Sources

Ifa Divination System, Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Ifa Divination System, Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/ifa-divination-system-proclamation-of-masterpieces-of-the-oral-and-intangible-heritage-of-humanity.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Ifa Divination System, Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/ifa-divination-system-proclamation-of-masterpieces-of-the-oral-and-intangible-heritage-of-humanity

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-ifa-divination-system-proclamation-of-ma,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Ifa Divination System, Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/ifa-divination-system-proclamation-of-masterpieces-of-the-oral-and-intangible-heritage-of-humanity},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

This is UNESCO's own 2005 proclamation naming the Ifa divination system, practiced by Yoruba babalawo priests, a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, the same year Osun-Osogbo was inscribed. As the issuing body's own record it is the correct source for the fact and date of that international recognition. Its limit is genre: a proclamation states that a practice has been recognized as significant, it does not describe how Ifa divination is actually cast, interpreted or taught within a lineage of diviners, so a claim about the mechanics or meaning of a specific Ifa reading needs an ethnographic or specialist source alongside this designation record.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

UNESCO's own Intangible Cultural Heritage listing, the primary institutional record of the designation itself rather than outside commentary on it.

Notes

Proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005, the same year Osun-Osogbo was inscribed, and carried onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at its 2008 creation. UNESCO's own live nomination file, No. 00146, is the single continuous record of both the 2005 proclamation and the 2008 Representative List standing, confirmed by matching url. This record merges what was briefly a second atlas entry for the same UNESCO inscription, catalogued separately under the Representative List's current name in the widened import; that entry is retired into this one, along with its own derived-from link into the Representative List hub, replaced below with a fresh edge from this record.

Citation

Author

UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Publication Year

2005

URL

https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/ifa-divination-system-00146

Source Type

reference

Cross-Tradition Connections

Derived From

UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

This record's own url property (ich.unesco.org/en/RL/ifa-divination-system-00146) is byte-identical to the Representative List hub satellite it replaces, now retired into this one; the Ifa Divination System is one entry in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity regardless of which of the register's two successive names this atlas catalogued it under.

Source Ifa Divination System, Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of HumanityUNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Claims Backed By This Source (37 claims)

This source backs 37 claims across the atlas. As facts: 22 well-attested. As cited relationships: 3 holds, 1 connected. Plus 11 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.