Taboos: ten forbidden things in Yoruba land that every Nigerians need to know before visiting the Yorubaland
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Names of gods/deity in Yoruba Land
- Orunmila the consulting oracle
- Oya god of water
- Ogun the iron god
- Sango the god of thunder
- Obatala the impossibility god
Forbidden things in Yoruba land and reasons they are forbidden?
Fetching water from a well at night time
it is believed that fetching water from a well at night brings bad luck to the owner of the well and his entire families. The calamity could also affect his generations.
Son-in-laws are not allowed to pass a night in their wives father’s house
This is usually avoided because if by any means the man becomes deceased in his Inlaw’s house, his corpse would be taken out through the window.
Assistance to people carrying water and Firewood
Giving assistance to people carrying water or firewood on their heads in the Yoruba land is considered as an abomination. It is not supposed to happen.
A king must not see a live Corpse
It is a taboo for a king to see a live corpse;the king (eg Ooni of ife ) in Yoruba land is supposed to be pure and as a result should never see a corpse for the rest of his life after ascending the throne. Paradventure a king sees corpse, then all is not well and he is not pure. Even the corpse of his wife and family members are forbidden.
Human with hunchbacks
A deceased hunchback is not to be buried beneath the earth in their village rather they would be laid on a tree in the forest.This is done to avoid the spread of tuberculosis in the village. Every tradition in Yoruba recognizes this.
Ayo festival (a festival to celebrate kings life)
females are prohibited and forbidden from making the popular shuku hairstyles. It is assumed that the shuku airstyle could be something evilnas at the time of the Ayo festival.
It is a taboo for a child to fall off his/her mother’s back
If a child falls off from the mother’s back, a disastrous thing might happen in future. For instance, if it’s a girl child that fell from the mother’s back, her husband would end up dead after one year of marrying her until after the the seventh husband she will keep on loosing her husband and the same happens to a boy child but he has to bury up to his 7th wife respectively.
In the Yoruba land when a woman dies with the foetus still inside of her,she is to be buried by a traditional believer and the fetus is meant to be removed before burying her body. Also, Pregnant women are not to come out of the house at midnight;this is prevented because it is believed that jinns (spirits) are capable of exchanging the unborn babies in the woman’s womb.
when a king ascends the throne everybody who comes in contact with him,would take to his knees and bow down.However for the king’s father to do this it would be considered as a disrespect and as a result the king should not see his father for the rest of his life after ascending the throne.
Suicide is a serious abomination in Yorubaland, and the body must not be lowered down until some sacrifices are performed to appease the gods. The body of such individual will be thrown into the evil forest or outside the town to avoid invoking the anger of the gods on the land. The family of an individual that commits suicide will be tainted forever in the community.
Kings in Yorubaland are forbidden from looking inside of his royal crown.
A king must wear a crown but he must never peer into it. The day he does it is the day he will join his ancestors. Kings could be allowed to do this if they insist on committing suicide.
Although Christianity have minimized some of these practices, some traditionalist are still keeping these cultures and taboos.
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Nice piece, keep up the good work.
Great!