Oddudúa is the Lucumí form of Odùduwà, the founding ancestor of the Yoruba city of Ile-Ife and the source of sacred kingship. In Cuba the figure is preserved as one of the most secret and senior of the orichas, associated with the earth, the tomb, foundations, and a closely guarded mystery received only by high priests and kept within a sealed white vessel. Oddudúa is often paired with Obatalá as the complementary half of a creative dyad, the two together representing the white, cool forces that ordered the world. Sources differ sharply on the figure's gender and independence: some traditions treat Oddudúa as a male founder-king, others as the feminine, terrestrial counterpart to Obatalá's celestial whiteness, and still others as an aspect of a single Obatalá-Oddudúa divinity.