The conversation between Zeus, Thor, and Shango wouldn't be electrifying. It would be en-lightning

Glad to see Yoruba getting some attention on KZfaq.

As a Nigerian and a person from the Yoruba tribe, this video made me so happy! I never knew if you were going to discuss our rich pantheon and history. Thank you so much for this video! I'm so happy that people get to see the rich culture and religion we have in Nigeria/West Africa. Well done!

I am Nigerian and I can say you know your stuff and it is obvious a lot of research was put into this, nice video can't wait for more. Btw you butchered most of the names.

This was great. African Mythology is often overlooked so I did not know a lot of this.

Yoruba tradition is very demonized wrongfully in my opinion. I’m glad someone can explain the belief in a exciting and interesting way.

I'm Yoruba this was a nice video there's stuff here I didn't know but he got all the pronunciations wrong

All thunder/lightning gods should get together, Shango, Zeus, Thor, Tlaloc, Chaac, and Raijin

In Brazil, there people that follow this yoruba Dvines. They are know has Orixas, the Brazillian portuguese translation of Orisha

I'm Ibo (A neighboring tribe to Yoruba) but I can verify that this is spot on. Now do one about the Ibo pantheon. Also for the people saying he butchered the names. At least he tried. I wouldn't call it butchering, I'd call it the English names of Yoruba gods.

It'd be cool if you mentioned the fact that Yoruba helps its followers deal with strife in present life, rather than promising a better more "heavenly" afterlife.

My uncle is a babalawo, (Yoruba priest), and I have a lot of African Yoruba influence on my fathers side, so this was helpful

In Brazil there is a religion called "spiritism" where it's kind of a mix between all the Orishas stuff and Catholicism. It began with slaves that couldn't practice their religion so they made analogies between the Orishas and saints. It's pretty cool

This is one of my favorite lesser-discussed pantheons. I know I can't be the only one that gets a little tired of hearing about the big 4 (Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian), and wants more on others. More episodes like this please!

This is by far my favorite video you guys have made. I'm a black American, but my people are from West Africa. In recent years I've been trying to connect to this mythology and this is a comprehensive video. I can tell that you guys put a lot of research into this and I appreciate the tasteful display. Blessings to all involved.

This could be the basis for a badass anime, actually.

I like you man. Africa is not a country!

You totally forgot Obatala, who is actually the creator of humans, and Oshun, the goddess of love. While I think this has a lot of potential, this has to be done over.

What about Oshun and Yemaya?

FYI Yemoja, with her two fish tails and star crown is on the Starbucks logo. The Starbucks people may have mistook her for a siren.

Yess Africa is so amazing and there's so much history and culture!

Oyo Empire was amazing. I'm 50%Fulani 25%Yoruba 25%Ashanti

Agama, the chameleon represents wisdom in our african spirituality. That’s why orunmila has to go to the chameleon. African spiritualility is the ultimate science of nature and we believe that Nature is God. If you ever seen a chameleon, you will notice that the chameleon doesn’t step on a branch right away. He put his foot forward toward the branch as if he is going to put his foot there and then right before his foot can touch the branch, he will bring the foot back and observe the branch a second time before calmly stepping on it. Chameleon does not rush either. He walks slowly as a character of wisdom. A chameleon can step on the smallest branch without the branch breaking apart. That is another attribute of wisdom and being careful before taking action and before making decision. Chameleon doesn’t have a specific color. He changes color according to the environment. That is another attribute of wisdom. And finally, when a chameleon hunt, he doesn’t jump on the prey like a lion. Instead the chameleon stay back and send his tongue in a rapid and precise move to catch the fly. From the moment it catches the fly to the moment the fly is in his mouth is usually a split second. What the chameleon is teaching us through that action is this: i can be calm, quiet and wise but if i have to hunt, i can go it swiftly. So a God going to Agama for answer means you must take time and patience to make the right decision. Just to help people understand.

That joke about the thunder gods was shocking!

This is one of my favorite episodes of pretty much anything ever. As someone who specialises in the history and mythology of various regions of Africa (admittedly not trained and not as a job), I always love it when people actually care and specify so thank you so so much for all of this episode, especially the bit at the beginning where you broke it down and specified and showed that you care

Do you guys think that this is kind of an addendum to education in school systems?

Shout out to my fellow Nigerians!

1 thing.....Orunmila reads PALM nuts(seeds) not pine nuts .There are no pine trees in Osogbo

I really wish all of the Pantheon episodes were on less known mythologies like this rather than Greek, Egyptian, and Norse, which most people are already familiar with. Aztec, Mayan, Incan, Chinse, or Japanese all would have been cool.

