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Mansa Musa was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa. Details recorded here should be sourced; unknown information is left blank.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Cowrie-shell divination refers to several distinct forms of divination using cowrie shells that are part of the rituals and religious beliefs of certain religions. Though best-documented in West Africa as well as in Afro-American religions, such as Regla de Ocha, Candomblé, and Umbanda,[1][2][3] cowrie-shell divination has also been recorded in India, East Africa, and other regions.[4]
Several forms of cowrie-shell divination are distributed broadly throughout West Africa.
While there are many variants using from eight to 21 cowrie shells, West African-derived forms most commonly use 16 cowrie shells on a prepared table or on a mat on the ground, interpreting the patterns that result which are known as Odu. Before casting the shells, the priest/priestess invokes and salutes the Orishas, and puts questions to them. The Orishas answer the questions by influencing the way the shells fall on the table.
Ẹẹ́rìndínlógún (from the Yoruba owó mẹ́rìndínlógún "sixteen cowries", literally "four taken from 20") is a cowrie-shell divination method practiced in the Yoruba religion.
The number 16 holds important significance in Yoruba faith as it was the purported number of original divinities that established life on earth. In merindinlogun divination, the shells are thrown and the number of shells that fall with the opening facing up is associated with a certain odu. This system of divination is used when consulting the Orishas.
Cowrie-shell divination is found in Latin America where it plays an important role in religions like Santería and Candomblé.
In Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, it is called dilogun.[5]
In Brazil, it is called jogo de búzios or merindinlogun.
Though they share a common root, Caribbean and South American cowrie shell divination have subsequently developed in independence from West African practice. For example, among Caribbean diviners, the first throw of the shells involves throwing them twice to derive a composite Odu. While there are regional practices in Yorubaland where this is also the case, it is not as standardized and uniform as it is in Cuba, suggesting a weaker quality control by Cuban Ifá priests.
The cowrie-shells, called Diloggún, are used by priests and priestesses of Santería, who are called Santeros and Santeras, respectively. Both men and women who have been initiated into Santería can read cowrie shells.[6] There are a combination of 256 possible odu and a skilled diviner can interpret the meaning of each one, depending on the orientation of the reading. If the reading comes in Ire, the client will experience good fortune, and if it comes in Osogbo, the client faces obstacles that can be overcome with the help of the Orichás.
The cowrie shell, as collected from a beach, has a flattened side with a longitudinal slit, and a smooth, rounded side. Like a coin, the shell has only two stable positions on a flat surface, with the slit side facing either up or down. A few cowrie-shell diviners use the shells in this natural state; then the outcome of the throw, for each piece, is either "open" (slit up) or "closed" (slit down). Some modern day witches also use cowrie shell divination.
Most priests, however, use modified shells whose rounded part has been ground away, creating a second, artificial opening. The two stable positions of the shell are still called "open" or "closed" for divination purposes. In most Candomblé houses, "open" still means that the natural opening is facing up; but some traditions (mainly in Candomblé Ketu) use the opposite convention. The number of "open" shells is used to select an item (odú) which direct the diviner to a fixed list of oracular verses.
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Cowrie-shell divination refers to several distinct forms of divination using cowrie shells that are part of the rituals and religious beliefs of certain religions. Though best-documented in West Africa as well as in Afro-American religions, such as Regla de Ocha, Candomblé, and Umbanda, cowrie-shell divination has also been recorded in India, East Africa, and other regions.
The Edge of Water is a 2025 novel by Nigerian American writer, Olufunke Grace Bankole. Set between Nigeria and New Orleans, the novel follows three generations of women as prophecy, intergenerational bonds, and immigration intersect in the years surrounding Hurricane Katrina. Told largely through letters exchanged between a mother and daughter, and Ifa cowrie-shell divination, the novel explores themes of fate, immigration, motherhood, and Yoruba spirituality. Published by Tin House in February 2025, The Edge of Water was Bankole's debut novel. Among numerous accolades, it was named one of TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2025, and extensively praised for its layered depiction of diasporic identity, matrilineal inheritance, intergenerational trauma, and the tensions between fate and agency.
Cowrie or cowry (pl. cowries) is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails in the family Cypraeidae. Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used worldwide as shell money. It is most abundant in the Indian Ocean and was collected near the Maldive Islands, Sri Lanka and the Indian Malabar coast, Borneo and other East Indian islands, Maluku in the Pacific, Papua New Guinea, and various parts of the African coast from Ras Hafun, in Somalia, to Mozambique. Cowrie shell money was important in the trade networks of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. In the United States and Mexico, cowrie species inhabit the waters off Central California to Baja California (the chestnut cowrie is the only cowrie species native to the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of the United States; further south, off the coast of Mexico, Central America and Peru, little deer cowrie habitat can be found; and further into the Pacific from Central America, the Pacific habitat range of Money Cowrie can be reached ) as well as the waters south of the Southeastern United States. Some species in the family Ovulidae are also often referred to as cowries. In the British Isles, the local Trivia species (family Triviidae, species Trivia monacha and Trivia arctica) are sometimes called cowries. The Ovulidae and the Triviidae are other families within the Cypraeoidea, the superfamily of cowries and their close relatives.
Divination bones (Sotho-Tswana languages: ditaola, isiZulu: amathambo) are pieces of bones and vertebrae, carved ivory dice and cowrie shells used for divination. It is widely known in South Africa where traditional healers, especially of the Bantu people for divination. Mokgale Makgopa and Magaelane Koma of the University of Venda wrote that divination bones can consist of coins, dominoes, pieces of metal and gems and other things of significance to the healer.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
