₦airaland Forum

Your post is very beautiful, God bless you my kinsman.
I have a good news for you Op, you are not alone here
I have created a blog on this as Awori Descendants forum

www.aworidescendantsforum..com

Lets keep advancing the cause of our people, each point count.

I'm proud of Oba Lamidi Adeyemi Alaafin
Iku baba yeye, Ojo pa sekere Omo Atiba...

Oba nla tii fOba je, the Emperor of Yorubaland.

He has made Yoruba proud at different occasions
Still remembering the Abacha era and the Shenanigans,

Aji she bi oyo laari, Oyo o ni se bi baba eni kookan.
Moyika Otun mo yika osi fori ade o, Alase ekeji orisa.

Ade a pe lori bata a pe lese,
Esin Oba a jeko pe o.

Kaabiesio...

MetaPhysical: These pictures belong in a gallery.

Alaafin has taste for rich fabric and colors. Ive seen many of his pictures, very regal from top to bottom.

Im proud to see my Emperor and his Queens in such an imposing appearance on a foreign soil.

Kaabo, se daada lode...

I've almost done a thread calling you back to where you belong. Please metaphysical, share your worldview about Yoruba with us at the arena, your insights count. You are indomitable, and so intelligent. You can't stop now because you have come a long way and I look to you in many ways.

I'm also very expectant of amo4ce and tonyspike, my jolly good fellows.
God bless our native Africa.

macof: Olokun is female both historically and spiritually in all tales I have received.
It's only Benin people and those they influenced like Itsekiri and Ilaje that personified olokun as Male.
Even to ijebu it is considered feminine

macof: What ese Ifa did u get that from about Olokun?
Btw omoba could refer to princess

I noticed you not talking spirituality but history.
Let's examine this points in Yoruba history.
Olokun is said to Olofin's wife in Odu Osa Meji, Olofin here often misinterpreted in,Santeria as Olorun, But in fact it is Oduduwa.
Olokun, a wealthy bead maker didn't have children, so Oduduwa married Osara whom gave birth to oduduwa's heir.

The link between Olokun and Orunmila(Agboniregun) is probably when she ran to The ocean near Epe, modern Lagos (probably her hometown) Orunmila found her and offered her sacrifice to be happy and return

tho I haven't got expert Translation to it, I would say "Ifa olokun asorodayo" relates to Ifa's speech to olokun turned to Joy
Back then anything and everything can be called sacrifice even words.

Ekundayo7: Dear, no confusion here, again, it depends on GEOGRAPHIC area and peoples inhabiting said area whether they view Olokun as "male" or "female". Yemoja is owner of the top portions of the ocean waters, Olokun owner off ALL WATERS, both sweet and salty and owner of the depths. According to Yoruba legend SHE was close friends with Orunmila and married Odudua, was a fashioner of beads and metal crowns and bracelet as supported by the beads and bead making artifacts discovered in her shrine in Ile-Ife. Whether people merely carried out those industry there in her shrine as tribute is unknown.
The odu of Ogbe Ate tells us a true story of Olokun, as the odu Ifa have been handed down orally for thousands of years, and it is to this authentic and reliable Yoruba source that I will tell one story of Olokun, and know that there are many other versions backed up by Odu Ifa, such as how Olokun became a cowrie diviner, or how she became the most powerful among all diviners.

Ogbe Ate

Olokun is one of the most prominent, powerful and courageous orisa on earth and she holds a very high position among all diviners, besides being one of the prettiest. Her home is in Ile-ife, in the area called Igbo Olokun. The followers of Olokun were not many in the beginning. Many of them were leaving to follow and worship other orisa. Those who left were saying "Olokun is too honest, she doesn't tolerate lies". Olokun only wanted honest people around her. Olokun's intelligence goes beyond ordinary human intelligence and she doesn't tolerate any kind of nonsense from anyone. Very neat and tidy, she detests a dirty environment.

One day Olokun realized that she was not achieving the mission that Olodumare had given her because she was so honest, detested lies, didn't like dirt, and did not tolerate those things in others. She decided to consult Baba Orunmila.

IROSUN-OGBE

To her surprise, he said that he would assist her and help her to solve all of her problems. He said he needed to make sacrifice and after doing so, all of the people who had left her would come back to join her again. Furthermore, he said that she would become a powerful orisa that everyone would worship, that the work would make her rich and had never been done before on earth. Olokun of course agreed on the spot to make the sacrifice.

One day Olokun noticed a big stone that was a lovely blue color, as if water were inside, in the backyard of her home. She began thinking about what she could use the stone for. Days later she decided to fashion a necklace using the blue stone and she made a lovely ileke. When the other diviners saw the ileke they began begging Olokun to please give them their own set of ileke necklace and wrist beads. They started buying the beads from Olokun and she began to be rich and famous, to the extent that all the people who left her came back and joined her. Olokun took them back as any merciful mother would. In spite of her fame, wealth, many followers and her power amongst all the irunmole and people, she still had one problem: she did not have a husband she could lay under so she could have a child. To solve this problem she went once again to Orunmila to ask for his help.

