There are countless ways the founding fathers of the Yoruba civilization had tried to reach us with wealth of information and knowledge that has formed the bedrock of Yoruba culture.

One of such sees to the invention of oriki, meaning "geneological praise". It's definitely a great family poetry that seems ordinary but loaded with meaning. I will start with my family oriki, ile latii keso r'ode.

The man who will tell the Yoruba history authoritatively must himself be a Yoruba man, with the values and ethos of the Yoruba ingrained in his consciousness right from childhood.

Oriki is meant to communicate with the Yoruba man, the import is to remind the Yoruba of her identity. We are admonished time and again to "ranti omo eni ti iwo nse".

This means, remember the Scion of whom you are. I remember mine in my family oriki, and it goes thus:

Omo Ola,
Omo Ose,
Omose o see rofo,
Omo olomi nibusun,
Omo osun f'odo ro'ri.
Omo oniporogun l'ode orun.
Omo ogbale s'osa
Omo ogbale tan ti sasara b'omi
Omo onigbo muri
Omo elepo'ru.

Every line has a meaning. We will be exploring the meaning sideways with another oriki from Eletu Iwase. The comparative study shows similar style.

That of Eletu Iwase is given by the Providence, I had predicted that the Yoruba and bini were a twins at the onset of time.

And while looking for thermometer around that iga iduganran axis (Eleko's palace), I found a poster at the entrance to the Enu Owa mosque and copied the oriki of the deceased.

Like I said, the poster announces the death of "Olori Ebi Eletu Iwase" Pa Abdulrasak Isola, aged 93 years.

Oriki Eletu Iwase

Omo odiyan
Omo Ogun niwase
Omo arofoba b'egun
Omo aseu mapekan
Omo apekan ma f'obinrinje
Omo afelele wole oba
Omo Erin obeji
Erinbeji o yaso
Omo oyinbo f'oju orun Sona
Eye f'oju orun sorere
Omo Oro sese niba
Omo ibini arokuntayo
Ogbono igbado ota.

I have no access to this oriki when I made the claim that the Edo have a tradition of Odion and Akere, which establish a valid case for Yoruba and Edo being twins at the onset of time.

And that if that tradition should be repeated in Yoruba, Odion will become Odiyan, that is, "one who preferred pounded yam". Then Akere will be Yoruba for "one who claimed the blessings".

The Twins Clue

First is to establish this claim, all we have to do is understand that Odiyan is not a typical Yoruba word, it's a transliteration of Odion. Then the family that has this tradition declared that they are descended from Ibini.

What does Ibini seems to mean in Yoruba? The word means first born. Then back to our oriki, it says "omo Erin-Obeji". Since this is not a prose, it's poetic rendition of "son of the emigrant twins".

Odion, -Obeji, Ibini: that shows an internal agreement. Obeji is a poetic rendition of ibeji, the wordsmith won't interpolate the line with a prose that will further confuse the listener.

As such, Ibini is the first born in a twins. If so, who was the other twin? Can one be both twins and only retain the identity of one? The other twin would be a group originating at the same time as Ibini.

That's the Erin, implying "emigration". The Eletu Iwase did not claim to have come from Ibini, rather from Iba. So it is said "omo sese niba", meaning son of the one originating at Iba.

The sense in this is that the people predates the empire, and the empire derived from the ancestral home of the people. So, Iba was the original home of the twins.

So, did Yoruba originated at Iba also? Well Iba means "Father" to the Yoruba. The word implied a common patriarch for the two groups. Both culture emanated from Iba.

Root identity

The Eletu Iwase belonged to the white cap chiefs, and they were further reckoned as awonrin. Among the Egun, Awonrin is the native name for Lagos.

At Ado, the quarter known as Ileba were the custodians of "owun olowonrin" meaning "handlers of the tradition of the emigrants". I am from this family.

