The Olorun Of The Yoruba Mythology

Olorun of The Yoruba

In the ancient African Yoruba mythology, Olorun is the almighty all seeing all knowing god who created the universe and all other gods. Olorun, meaning owner of the sky, goes by many different names of different meaning such as Olodumare which means the almighty, Olofin - Orun which means lord of heaven, and Oba - Orun meaning king of the sky. Being the creator of all things possible, he is the highest power among all the gods of the Yoruba myth. Even though Olorun is the almighty god, no shrines are dedicated to him, and no sacrifices were made for him. It's possible that this is so because the Yoruba believed that it was impossible to dedicate anything to him worthy enough to his righteous overwhelming power. Olorun's
ultimate achievements are expressed in stories describing the creation of life on earth, such as "The Golden Chain" and many other stories on the creation of life. Although Olorun is the god who planned out creation of life on earth, he did not actually do the work himself. In the story of "The Golden Chain" he does not command other deity's to do his work but he gives permission for all deity's to explore. However in other creation stories, Olorun sends another god down to the marshy watery earth to plant items, differing in each story, and create lifeless sculptures in which Olorun himself gives life to. Olorun the almighty all knowing all creating god has been the reason for life in Yoruba mythology, but has not been dedicated any sort of tribute or dedication.