OGBE FUN

The odu that was divined for Olokun was Ogbe-Fun

Ifa said that she will have her own husband , that he will be someone of very good character from among the diviners, that she is the one he will marry, but she must make sacrifice. She carried out the sacrifice in grand style, following all that Ifa said.

Not much later all her prayers were answered.

This is when Odudua Olofin heard the news about Olokun and her powers and beautiful beads. He began buying necklaces and bracelets from her and he himself was an accomplished blacksmith who also made lovely necklaces and bracelets made of metal. Upon first meeting her he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and also saw that she not under any man, nor were there any men chasing her. She was clearly not an easy woman. He saw her as a very dignified woman and he began to look for a way to befriend her in order to take her as his wife. But he began to be afraid of her power and her position. He sent for Orunmila to divine the Ifa oracle for him. Heaven advised him to go ahead and propose to Olokun, that she would accept his offer and that he should make sacrifice in order to have many children with her. Odudua refused to make the sacrifice for children. To his great surprise, Olokun accepted his proposal to be his wife with no objections. This is how Olokun became the wife of Odudua Olofin.

But to his surprise, Olokun refused to move and live with Odudua in his palace as she said it would disrupt her work of making beads for necklaces and bracelets. Odudua accepted this because he loved her so much, and also because of her beauty, wealth, power and position in society. Olokun continued doing her work and without any doubts or compromise, she loved Odudua completely, but the fact is that she did not bear him any children. She still made beautiful jewelry for him, including a brass crown that was of such beauty that it was the most beautiful in all the land and it was on his head. Europeans discovered the glass making quarry and brass works that Olokun used to create her works on the border of Ileshe in Ogun State and Esinmirin in Ile-Ife, Oyo State.

As time went by, Olokun had lots of money, her blessings were accumulating, the irunmole were all coming to her side. Among all the diviners in Ile Ife it was Olokun who was the most famous (she was also an accomplished cowrie diviner). She was very generous to all and very happy to be in the midst of people and attending to their needs. This made all the irunmole want to be around her and also ask for her assistance, but it also made them jealous. Her shrine was always full and because of this they used to complain that they were really the better ones. Every year a festival was held for Olokun and everyone knew it would be the largest, grandest, and many gifts were handed out freely for all.

OSE OWONRIN
The verse of OSE WORIN tells us that the irunmole would choose to go to her festival over all the other's festivals and this caused so much jealousy that they agreed as a group to not attend her festival. Obatala consulted Ifa to see if he should go to her festival, or stay away with all the other irunmole. The irunmole asked Obatala if he was going and he said "No, I won't go", but Ifa told him to send his messenger, the Chameleon Alagemo, so Obatala could continue to have a friendship with Olokun. Unbeknownst to Obatala, all of the irunmole who had said they were not going to her festival, went, and when Alagemo the Chameleon saw this he cried "Oh NO! Obatala has been betrayed by them. Look at them all here!". Obatala had asked Alagemo to tell Olokun that his destiny had forbade him to attend her festival.

After the festival Chameleon appeared in the gardens of the all the irunmole and he took all of the colors of their clothes. This made them very afraid and they thought that Obatala was ready to do battle with them, thinking that he had sent his messenger on ahead. The irunmole all started to feel very guilty that they had betrayed Obatala but Olokun and Obatala remained friends in spite of the irunmole's attempts to make them quarrel.

Olokun was very troubled that the irunmole were not ready to honor and respect her. They thought they were all Gods, but not her. She went to Orunmila to talk to him, as she was not happy with everything that was happening on earth. She had decided to leave IFE land and told Orunmila that she would be amazed if he could find a solution to help her.

EJI OGBE
Orunmila divined for Olokun and the odu that came was Eji Ogbe. Orunmila assured her that all of her problems would resolve and she would find a new home. He asked her to do the sacrifice. He told her to go at night and get one calabash of water and in the morning one calabash of water, to go to the left side of earth and bring water and to the right side of earth to bring water, both morning and evening, and to go to the Red Sea to bring water. Orunmila used the waters to make sacrifice for her and when he was finished he said she should take the waters he had prayed over and to bathe her body, then stay inside her home for 7 days. She must not open the door, see anyone, or see daylight. She did exactly as he said.

On the third day she discovered that the door in front had turned to grass and the door in back had turned to copper. The wooden door on the right side had turned to zinc, and the door on the left side had turned to silver. On the seventh day when she decided it was safe to leave the house she saw that all under her home had become water. Olodumare had decided to giver her a house on top of the water. Olokun was amazed and set out to Orunmila's house to give him the news. He was very happy for her and she took him home to treat him as a pampered guest, entertaining and feeding him as he had never experienced before. He began to sing praises that Olokun had given him a wonderful gift and that he was happy Eledumare had allowed him to understand the message. Olokun began singing praises saying "IFA is great!". Ever since that day Orunmila enters the ocean to divine for Olokun. The story continues on as to how Orunmila came to live with Olokun for many years in her underwater realm.
PRAYER TO OLOKUN

​I bow before your mystery Olokun

The Queen of all Mothers

Mother of all Orisa

The Womb of all Life

The Keeper of feminine ASE

Womb of the whole World

Orisa of all Oceans and Rivers

It is you who holds the mystery of divine feminine Ase

​Mo juba O!

