Yoruba calendar
Encyclopedia
The Yoruba calendar year starts from 3 June to 2 June of the following year. According to this calendar, the Gregorian
year 2008 A. D. is the 10050th year of Yoruba culture
. The traditional Yoruba week has four days. The 4 days that are dedicated to the Orisa goes as follow:
Day 1 is dedicated to Obatala (Sopanna, Iyaami, and the Egungun)
Day 2 is dedicated to Orunmila (Esu and Osun) *
Day 3 is dedicated to Ogun (Osoosi)
Day 4 is dedicated to Sango (Oya)
To reconcile with the Gregorian calendar, Yoruba people also measure time in seven days a week and four weeks a month. The four day calendar was dedicated to the Orisas and the seven day calendar is for doing business.
The seven days are: Ojo-Aiku (Sunday
), Oko-Aje (Monday), Ojo-Ishegun (Tuesday), Ojo-Riru (Wednesday), Ojo-Bo/Alamisi (Thursday), Ojo-Eti (Friday
) and Ojo-Abameta (Saturday
).
Time is measured in isheju (minutes), wakati (hours), ojo (days), ose (weeks), oshu (months) and odun (years). There are 60 (ogota) isheju in 1 (okan) wakati; 24 (merinlelogun) wakati in 1 ojo; 7 (meje) ojo in 1 ose; 4 (merin) ose in 1 oshu and 52 (ejileladota)ose in 1 (okan) odun. There are 12 (mejila) oshu in 1 (okan) odun.
An example for the 2010 Yoruba Calendar is available on this website, dedicated to creating technologies to promote Yoruba culture Kojoda Calendar 2010
The traditional Yoruba calendar (Kojoda) has a 4-day week and 91 weeks in a year.
The Yoruba year spans from 3 June of a Gregorian calendar year to 2 June of the following year.
According to the calendar developed by the thinker, Remi-Niyi Alaran, the Gregorian year 2011 A. D. is the 10053th year of Yoruba records of time. With the British colonial and European cultural invasions, came the need to reconcile with the Gregorian calendar
: Yoruba people also measure time in seven days a week and 52 weeks a year.
The alternative day names: Atalata, Alaruba, Alamisi and Jimoh are of moslem / islamic origin.
= Oríṣà
of Okún, the deep seas or oceans, patron of sailors, and guardian of souls lost at sea.
Erele/Feb 21-25
Èrèna/March 12 – 28
Oduduwa
(odudu, the dark pigment; ni ewa, is the beauty) / Iyaagbe (iya, mother; agbe, who receives) = Oríṣà of Earth and matron of the Ayé. Oduduwa endows the ebony dark skin pigment that accords greatest gifts of spirituality, beauty and intellect to the bearer. The essence of procreative love.
Èrèna/March 15 – 19
Oshosi
= Oríṣà of Adventure and the hunt
Èrèna/March 21 – 24:
= Oríṣà of the metal and war crafts, and engineering. The custodian of truth and executioner of justice, as such patron of the legal and counselling professions who must swear to uphold truth while biting on a piece of metal.
Oshun
= Oríṣà of Fertility and custodian of the female essence. who guides pregnancies to term.
Igbe starts last Saturday of April, for 5 days-
Onset of wet season (Spring)
Èbíbí: starts last Saturday of May, for 7 days
/ Ifá = Oríṣà of Divination and founder of the Ifá sciences, whose divination is with 16 palm nuts. Mass gathering of the yoruba
Agẹmo: first and second weeks in July
Oko (Agriculture) Harvesting of the new Yam crop.
Ẹlégba-Bara (Ẹlégba, one who has power to seize) / Eṣu (shu, to release eject from; ara, the body) = Oríṣà of male essence and Power, who is the great Communicator and messenger of the will of Olódùmarè. No woman should bara (ba ra, to rub with, have intercourse with) a man who has not done Ikola (circumcision
: ike, cutting; ola, that saves) in sacrifice to Ẹlégba.
Agẹmo second weekend of July
Ṣàngo (shan, to strike:/ Jakuta:ja, fight; pẹlu okuta, with stones). The Oríṣà of Energy – Ara (Thunder) and Manamana, make fire (Lightning) whose divination is with 16 cowries and whose messenger and water-bearer is Oshumare (the Rainbow).
Agẹmo: third week of July
Ogun: last weekend of August
(Orísà of the odo Oya (river Niger) whose messenger is Afefe (the Wind), and guardian of gateway between the physical realm (Aye) and the spiritual realm (Òrún).
