Top 10 Amazing Facts About the Yoruba Tribe

The Yoruba tribe can be located in West Africa. This homeland stretches from grassland region in the north to tropical rain forests in the south. However, most Yoruba resides in Nigeria, but there are some groups of them scattered in Benin, Togo and other small countries to the west of Nigeria. More so, the living conditions and occupations of the Yoruba living in the south and north are sharply different. Below are some amazing facts about the Yorba tribe;

They love and cling to their culture

The Yoruba people hold on to their traditions and culture, even in this modern era.  The rite of passage is still in practice today among the Yorubas. When a baby is born, water is sprinkled on the baby, till he/she cries. When they fail to cry, no word will be spoken until they do. During birthing a child, anyone younger than the mother is not permitted to witness after. After a stated amount of days, a naming ceremony is held and relatives are invited. Also, both male and female are circumcised within the first month of birth

Their political system is strong

This tribe has a united, strong social and political system. Their social and political system varies however depending largely on regions. Allegiance is paid uniformly to these systems in a large urban area, not to a centralized authority. Each town is headed by an Oba. An Oba can come into power by inheritance or through participating title associations. There are also council of elders who get to assist the Oba with decision-making. There are also checks and balances, that is, the council of elders checking the king’s excesses. These elders also have the power to impeach the king should he misbehave.

They are skillful sculptors

they started sculpture making as early as the 12th century and they still practice this art till date. They make these sculptures to honor their ancestors, deities and gods and these sculptures are magnificent. They sculpt beautifully using brass, wood, and terracotta. They are also good weavers, metal smith, and good porters.

They practice traditional religion

Though a large number of Yoruba tribe practice Christianity, about 20% are still involved in traditional form of religion. The Yorubas claimed they have about 400 deities, and so they compare their religion to the ancient Greek. Their tradition states that there’s one main Supreme Being called ‘Olorun’ who is the creator of things. The Yoruba people call on this god by braking kolanuts, or by prayers, or by pouring water on the ground. There is Eshu, who delivers special sacrifices to the Supreme Being, Olorun, and Isha, god of divination who interprets Olorun’s wishes to humans.

They have a large population

About 21% of the Nigerian population is the Yoruba tribe. This tribe constitutes over 35 million people and majority of them are from Nigeria.

Their ethnic and dialect

The Yoruba tribe is one of the largest African ethnic groups in the south of Sahara Desert. They are not a single group, they are a collection of different people bound together by a common culture, history and language. Yoruba language comes from the Congo-Kordofanian language family, it has many various dialects, but the speakers can understand each other.

Loyalty

this tribe is loyal to their family and to each other as a whole; it is the reason why they have many associations. You can see them belonging in one association of the other. For instance, they have association of farmers, association of traders, association of tailors and others.

They love social gatherings

There is no dull moment with this tribe. They love parties. They can turn any traditional event into a big party. There is always lots of food and drinks to spare and they always have Aso-ebi made for any occasion, be it wedding ceremony, naming ceremony, burial ceremony and others.

They are full of respect

A typical Yoruba person kneels (for a lady) to greet or prostrate (for a man) to an elderly…sometimes, even over the phone. They have a greeting reserved for every occasion, event or situation. The ‘Eku-syndrome’ is common among them. For welcome, they say “eku-abo”, for sitting down, they say “eku-ijoko” and it goes on. They never cease to run out of words to greet someone.

Their delicacies

The Yorubas like spicy and oily food. Almost all their food is prepared with either oil, pepper or both. Their food are mostly made from starchy tubers,plantains and grains. Their soup always consist of 20% oil, 50% pepper and 30% other ingredients. Their common foods are pounded yam(Iyan), yam flour meal(Amala), moin-moin, fufu, eba. Their soups include ewedu, okra(ila), egusi, vegetable(efo-riro). Yams and rice are eaten on important occasions.

The Yoruba tribe consists of diplomatic people and they are not troublesome. They are very welcoming and they enjoy their comfort zone a lot as they are the least set of tribe to travel within Nigeria. They value relationships and friendships a lot. In fact, when approaching death, a Yoruba man is most likely to tell his best friend his last wishes.

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