₦airaland Forum

Paradise163:
Someone who has an explanation for this should please quote me
Why do those in Benin kingdom tend to cover their mouth with this white handkerchief ? I've seen this even in movies

I have explained it many times on threads here. Royalty is supposed to maintain neutrality of emotions publicly. Lips, teeth, joy or sadness are not supposed to be seen.

In ancient imperial times, news could be broken that 2000 men have fallen in a battle in such a public gallery. And royals would be expected to show almost no emotion of weakness outwardly.

In ancient times, it also added to the mystic of royalty and the tradition has endured symbolically.

Shymm3xx:
Lol. This isn;t about supremacy - just extending a hand in brotherhood.

Anyway, Olukun isn't a deity of Eastern Yoruba folks. It's more of an Ife and coastal Yoruba deity. [b]And since Bini is landlocked, [/b]the worship of Olukun either came directly from Ife or one of the coastal Yorubas. And I'm leaning towards Ife.

Evidently, if it's Ife - that adds credence to the Yoruba side of the story, just as the Ogiso family confirmed. Revisionism is a bad thing. At the end of the day, the same crown extended to Itsekiris, who're also mostly Yorubas in terms of ancestry.

Well, I guess that is a mistake. Benin is not made up of the city alone. Considering the reach of Benin Kingdom, it would be erroneous to say so.
In any case, Benin has many rivers. Ughoton/Gwatto that Europeans came through is a river port.

Olokun is at home in eastern Yorubaland & has been for centuries. Origin is not equal to only place it exists.

Shymm3xx:
No correlation whatsoever. You can only make comparisons if this were about imposition.

Yorubas in general and Bini never went to war and neither subjugated the other, apart from tiny eastern Yoruba kingdoms. So, how come ya king does everything Yoruba? I know a bit about Olokun worship cos I read a lot about Afro-Brazilian history and their culture - and it's big over there. And Olokun is a Yoruba religion.

Shymm3xx,

We have argued here many times before.

Even though you find it hard to believe, Benin was an empire. Whether you admit it was only Eastern Yorubaland & Lagos only, makes no difference.
Benin was an outward looking empire. Even the Romans adopted several gods/godesses from their Greek & Egyptian provinces, be it Zeus, Diana, equivalent of Isis, etc. What makes you think Benin adopting such gods abnormal?

What is more, Oranmiyan was raised in Ife. He came to Benin with many Yoruba courtiers. One of them was Oloton. Oloton was added as the 6th Uzama senior chief, now seven in total, which people erroneously call kingmakers like the 7 oyemesi of Oyo. Chief Oloton remains an important shrine keeper till today.
My point is that no doubt those courtiers would have included religious priests, bringing many deities.

At a personal level, in Benin imperial times, my ancestors brought unique family deities from Eastern Yorubaland, that I believe do not even exist in most other parts of Yorubaland. Until around 40 years ago, those gods were very jealously kept. Some are still very much there, though the worshippers are dying out.

Most successful empires adopted things from other lands. Benin has appointed two Ado-Akure people as Iyase of Benin (non-hereditary traditional prime minister & second in command to the Oba) & a prince of Brass (Bayelsa) in the last 300 years. The current Iyase is of Urhobo heritage.

I cannot understand why that should degenerate into a supremacy battle.

walosky:
But is it true that the Oba would not see his son till he dies according to tradition?

Wrong.

The grandfather (who became Akenzua II) of the Oba just crowned was secretary to his own dad (Eweka II).

Because the crown prince maintains his own court/palace in a nearby town called Uselu (has grown to be part of Benin now), with his own town/palace chiefs/aristocracy, it has gone into myth that he will not see his father again. Even many Benin people erroneously believe that.

In ancient times, when Oba led soldiers to war by himself, it could have happened that they rarely saw due to long absences. If if both did not get along well personally, not unusual as happened with Hanoverian Kings of England & their crown princes.

Do not forget that it might just have been a safety precaution back then. Oba & crown prince together and betrayal happens, it could be disastrous. For example, Prince Charles & his sons are not allowed to be on the same flight/plane except Queen Elizabeth II personally approves it. She approved it when Princess Diana's body was flown from Paris to London in 1997.

OreoPaschal:
Congratulations to the new Oba. But,why do they cover their nose with white handkerchief?

Ancient practice. In Benin, the queens, royal dukes (Oba's younger sons/brothers) appointed to rule other towns and provinces & their duchesses do same in public ceremonies, their lips, teeth or laughter are supposed to be hidden.

Examples of such royal prince dukes sent to rule provinces were Prince Iginuwa sent to rule Warri. He's now called Olu of Warri, Prince Ado who was sent to rule as Eleko of Eko but is now called Oba of Lagos. There are several other Obis, ovies and so on that began as prince dukes sent from Benin to rule territories in imperial times.

Na wa o. Real scam monger.

Very old pics/video.

Very powerful car back then.

If Benz, VW or Toyota, I'd prefer 1975 and earlier models. Those were genuine vintage.

This is a great topic.

But all I see here is blame game.

Food, lifestyle, sweet drinks/alcohol and genetics play a role.

