Research
Orìsa Bíìyá Kosí (There is no god like Mother): A Reassessment of Motherhood in Contemporary Yorùbá Society as Viewed by Oguunda Mejì in Ifa Corpus
OÌ€riÌ€sÌ£aÌ€ biÌiÌ€yaÌ koÌ€ siÌ, taniÌ je sÌ£e biÌ eÌ£ni biÌni loÌÌ£joÌÌ£ toÌ baÌ nira? or IÌ€yaÌniwuÌraÌ€ is often used to describe the sacred roles being played by a woman in the life of her child or children particularly in YoruÌ€baÌSociety. This includes her role from conception to birth, from birth to maturity and ensuring that the child becomes successful in life. To achieve this, many mothers will rather go hungry than see their children move about or sleep with empty stomach. Many will even prefer to go naked or die just for their children to be successful because, they believe that their children are their pride and their tomorrow whether alive or dead. As a result of these unreserved love and roles, many sayings, poems, songs, drama and sweet quotes have been used to describe women such as the above. Besides, these profound and unique roles have been discussed and evaluated in many scholarly works. The roles played by mothers put them in good stead among their children. This is the reason the Society believes that mothers have great influence and dominion over the lives of their children to the extent that if they pronounce any curse on them, it will come into fulfillment in the child’s life.
Contextualising Darwin’s Theory of Evolution in the Yoruba Human Concept
This paper discusses African cosmology as seen in the indigenous religion of the Yoruba. The focus of this paperis creating a framework of how the theory of evolution can enhance further understanding of some Yoruba beliefs, chiefly, its concept of human. This is done by tracing the history of the theory of Evolution. This is necessary because Charles Darwinmust have been influenced by the works of some scientists before him. Several arguments that humans descended from the Apes were also discussed in this paper. These are premised on the implication of such notion on world religions which suggest creationism notably that of a perfect human being which is at odds with the conclusion of evolution. This paper discusses also the Yoruba concept of human, a notion that is clearly different from the western one. The relationship between human being and nature in Yoruba understanding and its link to the theory of evolution forms a major fulcrum in this research. This paper concludes that OloÌduÌ€mareÌ€ the creator endowshumans with enormous power that can be used at will transforming to suit the prevailing situation,thereby making room for the theory of evolution.
Ebo tan ebo ku? Yoruba Indigenous Religion’s Viewpoint on the Death of Jesus Christ as the Final Sacrifice
EÌ£boÌ£ is an offering made to the Deity, the divinities and other agents considered by the YoruÌ€baÌ to be responsible for the imbalances in the life of humanity, in order to correct the inevitable disequilibrium or to show appreciation. The offering of eÌ£boÌ£ could be on daily basis for those who are priests and priestesses. Personal or communal exigencies determine the frequency of sacrifice, except offerings for thanksgiving for success and good health which are regular. However, in Christian religion, it is ageneral belief that Jesus Christ came to the world to die for the salvation of humanity. According to Christians, Christ offered himself as the final sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Therefore, there is no reason for further offering of eÌ£boÌ£of any form. If this is the case, the questions one needs to ask are; if Jesus truly came for the salvation of man from sin and the sacrifice has been made once and for all, why do we still have sicknesses of all kinds in the world today? Can we say his own manner of salvation does not cover sickness, pestilence and other social vices like murder and stealing? Why is it that some Christians still carry on in the tradition of offering eÌ£boÌ£ till today? Why is it that god has not struck the adherents of African Indigenous Religion who still offer sacrifices in YoruÌ€baÌland? These are some of the questions that this paper tried to answer. Data were collected through oral interview and was subjected to descriptive analysis.
