The Fabric of Nigerian Weddings

Bride Dola Olutoye poses with her bridesmaids in traditional Nigerian attire and matching geles, a scarf or fabric folded into an ornate shape atop a woman’s head.Olu Ogundeyin of IMG Artistry

(By Adenike Olanrewaju) - The Fabric of Nigerian Weddings. The color and flair of traditional ceremonies give brides and grooms a way to express a vibrant cultural heritage.

Dola Fatunbi Olutoye, 25, was ecstatic after becoming engaged last November to Dr. Yinka Olutoye, 26. She knew she wanted a traditional Nigerian wedding, but needed help executing the cultural elements of the ceremony, which took place on May 25 in Houston. 

Mrs. Olutoye, a pharmacy student from Houston, and Dr. Olutoye, a recent medical school graduate, are both Nigerian-Americans who are part of the Yoruba ethnic group, which is heavily concentrated in the Southwest region of Nigeria.

Ile-Ife: City of 201 Gods

Photo source: wikipedia

"In The Pivot of Four Quarters, Wheatley indicates that no place in sub-Saharan Africa has such cosmic significance as the Yoruba city of Ile-Ife. Known as the City of 201 (or 401) Gods, Ile-Ife is the base of the entire Yoruba civilization and culture, and its significance goes far beyond the immediate geographical boundaries of Nigeria. The religious culture of Ile-Ife has influenced the development and growth of new African religious movements as far off as Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States.

Ile-Ife, a city of about half a million, is situated at the geographical center of the Yoruba city-states. To the west lies Ibadan... and to the east lies Ondo, gateway to the eastern Yoruba city-states. Isle-Ife is about two hundred kilometers from Lagos, which was Nigeria's coastal capital city for over a century.

Unlike the political, commercial, and administrative cities of Ibadan and Lagos, contemporary Ile-Ife is a ceremonial city par excellence; like the cities of Banaras, Jerusalem, and Mecca. [I]n the people's imagination it is the preeminent sacred place, beyond the secular and the profane."

Jacob K. Olupona (2011: 36)

City of 201 Gods: Ile-Ife in Time, Space, and the Imagination

Oshun: Goddess of Love and Sweet Waters

Oshun is the Yorùbá Orisha (Deity) of the sweet or fresh waters (as opposed to the salt waters of Yemaya). She is widely loved, as She is known for healing the sick and bringing fertility and prosperity, and She especially watches over the poor and brings them what they need. As Orisha of love, Oshun is represented as a beautiful, charming and coquettish young woman. In some tales She is said to be a mermaid, with a fish's tail.

The Yorùbá clans inhabit parts of western central Africa, in present-day Nigeria. Oshun is the Goddess of the river of the same name, and She is especially worshipped in river-towns. During Her yearly festival, She is said to choose one or more women dancers to descend into (much like participants in Vodou ceremonies may be "mounted" or "possessed" by a Lwa). These women then take new names in honor of Oshun and are thereafter consulted as healers.

Oshun was taught divination with cowrie shells by Obatala, the first of the created Orishas, and then She brought the teaching to humans. She was at one time the wife of Shango, the Orisha of storms, as was Oya, the Orisha of the winds and tempests. Oshun is also said to be the mother of the birds or fishes.

Philosophizing the Ifa Corpus

"Philosophising for the public should be about helping that 'modern' Yoruba fella understand that no philosophical text is superior to the Ifa corpus produced by the genius of his people; that the Western progress and modernity he celebrates while recoiling in Christian or Islamic horror at the first mention of the Ifa corpus were all once part of a Western 'pagan' intermesh of history, myth, and science until fellas like him applied themselves and separated the science from everything else; that the microphone that his pastor uses to give him gospel every Sunday was part of that pagan mix until the separation; that there is still room to separate that science from the Ifa corpus for the elevation of humanity if only he and I would study it, apply ourselves to a creative extraction of that knowledge, and stop diminishing it as an inferior pagan text."

Pius Adesanmi

You're Not a Country, Africa

Yoruba "Paganism" and Religious Tolerance in Africa

"Esin kan o pe k'awa ma s'oro." I have translated what it says and what it leaves unsaid but implied:
'Oro hampers no faith. Let no faith hamper Oro.' Here we encounter the first indication of intrinsic humanism of Yoruba spirituality: the valuation of pluralism. We encounter consciousness and validation of the spiritual essence of the Other. Indeed, we are in the presence of the accomodationist ethos of the Yoruba world view. For what this Oro canticle hints at and acknowledges is the presence of other faiths in its own spiritual space of actuation.

The Dying Nigerian Languages

Language Education: Rescue Mission for Dying Mother Tongues 

By Louis Okoro Ugbagha

In Nigeria, language education is now a disappearing act from the school curriculum. Languages themselves are seen as lackluster subjects that can only be offered if authorities force them down the throat of very reluctant students. That way, they make up their subjects selection with any language of their choice and may or may not write them in any examination.


Nigeria has not strengthened its institutions enough to rescue our waning mother tongues. For instance, the Coordinator and Head of Institute, National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN), Dr Azubuike Ikediashi recently told newsmen that the institute would be unable to meet its goals in 2014 because it was not captured in the 2014 national budget.


Dr Ikediashi lamented the general neglect the Institute suffers as a result of the ignorance of Nigerians on the importance of indigenous languages and their roles in education, democracy, business and self image. Indeed, we do not seem to care whether our language dies or lives.


Meanwhile, in Nigeria today, there are the French, Korea, Chinese and a host of other Cultural centres, including the German Goethe Institute rendering one form of service or the other, but surreptitiously indoctrinating our citizens on their culture and languages. The reason is because these ‘big friends’ want to rule wherever they can through their language and by registering their culture in the people’s sub-conscious.