@macof, it is impossible to use Christianity to validate Judaism for instance, likewise, you can't use Santeria's dinlogun [/i]or Erindinlogun to validate Ifa Oracular dicta.

Santeria is an apocrypha of Ifa, not Ifa as apocrypha of Santeria. Likewise, Christian doctrine derived from Judaism, and not Judaism deriving from Christianity.

We do not have to depend on the conclusion of Santeria [i]Dilogun to establish Yoruba history. There is a reason it is so called Syncretism, because it has incorporated foreign stories.

Meanwhile, you can hardly come about free flow of tradition from one Ifa verse to the other as you portrayed in your Ekundayo7 handle, in Yoruba Ifa verses, the stories used as checkered anecdotes are meant to be Awo, secrets.

Howmanage: Still waiting o 2prexious

So after the frantic search through the Island on the particular day for a place call Obreko and a woman call my antie's child , Grandpa came face to face with the woman he was looking for in the heart of Lagos, great day,the joy of the two knew no bond! It was such a small world afterall.

"Well my sister, it is time you start visiting home as often as possible, don't hold to the fact that I now know this place then you don't take it upon your self to visit home as usual. That's wrong, the ancestors wont be happy about that at Kutomeh" (Kutomeh, that's where the dead goes in Dahomic language, meaning, city of the dead.)

"No brother, you have really changed me for this one effort of finding me out among thousands souls and miles, I will come home as soon as possible and as well, you will go with my son, then make sure he come back with one of the daughters of yours to help me out here and stay the family bond for us."

"Oh my sister, that's not any task, I will do that".

And that was how grandpa rediscovered his long lost cousin in the heart of Lagos. The story may have been around early fifties of the last century. At the end however, Grandma's first daughter who had been with an Ijebu woman as apprentice merchantwoman joined her younger sister and both began staying with their big aunty.

But then, something happen.

kingston277: awaken by the demons.

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. My ancestors are not demons sir, maybe yours are.

@Ego, 'he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much...' Keep judging or better still, close heaven's gate behind you once you are in, we will find a way to enter somewhere other than your 'gateway'. You will be disappointed on that day seeing 'holy-saint-babalawo' in heaven. Please permit scholastic discourse and stop messing christ, this is not religion section.

macof: Orunmila is not Obarisha, Obatala is

But am intrigued with this your idea of Odu being Esu...where did u come about this?

It depends on your inclinations, its either Orisala or Orunmila, Obarisa is 'king of the chosen' and both were kings in their epoch. They weren't cotemporaries. 'Odu' means 'blacky', and 'Esu' means 'darkish'. You can verify this linguistically if you are keen at it.

macof: What ese Ifa did u get that from about Olokun?
Btw omoba could refer to princess

I noticed you not talking spirituality but history.
Olokun is said to Olofin's wife in Odu Osa Meji, Olofin here often misinterpreted in,Santeria as Olorun, But in fact it is Oduduwa.
Olokun, a wealthy bead maker didn't have children, so Oduduwa married Osara whom gave birth to oduduwa's heir.

The link between Olokun and Orunmila(Agboniregun) is probably when she ran to The ocean near Epe, modern Lagos (probably her hometown) Orunmila found her and offered her sacrifice to be happy and return

tho I haven't got expert Translation to it, I would say "Ifa olokun asorodayo" relates to Ifa's speech to olokun turned to Joy
Back then anything and everything can be called sacrifice even words.

Good job, study the theme of the opening verse keenly, it derived from Odu Eji-Ologbon, hence I said it epitomise wisdom. I can't use one Ifa verse to verify anoda.

tpia is right, Olokun is a male character.

Olokun in that piece was a man, and going by the mood of what the verse was saying, omoba is a prince, not princess. It also says bi a ko ba ba Oba gbe, that is, if we do not live in the court of a king, Abe Oba kii pani lori, the blade of the king wont chop off our head. Then it alert the listener, iwo naa sure lo aarin igbe o too dako, meaning you too must flee to the middle of the bush to start farming.

The precept is not feminine in nature. Meanwhile, the woman that is often spotted with Olokun was a disciple of Olokun, Odu, because she was also an Ifa exponent at the onset of time. Three exponents of Ifa long after Olokun: Orunmila (Obarisha), Ela (aka Ifa, Agbonmregun), and Odu (aka Esu).

Your picture is an epic picture
A house divided against itself.

Sometimes we resemble the
adversaries and one start to

wonder, they are all the same.
the leaders and the adversaries.

macof: @op where did you learn that Olokun means "divider of the sea"?

