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An Ethno-historical Study of Traditional of Okun-Yoruba: A Structuralist Approach

Paul-Kolade Tubi

ABSTRACT: This is an attempt to explore the interstices between religion and politics in traditional social organisation of the Okun Yoruba of . The key data collection strategy was participant observation, of the complete participant variety, the researcher being a member of this glotto-cultural group. It is the first ethnography of this group with this focus. Based on the data, I interrogated structuralism as an a self-contained explanatory tool for understanding the structure and processes of a traditional society. The following observations emerged. (1) Structuralism, though effective, proves to be a static and ahistorical theory in the explanation of Okun cultural milieu. (2) Structuralism does not account for human individuality within the Okun culture. (3) :, The theory does not account for independent human act. (4) The dynamic aspects and vitality of the Okun culture are not adequately addressed by Structuralism. 142

Introduction '. .~

Religion plays an important role in human community. It bears directly on the lives o(the people and is especially pronounced in traditional societies like the Okun- Yoruba. The culture of • . the Okun sub-group has not been well articulated among studies carried out on the Yoruba nation, because it lies on the north easternmost edge of the Yoruba land. By its location within the Nigerian geo-political set up, it is removed from the Yoruba in South West Nigeria and aligned to Northern Nigeria. Apart from colonial anthropologists, the only known anthropological work done among the people was carried out by the writer (Tubi 2015). However the onslaught of . westernization and globalization tends to amend, suppress or erode traditional practices. It is in this light that the ethno-~torical study of the traditional religion of autochthonous communities that have come under the influence of globalization like the Okun- Yoruba has anthropological relevance. Structuralism offers it ground for the study because it is concerned with the patterned or observed uniformity of human actions. Its rejection of atomistic and mechanistic interpretations of culture and people as are wont by the evolutionist and diffusionists also makes it germane to this discourse, It is also apropos because. of its acceptance of praxis that is both holistic and integrative, in which the diachronic (a way a language changes overtime) easily relates to the synchronic (the study of a language form at fixed time in history). Structuralism is useful in the study of simpler, non-complex societies like the Okun- Yorubaand can highlight issues like totemism, superstition, .and the apparent contradictions in the community.

Ethno-hiStory of the Okun- Yoruba

The Okun speaking people are Yoruba by language and culture. They are found inEkiti, .Kogi, Kwara and Ondo states. Due to the Slave trade, sizable portions in the diaspora are found "" among ~ Nupes ( state) in Nigeria, in where they are called Aku and the Americas where they are called the Lucumi. However this discourse focuses on the Okun who are indigenes of the present day . The Okun- Yoruba have six cultural groups which resulted l primarily from linguistic correlates namely Bunu, , Kiri, Owe, Oworo and Yagba. The study area covers the six Yoruba speaking local government areas of Kogi State, Nigeria, namely Ijumu, . -Bunu, , , and Mopa-Muro, They occupy the western part of Kogi state. Its land coordinates are Latitudes 7' 30 - 8' 33 N and Longitudes 5' 15 -6' 30 E. The Okun form a prominent portion of Yoruba nation which comprises groups of people who hold to the ancestry but speak one of the various dialects of . Variants of the dialects include , Egba, Ekiti, , , Okun, Ondo, Oyo, , Ijebu, Ijesa, Itshekiri amongst others. 143 ! MAPI OF NIGERIA ""SHOWING OKUN SPEAKING AREA OF KOGI STATE

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~ I::Il.okCljOl •••••••• ~-.....,.--~-c;_ ••• Scale: 1:84,7818

