Let's Put a face on Circumcision. . . Picture a 2 month old baby getting sliced and diced with blunt razor blade.

omg

The fact a female said there is nothing wrong with this is sad.

Exactly! I will never understand the justification for this act. . . I don't care what anyone says.

You know it's one thing to think of these things in abstract, it is another to see 'em for what it is. I say, at one point we (WOMEN) are gonna have to stop blaming men for the things we suffer. It's a woman holding the whatever that weapon is, it is a woman telling men to marry more than one wife, it's women force feeding dead person bath water on other women. . . I mean come on!

Eich! Dont twist my words.

There is nothing good about mutilating anything, thats just horrible

Since you are all very emotional now, i will drop my circumcision stance.

I just cringed just by looking at that. It is so wrong!!!

I just wish Nigerians could be a little more open-minded.

it is so wrong. the civilized ones in nig should be fighting against this. we should not always make the oyinbo do the fighting for us

VAGINAL MONOLOGUE

@ Omoge
Yeah, even then the Oyinbos don't get thanked, people accuse them of coming to "corrupt" us. It's sad, sometimes I don't think we know if we're going or coming.


@ Gamine
Na gode

This picture is gross.

@ Baby Jinx,

Thanx for making me lose ma appetite with those pics. . . . .

Only animals deserve this kinda treatment. . . .
Jeez, are those tools even sterilised? Same tools are used to cut all the females in the same village.
Yet we wonder why HIV is predominant in Africa. . . . .

It's so sad!!!

@ Baby Jinx,

Thanx for making me lose ma appetite with those pics. . . . .

Me too. Abeg delete those pictures.

DeepZone:

Me too. Abeg delete those pictures.

She shouldn't delete it. . . . .let it haunt those that say circumcision is right!!!
It was just wrong timing. . . . I shoulda eaten before viewing this thread this evening

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu,mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Gamine, your eyes done clear now. see the evil you are fine with

She'll just say that there's still a :difference" between the two words cos prominent madam yanibo said so

Baby J, those pix are so gross.

But what is the point of the circumcision?

*Morenike:

Baby J, those pix are so gross.

But what is the point of the circumcision?

That's the thing. . . there is no point.

I recommend these books to anyone who wants to know more. I've many have heard of Imam and her ordeal, well this is Waris Dirie and she wrote a trilogy about FGM.

The first one Desert Flowers talks about her own experience



The Second one



The Last one.




Good. . . very emotional books. You don't have to read them in order, so whichever one you get your hands on first. . . just let the pages fly.

@BabyJinx,
You are displaying child pornography here. This picture will not do our image any good out there so please can we respect that little girl's privacy by taking it off?

@ Aloy.Emeka

Rotflmao! You are kidding me right?

Child Pornography? My goodness, I was being facetious when I said I hope no one saw this as porn. One would have to be absolutely, positively sick in the head to "get off" on that awful picture.

Bad image of us? Excuse me? What image?? So we bury our heads in the sand, pretend this barbaric acts isn't happening. Oh it's okay for 2 month olds to get butchered. . . We don't mind because others thinking what lovely people we are is more important. Nice. . . Real nice.

Privacy? Well seeing as these pictures are part of the materials used to educated people on FGM, I can safe say I don't have to worry about the feds knocking down my door.

Oh by the way, for your info. . .


[Quote]
[B]What is Child Pornography?[/b]

Under federal law, child pornography 1 is defined as a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, photograph, film, video, or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where it depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and is obscene, or depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex, and such depiction lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.[/quote]

I'm gonna take the picture down not because of any of the reasons you mentioned above. . . Which as you can clearly see doesn't hold water but because the reason for posting the picture - Putting a face on FGM, has been made.

Please note, I wouldn't hesitate to put this picture or any like it back up, if is relevant to the discourse.

@Aluminium Emeka

Lazy Bureaucrazy

I was told to go somwere to work, where they resume at 9am and close at 11:30am, this is no joke

i was very angry and told them i wont go back there

its so crazy.

I find this one very hard to believe.

@ Aloy.Emeka

Rotflmao! You are kidding me right?

Child Pornography? My goodness, I was being facetious when I said I hope no one saw this as porn. One would have to be absolutely, positively sick in the head to "get off" on that awful picture.

