The Creation Of The World according to Yorubas

A statue of oduduwa and an image showing how he created the world.

Oduduwa the Father of all Yorubas was the favourite deity of Olodumare. Olodumare is the supreme being in the Yoruba culture. According to sources, Oduduwa was given the task of creating the world after Obatala who was previously given the task got drunk from palm wine. Obatala is one of the deities in the Yorubaland and he is said to be the purest of all deities. After Obatala got drunk, Oduduwa was given the task of creating the earth because everything  under the heavens was water and this was ruled by Olokun. Oduduwa sought the great diviner who is Orunmila who is also known as Ifa. Orunmila told Oduduwa that he should take a snail shell filled with sand, a rooster and a golden chain. Oduduwa used the chain to climb from the heavens down to the earth where all was water. He then took the sand-filled snail shell and he poured it into the water, he then took the rooster and put it on the sand. The rooster started spreading the sand by walking all over the place and that was how the earth was made. Oduduwa then leaped on a high ground and named the place "Ife" which is Ile-Ife as of today. The land became fertile and plants started to flourish. Oduduwa soon got bored and he began to mould figurines. It was around this time that Olodumare gathered the gases and made the sun,the sun then dried the moulded figurines. Oduduwa pleaded with Olodumare to breath the breathe of life into the figurines and the figurines became the first people of ife. This is why ife is locally called "Ife Oodaye" which means the cradle of existence.

Note: In some sources Obatala created the earth and not Oduduwa but all other things seem to remain the same.