And by "omo ina joko ma j'erun" do you mean this as an Oriki for Orunmila or Olokun?

The secret is embedded in that verse, can't translate it: there ought to be something curious in Yoruba language (for the next generation) to make them want to investigate it vs-avis their universal religion, and by so doing promote it.

By omo inajoko maj'erun, I am not pointing to Orunmila, but to Olokun.

I have not invoked Orunmila on this thread.

OJODEL10: if this phrase is for olokun, does it mean that he is moses son as we know that it was only moses that had encounter with bush burning?

I know what you want to get me to say right from the very start my master, but sometimes we have to also respect the desires of some of our own that does not see things the way we see them, hence I have not invoke any foreign name like Moses. We can always do that on "the arena threads" meant solely for that.

Here, let the traditionalists have a field day for once. I love you sir, and to answer your question, it is Olokun that is "omo inajoko majerun", not his son.

OnyeEgo1: I don't naturally comment on thread like dis but it made FP atleast d world is reading it, and also CHRISTIANS are surprising me with their comments, as a christ-like being u are to LIVE by HIS word alone!! I feel like teaching and preachin at d same tym

Well I'm a christian too. This morning, before stepping out, my random reading of the Holy Scripture was Ps. 28:18. Meantime, there is a place for people's Historical tradition in the word of God. The word of God has not annul history and records of the inhabitants of the world.

Jesus said, "search ye the scriptures..." Yoruba historical/religious tradition is Yoruba scripture before the Hebrew scripture (bible) came on board at the advent of British west Africa.

So, it is part of the scripture meant to be searched for our salvation to be verified. And talking about tradition, the book of wisdom gave a candid instruction in the following:

Proverb 6

My son, keep your father’s commandment,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
21Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
22When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
23For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
24to preserve you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

Olokun or Ifa tradition is our mother's teaching, it has preserved our fathers when they roam and so on, and now that we are awake, it is part of what will speak with us, we wont throw away the baby with the bath water.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things
Phillipians 4:8

The prophet of Islam was aware of the true origin of the black people, as tradition survive in that environment as to the people who migrated from that neighbourhood into Africa, the persecution did not just start, hence the following taunting verses;

Quranic Verses 5:60, 2:65, and 7:166.

Equivocally, the Yoruba oracle also depict the generation of Osun (in Odu-Irosun) as self-willed wanderers, so it says towards the end of the verse

"...awifun igbo, akofun igba,
lo mu won nfori jagbo kiri bi ijako.

Afaimo ko moje tara eni loju ni inaki;
afaimo ko moje tara eni loju ni obo"

Being told and never hearing,
Being stopped and never listening,
led them to wandering in the bush like beast.

Except for lack of knowledge, self-willed ones are the apes,
except for lack of knowledge, self-willed ones are the monkeys.

The story was that Taraeniloju used to be a subject of Orunmila, and just as the name implies, all that Taraeni-loju care about is self-importance and never wanted to be subservient or be spotted to anyone. Taraeniloju (personal-self-importance-is-paramount) later fell to bad time and was lost in the bush. He began wandering about in the bush like common beast.

Who was Taraeniloju? Well, the title of that verse reveal the identity of taraeniloju: The phrase Irosun means "generation of the skin-burnt" i.e Iran Osun.

Osun is Yoruba for camwood or dark-brown colour. The verse is self-appraisal of medieval Yoruba of the leadership that brought them southward.

Funjosh: Interesting.

That's oral tradition for you, its thriller all the way.

OJODEL10: please can you explain this phrase 'omo inajoko majerun' in your write-up before i will further my comment.

I once explain it on our other thread, where I credited it to Peter Fatomilola, an ace Yoruba actor and Ifa exponent. The word omo ina joko ma j'erun is Yoruba, it means "son of the fire that burn upon bush without consuming". That's a self-sufficient fire.

Howmanage: I pray a satisfactory outcome for all parties on the case in court. So, please tell me more about grandma's stories, and yes, i have my tissues ready just in case. What i like as well as your writing flow is that you have factual information too. Do you happen to have any pics of Ado Odo? The person I knew from Ado Odo was an Egun and he also had fond memories of the place

I'm sorry I don't, but I can check through the cyberspace for familiar places. Thanks for your prayer for this troubled community, I say amen to your prayers, and thanks for good commendation, yinni yinni keni semi. You are great too pal. As a kid back then, I used t think Ado will always be a city of peace and tranquility, but then we all are unpredictable as humans. The Egun are forthright people, and the Awori's were just as good, but times were when trouble comes. i'm doing my bit of communal activism on her behalf here. We shall overcome.

The Beautiful Tragedy
the writers' life is not a life of his own, sort of. He long to keep his secrets, but these are the secrets flowing from the pen of a steady writer. This story goes back to the same decade as the country's independence, I think. Grandpa got the premonitions that if he search through the streets of Lagos with all his zest, he will be led to where his long lost sister resides on the Island.

She was a daughter of the female child of his uncle, and since she left, never has she looked back to her place of birth. So , the longing can no longer be curtail. And so, one fateful day, grandpa set out to look for his long lost cousin, he has no address, bu he only mumble the word obreko to himself, as was picked from the last conversation he had with his cousin on her residence in Lagos....

we are in the 8th month already, I love to share the story of Olokun as point of connection to the spirit of prosperity in you. Never mind, I can see prosperity in your eyes, I can see the dreams you are toiling to make come true. Believe it, you are not alone. As young adults, this is the time to buckle up and double the zeal in spite of the state of the nation. May you live your dreams.

Sometimes, I do recourse to the life and time of the ancestors just to draw some poetic inspiration to keep going on and on in spite of the huddles on the way as it is the nature of man. These are necessary huddles, "nothing venture nothing won" goes the wise saying. My mind is at ease on this collection on Olokun at my disposal.

Bi a ko ba ba Oba gbele
Abe Oba kii pani lori,
Bi a ko ba ba Oba pala,
Oko Oba kii dani lese.

Iwo naa sure re arin igbe o too dako
adia fun Olokun seni Ade,
Aji filu ki, omoba labulabu,
Bii igba epo.

Kee pe o kejina
ewa bawa ni arusegun,
arusegun lawa wa.

To the Yoruba, Ifa originated with Olokun, whose precept brought joy. Hence it is said, Ifa Olokun, asoro-dayo. The word Olokun simply means one who own the sea. Mind you, it can also mean "one who divide the sea". Well I'm not making that up, Ifa is old enough to tell its own story. By the way, Olokun is the patron saint of Ifa, the epitome of wisdom.

More than that, Olokun is an harbinger of joy. He was praised in Yoruba as omo-inajoko-majerun. As the earth continue through the cosmic path happily, all day long, may it bring joy to our path also. May this joy spread over and continually be our portion.

Howmanage: I am really laughing at your grandma seizing the ball She sounds amazing. Truly the last of the amazons. I have heard of Ado-Odo. What were the issues between indigenes and settlers? Are the indigenes Egun? Also please tell us some of your grandma's stories? I like your writing style, very natural with a good flow.

Right, thanks @howmanage.

The indigenes were the Awori stock of the Yorubas, while the settlers were the Eguns, probably dispersed in the 19th century Yoruba civil war, of which their historic kindom west of Yoruba played a prominent role. Some of their folks were dispersed and they resettled in various Yewa/Awori enclaves and frontiers.

Ado was one of such places, mostly because it habour an Oduduwa shrine, which is common to the Yoruba and the Anagos as well as the Egun (my grandma's dad has his Dhudhua brought from Ado). So the place is a spiritual enclave to the practitioners of this ancestor worship. And also a refuge centre and a verdant entity.

By the way, the people of Ado are more wayfaring, and they founded enclaves that are presently in Lagos, such as Orile agege, Ogba,Itire and so on. But the town itself remain rustic, surrounded by the Egun whom they have embraced or, who equally fanned to the frontiers of Ado from Badagry wings of their homeland.

So at one point, according to a reliable source, a man came from somewhere to buy land (for estate), and it happens to be where the Eguns live at Idolehin, a large portion of land. The Egun sold the land unilaterally without consulting the Yorubas, and this pitch them against the Yoruba people.

Another source said that the elitists of Ado imposed a king, and afterwards issue a communique that gave ultimatum to Egun to quit the land. The Ado were in old time owners of their lands, they call it Ido-lehin, maybe "the camp of the land of praise" or "camp-city of palm-trees", and the Egun follow suit in calling it so.

So, when the Egun arrived, they could not co-habit with the Yoruba who have a different culture to theirs: for instance, if an Egun woman commit adultery with another man, the wife will be expelled. If not, the husband will die. The Yoruba do not observe such extremes. Likewise, some of the Egun folks revere the snake, python, which is a delicacy to the Yoruba.

The two can not live together in close proximity, so the Egun were allowed to live in the outskirt of the land which is an extension of the family quarters that you have at Ado. They usually give what is called "gregban" or Isakole to the household owning the land they settled at. But as time goes on, people who does that were all dead, and the tradition can no longer hold.

So a fiasco ensued between the two parties. Presently, the issue is in a competent court of law, and we can only hope it is resolved amicably because the people affected had had a long time of friendship and variant relationships. Naturally, the Egun are as protected as Nigerians as were the Aworis, so no one can make the other a displace people in their country.

Our land is also affected, but what can we do? trust the awori tribesmen for land runs, but you wont because of that declare that the land no longer belong to them. Oko n'tikun, ile n'tepa, lesi maa b'omo alakese dule baba tie? Let's keep our fingers cross as we expect the best from the justice system of the country. No victor, no vanquished, I love both parties.

As to grandma's story, I will upload it asap. It's a true life story o, just warm up to it, although it's heart breaking o. I warn you o.

Glory.