The cognomen of this realm is "omo eleba ori, omo ori onoja osan". The historical designation of the term iba is harmonious with ileba. Both were extra-Yoruba stickers.

Now the point that the white cap chiefs claimed they were from Ibini does not make them less Yoruba. They were Yoruba from inception, however, they shared common origin with founders of Edo empire, that's all.

The Yoruba record

As the Eletu iwase connected to Awonrin, the Yoruba oral record posited this as "owonrin". Basically, awonrin and owonrin means the same thing: "awon o rin" the people who emigrated.

Both records validated one another because historical events never happened in isolation or oblivion where the people who experience the epoch could not make record of what they witness.

Before we go into the Oriki, let's establish first some historical connections.

Ado, Edo, Ido, Odo
These are all Yoruba ancestral words to denote features of settlement in a geo-space.

Originally, Edo (as in Edo people, Edo State) is a class of emigrants in ancestral times. They left Ife and occupied settlement in a new land in the forest. The aborigines of that forest were known as Efa, hunters and gatherers with no recognized rulership or form of civility.

The Edo of today is a political new-entity, on the surface devoid of its Yoruba ancestry but retaining in its roots traces of linkage back to Yoruba.


Ogiso >>> Oba
The ancient Edo settlement was ruled by Chiefs of Ife known as Ogiso. The settlement prospered and expanded and was characterized by constant clashes of interest between the settlers and aborigines. The capital was Igodo.

Yoruba lexicon does not have "gh" sounding words which is common in the Efa lexicon. We also dont have 'z' or 'v'.

Igodo is same as Agodo - shrine!

The Ogisos brought Ife deities to Edo and built shrines for the deities around their metropolis and took the alias Igodomigodo.

At the arrival of Oranmiyan he and his court camped in Use or Uselu.

Place names like Ughoton, Ughelli are in the aborigene language.

Given names like Akenzua are assimilated from Yoruba Akinsua, popularly used in Eastern Yorubaland.

Eweka was born in Uselu and coronated and reigned from there over the aborigene land.

The Kingdom also took a name and was called IBINI. The King at Uselu ruled over Ibini Kingdom. Eventually a new settlement was developed and the King relocated from Uselu to the new capital now called Ibini - later corrupted to Benin.



What is the connection between Republic of Benin and Benin Kingdom?

This relationship pre-dated 1600.

Both thrones at Oyo Ile and Bini belonged to same bloodline and ancestry but separate dynasties.

The greatest threat and opposition to their rulership was from the Empires of Dahomey and Ghana in West as well Songhai in North.

Hausa, Bariba, Nupe and Yoruba were the immediate contact points to those three threats and so Oyo Empire was under great pressure to preserve its rulership.

Oyo's method of warfare was well suited to the Savannah plains and wooded Guinea belt but insufficient and not suited to deterr threats from the forest and sea coast. This is where Bini Kingdom came in.

Bini itself was not a coastal kingdom but it could form alliance with sailors on the coast to put up a defense shield against intruders from Dahomey and or Ghana using vulnerability to invade and destroy Kingdoms in Yorubaland.

Bini created a sea force using alliance with Itsekiri and Ilaje. They created a seabase at Ado.....

Bini had not settled in Eko by this time. They would travel through the creeks from Bini River through Ijebu to Oto to Amuwo all way to Iwida (Whydah, Ouida).

Oto was the seat of Olofin at that time. Oto is also known as Ido.

He would host them on stopover ...kinda like a modern day Bed-and-Breakfast before proceeding on the journey.

The purpose of Bini in Iwida was to setup a fort and a defense shield against intrusion from threats in West.

Oyo had a similar arrangement in North....in Ilorin! Ilorin was a Yoruba Army fort.


It was much later that Olofin advised that if the fort in Whyday is successful in keeping enemy away, he would need one too because their pepper farm was always raided by intruders in the creek and is damaging trade and commerce with interior kingdoms.

