Every person is held to possess an ori, an inner head, which is at once the seat of individual identity and the destiny chosen before birth in the presence of Olodumare. Choosing well matters, and so does not knowing what one chose: divination exists to recover it, and offerings, good character and the help of the orisha exist to keep a person on its path. Ori is itself venerated and receives offerings from its owner, which makes each person in some measure the object of their own devotion. Iwa pele, gentle or good character, is the practical ethic, and the verses return constantly to the idea that a fine destiny can be ruined by bad character and a modest one improved by good.
It is a mistake, common in comparative treatments, to describe Yoruba religion mainly as the source of Santeria, Candomble and Vodou. It is a living West African religion with its own institutions. Orisha festivals structure the civic year in many Yoruba towns, and the Osun festival at Osogbo draws crowds from across Nigeria and from the Americas each August; the sacred grove there was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2005.
How many adherents there are cannot be answered cleanly, and any figure should be treated with suspicion. Most Yoruba people identify as Christian or Muslim, and Nigerian census practice has not recorded traditional religion in a usable way for decades. Identification and practice also diverge: consulting a babalawo, attending an orisha festival or observing lineage obligations is common among people who would name a church or a mosque if asked. Since the 1990s the revival known as Isese, roughly our native ways, has pressed for the tradition to be counted in its own right, and Isese Day on 20 August is now a public holiday in several southwestern Nigerian states.