Nigeria, the land of plenty

The Wawu of Badagry While visiting Badagry, we discovered a city with a lot of heritage, with a particular focus on slave-trade about which three museums are covering. There are a lot for a town of the size of Badagry. The town a good number of buildings of brazilian influence. They were erected by returning slaves after the abolition of slavery. There are also a few colonial buildings such as the house that hosted the British administration and which is overlooking the lagoon. The city also counts several traditional compounds. There is the one of the Akran ,  the head of Badagry Kingdom who is referred to as Aholu. He is revered as the Ruler of Badagry. In a different area stands the compound of the Wawu of Badagr y.  The Wawu family, according to High Chief WAWU, descended from Ile-Ife and settled at Ouidah (Whydah) in Benin Republic. Later the Ifa oracle asked them to return through Gberefu to their present location in Badagry.   The Wawu is famous because h...

the grand priest of Ifa, Araba-Agbaye on the day of reading the future The grand priest of the Ifa is  Babalawo Adisa Aworeni  Awoyemi.  He is the Araba-Agbaye (Head of all Ifa priest in Ile-Ife) . Every June, which coincides with the beginning of the Yoruba year, marks the beginning of the rainy season. I t is then that the oracle will read the Ifa on a wooden board on which seeds linked by a string are thrown, from which the Ifa priest can interpret the future. Ifa is a divination system of drawing marks on the sand or on cam wood with Arabic origin (ARABIC GEOMANCY) entered into Yoruba land in the 16th century.  Ifá divination system incorporated into its system the already existing stories, tales aspects, religious structures and functions of the Yoruba Ò rìsà Mythology. the Araba-Agbaye in his reception room The town of Ile-Ife is hosting a number of shrines to several Yoruba divinities such as Obatala, the one that is moulding the body of human cre...

brand new royal carpet The King of the Yorubas lives in Ife, 200km north east of Lagos, not too far from Ibadan. He is known as the Ooni of Ife. He has a palace and has obviously a few houses in town. No one is supposed to know where he spends the night. The Ooni is in his early forties. He was recently elected following the passing on of the late Ooni of Ife - le roi est mort, vive le roi! The burial ceremony of the late Ooni, called Oro festival, fueled rumours because traditionally a man, associated to the Ooni and called Abobakun, is supposed to be buried with the Ooni to accompany him in the afterlife. That man, reportedly fled, as the late Ooni passed away, in the hope to escape his fate. This was a few weeks ago. As we visited Ife, some people told us the Abobakun had since died but maybe we did not understand it quite well? a beer brand celebrating the new Ooni of Ife However we got to understand that the Ooni occupies a prominent role in the Yoruba world and acts as ...