Iroko

The Orixá of the Sacred Tree

Domain: Time, Trees & Ancestry
Alignment: True Neutral
Element: Earth
Relics of Power: Ancestral Trunk

Speak with Iroko

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

See PRO Get the app

The People

People

Yoruba people

Region

West Africa & the diaspora

Period

c. 1000 AD – present

The orixás are worshipped by the Yoruba people of present-day Nigeria and Benin, with Ile-Ife as their spiritual center. Through the slave trade, their faith crossed the Atlantic and flourished in the Americas as Candomblé, Santería, and Vodou. It is today one of the most living and widespread African religious traditions in the world.

The Osun festival in Osogbo, Nigeria, draws thousands to the sacred grove of the Osun river, a UNESCO heritage site. The Ifá oracle guides decisions through the odus, and in Brazil the Candomblé terreiros honor each orixá with their own drums, dances, colors, and foods.

At a glance

Iroko (in the traditional Yoruba spelling Ìrókò, and worshipped as Loko among the Dahomean lineages and in Jeje Candomblé) is the majestic divinity who dwells in the colossal African tree Milicia excelsa (formerly classified as Chlorophora excelsa). Venerated as the living pillar of the cosmos (axis mundi), guardian of immemorial time and relentless judge of human commitments, he is present in the traditional religion of West Africa and in Afro-Brazilian branches such as Candomblé (Ketu, Jeje and Angola), the Xangô of Pernambuco, Tambor de Mina and the Arará tradition of Cuba. Conceived as the first tree planted on the sacred soil of Ilê-Ifé to give firmness to the forming earth, his deep roots touch the underground foundations while his crown touches the firmament, serving as the sacred dwelling for the assembly of the Ancestral Mothers (Ìyàmi Òṣòròngà). Endowed with immense patience and severe justice, Iroko does not allow promises made under his shade to be broken, and strictly collects the homage promised in times of despair.

7 min read · Reviewed on September 29, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The giant tree, the ancient trunk, the white ribbons and time

Family

Parents

Olodumare (Olorun / Mawu-Lisa, the supreme creator who planted the first sacred tree at the world's foundation)

Iroko

Genealogy according to Corpus mítico iorubá e fom; Verger (1957); A. B. Ellis (1894); Herskovits (1938); Bascom (1975); Prandi (2001)

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Pierre Verger, Notes sur le culte des orisha et vodun. translation: Dakar: Mem. IFAN 51 (1957), orikis of Ìrókò and forest rites.
A. B. Ellis, The Yoruba-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa. translation: London: Chapman & Hall (1894), chapter on tree spirits.
Melville Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom. translation: New York: J. J. Augustin (1938), ethnography of Loko in Dahomey.

Studies

Rowland Abiodun, Yoruba Art and Language. Cambridge Univ. Press (2014), analysis of the aesthetics of wood, 2014.
Juana Elbein dos Santos, Os Nàgô e a Morte. Vozes (1976), rites of the cosmic tree and of the Mothers, 1976.
Vivaldo da Costa Lima, O Candomblé da Bahia. Salvador: Corrupio (2010), sacred botany and the white gameleira, 2010.
Reginaldo Prandi, Mitologia dos Orixás. Cia. das Letras (2001), myths of Iroko and the maternal oath, 2001.

Name and epithets

The sacred theonym Ìrókò designates both the botanical species of noble, high-density wood and the divine entity that dwells within it.

In the ancient sources

Ifá Divination Corpus (Odu Ògúndá Méjì and Ìròsùn Méjì), Poetic corpus of the Ifá priests in Oyó and Ifé.. Records the descent of the primordial tree to consolidate the crust and give refuge to the sacred birds.

The myths

The Desperate Woman and the Unavoidable Price of a Forgotten Oath. As preserved in the Yoruba folk literature collected by William Bascom and recorded by Pierre Verger, in ancient times a noblewoman of a prosperous vill…

Worship and archaeology

The traditional cult of Iroko is widespread across the regions of Oyo, Abeokuta, Ibadan and Ifé in Nigeria, as well as in Ouidah and Abomey in Benin (where the sacred forest of Kpassè preserves the sacred tree of Loko a…

How the god was depicted

The sacred visuality of Iroko is marked by organic grandeur and plant severity. His supreme manifestation is the living tree itself, whose monumental trunk impresses with its majesty and its rugged bark full of knots.

What scholars debate

Botanical Acclimatization and Liturgical Substitution in the Atlantic. Ethnobotanists and anthropologists such as Pierre Verger and Vivaldo da Costa Lima debate the ingenuity of the African diaspora in finding botanical…

After antiquity

Iroko holds a powerful influence on Brazilian literature and music, appearing in poems by Jorge Amado and in anthological songs by Caetano Veloso (such as “Oração ao Tempo”, inspired by the lord of time of Candomblé) an…

Did you know?

The wood of the Iroko tree (Milicia excelsa) has extraordinary natural resistance to wood-boring fungi and subterranean termites, a chemical property that allowed carved beams in Yoruba royal palaces to survive for cent…

Codex relic

Ancestral Trunk. The gigantic, ancient tree that joins sky, earth, and time in a single sacred root.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

The legends, the myth, the cult and relics are part of the full Codex. You can open 1 full entry for free every day; to open all 500 deities with no limits and no ads, subscribe to Codex PRO.

See Codex PRO Get it on Google Play