Ọwaro
Osun
(Orísà of the odo Oṣun and patron of the (sovereign) Ijebu nation
Ọwaro third weekend of October
Onset of the dry season (Autumn)
Shigidi (Orísà of Òrún-Apadi, the realm of the unsettled spirits and the ghosts of the dead that have left Aye and are forsaken of Òrún-Rere. Custodian of nightmares and patron of assassins.
Solemn candlelight to guide the unsettled away from your residence, else they settle in your dolls or other toys.
Ọwaro 30 World Slavery Day?
Òpé 15
Onset of the second dry season (winter solstice
)
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
year 2008 A. D. is the 10050th year of Yoruba culture
Yoruba Culture
Yoruba culture refers to the idiosyncratic cultural norms of Yorubaland and the Yoruba people.-Sculpture:The Yoruba are said to be prolific sculptors, famous for their magnificent terra cotta works throughout the 12th and 14th century; artists also harnests their capacity in making artwork out of...
. The traditional Yoruba week has four days. The 4 days that are dedicated to the Orisa goes as follow:
Day 1 is dedicated to Obatala (Sopanna, Iyaami, and the Egungun)
Day 2 is dedicated to Orunmila (Esu and Osun) *
Day 3 is dedicated to Ogun (Osoosi)
Day 4 is dedicated to Sango (Oya)
To reconcile with the Gregorian calendar, Yoruba people also measure time in seven days a week and four weeks a month. The four day calendar was dedicated to the Orisas and the seven day calendar is for doing business.
The seven days are: Ojo-Aiku (Sunday
Sunday
Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. For most Christians, Sunday is observed as a day for worship of God and rest, due to the belief that it is Lord's Day, the day of Christ's resurrection....
), Oko-Aje (Monday), Ojo-Ishegun (Tuesday), Ojo-Riru (Wednesday), Ojo-Bo/Alamisi (Thursday), Ojo-Eti (Friday
Friday
Friday is the day between Thursday and Saturday. In countries adopting Monday-first conventions as recommended by the international standard ISO 8601, it is the fifth day of the week. It is the sixth day in countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention as in Abrahamic tradition...
) and Ojo-Abameta (Saturday
Saturday
Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday.Saturday is the last day of the week on many calendars and in conventions that consider the week as beginning on Sunday, or the sixth day of the week according to international standard ISO 8601 which was first published in...
).
Time is measured in isheju (minutes), wakati (hours), ojo (days), ose (weeks), oshu (months) and odun (years). There are 60 (ogota) isheju in 1 (okan) wakati; 24 (merinlelogun) wakati in 1 ojo; 7 (meje) ojo in 1 ose; 4 (merin) ose in 1 oshu and 52 (ejileladota)ose in 1 (okan) odun. There are 12 (mejila) oshu in 1 (okan) odun.
An example for the 2010 Yoruba Calendar is available on this website, dedicated to creating technologies to promote Yoruba culture Kojoda Calendar 2010
Calendar Examples
“KṒJṒDÁ” - 'Ki ṓjṓ dá: may the day be clear(ly foreseen), calendar'.| KṒJṒDÁ 10053 / CALENDER 2011–2012 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ÒKÙDÚ 10053 / June 2011 | ||||||||||
| ȮSĖ | 91st | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th |
| ṓjṓ-Ṡàngó /Jakuta | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Ṓjṓ-Ȯrùnmílá /Ìfá / Awo | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | |
| ṓjṓ-Ògún | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | |
| Ṓjṓ-Ȯbàtálá | 1 | 29 | 30 | |||||||
The traditional Yoruba calendar (Kojoda) has a 4-day week and 91 weeks in a year.
The Yoruba year spans from 3 June of a Gregorian calendar year to 2 June of the following year.
According to the calendar developed by the thinker, Remi-Niyi Alaran, the Gregorian year 2011 A. D. is the 10053th year of Yoruba records of time. With the British colonial and European cultural invasions, came the need to reconcile with the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
: Yoruba people also measure time in seven days a week and 52 weeks a year.