Bini replied that they had no land and cannot fight Olofin to take land for the fort. The compromise was for Aromire to carve out land for Bini settlement.

Bini has never fought Lagos. Bini had a fort used as a defense shield to deter enemy invasion into Yoruba South....as Oyo had also created one in Ilorin that was very effective in supressing Dahomey ambitions.


Lineage and Events...
After Asipa had settled in Eko....

(Notice connection between Edo, Ado, Ido, Eko)

After Asipa settlement he coronated and started the first dynasty.

Oba Akinsemoyin had an alias and he was called Alado. The one who possessed Ado or one from Ado.

His first daughter turned down request to marry Baba Alagbaa (The Palace Priest who was from Ijesha) and instead married a man from Whydah.

Akinsemoyin's sister, Erelu married Baba Alagbaa to bear Ologun Kutere.

Ologun Kutere became King after Akinsemoyin and married an Ijebu woman who bore Eshinlokun.

Adele became King after Kutere but was deposed and left for Whydah.

Eshinlokun became King after Adele.

After Eshinlokun died Kosoko was to become King but Idewu Ojulari was coronated and Kosoko went on exile to Whydah.

After Ojulari died Oluwole became King. He was succeeded by Akintoye.

Akintoye's mother was Egba. He recalled Kosoko from Whydah.

Kosoko overthrew him and sent him on exile.

He later returned with help of British force and deposed Kosoko and regained throne. Kosoko went on exile to Epe.

Akintoye died shortly after. Dosunmu became King. Dosunmu's mother was from Whydah.


So....you see the back and forth relationship between the uproots from Bini setting up a city in Ado (Whydah) and actually marrying from there. Prince and Princesses back in those days married into royalty or a non-royal noble family.

Is it possible that when they settled into Whydah originally, a part of the family took Olofin's invitation to resettle in Lagos while another part remained in Ado?

There is a Quad-City relationship connecting Bini - Oyo- Ado and Eko.

In Lagos there is confusion whether Orisa Adimu was originally the property of Oyo or Bini. You can see the depth of link and how it should not surprise qhen in the Oriki you begin to see elements of Oyo, Bini, Ado and Eko.


Omo Ibini Arokun Yo!

The son of Bini who dominated the Sea!

This is common Oriki for all the Akarigbere White Cap Chiefs.

On the other hand, the Oriki of Oba of Lagos is Omo Erin Jogun Ola.

The son of the mighty who inherited the land!

Erin is a totem of Oyo! But Oyo is younger than Bini.....therefore it can only be traced up to Oranmiyan.

Make i stop here Oga mi!

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The book

Oriki can be viewed as a continuum of historical evolution for its owner.

The Oriki is a record book of deeds showing contributions and exploits of Ancestors in their dimensional capacities - vertical and horizontal!

MetaPhysical:
Oriki can be viewed as a continuum of historical evolution for its owner.

The Oriki is a record book of deeds showing contributions and exploits of Ancestors in their dimensional capacities - vertical and horizontal!

Very well bro.

Vertical from generation to generation, horizontal by how the custodians of oriki has spread and improved upon the information handed down in their new abode.

What I've found so far is that oriki has proven to be scientific: it's a tradition built on cogent and genuine information. Then it's a guide.

When the students are ready then the teacher will appear.

The place names you've listed are the group that formed what became known as Yoruba today. Ife, Ado, Cutonu (meaning perilous mariners), Ilesha, Oyo etc, in no particular order.

From what you have posted, we'll re-exermine some words that can be considered stickers because they've stacked on since inception.

A good instance is Iwase. Its the best way to start, hence I've keep track with it. I will be back.

2prexios:


Very well bro.

Vertical from generation to generation, horizontal by how the custodians of oriki has spread and improved upon the information handed down in their new abode.

What I've found so far is that oriki has proven to be scientific: it's a tradition built on cogent and genuine information. Then it's a guide.

When the students are ready then the teacher will appear.