Figure 1: Map of Nigeria showing Okun speaking Area of Nigeria Source: Tubi 2015

The orature of the traditional origin of the Okun- Yoruba points to lie Ife as the initial home of the first settlers of Okun land. At the apex of the Yoruba religious system is (Supreme Deity). Olodumare, being the ultimate reality in , he has however given the daily running of the world to several deities (orisa or ebora) who act as his viceroys. These orisalebora have definite responsibilities in the running of the world. The chief (aworo) is the supreme officer of Yoruba religious system. He is assisted by diviners, , priestesses, herbalists and cultie functionaries. Among the Okun- Yoruba, the state is coterminous with a community-kingdom. The kingdom consists of citizens who are domiciled ina community offew interconnected settlements, and who owe allegiance to an accepted traditional political authority and a chief priest and worship the same pantheons of deities. For the Okun, the state is the community-kingdom which is an independent state that maintains its legislative, executive, judicial, political, religious and cultural functions. Each Okun kingdom is religiously, politically, socially and culturally independent. The Okun community is a geographically and culturally circumscribed- autochthonous kingdom. In this light, it can be seen that Okun polity shows a unique model, whereby the size of an Okun state is not larger than a single community, which consists of relatively few settlements.

I} .. I I" 144

FIpre 1: Mapshowinc Okun speaking Local Government Areas 01 Keci State

Soun:e: Tubi 2015

Religion and ManlWoman - . Anthropologically speaking, a man/woman can be described as homo religious (a religious man). Religion is construed by its adherents as the most sublime of all human activities which links man with the deity/deities. A precise definition has not been accepted by scholars. As pointed out by lbenwa (2014:49), "Religion is elusive in and this makes it difficult to have a universally accepted definition of religion". Durkheim (1961) however sees religion by merely contrasting the sacred with the profane. However for Marx (1846,2009), Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart oftheheardess world, it is the spirit of the spiritless condition. It is the opium of the people. This paper describes it thus: Religion is a complex ever-present reality of human existence which links man and spiritual the world in an intimate relationship: It is a globalized and ancient culture that exhibits variety of cultural diversities. Religion plays an important role in both traditional and modem societies. In this line of thought, this study establishes that autochthonous traditional religious system and its rites and .. symbolism are the basic cultural building blocks of the Okun- Yoruba society. For the Okun- Yocuba people, traditional religion is an important aspect oftheir culture, because it gives them uniq~ among the Yoruba . Data indicated that the Okun-Yoruba are very religious, arid that they have a complex ldigious and dynamic functional system which has functioned well within their cultural milieu (Tubi 2015). Relatively speaking, the religious system of the Okun has changed, just as their social, economic, and political systems have been altered by modernization. The people seem to have adapted westernizing influence to enhance their traditional system.

Deconstructing the Traditional Religion of Okun- Yoruba Religion is called esin in Yoruba. The traditional religious system of the Okun is dominated by oro. For the Okun, oro is a generic name which connotes both the traditional religion as well as the rites associated with it in which Olodumare (), ebora (deities), and man are involved in an intricate relationship for the sole purpose of maintaining the social, religious, political and economic life-ways of the people. For this reason oro is given premium honour in 145

every Okun community. This is brought out in names given to individuals like Abolusoro (he celebrates with deities), Aborode (he came with the deities) among the Yoruba in general. In the traditional religion of the Okun- Yoruha, oro is the deepest secret of their religion. According to an informant. oro i< sorrrerhing hidden. unknown and mysterious yet it is felt concretely. Oro is oun-ijinle (deep things). The basic and essential element of oro is the buIl- roarer. The roaring comes as a shrill voice done purposely to instill fear in the community members. From the researcher's observation, Oro's voice comes from the whirling sound of a round and thin wooden equipment which is fastened to a stick by strings and swung around. Another important element is that women do not see or know oro. However, there are rare cases where women have been appointed as chief priestesses. The writer interviewed two of such priestesses. The priestess of Mopa said, "I was given the position when no man was qualified to assume the office. After I have assumed the office some now began to raise dust about my position. Traditionally, it is men who are the chief priests, but necessity made me one. And I am doing my job satisfactorily. The deities are not annoyed with me".

