian faith is stronger, and where it flourishes. 

Should he die, he has no successor; that marks the end of his family 

reputation as well as the church venture. Thus, he decides to send Aremu 

to a seminary in London through his English friend, named Mr. 

Ferguson. He wants Aremu to study Theology and return to Nigeria as a 

trained pastor. Rather than theology, Aremu studies Occultismin 

London: It regarded as non-religious supernatural ideas. This is an 

indication that Aremu is not ready to work with his father in the church. 

He feels that religion is a personal thing. Aremu's decision has torched 

Ladepo so much that he decides to forsake Aremu. Ladepo seems to go 

out of his mind. He laments:

…. many sons would answer me in his place. He is not relevant now 

as far as I am concerned. I can name hundreds who are prepared to 

steer the Zion train after me! Then what is the relevance of a 

rebellious fool? A fool, enslaved by some aberrant philosophies, 

mortgaging his own eternity. Do I need to sit here and watch this 

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fool insult me, the most revered pastor Ladepo? No! I won't allow 

this fool to sever my spiritual history with his ungodly vulgarities 

(82).

Clashes between Voodoo and Christianity

 In The Saint,beingthe majority, Christians of Alabata village 

community treat traditionalists with contempt. They (the Christians) 

regard the traditionalists such as Baba Agba as oblivious and inferior 

beings. They consider themselves the best in every aspect of life. They 

often insult the gods of the Traditional religion. For example, pastor 

Ladepo often looks down upon his biological father, Baba Agba (14). 

Ladepo pours lots of insult on the god of the village Traditional religion, 

named Esu. Ladepo's son, Aremu testifies his father calls Esu many 

strange English names—Lucifer, Satan. “You called him a liar” (28). 

Ladepo considers the Traditional religion nothing but the culture of 

witches as well as useless and unworthy fetish thing. The Christians 

according to Ladepo do not need fetishes any longer because the blood 

of Jesus Christ suffices to provide protection and means of survival for 

the Christian family all over the world. “Forget about those fetish things 

you have learnt in Alabata. You are now a Christian. Son of a respected 

pastor, and you have to keep this at the back of your mind. Forget all have 

learnt about Esu and about the witches” (28—29). Ladepo asks Aremu 

to accept God and have absolute trust in Him because, “with God 

everything is possible” (30).  It seems pastor Ladepo assesses the love of 

God on his servants by the material prosperity they have. He believes 

that the wealth he acquires and the surge of people in his church are due 

to God's love and favor for him. He tells Aremu that:

God has elevated me in the eyes of thousands and you should be 

proud of this and choose to live your life after me. You witnessed 

how people continued to throng to our church. Why? Because they 

have been witnessing and experiencing miracles— signs of God's 

presence. Testimonies have continued to increase, numbering a 

hundred and six  today…. (30).

When Baba Agba dies, Ladepo states that it is unfortunate for his father 

to die as a pagan. By this, Ladepo suggests that his father will not be 

welcome in heaven but in hell. According to him, Baba Agba has been 

possessed by Satan.  When some members of his Church –Bolade and 

Effiong talk with him about the need for honorable burial for Baba Agba, 

Ladepo argues that needs not make any burial arrangement for his father 

“I have no burial arrangement in my mind; a true man of God wouldn't 

have any” ( 54). Ladepo states that a man of God like him should always 

condemn Satan even if the Satan is his father. By implication, Ladepo 

has rejected Baba Agba, and thus cannot take part in his burial. 

Christians feel their religion can never comprise any of its doctrines and 

practices. After all, the Bible is a genuine revelation from God in heaven. 

Ladepo says, “We need to serve God with all we have— our time, our 

strength…” (20). Ladepo preaches that “serving God is not an easy 

thing, and it takes so much to be a virtuous man: you need a fair measure 

of temperance, determination, self-discipline and all that” (53). Ladepo 

stresses that one has to choose between Christian God and Pagan Satan. 