The place names you've listed are the group that formed what became known as Yoruba today. Ife, Ado, Cutonu (meaning perilous mariners), Ilesha, Oyo etc, in no particular order.

From what you have posted, we'll re-exermine some words that can be considered stickers because they've stacked on since inception.

A good instance is Iwase. Its the best way to start, hence I've keep track with it. I will be back.

Today, African Americans interested in finding where in Africa their ancestors originated go to clinics to give dna sample. This is navigating genetic coding to pinpoint geo-zone, or more pecisely ethnic identity.

Similarly, Oriki is a "navigator".

Let us imagine that some slaves and their descendants had passed on their Oriki to succeeding generations. Today it would be possible to pinpoint their family compound....a feat that dna is not currently capable of.

The Oriki itself, as you have pointed out is scientific. As an individual recites his/her Oriki it is a audio print of their genetic lineage......

"I am the son of those who arrest the surging waves...

A monkey lean on the branch and travels the air...

I stand on the crest and walk the sea...

They ask who am I to troop with the sharks...

I replied that I am the son of Olokun, the custodian of storming seas..."


Very simple, yet precise! We know this person must be from a family that worships Olokun, this person is Yoruba and this person is from a coastal town. Our search for his family is narrowed to just a handful of compounds.

Thanks bro!

2prexios:


Very well bro.

Vertical from generation to generation, horizontal by how the custodians of oriki has spread and improved upon the information handed down in their new abode.

What I've found so far is that oriki has proven to be scientific: it's a tradition built on cogent and genuine information. Then it's a guide.

When the students are ready then the teacher will appear.

The place names you've listed are the group that formed what became known as Yoruba today. Ife, Ado, Cutonu (meaning perilous mariners), Ilesha, Oyo etc, in no particular order.

From what you have posted, we'll re-exermine some words that can be considered stickers because they've stacked on since inception.

A good instance is Iwase. Its the best way to start, hence I've keep track with it. I will be back.

Eletu Iwase is one of four Eletus in Lagos.

Eletu Odibo - Prime Minister
Eletu Kekere - Lesser Minister (title is dormant and has not been used long time)
Eletu Ijebu - Ijebu Minister
Eletu Iwase - Iwase (Migrants) Minister.


Lagos does not have a Balogun. The equivalent is an Olorogun (Olori Ogun).

Olorogun Ado (wrongly called Adodo) would be the war commander of Ado.

Outside Yoruba proper, there are two Ados, one East (Onitsha) and one West (Dahomey).

Olorogun Ado was the commander at the West fort in Dahomey, and one of the titles replicated when Olofin brought Asipa and settled him on Aromire's land.


The Lagos Royalty have had two dynasties so far. The first ended with Akinsemoyin. The current one started with Olorogun Kutere.


Why is he called Olorogun Kutere? It's a noble title.

He inherited this title from his Ijebu maternal grandmother, Olugbani, who was the daughter of an Ijebu nobleman.

Same happened to Eshinlokun. His father, Olorogun Kutere, married from an Ijebu noble family. The mother gave her son, Eshinlokun, her lineage title of Asajon.

All the bloodline descending from the first and second dynasties can bear Olorogun but only the descendants of Eshinlokun can bear Asajon. This is how Kosoko ended up as the Asajon of Lagos.


In all of these we see that the Oba of Lagos throne is triangulated - their bloodline is Benin/Ijesha on father and Ijebu/Whydah on mother.


The Ijebu and Whydah roots feature prominently in their Orikis...it highlights their alliances and relationships over time.

MetaPhysical,

Always dazzle me with history, even before Nairaland. I have to come back and read this over again.

Thanks.

MP,

If you give that much to Omo Ibini what and how will you interpret

AROMIRE

which was interpreted as Admiral.

Omo Ibini Arokun Yo!

The son of Bini who dominated the Sea!

This is common Oriki for all the Akarigbere White Cap Chiefs.

