A Brief Look at the Yoruba People

In Southwestern Nigeria there is an ethnic group of people known as the Yoruba. This culture is found in other areas of Africa such as Togo, Sierra Leone and Liberia. In these countries their group is known by different names such as Anago, Tsha, Ife and Aku (Yoruba Online). Through archaeological excavation in Oyo and Ife, it is thought that the Yoruba people originated between the years of 800 and 1000 AD from the Middle East (p. 13 Drewal, Henry John, John Pemberton, Rowland Abiodun, and Allen Wardwell.).

The Yoruba people worship a supreme ruler or god name Olodumare or Olorun. Their religious beliefs include immortality and reincarnation. (Yoruba Customs and Beliefs Pertaining to Twins). Before European and Islamic leaders changed the way the Yoruba handled their everyday lives, each Yoruba area worked independently and governed themselves. They also had their own specific style of speech, military and religious organizations. Even though they had different militaries they never battled one another. Today the Yoruba people live in developed cities that are ruled by an aristocratic system. They have a king as well as supreme council. They work as mainly farmers or artists (Yoruba Online).

The Yoruba people’s religious identifications have been sorted between Islam, Christianity and traditional animist Yoruba religion. Between these three religions, 40% of the culture practices Islam, 40% practices Christianity, while only 20% practices traditional Yoruba religion. Those Yoruba people who practice either Islam or Christianity still share some beliefs of the traditional religion (Yoruba Customs and Beliefs Pertaining to Twins).

The Yoruba people are a fascinating ethnic group of Africa. They are known for many things but one...

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...bout the cultures traditions is that if one of the twins dies, a statue is created in honor of the dead twin or twins. These statues are called ibeji and are meant to take the place of that twin. These statues are meant to be not symbolic but to actually replace the twin and to be seen as alive. It is important to keep the balance between the two tins so that the living twin does not become unbalanced. Therefore the mother or the living twin had to carry around the statue of the twin with them. They have to feed the statue and do any action that they do to the living twin in order to keep the balance of thing or else the living twin might die because they are unbalanced as they twins are always connected. If one of the twins became ill, instead of taking the child to the doctor they would perform ritualistic sacrifices for the twins (Renne, Elisha P. ).