Fulaman198: The guys post just wreaks of vast inferiority complex

@Fulaman, you can always speak within the limit of your competence, and at the limit of your competence, someone else's competence began. I can see your faceless friends . Your post is their consolation. Alright, they want to hear me out? that's good. You don't have a story to tell, just a fight or, disagreement. I no send you O, I am not one of your charles Darwin slave...

Now back to basics, the characteristics of living things are "M.R. N.I.G.E.R. D." according to simplest biology. Movement is the first of the characteristics of living things. The E stands for Excretion sir, not Evolution, which is what your groupie want to impose on us as history via African pride. History is the diversification of people from one point to the other, not evolution.

Tell your side of the story if you have any. Tell us evolution if that's was what you understood as History, or stick to your tease forever.

By the way, you don't know how inferior your complexes are. You don't seems to know the difference between a "theory" and an "absolute" Evolution is a theory, not absolute. so I understand your groupie's frustration is borne out of not knowing the difference. Here is my Theory of Education for instance:

WP{ORE}IUK

By this token, I meant to say "Prime Wisdom is a Function of Observation, Recording and Explanation, and a close Function of Impacting Understanding and Knowledge". You do not know how to question your answers. Darwin wrote a book on his observations, he did not create the world, so I can choose to disagree with his observation because he is an observer, not the maker.

Whatever you have been taught comes from a source's Prime Wisdom, which is obtain from such individual's Observation, and Recording (for it to survive) and is kept in peoples mind through Explanation. Furthermore, it is meant to Impact in others, Understanding which is pathway to Knowledge.

The white man whom you are slaving for via evolution-theory call it "theory", but it has become "absolute" to you and your groupie. Anyone who do not parrot your worldview has inferiority complex. If that is inferiority complex, I will rather make the best of it, than dwell in your subtly proposed "ideal amnesia".

Back to my theory now: evolution is from the prime wisdom of Epicurus, when he took on the school of Plato on "the myth of the cave" and Elysium. Now I do not like to be an iconoclast, the man in 10pound took it from there to sneer at Compte De Gobineau's "Aryan nation". and to me, it is a Trojan horse. In fact, evolution is a compress-word for "change is constant, everything undergo change." - Epicurus.

Now if you are given someone elses observation as prime wisdom, learn to question it. It is just an observation, which become popular because it was recorded to explain an issue. It is left to you to make it "theory" or "absolute" based on your agenda. Don't impose your limit on me.

Let me help you to hierarchy of knowledge:

Absolute is higher than law, which is higher than principle, which is higher than tradition, which is higher than theory, which is higher than hypothesis, which is higher than observation, which is higher than speculation, which is higher than intuition, which is higher than stupidity.

"Theory" is low in hierarchy of knowledge to absolute. Evolution is a white man's theory, not absolute. I pray you can spot the difference. Stop slaving for it to fill the vacuum of modern religion in you with secularism. Your choice is yours, mine is mine. I'm not your attache or inferior to you. I can think and make intellectual choices in a free society without been scared of being bullied.

You think evolution is doing you a historical service?
It is a "protocol", a Greek gift and Trojan horse.
I pray you can spot the difference.

I think you are spies,
or undercover.
infilterators

Howmanage: Quite interesting. But you can't stop here. By the way, where is this village please? Also maybe tell us a couple of your grandma's stories please. 10q

Wow Howmanage, Starflux, thanks, y'all.

My grandma lived in a place call Ago Babalawo at Ado-Odo. Her dad was the Babalawo, and her husband too. Well, she was of the formal type, she is more business minded, not because she is desperately in pursuit of money or what have you, but hard-work is some sort of currency in the village. If you go to the village and you start to play football, you are in trouble with grandma.

Its always funny back then. Here we are in the middle of the houses in the village playing football, and thats grandma on her way to the next village. we dont know the next thing that will happen so we stop for her to pass. Suddenly, granma is running on full throttle at the direction of the ball. You don't know if you have to pick the ball or run away. At last, grandma has the ball and the fun is over.

I love her anyway, its just village life. There, it is not possible to finish all the works you have to do, never. The vessel is never having enough water, there is no enough firewood in the cottage, there is not enough fish so you must go to village square to get some more, you must go to the farm, you must tell goat to go and sleep indoor and you must cook till argh.

Over time, I have come to understand the fact that not having a male child led grandma to be more hardworking compare to her contemporary. She did have one but lost him. Much ado for a male child in Africa. So she has to work to support herself and people around her, no one is lazy. and she was so thrifty. Its those little things that has helped her to stay focus and engaged.

Meanwhile she has her great stories, different pages of epics of motherhood and so on. But my inquest with her is always about origin, and she told me stories of how her household came from Dahomey to Nigeria in sketch. Maybe I'm of the fifth generation of these people. She was indeed a peacemaker. The king of my place reckoned her as mother.

At her death, the truce she has always broker between the indigine and settlers erupt in a different dimension, and trouble sprung. One of my cousins who has been indigen witness told my aunt, "you do not know how that woman had bridged the gap for so long. The peace we've always have was because of co-existence that was fostered by their generation".