| KṒJṒDÁ 10053 / CALENDER 2011–2012 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ÒKÙDÚ 10053 / June 2011 | ||||||
| ȮSĖ | Week | 22nd | 23rd | 24th | 25th | 26th |
| ṓjṓ-Àíkú | Sunday | 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | |
| ṓjṓ-Ajé | Monday | 6 | 13 | 20 | 27 | |
| ṓjṓ-Ìṡḗgun | Tuesday | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | |
| ṓjṓ-RíRú | Wednesday | 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 |
| Ṓjṓ-RuBȯ | Thursday | 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 |
| Ṓjṓ-Ėtì | Friday | 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 | |
| Ṓjṓ-Àbámḗta | Saturday | 4 | 11 | 18 | 25 | |
Calendar Terminologies
| ȮSĖ in Yoruba calendar | DAYS in Gregorian calendar Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter... |
|---|---|
| ṓjṓ-Àíkú | Sunday |
| ṓjṓ-Ajé | Monday |
| ṓjṓ-Ìṡḗgun / Atalata | Tuesday |
| ṓjṓ-RíRú / Alaruba | Wednesday |
| Ṓjṓ-RuBȯ / Alamisi | Thursday |
| Ṓjṓ-Ėtì / Jimoh | Friday |
| Ṓjṓ-Àbámḗta | Saturday |
The alternative day names: Atalata, Alaruba, Alamisi and Jimoh are of moslem / islamic origin.
| Oṡu in Yoruba calendar | Months in Gregorian calendar |
|---|---|
| ÒKÙDÚ | June |
| AGḖMṐ | July |
| ÒGÚN | August |
| OWḖRḖ | September |
| ṐWARO | October |
| BḔLU | November |
| ṐPḖ | December |
| ṠḔRḔ | January |
| ÈRÉLE | February |
| ḔRḔNA | March |
| IGBE | April |
| ḔBÍBÍ | May |
Erele / February
OlokúnOlokun
Olokun is an Orisha in Yoruba religion, associated with the sea. Olokun is therefore considered the patron Orisa of the descendants of Africans that were carried away during the Transatlantic Slave Trade or Middle Passage, sometimes referred to in the United States by African-Americans as the Maafa...
= Oríṣà
Orisha
An Orisha is a spirit or deity that reflects one of the manifestations of Olodumare in the Yoruba spiritual or religious system....
of Okún, the deep seas or oceans, patron of sailors, and guardian of souls lost at sea.
Erele/Feb 21-25
Erénà / March
Annual rites of passage for menÈrèna/March 12 – 28
Oduduwa
Oduduwa
Oduduwa Omoluabi, Olofin Adimula, Emperor of the Yoruba, phonetically written by his people as Odùduwà and sometimes contracted as Odudua or Oòdua, is generally held among the Yoruba to be the reigning ancestor of the crowned Yoruba kings....
(odudu, the dark pigment; ni ewa, is the beauty) / Iyaagbe (iya, mother; agbe, who receives) = Oríṣà of Earth and matron of the Ayé. Oduduwa endows the ebony dark skin pigment that accords greatest gifts of spirituality, beauty and intellect to the bearer. The essence of procreative love.
Èrèna/March 15 – 19
Oshosi
Oxossi
Oxossi is both the Orisha of the forest and one of the three warrior orishas referred to as the "Ebora" in the Yoruba religion. He is a hunter, and his role as an often solitary figure in the wilderness lends him another role as a shaman...
= Oríṣà of Adventure and the hunt
Èrèna/March 21 – 24:
Igbe / April
OgunOgoun
In the Yoruba and Haitian traditional belief system, Ogun is a orisha and loa who presides over iron, hunting, politics and war. He is the patron of smiths, and is usually displayed with a number of attributes: a machete or sabre, rum and tobacco...
= Oríṣà of the metal and war crafts, and engineering. The custodian of truth and executioner of justice, as such patron of the legal and counselling professions who must swear to uphold truth while biting on a piece of metal.
Oshun
Oshun
Oshun, or Ochun in the Yoruba religion, is an Orisha who reigns over love, intimacy, beauty, wealth and diplomacy. She is worshipped also in Brazilian Candomblé Ketu, with the name spelled Oxum. She should not be confused, however, with a different Orisha of a similar name spelled "Osun," who is...
= Oríṣà of Fertility and custodian of the female essence. who guides pregnancies to term.
