Opon Ifa and the Bagua

[Qiaozhi Yeats]

"An opon Ifá is a divination tray used in traditional African and Afro-American religions, notably in the system known as Ifá and in Yoruba tradition more broadly.[1] The etymology of opon, literally meaning "to flatter", explains the artistic and embellished nature of the trays, as they are meant to praise and acknowledge the noble work of the babalowo (diviners).[2] The etymology of the term Ifá, however, has been a subject of debate. Ifá may be considered an orisha, or a Yoruba god — specifically, the god of divination. Conversely, some scholars have referred to Ifá merely as the "great consulting oracle" as opposed to a god or a deity, without any divine connotations.[3]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opon_Ifá

I want to get one of these with the Bagua inscribed on it. These actually do exist, although the eight trigrams are replaced with eight symbols of the Orishas. I would speculate that the Yi Jing may have been cast in a similar fashion in days gone by.

 

[Qiaozhi Yeats]

This is a drawing of an opon ifa with the Bagua represented by Orisha symbols.

 

[Qiaozhi Yeats]

Here is an image of a real opon ifa representing the Bagau by slightly different Orishas, (there are apparently 400 + 1 Orishas in Ifa according to one source). I want to get one of these, I saw one going for £220 on ebay, which is a lot. I'd really like a cheap one. I am also wondering if there are Chinese divination trays in existence, or still being made, with the trigrams instead of Orishas.

 

[svenrus]

Hi, just a thought, You could make a draft/sketch/drawing with measures on, exactly how You want it to be and order it from a gold/silver/copper...... smith (a jewelry shop may know where to find such an artist).

 

[charly]

... I am also wondering if there are Chinese divination trays in existence, or still being made, with the trigrams instead of Orishas.

Hi Qiaozi:

It makes me remember the tibetan «Mystic Tablet» described by Paul Carus in his article «Chinese Occultism» published in «The Monist», vol 15, 1905, page 523 . (1) (2) (3)

​

All the best,

Charly
______________________________
(1) Now freely available in archive.org with permission from JSTOR here:

CHINESE OCCULTISM : Carus, Paul : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

CHINESE OCCULTISM is an article from The Monist, Volume 15. View more articles from The Monist.View this article on JSTOR.View this article's JSTOR...

archive.org

(2) Also available online in Google Books here:

https://books.google.com.ar/books?id=OHHukStjoWQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=paul+carus+chinese&hl=es-419&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixp6bPj8_oAhXUGLkGHdaUCkQQ6AEIMDAB#v=onepage&q="Mystic Tablet"&f=false​

(3) 12 animals in chinese order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig

Ch.

 

[Gmulii]

Yea. Also seems familiar to the proto-bulgarian calendars, image here:

Although this image is "translated", I have seen image of the original thing and the writings were in the old language and also here the branches are rotated as we can see, trigrams are the other wy around as well. More closer to the original is on an old medal here:

But the Trigrams are more challenging to see. Yet its strange how similar the characters for the numbers are set. May be worth checking, maybe both will be tibetan or both wil be proto-Bulgarian.

This isn't the original either, though, but will need to go to the national history museum to see it and its somewhat far from my city now.

 

[charly]

Yea. Also seems familiar to the proto-bulgarian calendars ...
But the Trigrams are more challenging to see. Yet its strange how similar the characters for the numbers are set. May be worth checking, maybe both will be tibetan or both wil be proto-Bulgarian...

Hi Gmulii:

I was said that proto-bulgarian calendar is the WORLD'S OLDEST CALENDAR and the MORE ACCURATE. I wonder how arrived there the later CHINESE TRIGRAMS.

Those interested can read Petya Osenova: «Bulgarian». Article from the Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire Année 2010 pp. 643-668, availabe in free pdf format in Persee.fr , here:

Bulgarian - Persée

All the best,

Charly

 

[charly]

About Proto-Bulgarian Calendar:

BNR Radio Bulgaria History and Religion
June 17, 2008, 8:13 PM BG, 5:13 PM GMT

The ancient calendar of the Bulgarians

It is well established that very few kingdoms in antiquity had their own original astronomical calendars. That is why even some of the most civilized ancient peoples like the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans and the Armenians used the calendars of other, older civilizations: the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians and the Persians.

And this makes the fact that the ancient Bulgarians had a calendar of their own all the more significant. Today, one of the unique creations of humankind, the ancient Bulgarian calendar is considered by UNESCO to be the most accurate calendar known to man.

The ancient Bulgarian calendar was circular in shape, and inside the circle, there were 12 constellations, named after animals «a rooster, a dog, a boar, a mouse, a snow lion, a rabbit, a dragon, a snake, a horse, a sheep and a monkey».

The calendar was used to follow the movement of the sun but most of all of Jupiter, which was especially revered by Bulgarians. They called Jupiter «Yankul» the master of time and it was depicted as a circle with three flames.

Besides the names of these constellations, the calendar also makes mention of the ancient Bulgarian numerals. This is an extremely old system of counting and a very accurate way of rounding off numbers, which shows that ancient Bulgarians had
a certain level of mathematical knowledge, supplementing their knowledge of astronomy.

What makes the ancient Bulgarian calendar unique is that it was based on the Sun and Jupiter, making it extremely accurate.

The year consisted of 364 «counted» days and one «uncounted» or 365 days in all. The «uncounted» day was the day of the winter solstice, according to the Gregorian calendar it fell on December 22 and was called by the Bulgarians «zero» day, or Eni, Sur, Young year, Surva year, Ignazhden (the latter-day St. Ignatius’ day).

These popular names all meant «the only, separate day, on which the new year begins», and it was precisely December 22, the shortest day of the year, that the ancient Bulgarians considered to be the start of the new year, so it was not included in
any month.

Actually, the calendar includes one more «uncounted» day. It was called Behti, and was inserted once every 4 years in-between June 30 and July 1, after Midsummer day, the day of the summer solstice, known as Enyovden or Eni Setem.

The ordinary Bulgarian calendar year had 364 counted days and one uncounted days, 365 in all. The leap year had 364 counted and 2 uncounted days, or 366 days. The counted days were distributed into 52 weeks of seven days each. Sunday was the first day of the week, Wednesday its middle, and Saturday its end.

The year was divided into 4 quarters, each of them 91 days long or 13 weeks. The first of the three months always had 31 days, and the second and third 30 days.

Prof Yordan Vulev says the number of counted days, 364, in the ancient Bulgarian calendar is a «golden number», as it can be divided by 4 the number of the seasons), by 13 the number of weeks in each season) and by 52, the number of weeks in a year.

Source: Wayback Machine, here:

BNR Radio Bulgaria History and Religion

Ch.

 

[Gmulii]

Its also very related to the Chinese calendar.
There is more then one book in Bulgarian about connection of our holidays, or dances, traditions or monuments to the Yi Jing and the Chinese Calendar.