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Figure 3: Writer interviewing chief priestess of Mopa land Source: Tubi 2015

Figure 4: Writer interviewing chief priestess of Alu I I Source: Tubi 2015 For the Okun- Yoruba, oro presents a concrete synergy between political and religious l. systems. Though Oro has religious connotations. in practice, it is intricately associated with politics. Fadipe (1970:249) hypothesizes that "the primary motive underlying its institution was not religious but political". He stated further that the oro merely serves as the instrument for the execution of political decisions. This research suhmits that for the , oro serves -- __1.:_1~ -"~MOC Qpl;o;()mlv it is the means of connecting man and God hv rituals. creed. sonos. 146 drama, dance, and words. It also involves the use of masquerades, shrines, groves, and ritual equipment for the purpose of worship. Politically, it is a means of executing the decisions of the community such as punishing offenders. maintaining law and order, and curbing criminal acts. Socially. it is used to uphold the various fabrics of the community. and also to instill fear among women and children so as to prevent them from knowing certain secrets of the community and to discipline miscreants. They are also used for economic purposes like causing rainfall to propitiate the earth for , and health matters like preserving sources of community water from ,- contamination and excommunicating persons with communicable diseases like small pox and • leprosy. This finds similitude among the Igbo where "dibia fraternities, secret societies and are among the traditional instruments of government" (Uchendu, 1965:39). There have been attempts in recent times in some Okun communities to suppress traditional religion and to diffuse its potency by infusing political issues into religious matters. The reactions across the different communities have been volatile and even fatal in some cases. In communities like Ife-Olukotun where the community has large muslim population, the king has imposed restrictions on the traditional oro so as to gain leverage with his muslim subjects. In a similar vein, the king of Mopahas declared the community a Christian town. In order to gain political upper hand with his Christian subjects, he prevented the appointment of a new chief priest when the last one was converted to Catholicism. In Kabba, and all Owe communities, the traditional religious rites have become a means of settling scores between the socio-political divide of the communities which pitted the indigenes who are divided into landowners and landless in fratricidal internecine crises. Cosmology of the Traditional Religion of Okun- Yoruba Okun cosmology like most African cultures is both temporal and non-temporal in which man and spirits, visible and invisible, created and uncreated, animate and inanimate, materials and spiritual, and the living and the dead co-habit (Idowu, 1962, Tubi 2015). The traditional Okun religious system has five (5) orders namely; Supreme Being, deities, ancestors, spirits and the living beings in the temporal world (humans and elemental spirits).

Figure 5: Schematizatior. of Cosmology of Okun Religious System

Source: Tubi (2015) i Supreme Deity The primal being of Yoruba cosmology is a Supreme Deity, called Olodumare or Eledumare, (or simplyEdumare). It is the most sublime and profund name for the Supreme Deity among the Yoruba in general (Fagunwa, 1967; Idowu, 1962), which transcends translation Thprp is no similar wonl in thp Ipv;~ ~" ••..- 0' .- 147

(Idowu, 1962; Fadipe, 1970:280). For the Okun- Yoruba, the name represents the transcendality of God. He is not gendered and he is characterised by inscrutability, timelessness, ubiquity, and limitlessness. He is popularly called Olorun (owner of heaven), ELeda (the creator), Oluwa (the Lord who owns us). more 3S attributes than personal names. Olodumare'vs constantly in the mind of the Okun people. The name of God is invoked in songs, , drama, rituals, in taking oaths, prayers and for general purposes. Olodumare is the source of all things, and he is the end of all things. However there is no priest or shrine or grove that is dedicated to OLodumare. In general parlance, he is invoked than all ebora (deities). In times of joy, he is praised and in crisis he is the last appeal.