Thanks.

googi:
MP,

If you give that much to Omo Ibini what and how will you interpret

AROMIRE

which was interpreted as Admiral.

They are both attributes of mastery on the sea.

this is well written, you have my applause....
let me put down my own family pedigree, am from Ekiti....


Omo owa,
Omo Ekun,


Omo eleyinkunle adewure.


Omo amuda sile mugun enu Pani.
Omo amuda dudu Peru,


Amu tude Pomo ran losi asise.

Omo apoyi mo ikoko.


Omo inakan ibon ibon ru.

Translation



The Scion of Owa
the prodigy of Ekun (Leopard)



from the lustful savannah
the son of advocates, griots and orators

they come from a place where black sword is used in decapitating slaves,
where they killed their own children with golden ones,
In Osi of Asise

the son of potters

the son of a loaded gun.....

Wow, the above is a great piece of details. Yoruba history is transgenerational and inter-ethnic.

However, reading the piece above proof something common with our retelling of Yoruba history: many of the stories set together are separated by thousands of years in some cases.

Secondly, the name of some places have immutable bearing on Yoruba history.

Thirdly it is easy to connect many centuries together in some tradition. This is known as 'ajagbalura" bridging generations together.

I love how you itemized the Eletus, and eletu odibo sounds like the minister for election. IBO is Yoruba for election. It's also the word for ballot.

The word asks us a question. How and what is the significance of voting among the ancient Yoruba?

However, IFA is also IBO, its a process of bringing out of the ballot without interference of the umpire between the source and the destination.

Eletu odibo doubles as the umpire of election or coordinator of the priest. This two offices belonged to Eletu odibo.

Eletu kekere compares with "minority leader". The Yoruba word serves as papyrus or soapstone on which the Yoruba history is written.

Its understanding remained the Rosetta stone to decoding Yoruba history.

Knock, knock!

illicit:
Translation



The Scion of Owa
the prodigy of Ekun (Leopard)



from the lustful savannah
the son of advocates, griots and orators

they come from a place where black sword is used in decapitating slaves,
where they killed their own children with golden ones,
In Osi of Asise

the son of potters

the son of a loaded gun.....

Great effort bro,

However I think you may have missed some great points that your oriki is meant to communicate to the historian.

My take is "... where they kill their [errant] child with a golden sword at Osi Asise". That would be the closest possible interpretation of the line in question.

Osi Asise

The left (West) side of town where offenders are beheaded. It may be in this present town or somewhere else altogether.

That the place exists will help the kids obey their parents and abide by the law of the land, such that the community is policed with the dread of the west side of town.

Omo Owa

The descent of the seekers. The Owa were an ancient guild of empire builders of Yoruba that many household in Yoruba trace their descent.

Granted, Ilesha was their capital, but the folks like every other cohesive guild at the founding era have members that sought and settled wherever they liked on the good land with their immediate family.

Hence we often have people says that they came from so and so, meaning that the family descended from a member of a group that may have camped elsewhere originally. From here we have the splinter group.

I mean, Angelique kidjo may claim that her grandmother's mom or so descended from ibadan yet that link may be thousand of years.

It could mean that Dahome and Ibadan have premordial link. The same reason the egun (Ajase) would claim to have descended from Oyo.

Then one individual from Ajase will claim his great grandpa travelled from Oyo royal family and then hunted in the bushes and built a house and the place now became a town.

Then he will recite the oriki which will surely turned out part Yoruba part egun, and one may be lucky to pick something regal from it also.

We could map the horizon today but that was not possible in the ancient times. The Yoruba device the oriki as tracer for Yoruba bloodlines.

It's worth our review because it also gives hints about how the ancestors lived and how much they knew back then. It helps us to be wiser.

[quote author=MetaPhysical post=87674727]Before we go into the Oriki, let's establish first some historical connections.