Igbe starts last Saturday of April, for 5 days-
Onset of wet season (Spring)
Èbìbí / May
Egungun (Commemoration of the Ancestors, including community founders and illustrious dead.Èbíbí: starts last Saturday of May, for 7 days
Okudu / June
- Okudu 03: Onset of the Yoruba New Year (2008 is the 10,050th year of Yoruba culture)
- Okudu 7 - 8: Shopona (Oríṣà of Disease, shopona, small pox is a viral disease) and Osanyin (Oríṣà of Medicine and patron of the healing professions: osan, afternoon; yin, healing)
- Okudu 10 - 23: Annual rites of passageRites of PassageRites of Passage is an African American History program sponsored by the Stamford, Connecticut US public schools. The program consists of an extra day of schooling on Saturday for 12 weeks, service projects, and a culminating educational trip to Gambia and Senegal. Gambia and Senegal are the...
for women
- Okudu 18 - 21: YemojaYemajaYemanja is an orisha, originally of the Yoruba religion, who has become prominent in many Afro-American religions. Africans from what is now called Yorubaland brought Yemaya/Yemoja and a host of other deities/energy forces in nature with them when they were brought to the shores of the Americas as...
= matriarch of the Òrún-Rere). Oduduwa gave birth to a boy Aganju (Land) and Yemoja (Water) from marriage to Ọbàtala. Yemoja in turn birthed many other Oríṣà. The old Ile-Ife kingdom arose on her burial site.
Agẹmo / July
ỌrúnmilàOrunmila
In the Yoruba religion, Orunmila is the Yoruba Grand Priest and custodian of Ifá. This source of knowledge is believed to have a keen understanding of the human form and of purity, praised as being often more effective than remedies; his followers and priests are known as Babalawo.- Mythical...
/ Ifá = Oríṣà of Divination and founder of the Ifá sciences, whose divination is with 16 palm nuts. Mass gathering of the yoruba
Agẹmo: first and second weeks in July
Oko (Agriculture) Harvesting of the new Yam crop.
Ẹlégba-Bara (Ẹlégba, one who has power to seize) / Eṣu (shu, to release eject from; ara, the body) = Oríṣà of male essence and Power, who is the great Communicator and messenger of the will of Olódùmarè. No woman should bara (ba ra, to rub with, have intercourse with) a man who has not done Ikola (circumcision
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
: ike, cutting; ola, that saves) in sacrifice to Ẹlégba.
Agẹmo second weekend of July
Ṣàngo (shan, to strike:/ Jakuta:ja, fight; pẹlu okuta, with stones). The Oríṣà of Energy – Ara (Thunder) and Manamana, make fire (Lightning) whose divination is with 16 cowries and whose messenger and water-bearer is Oshumare (the Rainbow).
Agẹmo: third week of July
Ogun / August
Ọbàtálá = (Obà,to possess; ti ala, of visions or Oríṣà-nla, the principal Oríṣà). Patriarch of Òrún-Rere, the heaven of goodly spirits and beneficial ancestors. As Olódùmarè is too powerful and busy to be pre-occupied by the affairs of any one living being. Ọbàtálá functions as the principal emissary of Olódùmarè on Aye, and is the custodian of Yoruba culture. The aso-ala (white cloth) worn by Ọbàtálá initiates is to signify need to be pure in intent and action: A recurring punishment for social misfits was to try to keep white cloth clean in Africa's tropical and dusty climate. The misappropriation of aso-ala connection to Ọbàtálá was/is a major weapon against the Yoruba in their psychological resistance of foreign invasion, as Christian and Islamic converts were/are indoctrinated that anything considered 'white' is pure: a notion that has also become a key tenet of racialist supremacyOgun: last weekend of August
Ọwara / October
OyaOya
In Yoruba mythology, Oya , is the Undergoddess of the Niger River. Oya has been syncretized in Santería with the Catholic images of the Virgin of Candelaria.-Aspects:...
(Orísà of the odo Oya (river Niger) whose messenger is Afefe (the Wind), and guardian of gateway between the physical realm (Aye) and the spiritual realm (Òrún).
Ọwaro
Osun
Oshun
Oshun, or Ochun in the Yoruba religion, is an Orisha who reigns over love, intimacy, beauty, wealth and diplomacy. She is worshipped also in Brazilian Candomblé Ketu, with the name spelled Oxum. She should not be confused, however, with a different Orisha of a similar name spelled "Osun," who is...
(Orísà of the odo Oṣun and patron of the (sovereign) Ijebu nation
Ọwaro third weekend of October
Onset of the dry season (Autumn)
Shigidi (Orísà of Òrún-Apadi, the realm of the unsettled spirits and the ghosts of the dead that have left Aye and are forsaken of Òrún-Rere. Custodian of nightmares and patron of assassins.
Solemn candlelight to guide the unsettled away from your residence, else they settle in your dolls or other toys.
Ọwaro 30 World Slavery Day?
Òpé / December
Obajulaiye (Oríṣà of Ṣòwò (Commerce) and owo (wealth).Òpé 15
Onset of the second dry season (winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
)