Practically, Olodumare is not offered any tangible because "he does not need anything", said an informant to the writer. He receives adoration and praise from individuals: for waking up at dawn, for fecundity, for rich harvest, for health and sundry purposes. Ellis (1894:36- 37) observed that Olodumare is "too distant or too indifferent, to interfere in the affairs of the world", that "he enjoys a life of complete idleness, .... dozing or sleeping, .... too lazy or too indifferent to exercise any control over earthly affairs". This is a far cry from the reality of the day to day life-ways of the Okun. Tubi (2015) opines that the Okun- Yoruba have strong belief in a Supreme Being (OLodumare) who is the acti ve living-force of Okun cosmology in which his names are used as personal names among the people such as OLorundare (God justifies), Olorunpomi (God is with me), Olorungbon (God is wise), Olorunmotito (God knows the truth), Olorunkosebi (God does not do evil), Olusola (God enriches), Oluwaremilekun (God wipes my tears), Olugbemiga (God lifts me up), Olukoya (God rejects suffering) and OLuwadamiLoLa(God enriches me) Inter-cultural studies show that among the neighbouring cultural groups, the concept of the Supreme Being bears similitude to what obtains among the Okun-Yoruba, Among the Igbo, Chukwu is the Supreme Deity who creates and sustains the universe but who has given the active supervision of the world to the deities. The Igala conceives Ojo (God) as the uncreated Supreme Being who sustains all things,while the Ebira see Ohomorihi (God) as the Lord of everything that is in existence.

ii The Deities (Ebora! Egun) Deities are called ebora or egun among the Okun people. A key informant noted that, "The deities are autochthonous entities". The ebora system is very complex. The primary understanding of ebora is that they are the patron-deities which OLodumare (God) assigned to each community. For this reason a deity is considered as the lord of the community and the people, its subjects. The deities own the people and the people own them. An Okun community cannot be separated from its deities neither is there a deity without a community. Deities are circumscribed to specific communities such that no two communities share the same deity. Therefore there is multiplicity of deities in Okun religious system. Every deity in a community has a name which is not duplicated in another community. OLodumare, reigns in heaven but he has assigned the general affairs of the world to the deities. The Okun acknowledge that deities are subservient to Olodumare. The deities are benevolent spirit-beings who protect their communities, because it is their divinely assigned task to work for the progress of the communities. They provide children, prevent wars and if war ensues they defend and ensure victory, they avert pestilence, they provide rain and good harvest, and they curtail witches. They are generally tolerant of their subjects. The number of deities in any given community is in tandem with the number of lineages that form the community. Every lineage has its deity and the assemblage of the deities of all lineages in the community form the pool ofthe ofthat community. Among these, there are three principal deities. One of the principal deities becomes primus inter pares among the deities. The priest of the principal deity becomes the chief priest (aworo) of the entire community. A source asserted that, "Just as pastors lead in churches so do aworo lead the entire community in 148 worship of the deity. The principal deity and the chief priest are usually assigned to the lineage of the first settlers of the community". The Okun have groups of women who are accorded special honour because they are devoted to ebora. through their cults of ofosi. imole and antta/wepon (Onaiyekan. 1975. Tubi 2015). .1 Cultural inferences which the researcher gathered from among the Igbo show the' presence of umuagbara that are in charge of the various departments of human life on earth under the permission of Chukwu. .- The concept of deity has different nuances between the Okun and their Yoruba kiths and kins. The following differences can be.cited: (a) Deities are called ebora! egun among the Okun, but they are known as orisa among the other Yoruba sub-groups. For the Okun, orisa is the collective term used for the dead. (b) Among the Okun, deities are territorially circumscribed whereby every ilu (community) has its own college of ebora, whereas other Yoruba sub-groups have inter-territorial deities (orisa) like Sango, Osun, Obatala and' which are worshipped across territories and kingdoms. (c) Ebora are spiritualised deities, whereas orisa are apotheosised heroes/heroines. (d) As strict spiritualised beings, ebora are not represented in carved images and statues like the orisa. One will not find carvings of deities' among the Okun whereas other Yoruba groups have images and statues of deities. Religious carvings among the Okun are limited to of masquerades. Other carvings are aesthetics to adorn and homes. (e) There is a preponderance of male deities in Okun's religion. Almost all Okun deities are of male gender, whereas the other Yoruba groups have prominent female deities. Popular feminine Yoruba deities include Osun, , Yemoja, Aiyelala and (Tubi 2015). Also the Yoruba mythology of Ile- Ife speaks of 401 orisa of Yoruba land (Fadipe, 1970). This certainly does not include Okun deities, which run into several hundred (Tubi 2015). There are five special deities, which are quite different from the ones mentioned above. They are universally accepted and worshipped across Yoruba land. They are esu, , ifa, OgUI1 and . These deities receive constant devotion in every community among the Okun- Yoruba in addition to its own ebora. These five help in the worship of the various communities' deities.