Occupations have changed drastically since the last 50 years. But food has remained highly calorific.


Around 1966, a large number of Nigerian men were still farmers: cocoa, rubber, palm tree, yam, millet, rice. Others were hunters, palm wine tappers, etc. These jobs burnt much energy. In fact most had a negative energy balance, expending more than they took in.

Food has largely remained same: eba, pounded yam, rice & yam, all are white carbohydrate and unhealthy for sedentary lifestyles.

Even the city dwellers then did not eat too much sweet unhealthy food like snacks, burgers, sharwama, etc.

What women have forgotten is that women, depending partly on genetics, have the natural option of storing fats in their butt & thighs, in addition to their trunk. Thigh & butt fat might even make them look more attractive to some men. Whereas men have only one option: truncal fat deposit, that people criticize a lot.

There needs to be more awareness about the risks of belly fat and encouragement to reduce it given by health officials. Personal responsibility is needed most though.

samsam2019:
We have this rich aNd enviable culture but we carry a fabricated God and culture on our head tagging our very own culture as evil

Nor mind them. I hope Abrahamic God is real BUT the oyinbo who brought it have since abandoned it mostly.

Many UK church buildings are now disco or living/residential quarters.

In my Anglican church in the heart of UK, about 90% of congregation are non-white foreigners.

The same oyinbo whose culture, beliefs & language we like to ape don't really want us to mix with them in their country.

They prefer North Africans with white skin with a different religion. Because Christianity is now just cultural & symbolic heritage to them.

But it precisely same time black man is destroying his own culture. 100 years from now, blacks will be gay all over the place & have no culture to call theirs.

tripledonosas:
Apparently you are not conversant with the process. The head of the Uzama (kingmaker) called Chief Oliha Crowns the Oba n also Announces his new name to the world.

Uzama n'Ihiron are not king makers. It is outsiders who like to liken them to the seven hereditary oyemesi in Oyo empire. And liken Chief Oliha to Bashorun, leader of the 7 Oyemesi.

But it is wrong. Oliha symbolically crowns the Oba because he was head of Uzama n'Isen (5 senior pre-Oranmiyan chiefs) who went to bring Oranmiyan from Ife. Oloton came with Oranmiyan & joined them later. Edaiken was added even later as the 7th by Oba Ewuare the Great.

[quote author= post=50340671]You will see tomorrow na. Nobody wears him the crown he picks it up and wears it himself.[/quote]Different kings may do it differently. A Benin proverb goes: Oba m'oliha, Oliha m'oba. The exact format makes no difference.

[quote author= post=50337691]Oga nobody puts the Crown on the head of the Oba, he crowns himself. Bloggers and lies en.[/quote]Actually someone symbolically does. It is chief Oliha of Benin. His palace is at Oliha Quarters in Benin. But he's not the kingmaker. It so happened he was the senior Benin chief who led others to bring Oranmiyan from Ife/Uhe. Others were Edohen, Ero, Eholor Nire, Ezomo. To make the 5 Uzama chiefs. Oloton who came from Ife with Oranmiyan later joined the Uzama. Oba Ewuare The Great added the crown prince as the 7th Uzama.

These 7 senior nobles called Uzama n'Ihiron are erroneously called the king makers by outsiders. King makers do not exist in Benin. Since no election, selection or any other politics is involved. He was crown prince from birth.

The crowning and public proclamation as King XYZ is just to fulfil tradition.

seniorkachion:
All these antiquated monarchies should be abolished. They are the major reason Nigeria has remained a geographical expression. Nigeria needs its own Obote!

You clearly have never been to England or Buckingham palace.

Traditions dating back to Alfred The Great (849-899AD) are still maintained.

Our monarchs did not cause coups, civil war or occupy political offices in the times that Nigeria went downhill. In contrast, Nigeria was far more united during the period kings were members of regional houses of parliament, before career politicians took over totally after independence.

In any case, the British did not create Nigeria in order to create unity among us. They did for easier administration, to monopolise trade & transport of looted resources across the land to seaports to take to UK.

See how even that UK cannot remain in European Union that they begged the EEC for years to accept them in the 1960s/Early 70s. The people who share race/colour, democracy, origins, European culture & christian religion with them for approaching 2000 years.

In a country going through uncertainties; fluid & seemingly rudderless, morale at an all time low, our traditional values of discipline, good behaviour to honour family name, culture of respect, communal life and more are the things that collapsed in cities & big towns that have led to crime & brutality.

Our monarchs are custodians of those traditions that we now chose to neglect.

Let your assertion be based on facts and knowledge of how things were when monarchs had power to when politicians now have power.

kokoye:
Some people are just evil ....

Y[b]ou don't care about the common good[/b] ...ready to kill others to make a quick buck.

This has nothing to do with the govt......even in a thriving economy, his likes will always be evil.

Very sad.

On point. And altruism is nearly dead. But it extends to govt officials. If they had common good in mind, they won't loot or neglect their duties.

There is no notion of citizenship either, so that 99% of people do not act in the interest of their country.

