Must Read: Ifa and days of the week (how Olódùmarè named the days of the week)

Among the Yoruba, it is believed that there are seven days in a week just as same with the universe's. These days are:

Monday- Ojo Aje ( day of financial success)

Tuesday- Ojo Isegun ( day of victory)
Wednesday- Ojo Riru ( day of confusion)

Thursday- Ojo Assesedaye/ Ojobo ( day of fulfilment)

Friday- Ojo Eti ( day of trouble)
Saturday- Ojo Abameta ( day of three evil proposal,)

Sunday- Ojo Aiku ( day of longetivity)

But what many people are not aware of is that there is an origin to the names of these days. That is, each day was named by Olódùmarè due to one occurrence or the other.

The treasury where wisdom of life is kept by our fore fathers is Ifa. 

Consequently, most natural direction to look for the explanation on "hows" and "whys" is in IFA corupus.

There are so many areas in IFA that deals with individual days but for the purpose of this write-up, we shall contend ourselves with the ones taken from Okanran-Ofun one of the verses that deals directly with the topic in hand.

In the beginning, Olodumare summoned a total of 401 irunmole and put them in the garden known as 'OGBA ASE' ( garden of command). In this garden, Olodumare put a total of sixteen unique Odu. 

These Odu are regarded as unique in two were whatever positive anyone expresses will surely come to pass.

Olodumare instructed the irunmole to stay In this ogba ase for seven days and that they should be asking for positive resolutions which by His Grace  shall come to pass.

Olodumare warned however that evil resolutions shall not be granted.

Day 1:

At this juncture, Esu- Odara or Ebita prayed for prosperity of all kinds to fill the garden. No sooner had Esu- Odara said this then everywhere was filled with wealth of indescribable proportion. All the 401 irunmole ( in the garden) then decided to share this wealth with other irunmole outside the garden and later started to disperse them to the whole universe. The acquisition and dispersions by the irunmole occupied a day. Then, Olodumare called them to inquire about what they spent the whole day doing. Having been told, Olodumare named the day Ojo Aje, day of financial success/wealth----Monday. And so the first day of the week derived its name.

Day 2:

Olodumare then informed the irunmole that they had only six days to spent in the garden. Olodumare implored them to keep on asking for good things they felt they would need. As they were praying very early the following morning of the next day, the other irunmole who were outside the garden rushed into the garden in anticipation of securing more wealth for themselves. This led to a lot of misunderstanding between two parties. Those inside the garden made use of command inside the garden by asking for victory over those outside their wish came to pass and the irunmole outside the garden who invaded the garden were subdued and driven out. 

At the end of the day, Olodumare called them to verify what they had been doing all day. They told Olodumare what happened and Olodumare asked them if they felt they were triumphant or not which they responded affirmatively.

Olodumare then named the day Ojo isegun ( day of victory)----Tuesday. Five more days left

Day 3:

Very early on day three, a serious tempest started blowing in the garden and the day became dusty and cloudy. None of the 401 irunmole was able to get anything organized, indeed, none of them remembered to pray for things to get in order. At the end of the day, they barred to Olodumare. Consequently, the day was named Ojo-Riru ( a day of confusion). However Olodumare reminded them to pray for what they wished the next day.

Day 4:

Esu Odara and the other Irunmole prayed for rain and orderliness. In accordance with the Ase of Olodumare, there was rain, new crops and vegetations began to grow and the whole place returned to normal. All the Irunmole were happy at the turn of events. They planned and prayed for all the good things of life for themselves, they prayed for progress and all these things came to pass. In the evening, they all realized that the day was the best they had so far witnessed.

At the end of the day when Olodumare inquire from them what had happened, they overwhelmingly informed Olodumare that the day had been very rewarding and that everything they prayed for had been fulfilled.

The day was therefore named Ojo Asese- Daye or Ojobo, Day of Fulfilment. Oloduamre thereafter told them to go and prepare for a long journey which was to be undertaken the following day.

Day 5: 

Early in the morning of the next day, they all prayed for a safe journey to their destination. According to this stanza in Okanran Ofun, the distance was astronomical and since they had already prayed for a safe journey, they did not find any problem reaching there. 

On their return journey however, they met with a lot of unforeseen difficulties. The whole day was completely marred for them and it reached a stage that they started to doubt whether or not they would be able to return to the Ogba Ase.

By the grace of Olodumare, they invoked all the powers at their disposal and were able to return to the garden very late at night. They all vowed never to undertake any journey on such a day again because the success of such journey was very doubtful. They then narrated their ordeal during the journey to Olodumare and therefore, the day was named Ojo eti, Day of trouble or turbulence.

Day 6:

On the sixth day, Orunmila called Esu Odara and suggested that it would be better for Esu Odara to control all riches and wealths of the universe while he (Orunmila) would regulate the flow through sacrifice and rituals. Unfortunately, this suggestion did not go down well with Esu Odara. He then engaged in a brawl with ORunmila. 

Èṣù Odara was defeated thrice by Orunmila. Realizing that he could not single handedly defeat Orunmila, Esu Odara convened the meeting of all other Irunmole and made these three propositions:

One, that Orunmila should never survive the aftermath of their brawl,

Two, that if Orunmila should survive, he should never progress in life, and three, that if Orunmila should progress, he should never be able to return to Ikole Orun, heaven whenever they all left for Ikole Aye, earth.

At the end of the day, Olodumare summoned the Irunmole together in the Ogba Ase and informed them that their wishes could not be granted. The reason was that they had violated the instructions earlier given to them, i.e never to make any negative resolution. However, Olodumare named the day Ojo Abameta, Day of three (evil) resolutions

Day 7:

Finally on the seventh day, Orunmila came out full of life and vitality. He started showering blessings on all the other Irunmole including Esu Odara. They all felt happy that the disagreement between Orunmila and Esu Odara had been settled.

Olodumare decided to make Orunmila the leader of all Irunmole and gave the Irunmole everlasting life. Consequently, at the end of the day, it was named Ojo Aiku, Day of Longevity. 

This was how the seven days of the week were named.

Click here for part II