Ado, Edo, Ido, Odo
These are all Yoruba ancestral words to denote features of settlement in a geo-space.

Originally, Edo (as in Edo people, Edo State) is a class of emigrants in ancestral times. They left Ife and occupied settlement in a new land in the forest. The aborigines of that forest were known as Efa, hunters and gatherers with no recognized rulership or form of civility.

The Edo of today is a political new-entity, on the surface devoid of its Yoruba ancestry but retaining in its roots traces of linkage back to Yoruba.


Ogiso >>> Oba
The ancient Edo settlement was ruled by Chiefs of Ife known as Ogiso. The settlement prospered and expanded and was characterized by constant clashes of interest between the settlers and aborigines. The capital was Igodo.

Yoruba lexicon does not have "gh" sounding words which is common in the Efa lexicon. We also dont have 'z' or 'v'.

Igodo is same as Agodo - shrine!

The Ogisos brought Ife deities to Edo and built shrines for the deities around their metropolis and took the alias Igodomigodo.

At the arrival of Oranmiyan he and his court camped in Use or Uselu.

Place names like Ughoton, Ughelli are in the aborigene language.

Given names like Akenzua are assimilated from Yoruba Akinsua, popularly used in Eastern Yorubaland.

Eweka was born in Uselu and coronated and reigned from there over the aborigene land.

The Kingdom also took a name and was called IBINI. The King at Uselu ruled over Ibini Kingdom. Eventually a new settlement was developed and the King relocated from Uselu to the new capital now called Ibini - later corrupted to Benin.



What is the connection between Republic of Benin and Benin Kingdom?

This relationship pre-dated 1600.

Both thrones at Oyo Ile and Bini belonged to same bloodline and ancestry but separate dynasties.

The greatest threat and opposition to their rulership was from the Empires of Dahomey and Ghana in West as well Songhai in North.

Hausa, Bariba, Nupe and Yoruba were the immediate contact points to those three threats and so Oyo Empire was under great pressure to preserve its rulership.

Oyo's method of warfare was well suited to the Savannah plains and wooded Guinea belt but insufficient and not suited to deterr threats from the forest and sea coast. This is where Bini Kingdom came in.

Bini itself was not a coastal kingdom but it could form alliance with sailors on the coast to put up a defense shield against intruders from Dahomey and or Ghana using vulnerability to invade and destroy Kingdoms in Yorubaland.

Bini created a sea force using alliance with Itsekiri and Ilaje. They created a seabase at Ado.....

Bini had not settled in Eko by this time. They would travel through the creeks from Bini River through Ijebu to Oto to Amuwo all way to Iwida (Whydah, Ouida).

Oto was the seat of Olofin at that time. Oto is also known as Ido.

He would host them on stopover ...kinda like a modern day Bed-and-Breakfast before proceeding on the journey.

The purpose of Bini in Iwida was to setup a fort and a defense shield against intrusion from threats in West.

Oyo had a similar arrangement in North....in Ilorin! Ilorin was a Yoruba Army fort.


It was much later that Olofin advised that if the fort in Whyday is successful in keeping enemy away, he would need one too because their pepper farm was always raided by intruders in the creek and is damaging trade and commerce with interior kingdoms.

Bini replied that they had no land and cannot fight Olofin to take land for the fort. The compromise was for Aromire to carve out land for Bini settlement.

Bini has never fought Lagos. Bini had a fort used as a defense shield to deter enemy invasion into Yoruba South....as Oyo had also created one in Ilorin that was very effective in supressing Dahomey ambitions.


Lineage and Events...
After Asipa had settled in Eko....

(Notice connection between Edo, Ado, Ido, Eko)

After Asipa settlement he coronated and started the first dynasty.

Oba Akinsemoyin had an alias and he was called Alado. The one who possessed Ado or one from Ado.

His first daughter turned down request to marry Baba Alagbaa (The Palace Priest who was from Ijesha) and instead married a man from Whydah.

