Iyalorisha

The Iyalorisha is a medium of the gods or the bride of the Orisha among the Yoruba of Nigeria. Like the Babalorisha, who is normally a male, the Iyalorisha is a key person in the Yoruba spiritual hierarchy because she is married to the Orisha. The Babalawo or the Iyawo represent counterparts of the spiritual priesthood of the Yoruba people. In the form as Iyalorisha, the female becomes the medium for translating the spiritual truths to the community.

Festivals and celebrations are regularly held for the Orishas in Yoruba. A series of rituals occur during these festivals and celebrations, with possession trances as the typical culmination of the ritual sequence. The Iyalorisha experiences these ritualized possession trances, which serve as the periodic retying of the ...