She was the last of her kind in that neighbourhood.

Finally, what I wont forget about my grandmother was, she was a good storyteller, she don't often reprimand my curiosity about the world around me, except she's angry, and she don't often. The take-away I got from her was a day like that, as a child on Holiday, I was sick and laid on a mat at the basement of our house. It was evening and she covered me with her clothe, her wrapper.

So I was lying there and hardly pick the words of the language save for bit and piece. But grandma was a colourful narrator as most of the villagers are. so while lying down beside her, she reminisced with her cousins how her mom was such a wonderful woman and how she just passed on and how she fought to stay at the village she loved even after death. She has a great love for her mom.

Now she said, "if I had been literate, I would have written a book about my mom". At that moment, it struck me that books were writing by people. I know books but I never knew people wrote it. As little as I was then, I made a vow to myself at that point that I will write my own book when I grow up.

Thanks to grandma, I just did.

Data lost due to ...

Howmanage: Great write up. Pls continue

Oh brother, thanks for not minding my usual narcissist approach to issues.

Let me continue with the story...

still on memo lane,

in spite of the limited material resources available to my matriarch, she still put good inheritance in place for her children when it was time to die. She was an amazon. She got a piece of land and left money for its construction. Relative success is part of their heirloom. Her husband has through farming and Babalawo left a storey building, (he's been my old mans friend, and they have exact same kind of property) a land mark as far back as the time.

Now this is how to make red oil, or palm oil for the city dweller among us. Once we have the palm kernel harvested, the trouble began. Though I hate it, but you just must not show it. Everybody has a basket of their strength size. So grandma would sieve the palm fruit with the wind sheet using the basket, and once its clean to some extent, the rigorous job of transfering the produce homeward began.

There is a place called Dhoto in the village, this is where we will pour all the produce and the trip to the farm may be three to four times, miles away. Once done, the next thing is to go to the well at some few distance to feel the crater call dhoto with water. It might take 2000 litres of water.

Then you think of a drum of water to boil the palm fruit. My duty is to participate in all this and then go into nearby bush to fetch what the natives call praoh, firewood made of palm branches to the dhoto where the fire is made. Boiling the palmfruit may take all days depending on the quantity. Once the fruit is soft, it is fetch from the drum used to cook it and to a smaller drum where they squeeze the boiled fruit with legs.

Now, it is time to pack the beaten palmsoup to the platform part of the crater, then grandma enter the crater and began to take the juiced and pour it back into the crater, this is like taking water from a drum and pouring it back. But the oil that foam on the water is scooped and put in a container for second round boiling. I always watch grandma do all these, wandering what she want to achieve exactly.

It took time to get the idea behind what she was doing, but later, I got it as I grew to some extent.

bigfrancis21: I am proud to be black and wouldn't want to be otherwise. In one way, hebraic descent stories in Africa reeks of inferiority complex. I hardly ever put thoughts into the supposed Igbo-Hebraic talks until I come on nairaland. I have never even seen myself as a Jew how much more an Israeli. LOL. As you know, I am very proud of my Igbo culture, my language and my country.

My views on the other thread were only my observations on similarities between both peoples, which may come off as being a supporter. But no, I am not.

How much were you paid for this anticlimax? 2 Likes? more are coming?

Please, learn to isolate public/personal opinion from historical speculations. The task of the young mind is to find curiosity and engage it to the letter. Maybe in it is a discovery of value or a serendipity for the erudite. When you make the above choice, you sound like people who believe what you unbelieve were not sound and capable of reaching choice conclusion. You did not take emotional-intelligence precaution.

People use their sense of emotion more than they do, their logic. And that is the bane of several African-child growing in this age and time. But they must be tutor to know that there are blacks who will not bent to silly black pride in the name of history and eugenics. You have your brain, use it. This is how:

There is fine line of difference between being a "black intellectual" and being "intellectually black". An intellectually black person cannot separate racial sentiment from intellectual discourse. Such sneers at the opinion of others and never will ever come with any original acceptable index.

These are called dog-men, barking orders at others and bending their will and buffeting the desire in others to find out more about their curiosity or a fancy of any choice. Manipulating them by so doing to the preferred sentiments of the (intellectually black) club. I don't belong to this club, I belong to black intellectual club.

Let those that believe that the ancestors of the black race were Hebrew hold their believe and share their findings with their kinds, let those that believe that their ancestors were apes believe the same with their ilks on board. Which is true, time will tell. I always know of a flow from Epicurus, to John Dee to The Tempest [/i]and to [i]The Descent of man. I know the flickering of the compass.

But of course there can be a point of interception here: let the Hebrew club share their Hebrew correlations if need be, and let the descendants of apes come up and share the point of spontaneous generation of life where men were created crawl out in Africa with their friends and by so doing, the liturgy of Africa would improve tremendously.