Esu: Data from this research confirm that esu is the most important of the five deities. Among the Yoruba, the proper appellation is esu ojise Olodumare (esu the messenger of God). He is an eponymous individual who has equal capacity for good and evil; he is capable of doing contradictory things satisfactorily. He equally has power to make prayers ascend fast to Olodumare. He is appeased to ensure peace in the community, family and socio-religious or political gatherings. He is appeased practically for anything worthwhile (Fadipe, 1970:273). When he does good deeds he is esu lalu and when he does evil he is esu odara. He has power to derail all propitiations from reaching the other deities and to block prayers from reaching Olodumare. Personal names like Esugbayi (esu saved this one), Esugbola (esu takes the honour), are manifestations of Yoruba' s beliefs about the deity. But the and in Yoruba land have demonised esu as the Satan/devil of the Qur' an and the Bible. Yoruba Muslims and Christians take only his negative side and call him Satan/devil. In Yoruba mythology esu is not the enemy of God, in fact, Olodumare has no enemy. Ethnographies drawn from inter-cultural data by the researcher, show that this belief is wide spread in African cultures. Among the Igala, the Ojo (Supreme Deity) has no enemy or rival that can be equated with the biblical or qur'anic Satan. To solve the lexical problem for modem Igala Christians and Muslims they inculturated the Arabic word for evil (bi/is) to their . The Ebira also say that Ohomorihi (God) has no adversary. To solve these dialectical problems for Ebira Christians and Muslims, they use the Yoruha word esu/ for Satan. Cross cultural study made by the researcher into the Igbo culture in the course of this study shows that there is no deity in the Igbo community that has the effrontery to call God to contest (Opata, ~OO5r Ethnographic data among the Igbo show conclusively that the Supreme Deity (Chukwu) has no enemy. According to Opata (2005), Ekwensu, who is a heroic deity in ancient etymology, cosmology and r

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mythology and is worshipped as a warlord with fame, was taken out of context and made equivalent to biblical Satan, the archenemy of God. Due to improper contextualization of words, the early missionaries did epistemological harm to Igbo religious realm.

Ori: Ori is the invisible persona of an individual. It is concretized in the individual's head. It connotes good luck and success. From childbirth, the or, (head) of every child is appeased to choose good portions on earth and avoid evil. At birth, the ori of the newly born is appealed to by the parents of the child to be good and is told to be hard working and to aim for the highest. r Everyone appeals to hislher ori and asks it to choose the best portion of prosperity, joy, health. The ori is asked to reject evil, poverty, sickness, barrenness and premature death. When a Yoruba succeeds in his/her endeavour, it is attributed to God and ori. When he/she survives a terrible accident it is God and ori that saved himlher. When a criminal escapes punishment, it is considered a reprieve from God and ori. When a child escapes from a deserved punishment it is attributed to God and ori. Generally, whatever is attributed to God can to a lesser degree be attri buted to ori too. Daily, the ori receives the simplest (yet profound) form of propitiation among the Yoruba in the form of personal tap on the head accompanied by the desired invocation. Yoruba belief in ori is concretized with names like Oriyomi (my head saved me), Oritunmise (my head reformed me), Origbemileke (my head gave me the lead), Orifunmise (my head gave the expertise). Among the Igbo, the similarity is found in chi (personal god). For both Igbo and Yoruba, it is the divine presence in every man.