I am a practicer of the Lukumi religion which is the Cuban adaptation of the Yoruba. Thank you for your very well explained video. I have always loved Lukumi stories and how well they explain the world in which we live in. Lastly, it is hard to find a religion that can add to every religion. This is why the Yoruba traditions have persisted in so many different cultures and parts of the world.

Man i love Africa, it is filled with so many treasures

I just gotta say, my favorite part of this series is the design of the gods. They manage to make every god look distinct and unique, it's so creative.

Imagine being the god that caught the cassava power. lol

Could you talk about the Malagasy deities? I have heard they are exclusive only to Madagascar and it would be cool to hear more about them

It would be so interesting for an author to write a young adult book series about the Orishas and voodoo like Rick Riordan wrote for Greek mythology

Orisha... So that's​ how Orisa from Overwatch got her name.

I can say, 🙏🏾 you brother. I am Panamanian. I have high Ogun energy. I am the sacrificial first born that cleared the way for my brothers and sisters. I raised them when their father left them. I love obsidian, guns, knives, axes, and surviving in the wilderness. I am bread for war and challenge. This who I am. My blood courses with the spirit of a warrior. One time I fought a robber over a gun and the MOST HIGH GUIDED ME OUT OF THAT SITUATION. I’m about love ones, success, and peace unless war is needed. I always wondered why I’m build or hard wired for war and challenge...now I know.

who here is Yoruba too?

Omg had to cringe at the pronunciations lml

honestly as an african who lives in america if one more person sings that song at me I will loose my mind

One thing I love about the african people is that despite the torment and destruction we've all been subjected to and still are throughout the diaspora and the continent, we find a way to express ourselves well with our dancing, music etc. Its absolutely beautiful that some of our culture survived the transatlantic slave trades, such as cornrows, orishas etc.

When your parents are cuban so you knew all the Orishas

I love my black heritage! 💜💜💜

*whispers* they never got Ethiopian....

Kind of disappointed that there wasn't even a mention to candomblé

Aw, no mention of Anansi the Spider? I'm swedish but as a child I loved the Anansi stories because I happened to own a book that was a collection of Anansi stories.

As An initiated Olorisha, I loved watching this! You've included a few Orishas I've never heard of, so that's a thing. Thank you for being so respectful and delighted

I was raised with Yoruba family, and grew up with an understanding of Orishas. My husband was not raided in the community, and is typically loss when we are given gifts, blessing, or instructions from my Yoruba family. I will share this video with him. I think this is a very respectful, entertaining, and helpful way to introduce people to the culture. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

I love this Crash course episode I watch it at least 5 times per year. and I share it with people as a sort of starter kit for Orisha. I really enjoy the fairness that is attributed to it, its not perfect but he definitely gives its just due!

CORRECTION: African Pantheons and the Orishas: Crash Course World Mythology #11 @CrashCourse - You stated in this video that Orisa Ogiyan is the god of crushed cassava, and did not have an ancient origin. I respectfully disagree with this statement. Ogiyan is the Orisa of Yam and an ancient to Ejigbo, Osun state in Nigeria. People need to understand that Iyan (pounded yam - Yam) and fufu or gari (cassava), are not the same, but are sometimes used interchangeably by those unfamiliar to West African culture. To be clear, yams are native to Yoruba land and they have nothing to do with the so called, “Columbia exchange,” which is a sanitized expression for the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

I really liked the story of how human differences caused most of our strife. It is an impressive way to describe such a complicated and persistent struggle of humanity.

Africa got more history than any other place on earth.

Surprised Marvel hasn't used the Orisha in a Black Panther story. Fun fact, they actually included them in some of there older one off comics. Thor was in the same panel as Shango.

This is interesting but if it's exclusively talking about Yoruba mythology, than why does the title say African and not Yoruba?

I'm so glad you decided to make this video, I honestly knew nothing about the pantheons of Africa, until now. I'm so glad you made such an interesting and fun video explaining so much! It was honestly really interesting! Please continue to make more of these great videos, we still have a lot of that map to cover!!

I'm Yoruba and I learned so much! There were many pronunciation errors but he got the ideas across.

Geat video I wish they could make a part 2 of the african patheon featuring Southern african myths, I'm from the south and our oral traditions are not that redundant!

I finally realized you were saying Yoruba, and I'm a Yoruba.

Never read the comments.

Pretty sure Olodumare can't be said to be a "father" since it is not a man or worman.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING THANK YOU

I recently stumbled upon the Orishas and became interested in them. It wasn't long until I discovered Oya. I was sold the moment article I read mentioned she used an almighty broom. I officially have a new favorite goddess.

I don't ever want this series to end!

