Cryptography (Àrokò), Yoruba style... An intro...

How did our ancestors communicate securely?

Believe it or not, the image below (source: British Library) is an encrypted message (constructed from cowrie shells and seeds) of peace and goodwill.

Over the coming days/weeks, I will be diving deep into how the ancient ciphers of Yorubaland work, their construction and their application in today's world.

Potent ciphers can also be built with the Odu Ifa binary system. It is after all a 16 x 16 matrix system capable of generating 256 random binary digits.

"The àrokò messaging system was used among Yoruba-speakers in Nigeria to send letters over long distances (often confidentially). These letters were made from materials such as cowrie-shells and seeds and their meaning was deduced from factors such as the position of each item in a message string, or even, as Karin Barber writes, puns in the Yoruba language. Sending a comb to someone meant a separation or break-up, because the Yoruba word for a comb is òòyà, and the verb yà means to part."[1]

References:
1. Karin Barber and Stephanie Newell, ‘Speaking out: Dissent and creativity in the colonial era and beyond’ in Gus Casely-Hayford, Janet Topp Fargion and Marion Wallace (eds), West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song (London: British Library, 2015), p. 124

Epistle of Ògbè Ọ̀yẹ̀kú verse 2….

Ògbè Ọ̀yẹ̀kú yẹ̀kẹ̀tẹ̀ a da fún Ọlọ́fìn tí ipò yẹ l’órí rẹ. Ifá ni ẹnìkan ní o wa lórí oyè yí tí a o pa n’ípò dà tí a o fi ẹni tí o wa ni ìkọ̀kọ̀ dípò rẹ. Ẹni ìkọ̀kọ̀ na ni gbogbo aráyé yio ma ra ọwọ́ sí tí wọn yio si ma júbà fún. 

Òrìṣà kan si ni yi tí gbogbo ilé ti ḿbọ ti wọn ko si bọ mọ́; igbó si kún bo ojúbọ rẹ; ki a tunṣe, ki a si ta màrìwò si ẹnu ọ̀nà rẹ.
Ẹni ikọkọ ti t’ọmọdé t’àgbà ti nfi ojú tinrin rẹ yio si di ẹni igbangba.
Adìẹ kan wa ni ile ẹniti o da Ifá yi, adìẹ na ni ọmọ l’ẹhin, ki a ko adìẹ na ati on ti ọmọ rẹ ki a fi ru ẹbọ.

Stout Ògbè Ọ̀yẹ̀kú was the one who cast Ifá for a king who had been dethroned. Ifá says there is someone who has a title, he will be removed from office and a person who stays in the corner will be chosen to fill his position. All people will rub their hands to the person of the corner and pay homage to him.
There is also a deity that was once worshipped by all the people of a house, but they do not worship him anymore and the forest has overgrown his altar. We should renovate the altar and tie palm fronds at its entrance. The person of the corner is someone at whom young children and old alike are sneering, but will leave his corner and come out into the open.
There is a hen at the house of the person for whom this figure was cast. This hen has chicks; we should take both the hen and it's young to make the sacrifice.

Buckingham Palace exhibition...

A colourful Yoruba throne, presented to the Queen by Nigeria in 1956. The throne symbolises wealth and status through the sheer number of beads woven together, and incorporating a motif representing, in the Yoruba culture, respect for ancestors.

Mythology…

No mythology is superior or inferior. The ancients including our ancestors concocted various myths to make sense of the dangerous world they inhabited. Just imagine seeing lightning or hearing thunder for the first time! Imagine the horror of a mother seeing a wild animal devouring the baby she left to sleep in a cave! Imagine seeing a volcanic eruption for the first time! 

As humans, we tell stories to explain away the unknowns. Without these stories (myths), life would probably be unbearable.
Yoruba mythology makes more sense to me because I am a Yoruba man. I can relate to the myths even though some of them sound ridiculous. In the same vein, Igbo mythology makes more sense to an Igbo person, likewise Hausa, Efik, Nupe etc.
All mythologies are intertwined with local cultures. Hence the reason we have different creation stories. For example, it is very difficult to understand Jewish or Arab or Greek or Chinese etc mythologies if you are not a product those cultures unless you are just doing “follow follow”.
Arguably, without myths science would not have existed. Science came into being primarily to debunk myths and superstitions. Thanks to science, we now know better and we can explain things without reverting to superstitions.
Some myths are allegorical and must not be interpreted literally. Some are timeless truth. Some are just for entertainment. It is your responsibility to separate the nonsensical and the ridiculous from the logical and the rational.

Epistle of Ọ̀yẹ̀kú Méjì...

Epistle of Ọ̀yẹ̀kú Méjì...

