THE STORY & ITS AFTERLIVES
Olodumare, also called Olorun, 'Owner of the Sky', is the supreme god of the Yoruba pantheon. He dwells remote in the heavens, the sole source of ase, the power that makes words and deeds effective. The orishas govern the world as his ministers; when Obatala has molded a human figure from clay, it is Olodumare who breathes life into it. Before birth, every soul kneels in his presence to receive its destiny.
Creation began at his command. He handed the descending gods a snail shell filled with earth, a pigeon, and a five-toed hen: the earth was poured on the primeval waters, the birds scratched it wide into land, and he then twice sent the chameleon down to test whether the ground had grown firm and broad. According to the Ife tradition recorded by E. Bolaji Idowu, the report that 'the earth is wide' (ile n fe) gave the holy city of Ife its name.
Unlike the orishas, Olodumare has no temples, no images, and no priesthood of his own; worship reaches him through the lesser gods, yet every prayer is sealed with the word ase, much as with amen. Across the Atlantic, Cuban Santeria and Brazilian Candomble kept his name at the summit of their pantheons.
