The Yoruba Culture
The Yoruba Culture
Name: Soyan Abdul-Rahman
Professor: Tsirha Adefrio
Course: Anthropology 1010
The Yoruba culture There are three main tribes in Nigeria, which are: the Igbos, the Hausas and the Yorubas. Over the years, these three tribes broke into more than 50 little ethnic groups. Among these three, Yorubas has proven to be the most dominant. The Yoruba are one of the largest African ethnic groups south of the Sahara Desert. They are, in fact, not a single group, but rather a collection of diverse people bound together by a common language, history, and culture. Within Nigeria, the Yoruba dominate the western part of the country. The Yoruba homeland can be located in West Africa. It stretches from a savanna (grassland) region in the north to a region of tropical rain forests in the south. Most Yoruba live in Nigeria. However there are also some scattered groups in Benin and Togo, small countries to the west of Nigeria. Current census figures are difficult to obtain. The Yoruba population is estimated to be 5.3 million. The occupations and living conditions of the Yoruba in the north and south differ from one another sharply. According to the editors of Britannica “Their towns became densely populated and eventually grew into the present-day cities of Oyo, Ile-Ife, Ilesha, Ibadan, Ilorin, Ijebu-Ode, Ikere-Ekiti, and others.” (britannica)
Yoruba mythology suggests that all Yoruba people descended from a hero called Odua or Oduduwa. Today there are over fifty individuals who claim kingship as descendants of Odua but this is decreasing due to the belief in politics rather than chieftaincy. According to a Yoruba creation myth, the deities (gods) originally lived in the sky with only water below them. Olorun, the Sky God, gave to Orishala, the God of Whiteness, a chain, a bit of earth in a snail shell, and a five-toed chicken. He told Orishala to go down and create the earth. Orishala approached the gate of heaven. He saw some deities having a party
Name: Soyan Abdul-Rahman
Professor: Tsirha Adefrio
Course: Anthropology 1010
The Yoruba culture There are three main tribes in Nigeria, which are: the Igbos, the Hausas and the Yorubas. Over the years, these three tribes broke into more than 50 little ethnic groups. Among these three, Yorubas has proven to be the most dominant. The Yoruba are one of the largest African ethnic groups south of the Sahara Desert. They are, in fact, not a single group, but rather a collection of diverse people bound together by a common language, history, and culture. Within Nigeria, the Yoruba dominate the western part of the country. The Yoruba homeland can be located in West Africa. It stretches from a savanna (grassland) region in the north to a region of tropical rain forests in the south. Most Yoruba live in Nigeria. However there are also some scattered groups in Benin and Togo, small countries to the west of Nigeria. Current census figures are difficult to obtain. The Yoruba population is estimated to be 5.3 million. The occupations and living conditions of the Yoruba in the north and south differ from one another sharply. According to the editors of Britannica “Their towns became densely populated and eventually grew into the present-day cities of Oyo, Ile-Ife, Ilesha, Ibadan, Ilorin, Ijebu-Ode, Ikere-Ekiti, and others.” (britannica)
Yoruba mythology suggests that all Yoruba people descended from a hero called Odua or Oduduwa. Today there are over fifty individuals who claim kingship as descendants of Odua but this is decreasing due to the belief in politics rather than chieftaincy. According to a Yoruba creation myth, the deities (gods) originally lived in the sky with only water below them. Olorun, the Sky God, gave to Orishala, the God of Whiteness, a chain, a bit of earth in a snail shell, and a five-toed chicken. He told Orishala to go down and create the earth. Orishala approached the gate of heaven. He saw some deities having a party
Bibliography: Allsworth, Jones.P. Continuity and Change in Yoruba Pottery. 2014. 2014 December 2014 <http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3732456>. britannica, the editors of encyclopedia. yoruba. 30 6 2014. 10 12 2014 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/653789/Yoruba>. Mullen, Nicole. Yoruba Art and Culture. 2004. 11 December 2014 <http://wysinger.homestead.com/yoruba.html>. stockholm. Eyo Festival. 2013. 11 December 2014 <http://www.yorubaunion.se/yoruba-heritage-and-culture/eyo-festival/>.