İle-İfe: Geleneksel Yoruba Dininde Yaratılışın ve Dünyanın Merkezi

Makalenin konusu, Geleneksel Yoruba Dininde yaratılışın ve dünyanın merkezi kabul edilen İle-İfe’dir. Konu inançsal ve uygulama, mitolojik ve insan yaşamı boyutlarıyla işlenmiştir. Mitolojiye göre İle-İfe yaratılışın, insanlığın (Yorubaların) ve kutsal krallığın beşiğidir. Gök, yer ve yeraltının birleştiği eksendir. Bu eksen Orişaların diktiği Hayat Ağacıdır. Göklerin yere, yeryüzünün göklere açılan kapısı bu eksendedir. Evrenin ve insanın yaratılışının başladığı nokta İle-İfe’nin merkezidir. Burası şimdi sarayın ve tapınağın bulunduğu yerdir. İle-İfe farklı Yoruba yaratılış mitlerinde ortak unsurlardan birisidir. Yorubalara göre tanrısal alemden inip yeryüzünde krallığını kuran Oduduva atasal Orişaya dönüşmüş ilk ata ve kraldır, İle-İfe merkezli en etkili Orişadır. Obatala yaratılışta rol oynasa da etkisi ikinci derecededir. İle-İfe, Olodumare’ye tek somut tapınım yeridir. Merkezde Oduduva’nınki ve etrafında diğer Orişaların tapınakları bulunur. Şehirde çok çeşitli festivaller, ritüeller, sunular icra edilir. Burası bütün yolların kendisine çıktığı dünyanın merkezidir. İle-İfe, Yoruba kültür ve sanat merkezidir. 

Ile-Ife: The Center of Creation and the World in Traditional Yoruba Religion

The subject of the article is Ile-Ife, the center of creation and the world in the Yoruba religion. In mythology, Ile-Ife is the cradle of the earth, the Yorubas and the kingdom, and the gate of the heavens to the earth and the earth to the heavens. The Tree of Lİle-İfe planted by the Orishas is the axis that connects the sky, the earth and the underworld. The center of this axis is the Ifa-Vara, the royal palace. Oduduva, the first ancestor, the first king, is both primordial and ancestral Orisha. He is the most influential Orisha in Ile-Ife. But Obatala, which shapes man, is in the second degree. Ile-İle-İfe is the only place where Olodumare is the only concrete ritual. The temple of Oduduva is at the center of the other Orisha temples. Ile-Ife is the center of festivals, rituals, presentations, even Yoruba culture and art.

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