Yoruba culture in nigeria pdf

Department of religious studies, university of ibadan. In 1893, the yoruba kingdoms in nigeria became part of the protectorate of great britain. Because of migration and the slave trade to the americas in the mid18th century, there are yoruba communities throughout the western world, especially in the caribbean, south america and north america. The problem of time has assumed an acrimonious debate in african philosophy. It also confirmed whether superstition and taboo means the same thing in yoruba society. We would attempt to examine the influences on the language, dressing, food and cultural practices and norm of the yoruba people, in an attempt to reach a befitting conclusion as to the history of the yoruba, we would also include some folk lore and stories, to enable you the readers reach a strong conclusion. An introduction to nigerias yoruba people culture trip. Another continue reading traditional marriage system in yoruba culture, nigeria. She is completing her manuscript on yoruba grammar. Their traditions have developed and matured for thousands of years, leaving a rich cultural history in its path. While many yoruba people have moved into urban environments like lagos, a good portion of them still keep their old traditions. Yoruba people, language, religion, tribe, culture, facts.

A sociocultural analysis of yoruba discourse patterns in selected. A great article is pointing the yoruba way by olanike ola orie, which includes dozens of photos. There are three major ethnic groups yoruba, igbo, hausafulani. The yoruba numbered more than 20 million at the turn of the 21st century. Indigenous yoruba populations can also be found in the republic of benin and togo 1. Parents, teachers and government should encourage the use of yoruba languages in our schools. Yoruba introduction, location, language, folklore, religion, major holidays, rites of passage mauritania to nigeria. Thus, the average historian who is dealing with a topic affecting a cultural group within nigeria restricts himself strictly to the area now currently known as nigeria.

The country is made up of three major ethnic groups namely. Her research interests include yoruba language, culture and history, yoruba women and creole studies. The family lifestyle in nigeria by morire oreoluwapo labeodan. Those are just a few of the components of yoruba culture, the genesis of which is the holy city of ileife, nigeria. Yoruba cultural studies university of african art press. Some of them include amala and ewedu soup, gbegiri soup, ewa aganyin, among others. From that foundation have yoruba philosophy, religion, and literature developed, all of which blend ancient truths and divine moralities with reason. The yoruba culture, for the present purpose, can be defined as follows. Each group has its own language and other unique cultural characteristics. They serve to remind the yoruba of a past that has survived through oral tradition. An overview of taboo and superstition among the yoruba of. Until 1960 nigeria was a british colony and the yoruba were british subjects.

This article brings you some interesting facts about the yoruba tribe in nigeria, and well be looking into their history, culture and religion the yoruba tribe is one of the three largest and most powerful ethnic groups in nigeria. Yoruba people are popular for a number of dishes eaten in nigeria. The yoruba people are an ethnic group of over 40 million people in total, inhabiting the southwestern and northcentral region of nigeria, as well as southern and central benin. Culture of nigeria history, people, clothing, traditions. It is a way of showing respect to elders and important figures in the community. In part i, the author examines, with refreshing insights, the philosophical concepts of the person, individuality, community and morality, religiosity and causality, focusing on the yoruba of nigeria. It denotes a process of cultural growth whereby new cultural elements or traits are added by invention. Fayemi ademola kazeem lecturer, department of philosophy university of logos, akoka, nigeria. Ife art from the vantage of yoruba cultural practices collected in nigeria more broadly, andor the indiscriminate use of regional and modern yoruba proverbs, poems, or language idioms to inform this citys unique 700yearold sculptural oeuvre. The yoruba of southwestern nigeria have been described. Influence of yoruba culture in christian religious worship.

Conclusion according to lawal 2007, the contact of nigerian culture with that of foreign culture has made it. Yoruba people and culture from sierra leone and the gambia. The naming ceremony in yoruba culture is taken seriously because the yorubas believe that a child eventually lives out the meaning of his or her names. Dada adelowo introduction this paper is motiated by the need. Noting the lack of similar studies in the country for those with informal education, the paper calls for a similar research to be. A softdeterministic interpretation oladele abiodun balogun olabisi onabanjo university, nigeria abstract the debate on the philosophical nature of the beliefs in ori and human destiny in traditional yoruba thought has for sometimes now, been controversial. This article aims to shed more light on the origin and history of the yoruba people. Mosadomi is a poet, who has authored several articles in books and journals on creole studies, african language and gender, african linguistics and pedagogy. Not many people are aware that there are living and thriving yoruba cultures in the two west african countries of sierra leone and gambia, that is apart from the well known nigerian, beninese and togolese yoruba communities. This work explores the concept of taboos in yoruba land. Director of the yoruba historical research schzme, nigeria. An accumulated culture is an invented culture added to the already present one. In yoruba culture we use honorific pronouns these function just as they are named, to honor and pay respect. The concepts of ori and human destiny in traditional.