He says “I chose God— that is devotion” (53). Ladepo's father has since 

chosen Satan. Not only has he refused to take part in Baba Agba's burial, 

but after the burial Ladepo has decided and burnt Baba Agba's material 

legacy (relics, charms and fetishes) — an act that angers Aremu to near 

having severe quarrel with his father. Ladepo claims that if such things 

are kept in the house, God will not answer the prayers of the living in it. 

Aremu argues that burning the stuffs is nothing by madness. According 

to him every item Baba Agba has left is has traditional value for the 

family and the village community of Alabata. Aremu maintains that the 

stuffs are very important even though Baba Agba is deed. “He burnt 

those rich relics. He burnt all traces of Baba Agba, and you see as an 

attempt to serve a true God! It's madness”(75). 

Elements Voodoo Tradition in Sula

Like in The Saint, in Sula, a form of voodoo tradition called “National 

Suicide Day” (09) is started by a Christian man called Shadrack. 

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Shadrackis a World War I veteran who appears to have gone crazy owing 

to trauma. National SuicideDay is neither known in Christianity nor in 
rd

Islam. The tradition is observed every 3  of January in an all-black 

neighborhood called Bottom atop the hills. The neighborhood has gotten 

the name Bottom from a particular slave owner who promises to free the 

slave and allocate to him a good “bottom land” in the valley but not until 

he finishes a tedious task. When the promised time comes, the slave 

master is hesitant to be parted with the land. He then decides to give him 

a plot on the hills on the claim that the plot atop the hills is near to the 

God. Suicide becomes a popular convention of the Bottom community. 

Once living condition becomes unbearable, the people take to the 

streets, parading and chanting suicide slogan. The tradition leads the 

death of many people. More often than not,Shadrack shouts that:

People should kill themselves or each other if they want to. 

The residents are disturbed at first, but eventually National 

Suicide Day infiltrates the consciousness of the 

community, becoming a part of the routine of their lives 

(43).

National Suicide Day is born out trauma associated with war experience 

and fear of death. This traditionof National Suicide Day becomes an 

important aspect of Shadrack's effort to compartmentalize his fear of 

death into a single day.  Apart from Shadrack, other characters such as 

Tar Baby, Sula, and so no are so influenced by the practice that they often 

engage in deep thought in order to extract meaning of the their life 

experiences. From the commencement of suicide day, most people look 

at Shadrack with a lot of disdain, suspicion and even hate. But as time 

goes on,

the people took less notice of these January thirds, or rather they 

thought they did, thought they had no attitudes or feelings one way 

or another about Shadrack annual solitary parade. In fact they had 

simply stopped remarking about the holiday because they had 

absorbed it into their thoughts, into their language, into their lives 

(5).

Shadrack's tradition appears to have similarity to some form of Yoruba 

pre-colonial Traditional Religion. It should be realized that National 

Suicide Day involves sacrifice of human life similar to the tradition of 

human sacrifice associated with Yoruba Traditional Religion. Olatunji 

Ojo argues thathuman sacrifice is a means of communication with the 

divine and the dead ancestors insome Yoruba pre-colonial Traditional 

Religion.

There are also elements of African Traditional Religion in the magic and 

conjure practices by Ajax's mother. Ajax grows up to be well attached to 

his conjure mother. As time goes on, Ajax begins to show interest in the 

tradition. Initially, Ajax's passion is not due to belief in conjuring but 

because of the habit he acquires in dealing with his mother, who inspired 

thoughtfulness and generosity in all her sons. His mother is indeed a 

power conjure woman, blessed with seven adoring children. Her source 

of joy and happiness is to bring her some conjure materials like hair, 

underclothing, fingernail parings, white hens, blood, camphor, pictures, 

kerosene and footstep dust that she needs. At times, she orders for Van-

Van, Devil's Shoe String, Chinese Wash, Mustard Seed and the Nine 

Herbs from Cincinnati. She knows about the weather, omens, the living, 

the dead, dreams and all illnesses. She makes a modest living with her 

skills. If she gets any teeth or ever straightens her back, she willbe the 

most gorgeous thing alive, worthy of her sons' worship for her beauty 

alone; if not for the absolute freedom she allows them, and the weight of 

her hoary knowledge.