Akinsemoyin's sister, Erelu married Baba Alagbaa to bear Ologun Kutere.

Ologun Kutere became King after Akinsemoyin and married an Ijebu woman who bore Eshinlokun.

Adele became King after Kutere but was deposed and left for Whydah.

Eshinlokun became King after Adele.

After Eshinlokun died Kosoko was to become King but Idewu Ojulari was coronated and Kosoko went on exile to Whydah.

After Ojulari died Oluwole became King. He was succeeded by Akintoye.

Akintoye's mother was Egba. He recalled Kosoko from Whydah.

Kosoko overthrew him and sent him on exile.

He later returned with help of British force and deposed Kosoko and regained throne. Kosoko went on exile to Epe.

Akintoye died shortly after. Dosunmu became King. Dosunmu's mother was from Whydah.


So....you see the back and forth relationship between the uproots from Bini setting up a city in Ado (Whydah) and actually marrying from there. Prince and Princesses back in those days married into royalty or a non-royal noble family.

Is it possible that when they settled into Whydah originally, a part of the family took Olofin's invitation to resettle in Lagos while another part remained in Ado?

There is a Quad-City relationship connecting Bini - Oyo- Ado and Eko.

In Lagos there is confusion whether Orisa Adimu was originally the property of Oyo or Bini. You can see the depth of link and how it should not surprise qhen in the Oriki you begin to see elements of Oyo, Bini, Ado and Eko.


Omo Ibini Arokun Yo!

The son of Bini who dominated the Sea!

This is common Oriki for all the Akarigbere White Cap Chiefs.

On the other hand, the Oriki of Oba of Lagos is Omo Erin Jogun Ola.

The son of the mighty who inherited the land!

Erin is a totem of Oyo! But Oyo is younger than Bini.....therefore it can only be traced up to Oranmiyan.

Make i stop here Oga mi!



[Please who are the whydal? are they Yorubas? /quote]

The Whydah are a branch of the egun people. Possibly Awandeh, but transformed into a French version of the indeginous word.

Awandeh means "battle (awan) tough (deh)". Just as their ako (oriki in egun) says "wanganvi, pekonu. Alojevi, alone mapeko."

Whydah is also written Ouidah. Early explorers had the place referred to as Juda. It's from this that the name has metamorphosed.

Yoruba often have a version of place names found at the republic of Benin. The Yoruba for this is "akija" or just ikija.

Thank you. I asked because I read a piece from a foreign author who vehemently described Whydal as ancient Hebrews. He even showed a map of 1666 or thereabout of Whydal/Judah Kingdom. I believe we will understand our roots more if we can decipher our Oriki. Our ancestors put a lot of information in our Oriki.

adee17:
Thank you. I asked because I read a piece from a foreign author who vehemently described Whydal as ancient Hebrews. He even showed a map of 1666 or thereabout of Whydal/Judah Kingdom. I believe we will understand our roots more if we can decipher our Oriki. Our ancestors put a lot of information in our Oriki.

That's not far from the truth. Though I don't have the material you talked about and would like to know more about the same subject.

I have read from a French source vide Dr. Robin Law*, of the expedition of Bona Venture about the same time, but the source talked much of the Oyo, e.i. Yoruba extensively ("Les Ayoux forment et people brave...".

Possibly, the description was based on earlier expedition than this time. The cartographer of the era added the kingdom as notable place at a given timeline for European navigators trotting the West coast.

At the beginning of European seafaring, cartographers depended on the findings of the navigators and explorers to update their maps by places and distance, giving more information about new and interesting haven.

The kingdom of Judah

Could whydah be a kingdom of Judah? Well the best way to find out is to expect that the remnants of the children of Israel should manifest around the same kingdom.

Although I'm not from here, but I have cousins who were. I'd borrowed their oriki in the piece I've given, "wanganvi", meaning "descent of warlord".