Much smaller, scattered groups live in benin and northern togo. To the east and north the yoruba culture reaches adepeju oti, oyebola ayeni 20. Abstract religion is the strongest element in african culture and exerts great influence upon the conduct of the african people. Yoruba copper mask for king obalufon, ife, nigeria c. The museum once housed over a thousand tombstone figures or images. The number of speakers is roughly estimated at about 30 million in 2010. Perfect reading for anyone wanting to learn a bit more about what makes nigerians tick. The semiotics of movement and body attitude in a nigerian culture, 1998. Brief history of yoruba people, culture, religion and. Yoruba language which is the bases of learning yoruba traditional education should be given a priority in our schools. Southwestern nigeria is home to about 2025 million yoruba figures projected from the nigeria fertility survey 1984, who inhabit an area that stretches about 120 miles along the coast of the gulf of guinea, east from the benin border, to about 200 miles inland into the savannah belt of west africa. This kingdom was founded by the deities oduduwa and obatala, who are believed to have created the world.

The yoruba people are stereotypically described as the lively bunch for their enthusiasm for parties. Yoruba people are a large ethnolinguistic group or ethnic nation in africa, and the majority of them speak the yoruba language. The people in nigeria belong to more than two hundred different ethnic groups, each with its own language, customs and traditions. It is a continuum beginning from their subsistence, communal, agrarian life of the. Abstract religion is the strongest element in african culture and exerts great. The population of the country is around 170 million. They are, in fact, not a single group, but rather a collection of diverse people bound together by a common language, history, and culture. The yoruba culture was originally an oral tradition, and the majority of yoruba people are native speakers of the yoruba language. Influence of yoruba culture in christian religious worship by odejobi cecilia omobola institute of education, faculty of education, obafemi awolowo university, ileife, osun state, nigeria. A woman who is single at a marriageable age is seen as a crownless woman. Within nigeria, the yoruba dominate the western part of the country. Practitioners of the yoruba religion, which was developed among the yoruba people of nigeria and benin, believe that before we are born we stand before god and choose our own destiny. Here are 10 things that might surprise you about yoruba culture.

The yoruba are said to be prolific sculptors, famous for their terra cotta works throughout the 12th and 14th century. It was discovered that taboo in the concept of yoruba belief. The museum was the first to be established in nigeria when it opened in 1945. A lot of thought, research, family traditions and history are considered before a name is picked for a new baby in yoruba culture. Traditional marriage system in yoruba culture, nigeria. Currently, even though edo state has its peculiar dialect and culture, its traditional leadership system is almost exactly the same as that of traditional yorubas. The concepts of ori and human destiny in traditional yoruba thought. Oduduwa was the first divine king of the yoruba people, and obatala fashioned the first human beings out of clay. Department of religious studies,university of ibadan.

Yoruba is classified within the edekiri languages, which together with the isolate igala, form the yoruboid group of languages within what we now have as west africa. Issues on nigerian peoples and culture is the title of this book and also one of the general benchmark course requirements of the nuc for undergraduate studies in nigeria. Analysis and interpretation ades ola o late ju university of ibadan, nigeria abstract the paper undertakes a study of animal metaphors in the yoruba language with a view to highlighting the stylistic and communicative potentials of these metaphors. Cultural similarities in nigeria and their differences. Many claim that they are part of the diaspora of the yoruba as slaves. Yoruba, one of the three largest ethnic groups of nigeria, concentrated in the southwestern part of that country. Husbands are seen as crowns and a single lady is seen as incomplete without her crown. Dating back to as far as the transatlantic slave trade, which existed between the 15th to the 19th century, the yoruba people were said to have migrated to other countries as well, including cuba, dominican republic. The yoruba originated from a people known as the oyo who arose and became quite popular by their trading with the portugues which gave them a large supply of guns.

The aggregate of the ways of life of the yoruba speaking peoples of southwestern nigeria and their kiths and kins elsewhere in the world. Culture is simply everything that embraces our mode of live. Yoruba mythology holds that all yoruba people descended from a hero called odua or oduduwa. One can find clear elements of yoruba culture today in cuba and brazil. The importance of taboos in yoruba society is also discussed. Famous for her huge population of more than 150 million and with more than 370 ethnics groups, nigeria has the highest population in african continent. Most of them are performed with the hands, but theres one eyecatching exception i want to mention here. The dialect of the edo people also bears a few similarities to yoruba, and in some parts of edo state, indigenes even bear yoruba names. Nigerias population is multiethnic with more than 250 groups having a variety of customs, religions, traditions, and languages. There is a lot to say about the rich culture of the country, every nation and tribe has its own features.