Iroko
Yoruba · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
The iroko is a big slow hardwood that takes a century to grow and is worth a great deal cut, and the spirit in it walks about at night with a torch and will drive you mad if you see his face. Whether that belief evolved to keep people from felling the things casually is not answerable, but the effect is real enough: an iroko is not taken without rites, and the rites are expensive. He crossed to Cuba and Brazil with everyone else and is still received there.
Domains
- trees
Sources
- Iroko is the spirit of the iroko tree in Yoruba tradition, an old man with a torch who walks at night, the sight of whose face brings madness and death.: Reference treatment of the Iroko tree and its spirit. (secondary)