obatala

Updated: May 27, 2025

On the West Coast of Africa the Yorubans, the most advanced of the coast tribes, with a well-developed pantheon, have deities who may be called creators; such are Obatala, who, according to one account, made the first human pair out of clay, and Ifa, the restorer of the world after the flood. In North America the New England Kiehtan and the Virginian Oki have creative functions.

Crawford Howell Toy - Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV