GurlFriend:
Yesterday, Oba Ewuare ll N'Ogidigan ascended the revered throne of his ancestors to become the 40th Oba of Benin, succeeding his late father, Omo n’Oba n’Edo Uku Akpolopkolo, Oba Erediauwa.

The photo below of the newly coronated Oba puzzled many people.

Why was the Oba covering his mouth? It was obviously a cultural act but what was the significance? Even his wives covered their mouths.



I did some investigation and found out the following:

The Oba usually covers his mouth because when he talks he is the supreme authority. Whatever he says is final.



People talk on his behalf most of the time and whatever they proclaim becomes the Law with immediate effect.

A friend of mine who is a painter said he did a painting of the old Oba and it was rejected because it depicted him smiling. According to tradition, people are not supposed to see the Oba's teeth so he doesn't smile.

His wives covered their mouths as a sign of submission.

Don't you just love our culture? So rich and varied!

If I have any fact wrong, please clarify.

Oba atokpei, iseeeeeee!!!

http://www.lailasblog.com/2016/10/so-heres-real-reason-new-oba-of-benin.html

I bin think say person mess or something wit a bad odour is smelling around

Olufemiolaolu:
What a Backward tradition. His decision isnt supreme any longer. His so called decision shd be supreme on eradication or reduction of prostitution in Edo

His decision is no longer supreme? Well, same with the queen of England but that doesn't stop her and her family from being highly respected. The Oba of Benin is the oldest institution in the Edo state and is highly revered and respected. Tell me, what is the Edo people without our Oba? Edo tradition and culture is what we makes us Edo people. Oba gha to kpe re. ise

summerflame:
The Oba of Benin do cover his nose cos benin people don't normally bath and they are stinking, he doesn't want them to polite the needed oxygen.. if it's a lie, the poster above me knows and the poster below me is From Benin, over to the poster below me

Think about what you have typed and ask yourself if those are the words of an intelligent young man. It's not even funny. SMH.

GurlFriend:
Yesterday, Oba Ewuare ll N'Ogidigan ascended the revered throne of his ancestors to become the 40th Oba of Benin, succeeding his late father, Omo n’Oba n’Edo Uku Akpolopkolo, Oba Erediauwa.

The photo below of the newly coronated Oba puzzled many people.

Why was the Oba covering his mouth? It was obviously a cultural act but what was the significance? Even his wives covered their mouths.

I did some investigation and found out the following:

The Oba usually covers his mouth because when he talks he is the supreme authority. Whatever he says is final.

People talk on his behalf most of the time and whatever they proclaim becomes the Law with immediate effect.

A friend of mine who is a painter said he did a painting of the old Oba and it was rejected because it depicted him smiling. According to tradition, people are not supposed to see the Oba's teeth so he doesn't smile.

His wives covered their mouths as a sign of submission.

Don't you just love our culture? So rich and varied!

If I have any fact wrong, please clarify.

Oba atokpei, iseeeeeee!!!

http://www.lailasblog.com/2016/10/so-heres-real-reason-new-oba-of-benin.html

if them won chop Ewudu and Amala nko Afonjas and their cousin from Edo are diabolic... what an evil culture, Tufiakwa

Olufemiolaolu:
What a Backward tradition. His decision isnt supreme any longer. His so called decision shd be supreme on eradication or reduction of prostitution in Edo

What is even amazing is that they are Oduduwa descendants and yet very backward. One would have thought that they would have acquired a lot of civilisation and sophistication like their Yoruba cousins!

joey150:

You think if africans where left to keep worshipping sticks and stones that we would have come this far?

Look around you..almost every meaningful thing around us we learnt today was from the west.

Was our tradition then really promoting development? If yes how where we still far under developed that the white men could scare us with guns and our so called charms could not save us. Yes history is good so we can leanr from the past.. Yes not all of our traditions are evil or bad but most of it.

And finally,
Yes we have few great traditions we could hold onto really.

I ask again..presently who funds these traditional systems in Nigeria?? And do they justify the money spent on them year in year out?

Like I told u I don't care about other monarchies...

As for our obas function also do not worry we bini's know why we love the oba.

What is the role of the queen of England &dukes? The emperor of Japan? King of thailand? King of Spain etc what are their functions?

When they scrap their own...we will 'think' about scrapping ours.

I'm interested in knowing your tribe...what tribe are you?

this is punishment, no freedom for d ladies

Lol! very few will know that there's a 4th wife with 2 kids, who he banished for other reasons and moreover she's from the Eweka dynasty.

Imariabe Eweka

Katikati

Sunkyphil:
Radarada

saintdennis:


Like I told u I don't care about other monarchies...

As for our obas function also do not worry we bini's know why we love the oba.

What is the role of the queen of England &dukes? The emperor of Japan? King of thailand? King of Spain etc what are their functions?

When they scrap their own...we will 'think' about scrapping ours.

I'm interested in knowing your tribe...what tribe are you?

Why do you love the Oba? What is his importance to the ordinary Benin man?
Am asking because i do not know..am not in anyway undermining his relevance.

Dukes and kings are more of ceremonial positions now.. Except in a state that runs on pure monarchy without a parliament.

Besides am not a big fan of royal families..
It wouldnt be nice to have all the leaders of Nigeria come from Buhari's family would it?

If we take a good and hard look at ourselves and feel the Oba's and Emirs and Eze's serve no real function its not a crime to abolish them. They dont fit in this modern era..or they should be rebranded or reviewed.

Who funds the Oba of Benin? And what does he do with the money?


My tribe is irrelevant here. If i tell you, you just may use me to judge the others.

alignacademy:



Why not take a closer look?

Granted, the white man brought some good
things, like mirrors, guns and gin... and yes
the English language

White man brought us some good things?

Like we had great things before their arrival?
Come on if they didnt show us oil we never may have found it.. And even till now they still help us find and extract it.most of Our traditions where never set up to advance us in the first place. That is why you have pot bellied men walking barefooted with charms all over.

Language cannot justify crime. Anybody can lie or cheat in any language.
Nobody is saying abandon tradition all together my argument here is....do we really need Most of them?

For the head talk... I hear about it, sadly i dont have any concrete evidence. But from all the fetish things in those traditional stuff its not too hard to believe.

A stvpid culture, exclusively of dogs in human bodies. Monarchy and these archaic traditions should have no place in the 21st century.

It's quite nauseating that some people still practice this nonsense. Tradition makes spectacular idi0ts of human beings.

A few hundred years ago, people believed that they could be cured of illness if they touched a monarch. Why? Because monarchs were God's chosen ones, hence imbued with divine powers. What a load of sh!t!!!!!!!! People still believe equally idiotic things in the present day. Just how credulous can some people be?

And women are expected to indulge in stomach-churning practices that portray them as submissive idi0ts, mere objects. No woman with any values or self-respect will participate in a system where SUBMISSION (what nonsense!) is demanded of her, a system that degrades her and tags her a human dog.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/4363743_emiefiles_jpegb2dff19b8cc94e9ed6f67b88c29234e0

abi dem forget to brush their teeth that morning

playerinc:


His decision is no longer supreme? Well, same with the queen of England but that doesn't stop her and her family from being highly respected.

Highly respected for WHAT? If the people of Britain didn't think there was something "magical" about their rancid queen, they would surely have overthrown her.

The Oba of Benin is the oldest institution in the Edo state and is highly revered and respected. Tell me, what is the Edo people without our Oba?

That's right. What do YOU think you are without your Oba? NOTHING? That would be despicable.

Edo tradition and culture is what we makes us Edo people. Oba gha to kpe re. ise

An ACCIDENTAL birth to Edo parents in Edo state is what makes YOU Edo. That's a fact. And that's less important to your humanity. What really counts is that you're a member of the human race. Your Edo identity was artificially constructed, and has no intrinsic value whatsoever.

playerinc:


Think about what you have typed and ask yourself if those are the words of an intelligent young man. It's not even funny. SMH.

You need not mind him. No need to indulge his credulity. We know his kind. They post nothing but bland, banal, dumb observations reflecting the first thought that comes into their heads. There's no quality control. There's no pause for self-reflection, for perfecting the message, for working out something profound they want to say. Only people with zero intelligence see reason in splurging out random thoughts into cyberspace.

He ought to have heeded Pythagoras' advice. A Latin epigram of one of his sayings is: "Aut tace aut loquere meliora silentio", meaning "Either be silent or say something better than silence.". The brutes will never listen.

dipori:
abi dem forget to brush their teeth that morning

Does this mean you go about covering your mouth with a queer piece of cloth whenever you "forget" to brush your teeth?........ That's quite revealing.

joey150:
Africa should get rid of all these things..where was our so called tradition when the white man took us all as slaves.. These things help set us back many thousand years..that is why most of our big strides in development came when we where under our colonial masters.

We keep dwelling on tradition that adds no tangible meaning or advancement to our society at large.


modified

All of you mentioning me have refused to tell me how most of our traditions have added value to our society.

I dont know of any Oba where i live till they need 7 heads to bury him.. Is this the type of traditions we should hold onto?

Or traditions where we marry out 12 year olds and deny them the right to basic education ?? I can go on and on....

or tradition where female circumcision is d other of d day or d tradition DAT d widow is forced to drink from d water used in washing her late husband's remain etc

Some things are no longer relevant.

dem de cover mouth cos of wetin....

joey150:

Why do you love the Oba? What is his importance to the ordinary Benin man?
Am asking because i do not know..am not in anyway undermining his relevance.

Dukes and kings are more of ceremonial positions now.. Except in a state that runs on pure monarchy without a parliament.

Besides am not a big fan of royal families..
It wouldnt be nice to have all the leaders of Nigeria come from Buhari's family would it?

If we take a good and hard look at ourselves and feel the Oba's and Emirs and Eze's serve no real function its not a crime to abolish them. They dont fit in this modern era..or they should be rebranded or reviewed.

Who funds the Oba of Benin? And what does he do with the money?


My tribe is irrelevant here. If i tell you, you just may use me to judge the others.

Nah your tribe is very relevant because it gives me an idea of your heritage.
Personally here in lagos i've seen many royal fathers embarrass themselves so I'm not surprised when they're not venerated.

Imagine olamide seating in-btw ooni n elegushi oba in a pic(laughs)

Anyway we the bini tribes (edo-ondo-delta-lagos) the japs, brits,Spanish, Thai n co...know the significance of its monarchy.

The brits themselves were once paying customs & duties to Rome b4 being colonised(under the roman empire) did It make them abandon their monarchy?

Today you pay money to watch thor, hercules, archilles, spartacus all of whom are mythical tales of the Greeks, norsemen (vikings) etc who they routinely sacrificed human n animals to...but good narratives have given them a more palatable meaning.
Pocahontas story was tweaked into love-story when in truth it WASNT!

That's how good the whites r good @ propaganda.
What u don't get as an African is that we weren't 'that bad' @ all @all...it's just the narrative of the white man.

We lost a war so u wanna abandon ur heritage? Ask the israelites (jews) how far!

I don't know about ur tribe or region but if not for poor maintenance culture the benin moat would be a top tourist site...in the old nigeria ONLY benin city was destroyed by the brits during the punitive expedition. Why?

Our flag/royal banner is still there(in england)

Summary: who funds them ain't our concern, we know their importance...you're an outsider so ergo you won't and SHOULD not understand.

moshmusth:
oba to pa iya e... iseeee

lol! I grab bro

Michael1812:
Highly respected for WHAT? If the people of Britain didn't think there was something "magical" about their rancid queen, they would surely have overthrown her.

That's right. What do YOU think you are without your Oba? NOTHING? That would be despicable.

An ACCIDENTAL birth to Edo parents in Edo state is what makes YOU Edo. That's a fact. And that's less important to your humanity. What really counts is that you're a member of the human race. Your Edo identity was artificially constructed, and has no intrinsic value whatsoever.

I know you think that you have made an intelligent reply/analysis, but you only succeeded in showing how far you are willing to go argue for arguement's sake. But the truth is that you fall into the group of people who hate what they dont have. If I am to hazard a guess, I would say you belong to an ethnic group that has no arcane history, beautiful traditional beliefs, respected monarch etc. So you are jealous of what you don't have and hate those who do have them. So my friend, please don't quote me to spew such again. ALL I SAID IS THAT EDO PEOPLE ARE PROUD OF WHO WE ARE INCLUDING OUR TRADITIONS AND CULTURE OF WHICH THE OBA IS THE FULCRUM. YES, WE TRULY ARE PROUD. SAME WAY AN AMERICAN IS PROUD TO BE AMERICAN AND ALWAYS CLING TO WHAT MAKES THEM AMERICANS. Part of the argument against stricter gun laws in the US is that many Americans believe it's part of what makes them Americans, the right to own firearms even though it claims hundreds of lives yearly. Part of the sentiments that made Scotish people to vote "NO" to leaving the UK was because they were not sure if they would retain the royal family in the new Scotland. Against better and professional judgement, the British people voted to leave the EU simply because most Britons wanted to be British, period. It's almost the same way Warri people love their pidgin and their reputation for ruggedness. The list is endless. So don't be a hater. PEOPLE WITH RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE ARE PROUD OF WHAT MAKES THEM WHO THEY ARE AND THE EDOS ARE PROUD. SAME COULD BE SAID FOR YORUBAS, IBOS, IJAWS, FULANI etc.

...............................................................

saintdennis:

Nah your tribe is very relevant because it gives me an idea of your heritage.
Personally here in lagos i've seen many royal fathers embarrass themselves so I'm not surprised when they're not venerated.

Imagine olamide seating in-btw ooni n elegushi oba in a pic(laughs)

Anyway we the bini tribes (edo-ondo-delta-lagos) the japs, brits,Spanish, Thai n co...know the significance of its monarchy.

The brits themselves were once paying customs & duties to Rome b4 being colonised(under the roman empire) did It make them abandon their monarchy?

Today you pay money to watch thor, hercules, archilles, spartacus all of whom are mythical tales of the Greeks, norsemen (vikings) etc who they routinely sacrificed human n animals to...but good narratives have given them a more palatable meaning.
Pocahontas story was tweaked into love-story when in truth it WASNT!

That's how good the whites r good @ propaganda.
What u don't get as an African is that we weren't 'that bad' @ all @all...it's just the narrative of the white man.

We lost a war so u wanna abandon ur heritage? Ask the israelites (jews) how far!

I don't know about ur tribe or region but if not for poor maintenance culture the benin moat would be a top tourist site...in the old nigeria ONLY benin city was destroyed by the brits during the punitive expedition. Why?

Our flag/royal banner is still there(in england)

Summary: who funds them ain't our concern, we know their importance...you're an outsider so ergo you won't and SHOULD not understand.

You will live long my brother. To tell the truth, Benin kingdom would have developed to be an advanced country. The structure was already there before the invasion. Most of European structure were not so different from those of Benin kingdom. As at 1914 and 1939, when the first world war and second world war took place, Europeans were nothing other than squabbling, land grabbing countries where a country who found itself stronger than its neighbors would suddenly invade them for no good reason even though they were all cousins. Over 120 years have passed since Benin kingdom was invaded and destroyed, now imagine that we were left alone to prosper. But that is the way of the world, kingdoms rise and fall and rise again. War quickens this process.

saintdennis:

Nah your tribe is very relevant because it gives me an idea of your heritage.
Personally here in lagos i've seen many royal fathers embarrass themselves so I'm not surprised when they're not venerated.

Imagine olamide seating in-btw ooni n elegushi oba in a pic

I dont wanna quote the whole post.

The British Monarchy is known as a constitutional monarchy. ... As Head of State, The Monarch undertakes constitutional and representational duties which have developed over one thousand years of history.

You still didnt answer the main question.
What function does your Oba serve?
Who funds him?
What does he use the funds for?
Does he add any value to the Benin/Nigerian society at large?

Am surprised you are finding it hard to tell me one function your Oba serves??

You are comparing countries that once or still runs monarchy system of government to we that have never run a monarchy system of government before(at least in the last 80 years)

ryd3:
ohoo...me i think say person mess and na royal swag to cover nose n mouth...i see

no be only mess, funny guy

joey150:
Africa should get rid of all these things..where was our so called tradition when the white man took us all as slaves.. These things help set us back many thousand years..that is why most of our big strides in development came when we where under our colonial masters.

We keep dwelling on tradition that adds no tangible meaning or advancement to our society at large.


modified

All of you mentioning me have refused to tell me how most of our traditions have added value to our society.

I dont know of any Oba where i live till they need 7 heads to bury him.. Is this the type of traditions we should hold onto?

Or traditions where we marry out 12 year olds and deny them the right to basic education ?? I can go on and on....

another mental slave on nairaland.

you say white men took us all as slaves. . oga ade park well, they surely have you as a slave going by your words but there are people like me who are free...people who know their history and the greatness of our traditions

you cannot take out time to learn about Africa.... You probably haven't heard about Kanem-Bornu, Oyo Empire, Malian Empire, Ghanaian empire, Egypt, Nubians, Kongo.

And stop being a slowpoke, nobody buries 7 heads with any Oba neither is it traditional to marry 12 year Olds. .. they do that in the north because of religion. .. pick that up with Arabs and moronic black Africans who follow their ways

Hmmmm, at his age with those three romantic curvy girls. Isn't that part of the corruption buhari should be fighting

rubyradiance:

If you follow up on Bini royals as per d oba you will totally love them,do you its a taboo for his wives to wear clothes I.e covering their shoulders? Come December he will be celebrating his 1st IGWE festival its going be another cultural display for 7 days

waoh, i'd love to attend that ceremony

playerinc:


I know you think that you have made an intelligent reply/analysis, but you only succeeded in showing how far you are willing to go argue for arguement's sake. But the truth is that you fall into the group of people who hate what they dont have. If I am to hazard a guess, I would say you belong to an ethnic group that has no arcane history, beautiful traditional beliefs, respected monarch etc. So you are jealous of what you don't have and hate those who do have them. So my friend, please don't quote me to spew such again. ALL I SAID IS THAT EDO PEOPLE ARE PROUD OF WHO WE ARE INCLUDING OUR TRADITIONS AND CULTURE OF WHICH THE OBA IS THE FULCRUM. YES, WE TRULY ARE PROUD. SAME WAY AN AMERICAN IS PROUD TO BE AMERICAN AND ALWAYS CLING TO WHAT MAKES THEM AMERICANS. Part of the argument against stricter gun laws in the US is that many Americans believe it's part of what makes them Americans, the right to own firearms even though it claims hundreds of lives yearly. Part of the sentiments that made Scotish people to vote "NO" to leaving the UK was because they were not sure if they would retain the royal family in the new Scotland. Against better and professional judgement, the British people voted to leave the EU simply because most Britons wanted to be British, period. It's almost the same way Warri people love their pidgin and their reputation for ruggedness. The list is endless. So don't be a hater. PEOPLE WITH RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE ARE PROUD OF WHAT MAKES THEM WHO THEY ARE AND THE EDOS ARE PROUD. SAME COULD BE SAID FOR YORUBAS, IBOS, IJAWS, FULANI etc.

A culture that treats women as mere objects whose only purpose is to submit to their master is extremely BACKWARD in the truest sense of the word. It's nothing to be proud of. Only barely conscious animals will find anything of worth in it.

FYI, unlike you, I do not define myself by my ethnic identity. It is of zero value to me. So doing makes you less tolerant of others and give you a false sense of superiority, which is a truism, given the statement "But the truth is that you fall into the group of people who hate what they dont have. If I am to hazard a guess, I would say you belong to an ethnic group that has no arcane history, beautiful traditional beliefs, respected monarch etc. So you are jealous of what you don't have and hate those who do have them.

Quit it with your bladderdash. No human being can be jealous of such grotesque culture. There's nothing rich or beautiful about it.

joey150:

White man brought us some good things?

Like we had great things before their arrival?

WOW!

Statements like these make me think you've
made up your mind there's nothing good about
the black race. And if you've made up your
mind, no one can change that... and I won't
even try to!

As far back as the early 16th century, the
Bini Kingdom was a world class city and even
the Oba then sent an ambassador to Lisbon,
Portugal. Not exactly the common idea of
people hiding in trees and caves.

joey150:

That is why you have pot bellied men walking barefooted with charms all over.

For the head talk... I hear about it, sadly i dont have any concrete evidence. But from all the fetish things in those traditional stuff its not too hard to believe.

You may find this hard to believe but the
words "fetish", "witch", "wizard" are all
English words! Yes, that means that they also
had people who practiced the "dark arts".
Evil is not native to a particular race.

joey150:

Nobody is saying abandon tradition all together my argument here is....do we really need Most of them?

Now you're talking!

Of course every culture evolves, learning new
ways of doing things and growing. But that
starts with the basis of first knowing who
you are and being happy in your own skin. No
matter how "educated" you are, you're born
black. You can only start from there.

For instance, look at this forum. Even if
Seun Osewa didn't invent the idea of a forum,
he has still created one that is unique to us
as Nigerians. No Harvard business school guru
can do that.

We need to celebrate the best in us and work
on improving anything that doesn't work for
us, NOT to just assume that everything white
is automatically the standard.

Cheers!