This was super awesome, my favorite of the series up until now! Keep it up!

this was so helpful, thank you so much

Thanks for this! I'm reading Children of Blood and Bone right now and so I'm really interested in learning more about Yoruba culture and religion!

Thanks for covering this pantheon! I've never heard of any of these myths and I love to collect stories

I love your course and this was a great episode.. I must make two comments about this episode in particular. 1). Egypt is in Africa, and you had an episode on the Egyptian Pantheon. Thus calling this episode "African Pantheon" is inaccurate. 2). Given that the episode was on the Yoruba Orishas, it would have been more appropriate to have named it "Yoruba Pantheon." Africa, like the Americas (where I'm from), is a diverse continet. If Crash Course is serious about not falling for the misconception of "Africa is a country," then perhaps it should start treating Africa as a set of countries. Again, thanks for the show. Keep up the great work.

I love you guys for this, you don’t know how much means to me as a Nigerian seeing this. I could not stop smiling!

I noticed a Masai woman in red at 6:44, thought we were in West Africa?

You are so enthusiastic about the material. I love it and the information you impart.

Totally off topic but crash course helped me pass my personal training course over 4 years ago, this is a great platform and I hope you continue the great work 🙌🥂🍾

As a former practitioner of and student of Santeria I am familiar with this particular African Pantheon. Nice work. Can you do the Nubian Warrior Scholars the Montu next?

"I'm guessing it would be...electrifying." *pause* "I'll walk myself out."

Love the context and the way the story was tied together.

Thank you so much, I was waiting for this video!

My cat's name is Xangó, after the "Thunder God" you called Shango, but we took it from the Brazilian Orixás, who are clearly spelled differently (the 'x' in Portuguese in these contexts sounds like an 'sh'), and I knew him as the god of war and masculinity. And the Godess Yemoja is analogous to the Orixá "Iemanjá", I would think, who in Brazilian and Uruguayan Orixá tradition is the Orixá of the sea. I remember being in Uruguay and seeing people dressed in white send flowers on tiny boats into the sea on Iemanjá's day, and there's a beautiful song by Rubén Olivera about Iemanjá. I knew the Orixás originally came from Africa, but I thought it was interesting to recount my experience with them here in South America, how they developed and adapted.

This was nice to see that my heritage was expressed in a very tasteful manner. My heritage as an American with African bloodline is very complex. I like that the video explained the deities in a way based on cultural and regional location. It helped to explain how and why some of or if any of the beliefs survived from the TransAtlantic Passage to the Americas. Well done and nice to see that people are finally taking an interest in African art and religion again. Very nice.✌️

Loving Crash Course Mythology so far! I hope there will be a season 2 that features additional pantheons, like some of the Celtic pantheons or the Incan pantheon.

This was so cool to learn about. Thank you for doing this

MY favorite African god story is when Anasazi the Spider finds a huge wonderful pumpkin and makes a small hole and climes in and he eats all of it's insides but then gets stuck cause he's to fat and has to starve himself for like a month and then almost dies trying to get out.

Yo my ancestry on my moms side is Yoruba 👌

This has been another amazing and fascinating episode!

hoping for more episodes about lesser known mythologies. there are lots of them in Africa, the middle East and in Oceania. I loved this episode. thanks

I found out my African Ancestry is Yoruba.

i would love to hear more about different african pantheons

Lol! I love these videos! Awesome job guys! He made me laugh out loud with the joke that led to the "I'll just see myself out!" Lol! So witty!

i look forward to your videos every week. nice work

Shoutout Naptown 💕 African American with Nigerian roots here

Did you guys know that the Yoruba now are part of the Rick Riordan books? In the lastest book about Apollo, they have a Yoruba character.

Nice job on the video! Crash Course should do a series on Calculus next. It would be really helpful!

Thank you for this we need more study and display like such as this. Please make more. Will help to support. MORE ORISHA STUDY.

Orishas are the directors of ori or your divine will, they are directors of energies that were present during creation .... eledumare is the supreme creator that has three manifestations, all knowing, all powerful, and all places at the same time. The divine spark or force given by that spirit is our ori, it is a spiritual system, not mythology.

lol I'm half igbo and half yoruba so it was pretty funny hearing how he pronounced the names, but at least he tried lol

I appreciate you for this. You never had to, but you did it. Simplified way of learning about my culture. Thank you 🙏🏽

Really enjoying the series! 😊😊

Haitians also call it voodoo, and being Haitian I always get surprised when Haiti gets mentioned

This episode was brought to you by the letter O.

this was a great informative video. Thanks.

Babalu Aye' is my favorite Orisha. Most people didn't know that Ricky Ricardo was singing about an African/Nigerian/Yoruba God.