Bad image of us? Excuse me? What image?? So we bury our heads in the sand, pretend this barbaric acts isn't happening. Oh it's okay for 2 month olds to get butchered. . . We don't mind because others thinking what lovely people we are is more important. Nice. . . Real nice.

Privacy? Well seeing as these pictures are part of the materials used to educated people on FGM, I can safe say I don't have to worry about the feds knocking down my door.

Oh by the way, for your info. .

It's like the gory images from Iraq war they can never show in American TV's but they still get the picture of what is happening in Iraq. You know that the picture is very nasty and disgusting.  FGM is very awful but we can get the picture easily from our conversation without graphic images after all, every member here agreed that it's barbaric. The child pornography was an overstatement. Can we give the young girl some little respect please and not add more salt to her injury?. I wouldn't want my child's naked picture on the web.

@Emeka

no lies there, my parents were furious

how can people waste their life like that.

ofcourse 11:30am isnt the official closing time, but you get the pic.

@ baby jinx you mean they actually need those knives or small cutlass to circumcise a child?

i know this is a very touchy and emotive subject to some of us but i cant believe those some group of adults really use those instruments you displayed

Ogboni: Members should be exiled from Nigeria if they refuse to quit within 1 week. They are involved in ritual killings and incest.



Friday, January 18, 2008
NIGERIA'S IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT'S INCEST WITH DAUGHTER-IN-LAW IS[b] PART OF OGBONI SECRET CULT'S REQUIREMENTS[/b]
Part of the requirements for joining and maintaining membership of Ogboni secret cult is the practice of incest, we can now reveal. Ogboni is a secret cult that originated from Yorubaland, south-western Nigeria.

A source in Abeokuta, a major Yoruba town hinted to us that the immediate past President of Nigeria, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba from Abeokuta, is a member of Ogboni secret cult and so must practice incest.

The source further explained that "incest practice amongst members of Ogboni secret cult is a well known fact amongst families of members,this could be practised with mothers, sisters, daughters, e.t.c", and wondered why Mr. Gbenga Obasanjo, the controversial son of the immediate past President "should choose now to make noise about this".
http://chidioparareports/2008/01/nigerias-immediate-past-presidents.html

I don't know why the Ogboni's didn't use Tpia's head in one of their rituals and rid us of this social miscreant.

.

na your mama head them go use for ritual

Fear de catsh you?. No be my mama for this matter.

Twins in Yorubaland
By Deborah Aliu

Y

ORUBA land is located in the South-Western region of the present day Nigeria. The origin of the Yorubas is still shrouded in mystery. There are two major versions to the origin of the Yorubas.

The first version posits that the Yorubas originated from the North Eastern area of Africa, supposedly Egypt, Yemen and settled in Ile-Ife after a protracted period of migration spanning decades or ever centuries. Oduduwa was said to have led the group to settle at Ile-Ife and there established a flourishing kingdom. His sons and grandsons further expanded the kingdom to other areas that makes up the Yoruba land or kingdoms.

By the end of the 18th centuries, it numbered 14 kingdoms. By the mid 19th centuries, it had risen to twenty-six (26) kingdoms.

The second version posits that Ile-Ife is the cradle of mankind; the origin of creation was traced to Ile-Ife. The story foretells of a period when the earth was covered in water, hence God (Olodunmare) sent messengers to create farmlands out of the waters, the tradition further states that the party included Obatala also known as Orisa nla as the leader of the sixteen ayes (immortals).

They were given five pieces of iron; lump of earth tied in a white piece of cloth and a cockerel. While on the mission, Obatala the leader got drunk with palm wine and Oduduwa seized the paraphernalia of authority from him and eventually led the delegation to the world. The exact spot where they landed was called Oke oranfe in Ile-Ife, here the five pieces of iron were set, the lump of earth placed on it and the cockerel released to spread the earth with its phalanges.

The formation of farmlands came to be which covered the earth. Although the two stories appear to be contradictory, however, a common ground can be seen in the actions of Oduduwa in both tales as being very prominent in the origin of Yorubaland.

A critical observation of the second version shows that Oduduwa was a young lord or king to Obatala, it is either that he emigrated to the area when the powers of Obatala was waning, hence took over from Obatala to found his own dynasty. This is even more so as there are a re-enactment of the whole series of ceremonies which points at the struggle for power between followers of Obatala and Oduduwa. Oduduwa became victorious and thus adorns the Are (crown), which is worn by the Ooni of Ife up till date.