But Buhari once went to ask a Yoruba governor why his Yoruba people were killing his own Fulani herdsmen. He being the herdsmen chairman.

Is it state governors who should check the guns carried about by Fulani people or the police controlled by FG?

And Ijaw youth issue was GEJ's problem to solve.

OBJ just confirming how his ilk are slimy two-faced people.

Nice. Hope they will not abandon them there later for lack of forex. I pray the finish it successfully we clearly need more docs.

Amberon11:
Maybe this is cool but when its too much one becomes concerned. Why do people feel the need to appreciate people only on social media nowadays? I remember when Tiwa took to instagram to celebrate Tbillz baby's birthday and next thing the babymama came saying that it wasn't necessary since Tiwa didn't actually wish the child a happy birthday in real life.

I know a couple that always did PDAs (public dispute of affection) on Facebook, and the guy beat the girl constantly and she landed in the hospital on 2 occasion.

saintdennis:
Smiles... what is a marriage certificate called b4?

Engagement is final year

Bachelors/bachelorette eve Is the finals week

Not quareling / calling off the wedding is the exam

Wedding Is the convocation/graduation party

Wedding certificate is the degree award.

Lol. I think it is an unmerited degree award. It is a school you hopefully will never graduate from. Until Baba God calls.

Only some can demonstrate that they merited it by staying in lifelong nowadays. After weathering the ups & downs for 40 years or more.

Many these days tear the degree certificate after some years and move on. Sometimes to the next unmerited certificate.

HML to them.

Darkseid:
Oga documentary channel, lemurs are far different from bush babies.

Very correct.

This is a galago or bush baby. According to older folks, it used to be fairly common in parts of SS/SE Nigeria & Western Cameroon. I have seen two or three of it. They go about at night, so they often seen by hunters or caught in traps. Looks cool when caught alive.

They seem to be fussy breeders and along with bush fires, deforestation & too much floods/rains in the diminishing forests, there may not be many left in 9ja.

But it seems more like a subspecie of bush baby.

Arsewipemod:
So.. .........what are you waiting for? Do you have a farm? ? What have you been planting? Do you even know what to plant?

I do. Plantain. With a little livestock. Though terrible loss of hundreds of birds made us take some step back. But not deterred despite additional challenges of current recession. I bought into GEJ's agric initiative and it was good.

When I tell jobless people I also do farming they say " it is because you have money to do it ". Where they get that idea from, I do not know. It seems they have a gallery of excuses to do nothing ready.

kcnwaigbo:
what do you expect when 5 of their top commanders have been released in the exchange for the chibok girls. Inasmuch as I want the chibok girls to be released,it is not worth releasing animals back into the society.

Tor!

Now can you just imagine the intel those commanders would have gathered from sympathetic security agents while in detention? And how they can use it against our soldiers. Very scary.

IMASTEX:
Farming is the only alternative to stay unhungry

Who wan farm? Jobless girls in cities who should be farming garri move from facebook to instagram to parties looking for guys to suck for money. Jobless guys looking for fast money by any means.

When you suggest farming to them they feel insulted, yet they do not consider asking you to give them your hard earned money as an insult.

People are already being kidnapped and butchered for 75k total worth of sale to ritualists. Except God quickly intervenes, soon a whole human being could be vanishing for just a plate of eba & soup.

We're in real trouble.

yinkslinks:
God bless men who care for women.

Yep

RIP dude.

But the story is not complete.

I was hoping it is not in Ogun State. But Alas!

Rape. Pure & simple.

petrov10:
I don't understand. is it impossible for the EFCC to investigate all these allegations, or buhari is shielding dogara just to maintain good relationship with the house?

like it or not Hon jibrin is a law maker of the federal republic of nigeria(suspended or not) yet nobody is listening to him.
if the president or efcc or the institutes that matter can't listen to jibrin, I wonder who they will listen to..... maybe the common man on the street.

cc lalasticlala

Lol. Dude wise up.

But who cares about the truth in 9ja? Truth is what they want you to say, about a particular person at a particular time, to serve certain purposes.

Even if it is actually lies from the pit of hell. At this point in time, you should be directing your lies to paint GEJ, PEJ, Fayose, and PDP members black.

Arsewipemod:
And all these epistle to reply me? Now I know I am your King. I own you.

Hahahahahaha!

I take my time to reply people because there are lots of silent sensible people (without symptoms megalomania/delusions) who are actually reading posts.

SenatorTobijah:
Mikel's playing days with Chelsea ended a long time ago, it's unfortunate that he's just realizing it. Turkey is the next destination

Maybe. But he has already won most things in football, still raking in money & settled with family in London. Being a smart guy, even if he stopped plsying today, he would be sorted for life.

In recent SE history, after Okocha/Kanu, Mikel stands out.

To hungry elders.

In a country with social welfare system, these poor people should be drawing benefits.

Some goon will soon come and say....if GEJ was in power, he'd be worth only $50k by now.

Those people's zombism just has no cure or alleviation. Only long period of poverty & suffering that awaits them will finally whip/flog zombism out of their seriously propaganda formatted brains.

RIP.

The economic crisis will cause many things.