Until then, I am entitled to my doubts that the fact that Evolution is the darling of the west, and Africa is in the spotlight of that theory suddenly make us heros. The extra material feed in that theory for the black man is simply that nature has upgraded to a new species of mankind and is ready to do away with the old any time. So evolution is no longer on our side, but dissolution.

Go back and read your stuffs very wella, if you belong to the intellectually black club. Ibadan lemo, ee mo laipo (you are only familiar with the palatable aspect of evolution, not the ulterior motive concealed behind it). I am a prince, I don't take orders for my ancestral traditions from unknown faceless people advancing "theory" put fort by a man.

Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
Proverbs 22:29.

Sorry if my writeup is somehow offensive, there is no permanent friendship, only permanent interest.

I hold no grudge against my best friend, uncle bigfrancis.

Hmn cant ever stop longing for the old days when men were kids. Back in time when my scary moment is going through the narrow path that led to my old mans farm. Grandma kept that farm and harvest its palm produce whenever its season. it often fall on Holiday, the long Holiday and each time, I love to visit the rustic village and catch a glimse of eternal loving village live. the poverty of farm-live is an innocent one.

Grandma makes palm oil, she made pap for the local market several miles out of the forest home that forms our habitation. Oh my sweet grandma, how I loved you. Now I only see you in dreams. I wept bitterly the day she departed this world. So what do I have left in this world without the love of my grandma, I thought she has got an eternal life. No she hasn't.

And on the farm, I listen with rapt attention when she select and crush out fresh palmfruit from the bunch of the palms pines Its often bounty harvest. I always take it slow, picking my palmfruit because of the pines, and I'm only looking for the red and flesh kernels to shew. then the pungent smell of the surrounding, and those crazy giant ants marching everywhere. They are running their business at the same time.

My all time "weird one" is the dung-bug. It kept fascinating me like, can't you do other things for God sake?

One day in the farm, grandma was busy with her work. she is schedule to produce palm oil for the next market. I went with her, or I will be guilty forever as truant. i was to learn a music that I will never forget. Of course their is nothing to it? But that song is the source of inspiration and faith in my self. I don't hate others ideas, but you can't take mine from me, get it? The song can help you too if you care. It goes:

Mehn do vi mayon
Ani hutu a tho do mor?

Ovi wheyin asethecon,
E wanu ajaka maze

Mehn do vi mayon
ani hutu athodor mor?

ovi whe yin are t'ajoji,
azan ethon di e pe

Meh dor vi mayon
Ani hutu a tho dor mor?



One who said the child is bad,
Exactly why did you say so?
The child is one watchful cat
by his deeds rats can't just pick

Men that says the child is bad
Exactly why did you say so?

The child is the profit on the trade
His era is being fulfilled right now

Men that says the child is bad
Exactly why did you say so?

I believe my grandmother has pass a valuable intel to me, because she was an initiate of ATP. That's African intel for us. Sweet grandma, sleep on, sleep well. You are of the last amazon. I love you.

akigbemaru: irunmoles agbe wa ooo

Ase...

kose kose ni tilakose.

Amo sa, Ori eni l'aba bo,

aba f'orisha sile l'eyo,

nitori lojo ti 'ku npani,

Nibo l'orisha nwo o?

Ani,

Ori lonishe, eda l'ayanmo.

Ori iwanran Olokun abara lile bi ota.

Ori mi apepe ori mi apesin,

Ire owo ni ki o muto miwa.

Ire omo ni ko ya lodede mi

Ire aiku baale oro jininjini.

Eyi ni mo toro lowo Eledua.

Orisha oke to ro tutu f'Olofin

Eledua Oba ajiki oba ajiki

Oba Ateni legelege f'ori s'apeji-omi.

Ire lojun ojo ri.

Ire ni temi,
Ori mi, ori Ade,
Orun mi ejigba ileke.
Eti mi igbo gbedu niga,
Nibi nmo ibOba gbite ayeye.

Beni emi naa ni ara Iseri ni mi
Awokunle, Omo Ola.
Omo abile soro
kile lanu.

Eku iyanju lori ero ikanni yi,

Bi o tile ti je wipe nko kundun lati maa wo sinima tobe ju bee lo, mo se sadankata fun ise opolo ti e lo lati fi ewa ede agbede-gbeyo gbe erongba yin lori sinima yin kale lati fi ise opolo ti e ti se naa han fun mutumuwa. O dara lati ni asiko fun idaraya ati ituraka pelu awon ebi laarin kan tabi omiran, Nitori naa, mo gb'osuba fun yin.

Igbagbo mi ni wipe bi aba ns'akitiyan lori sinima pelu ewa ede wa, ko nii rorubn ki ise ati asa wa pare leyinwa ola. Eleyi a je "moriwu" fun awon ti won nfe ki asa ati ise wa ni idagbasoke ni sanmoni taa wa bayi. Lai dena penu, emi naa yoo nife si sinima naa lati wo, bolouwa bafe.

Eseun l'opolopo.