The place of Ile-Ife in the hierarchy of Yoruba race

 THE place ‘where it all began’ reminds one of the
Yoruba mystical version of how in the beginning, God
created the Heavens and Earth. We were told in the
book of Genesis that: “The earth was without form.
The earth was void and covered with darkness and
waters”
n his book: Flashes of Ideas and Reflections, the
most respected late Afolabi Adio Moses, the author
then continued the Ife mythology by writing
“Olodumare… which is the Yoruba name for God
Almighty said to Oduduwa his son, and progenitor of
Yoruba race, I quote “I have created the earth.
I have also created waters under the heaven. When
you go down there, that is to the earth, on the
waters, sprinkle the sand in this shell, and rest this
white cock on the mould thus formed. And the sand
was poured and the white cock scattered and spread
the sand to all places round the world, and the earth
grew far and wide.
“The place where the cock began the great work of
spreading the sand and thus making the earth, was
then called “IFE, that is, the expansive, from “where
it all began”. This mythology which is strongly
believed among the sons and daughters of Ife and
many Yorubas was confirmed by Chief M.A. Fabunmi
in his book titled: Ife the genesis of Yoruba race.
Professor Biobaku also in his book: Sources of Yoruba
history also confirmed the story of the mystical
descent of Oduduwa from heaven, that “Oduduwa
was the son of Olodumare, the supreme God of the
Yoruba, who sent him down from heaven on a chain
to create earth where there was previously waters
and the spot where Oduduwa first landed was Ile-Ife.
All this parallel mythology on Oduduwa pointed to
Ile-Ife as the spot where God created man, white and
black and from where all the races of the world
sprang up.