04/06/2022
There is something enduring about Yoruba culture. Consider that slaves were taken from all over Africa, but only Yoruba slaves kept their culture intact. In Cuba and Brazil, they speak flawless Yoruba. They eat ewa ati rice. They also eat moi moi (which they call abara), acara (which they call acaraje) and like pepper, like Nigerian Yorubas. And they still dobale to their parents.
Believe it or not, they still worship Ifa. In fact, the Yoruba in Cuba mixed the traditional Yoruba religion of Ifa with Catholicism, and formed a new religion called Santeria, in which angels are called orisa, the Yoruba word for lesser gods.
It may shock many Yoruba in Nigeria to note that Brazilian Yorubas are often better at oriki incantations than Nigerian Yorubas. They use it in their Candomblé and Umbanda rituals, which explains why Babatunde, Yetunde and Yewande are popular BRAZILIAN names.
The late Ooni of Ife, Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade made the most efforts to unite the Yoruba in Brazil and Cuba and those in other parts of the Americas with the motherland, but those efforts have suffered a setback since his death in 2015.
I appeal to Yoruba leaders, whether Obas or Governors, or billionaires, like Femi Otedola, or Folorunso Alakija, to consider continuing where Oba Sijuade stopped. Until the Jews united with their diaspora, continued to suffer. Perhaps the Yoruba peoples can learn from them.