Yoruba People
Many of us are confused with the terms Yoruba, Rada and Orisha. So we’ll attempt to explain it. Yoruba refers to a number of semi-independent people loosely linked by geography, language, history and religion mainly found in southwest Nigeria and Benin. Traditional Yoruba city-states were sub-divided into over 25 complex, centralized kingdoms. Each city-state has its own interpretation of history and religious traditions.
Rada is part of Vodun. The name is derived from the god Vodun of the West African Yoruba people who lived in Benin (formely) Dahomey. Vodun, like Christianity, is a religion of many traditions. Each group follows a different spiritual path and worships a slightly different pantheon of spirits, called Loa. The word means "mystery" in the Yoruba language. There are hundreds of minor spirits. The minor spirits which originated from Dahomey are called Rada.
An Orisha is a spirit which reflects one of the manifestations of Olodumare (God) in the Yoruba spiritual or religious system.
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