Conclusion

The two literary texts—Sula and The Saintdepicted that despite family 

influence and societal imposition, some people tended to hold a world 

view contrary to what was popularly accepted in a community. In 

particular, the two texts showed that thoughimpact of Christianity and 

Islamwas very formidable, but some imprints of African Traditional 

Religion were maintained by some Africans and African-Americans. 

For example, inThe Saint, Aremu was born into a Christian family of 

Nigeria but he preferred his grandfather's traditional belief – an African 

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religion that was considered an obsolete pagan way of life. Likewise, in 

the midst of Christianity, Shadrack initiated a form of Voodoo tradition, 

called National Suicide Day in which he encouraged people to sacrifice 

their lives.  In addition, Morrison depicted Ajax's mother as a powerful 

conjure woman who was capable of performing rather unbelievable 

magic. Thus, in both Sula and The Saint exposed the prevalence of 

syncretism in Nigeria and America in the twenty first century.

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Akin-Otiko, Akinmayowa and Abbas, Aremu Rahman. “Return to 

African Traditional Religion After Conversion to Christianity or 

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Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 2019, pp. 211—704.

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Asika, Ikechukwu.“Folklore is Life: Interview with Odili Tony 

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Freud, Sigmund. The Future of Illusion. Hogarth Press,1933.

Hansberry, Lorraine .Raisin in the Sun. Vintage,2011.

Morrison, Toni.Sula. Vintage International,1972.

Newport, Francis “Percentage of Christians in U.S. Drifting Down but 

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Oduah, Comeh. Nigeria under Cover Atheists in their Words. 

www.aljazeera.com TH,(18  September), 2018. 

OjoOlatunji.“Slavery and Human Sacrifice in Yoruba Land.” Journal of 

African History,vol. 46, no. 3, 2005, pp.379 – 404.                                                                      
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Oríkì: A  Modified Oral System of Myth and Realism
   

   OlatunbosunTaofeek

            Mountain Top University

    Department of Languages

   jostadele@gmail.co

    &

   Oyeyemi Abigail

   Mountain Top University

   Department of Languages

   jostadele@gmail.co

Abstract

The aesthetic quality of man, especially Africans lies in the fact that they 

are a group of people who hold certain principles, opinions, beliefs and 

values connecting them to their environment. This can be 

historiographical exuded as a panegyric imitation expanding the 

horizon of myth and realism in Yorúbà praise poetry. Thus aiding 

socialisation as well as cultural appreciation of indigenous value 

system. Our concern is Africa; precisely, the oríkì of the Yorúbà 

extraction in Southwest Nigeria, WestAfrica. Etymologically, from the 

primitive societies the Yorúbà entrenched their beliefs system from one 

generation to another in the form of folktales, myths, story-telling, and 

dance as a modified oral system known as oríkì. This is to keep sacred 

realities employed in engineering socio-conditioning and cosmological 

interpretations. Oríkì as a concept captures the whole essence of an 

individual's personology in both terrestrial and celestial domains. This is 

further regarded as the whole essence of a person in connection with 

his/her origination, hence, if you want to know “someone ideological 

individualism as well as collectivism as related to an environment” then 

you have to understand his/her oríkì, premier facie. The quest to know 

this was motivated by the desire to access the extent to which myths and 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021 Olatunbosun Taofeek & Oyeyemi Abigail: Oríkì: A Modified Oral System of Myth and

Realism

http://www.aljazeera.com
https://www.researchgate.net/journal/The-Journal-of-African-History-1469-5138
https://www.researchgate.net/journal/The-Journal-of-African-History-1469-5138
http://www.pewforum.org

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