Ìwọ yẹkú, emi yẹkú
Ọ̀yẹ̀kú di méjì, o d'eji
A difá fun Kowa
A bù fún Tàmẹ̀dù
Níjọ́ ti Làkáṣègbé
N fi omi ojú sogbere ọmọ
Wọ́n ní ki i ṣe ti ìgbín
Ko dùbúlẹ̀ lai ni ìkarahun
Wọ́n ní ki i ṣe ti ọká
Ko dùbúlẹ̀ lai lóró inú
Wọ́n ní ki i ṣe ti ìrẹ̀
Ko dùbúlẹ̀ lai han gaaraga.
Wọ́n ni iran ọgà
Ki i rin lai ni igba aṣọ.
Wọ́n ni ko rúbọ
Ko ru eku méjì oluwere
Wọ́n ni ko ru ẹja méjì abiwẹ gbada
Wọ́n ni ko ru obidiẹ méjì abẹ̀dọ̀ lukẹlukẹ
Ewúrẹ́ méjì abamu rẹdẹrẹdẹ
Ẹinla méjì to fi iwo ṣoṣuka
O gbọ́ riru ẹbọ o ru.
O gbọ́ titu atukesu, o tu
O gbọ́ ikarara
Ẹbọ ha fun un.
Bi iyawo ti n ti ọwọ́ ala bọ osùn
Ni iyale n bi wẹ́rẹ́
Ijó ni n jo
Ayọ̀ ni n yọ
Ẹsẹ̀ to na
Ijó fa a
O ni bẹ ni àwọn awo oun
Ti n fi ẹnu rere pe ifa.
Ìwọ yẹkú, emi yẹkú
Ọ̀yẹ̀kú di meji
Gbogbo aye lo tu mi lara.

Translation...
I avoid death, you avoid death
Oyeku becomes two, it becomes two
Cast Ifa for Kowa
And also for Tamedu
On the day that Lakasegbe
Was crying due to infertility
It is unlike the snail
To sleep outside of its shell
It is unlike the viper
To sleep without its venom
It is unlike the cricket
To sleep without making chirping sound
No generation of chameleon
Moves without a box load of two hundred clothes
He was told to offer a sacrifice
Two swift-running rodents
Two giant fishes with large fins
Two huge hens
Two pregnant goats
Two deers with twisted horns
He agreed and offered the prescribed sacrifices
He paid attention to the needs of Esu
He heard ikarara, the sound of good fortune
His sacrifices were accepted
As his younger wife is rubbing her baby with camwood powder
The senior wife will be delivery here children safely
He began to dance
He began to rejoice
He stretched a leg
And dance ensues
He says that is exactly how his diviners
Give thanks and praise to Ifa
I avoided death, you avoided death
Oyeku becomes two
And the entire world makes me feel comfortable

To all “constituted authorities”

To all “constituted authorities” and other public servants who took the oath of office to serve the people faithfully, Ọ̀fùn Meji says…

A gb'orí ilẹ̀, a j'eku
A gb'orí ilẹ̀, a jẹ'ja
A mú'gbá odù, a jẹ'gbìn
Àṣẹ d'ọwọ́ ilẹ̀ t'ajọ mu
Ẹ gb'ori ilẹ̀ ẹ dà mi
Àṣẹ d'ọwọ́ ilẹ̀ t'ajọ mu
Ifá ní kí a má da ilẹ̀ ọ̀rẹ́ kí a má ba kú ikú

We dwell on earth and we eat rats
We dwell on earth and we eat fish
We take the calabash of Odù and from it, we eat snails
Whatever happens is as a result of the oath we took together
You lived on earth and you broke your oath to me
Whatever happens is as a result of the oath we took together
Ifa says we must not break an oath with a friend to avoid sudden death.

Epistle of Eji Ogbe - Ọ̀tọ́wútọ́wútọ́wú

Epistle of Eji Ogbe...

Ọ̀tọ́wútọ́wútọ́wú,
Ọ̀rọ́wúrọ́wúrọ́wú,
Ọ̀tọ̀tọ̀ la jẹpà;
Ọ̀tọ̀tọ̀ lajẹ imúmú;
Lọ́tọ̀lọ́tọ̀ ni wọn sọ olu etutu sẹnu
Bi erun ja, bi erun tá,
Wọn a fi iru ba ara wọn tèlétèlétèlé
Da fun Kugbagbe ti ṣe ọmọ agba Ọṣa Wuji.
O ni Iku wa gbagbe mi loni.
Agbẹ rokoroko wọn kaṣai gbagbe ewe kan sebe
Arun gbagbe mi loni.
Agbẹ rokoroko wọn kaṣai gbagbe ewe kan sebe
Eji Ogbe ni.

Ọ̀tọ́wútọ́wútọ́wú,
Ọ̀rọ́wúrọ́wúrọ́wú,
One by one we eat peanuts;
One by one we eat tiger nuts;
One by one we throw queen ants into the mouth.
When driver ants fight, when driver ants sting,
They touch each other lightly with their tails
Cast for "Death forgets" who was the child of old Oriṣa Wuji.
He said Death, forget me today.
Sickness, forget me today.
Farmers hoe and hoe, they forget not one weed on the yam heaps.
This is Eji Ogbe.