What is Tawede?

(Excerpt from The Ifa/Orisha Religious Tradition: A New Global Perspective, by Oloye “Baba” Ifa Karade)

Tawede is a term taken from the sacred scriptural wisdom Eji Ogbe, which comes from the spiritual teachings and a medicine of the Odu Ifa. Ifa is a West African spirituality practiced by the Yoruba of Nigeria, West Africa. This Odu Ifa speaks of a woman who was despondent because she was unable to conceive. After many attempts, she sought out an Ifa priest. When the Babalawo (Ifa priest) divined, the Odu Eji Ogbe, spoke. This Odu stated that she'd receive blessings if she went to the shrine of Obatala. When she arrived, the Obatala priest guided her to the clay vessel where the sacred water was kept and bid her to drink from the gourd he gave to her. Within a month, the once barren woman was with child. When the child was born, she named him Tawede.

How to Observe Tawede

From December 16th to the 31st (a total of 16 days, one for each Odu), disciples of the Karade Order are called to deepen their faith, knowledge and understanding by earnestly working on increasing the elements of the faith. Directives include increased prayer, offerings, divinations, comparative religious and philosophical study, Yoruba language and customs, and study of the Odu-Ifa.

Tawede’s Mission

As adherents to the Ifa Religious Tradition, we're set to symbolically identify with the mother who seeks a child; as we're a people seeking to gain understanding and substantiation of our identity and cultural reality. 

We're seeking to give birth to the reality of the ancestral souls and allow ourselves to be the carriers of their greatness. We're praying at the feet of the Orishas for the conceptualization of our consciousness to occur so that we may be conceived. We make our vows and oaths to be of sound heart and pure intent. We call upon the priests and priestesses of our community to assist us in the way of ritual. We’re told to drink from the vessel of the divine entities to make fertile our essence.