Twins in yorubaland

Twins are conceived from the fertilization and subsequent splitting of a single ovum - identical twins or separate ova - fraternal twins that is, twins meant two babies born of a single mother at the same period of time. They could be identical or fraternal twins. Among the Yoruba it is believed that the first twin is come is called Tayewo - meaning "Go and taste whether the world is bearable" and is the junior of the two, while the second to come is called Kehinde meaning "if the world is bearable I would join" and is regarded as the senior between the two.

In Yorubaland twins bring love and this is quite evident from this praise:

Hail Twins worthy to be praised

Pitifully small

In the eyes of the co-wife

Two infants splendidly alive

In the eyes of their own mother

This takes us back to centuries ago, in Oyo, in the region of Ajashe part of Yoruba, where they believed that it was only the poor and wretched people who were perceived to be the progenitor of twins. They decided to be putting the twin to death at birth.

Then came the day when the children of the land began to die mysterious deaths, and they now consulted an Ifa oracle. The words of the oracle was clear, saying "ceased killing twins and love them".

And this made mothers of twins to begin to revere twins every five market days as they danced around their communities, and in the process were given gift items such as money and other valuables. They now believe that this made the once poor families to become relatively rich.

In the past and till date in Yorubaland, twins are believed not to be ordinary humans, they are said to possess strange powers, and the powers are believed to have been derived from the monkeys. Starting from their birth, white bean will be cooked without oil and salt, and a part of it would be thrown to the bush and the remaining would be shared among the other children.

The following is recited in the process:

Ibeji re-omo edun Behold twins, children of monkey

Ibeji re-omo edun Behold twins, children of monkey

Keke keke kere yam Become auspicious implying don't die)

Among the Yoruba, twins are considered as spiritual beings and often believed to bring good fortune to their parents. If one dies, a surrogate image called Ere-Ibeji, this image is carved in wood like a human being and it becomes the focus of frequent rituals and sacrifices.

The wooden image is washed, dressed, and fed every four days in order to appease the soul of the living one. These twin statuettes (Erelbeji) are ritually washed in a bath of herbs. So that, if they ask the images to do something for the family, the images will do exactly as they say.

Twins image are maintained on domestic alters, they are often elevated in a standing position upon a small stood, they can be also stored in calabashes and carefully wrapped with special clothes.

Yoruba believed then that if there is no image or statuettes created for the surviving twin whose second is dead, the dead one will be troubling the survivor with nightmares and may even cause death. When both die and the mother fails in remembering them appropriately (make statuettes for them), it's believed that the mother would have difficulties with conception of the next child.

It is important to note that the twin statuettes do not represent gods (orisa), although they are often referred to as such. There are two reasons for the ritual treatment of Ere-ibeji

The spirit of the dead must be appeased so that it will not harm the remaining twin.

It is also hoped that if the Ere Ibeji is well treated, its spirit will return to the earth.

Ere Ibeji twin statuettes are carved in all parts of Yorubaland. There are many styles of their carving, so they provide excellent record of the Yoruba carvers and carving styles.

At birth, the parents of the twins consult Ifa oracle on how the twins would be treated. The twins decide whether to be taken round their community every market day in a bout of dancing and singing or their mother starts a trade in their honour. Whatever the oracle prescribed is strictly adhered to, as the spirit of the twins needs to be placated so that they won't depart the family. Again as twins bring fortune, whatever they requested is done so that the parents would in turn be blessed.

The male ones amongst the twins, their hair are not just taken to the barber and shaved at will, Ifa oracle has to be consulted to determine when the hair will be shaved and to know what sacrifice to be offered before the hair is shaven. Care is taken not to offend the twins that they will not turn malevolent their families.

Modernity occasioned by western civilization has reduced this tradition about the twins but in the interior communities of Yoruba land, vestiges of these practices are still being sustained.

Aliu discussed this topic with National Museum Port Harcourt, Study Group, recently

@ikeymann00

nice article this is the first time im hearing of this but i dont think its still being done

house any info on this practice?

ha k bolabee. _{what about in ijebu ha}?

i honestly believe this is now archaic as we are now int he 21st century but if its still happening it shd be outlawed,