I was learning the oriki from my aunt who married from awandeh, who's also an initiate of the Dan tribe's votun (family idol). The people of Awandeh settled at Ajagboju area of Ado town.

The Fon And Their Love For Oriki

I've forgotten most of what my aunt taught me, the oriki especially. I observed that the egun could recite the oriki of their different tribes with much ease.

Grandmothers usually recite the oriki as greetings every morning. You may pick a piece of it or two. There's the kijagbo, then zawan and gboji.

As the older women sweeps (zawan) with kijagbo, the young wives greets them and takes the big broom from the older women. It's a good morning ritual, gboji (dumpsite) receives all.

The older women response to the greetings from the younger wives are often "O fon ijaw...[then the particular oriki from the tribe the wife hails from].

I used to hear my grandma does that regularly. And if I should greet her too, she takes two lines from my dad's oriki and switch to her egun family oriki.

@ Adee, Who composed the oriki that our fathers endowed us with? Let me have your thoughts on this, though I have my observation on the composition.

*See "Sources of Yoruba History" edited by Prof. S.O. Biobaku.

Well I wouldn't know who started the Oriki as it is known in our culture but I reason these Oriki were originally meant for eulogy, characterization and identification of different clans, families, tribes, professions etc.. Although along the line Oriki became reservoir of history. In fact I can say Oriki is the backbone of Yoruba oral history. I defer to you@absolutesuccess for information from another perspective. About the material, I will look for the map for your perusal. We also should not forget that we are of different clans and tribes with different kingdoms at the time and not now we are partitioned into different countries and given a common name 'Yoruba' especially those of us in Nigeria. Personally I see Yoruba as a race of people with different tribes.

adee17:
Well I wouldn't know who started the Oriki as it is known in our culture but I reason these Oriki were originally meant for eulogy, characterization and identification of different clans, families, tribes, professions etc.. Although along the line Oriki became reservoir of history. In fact I can say Oriki is the backbone of Yoruba oral history.

My take is that the Yoruba used to have a guild of scholars whose profession did not became perpetual in Yoruba but whose contributions to Yoruba history remains for all time.

I defer to you@absolutesuccess for information from another perspective. About the material, I will look for the map for your perusal. We also should not forget that we are of different clans and tribes with different kingdoms at the time and not now we are partitioned into different countries and given a common name 'Yoruba' especially those of us in Nigeria. Personally I see Yoruba as a race of people with different tribes.

Absolutely, the Yoruba descended from coalition of ancient explorers. The Yoruba began as a nation of empire builders, family and friends bound together by ancestry, business interest and desire for new home.

That interest brought the Yoruba to West Africa. But not just Yoruba, albeit we can't lump all together, a section can reveal much about the whole.

The Yoruba is a kindred with the rest of the black race. Perhaps Nigeria of old is possibly the dispersal point of the progenitors of the black race. That's my theory anyway.

This is the map I talked about. It was actually made in 1747.

WOW!!!

An amazing map indeed. I could see the kingdom of Juda or Whidah, then the kingdom of Jabu (Ijebu) and the kingdom of Ulcumi (Yoruba) respectfully.

Well the European explorers did not make up the name for the people in question, but Juda is reckoned as identical or substitute for whidah.

Perhaps, what we've always known as Dahome was earlier known as Juda at this point in time, the Yoruba too were Ulcumi at this time too.

The map probably belonged to a slave trading company. Probably reproduced from prior contacts with the kingdom listed within it.

However it's a travel guide adopted by Bowen, a well travelled missionary amongst the Yoruba people in the days of kunrumi and Balogun Ibikunle.

Dahome was a notorious habour for slave export. She probably took over from the kingdom of Congo at selling Africans abroad.

It's on record that Bowen tried to talk kunrumi out of the war with Ogunmola, but the man had chosen a warpath. Bowen left for Abeokuta and the Ijaye war broke out.

Bowen founded The Methodist Church at Abeokuta.