Ifa: This is the of , and clairvoyancy which knows everything; present, past and future. /fa is osatona which reveals hidden things and predicts the future. According to Abimbola, (1965) and Lucas, (1948). Ifa is the major determinant of most things like wedding, building, travelling, farming, choosing a king and going to war. Among the Okun, ifa provides meaning to life. A key informant said, "Ifa decides everything". Also, a source noted that, "Everything which Ifa says is always the truth". There are different types of ifa divination. The researcher attended five (5) sessions of ifa divinatory rites which informants say are the principal ones among the Okun namely; divination by strings and cowries (if a opele), divination by sand (if a olokun), divination by woven basket (!fa awere), divination by chalk (if a ejiogbe), and divination by kolanut (if a obi). The most popular is ifa obi (divination by kolanut), These have common traits, namely, that they are traditional, deliberative and they give alternative answers. A divinatory scene goes thus: A client approaches a diviner, (father of medicinal pot) or Onifa (owner of ifa) and he/she holds money in his/her hand, cups the hand over his/her mouth and whispers his/her intentions into the cupped hand. He/she then places the money on top of the divinatory object. The task is left for the onifa to decipher the problem of the client and proffer solution by consulting ifa. The easiest type of ifa which the researcher could comprehend was the ifa obi, which consists of four cotyledons kolanut. The diviner throws up slightly the four valves of kolanut and the positions in which they land on the ifa circle either to the right or left of the diviner are interpreted. Ifa is based on specific alternatives. There are basically five alternative positions tothe right hand of the diviner: thus (1) two valves face up versus two valves face down, (2) one valve faces up versus thn!e valves face down, (3) three valves face up versus one valve faces down, (4) four valves may face up (5) four valves may face down. Another five alternatives are possible on the left. Thus the total combination is ten. To this researcher, the ifa rites can be described as traditionally complicated deliberative systems of specific alternatives that seek to reveal hidden things and predict the future so as to give meaningful answers to the problems of life. . /fa is concretised in the social life of the people with personal names like Fatimayin (If a assisted-me), lfadola (If a enriches). ffaillyi (If a is more than this), Fasiku (there is more to know .- 150 about /fa) and /fayose (/fa will do it) among others./fa divination goes on simultaneously with the services of Christian and prophetesses (woli) and muslim clerics (ala) in allOkun communities, so much so that an Okun man is at home with either. Cross-cultural data gathered by this'researcher indicate that the ala of the Igbo and Igala has the same connotation.

Ogun: The deity of iron is called Ogun and it is a prominent deity because of the use of iron implements in the daily activities of the people. An informant said that "Ogun is every thing"; he is seen as upholder and preserver of life on earth. Farming activities depend on Ogun. Success in war is a gift from Ogun. For these reasons Ogun is well acknowledged in the lives of the people with names like Ogundele (Ogun has come home), Ogunleye (Ogun is a celebrity), Ogunlowo (Ogun has respect), Ogunkorede (Ogun brought good things) and Ogunbiyi (sired by ogun).

Figure 6: Researcher with an Ogun priest Source: Tubi 2015 Ancestors (egungun): Egungun is the traditional Okun nomenclature for the deceased ancestor who is supposed to have risen from the land of the dead. Ancestors play an integral part in Okun culture. According to Morton-Williams (1960), the Yoruba responses to the fear of death find answer in multiplicity of ancestral rites and cults. Among the Okun there are certain requirements which make one to be qualified to be an ancestor. Generally, dignity is accorded to a good, successful man/woman who died at old age. Practically only men are venerated as ancestors. In juxtaposition with their Yoruba kiths, ancestral worship among the Okun, strictIy speaking is limited to the family of the dead. There is no ancestor who is raised to the level of general sainthood which deserves public veneration across lineages, villages or entire communities of Okun. Among the Igbo, the concept of ndichie shows that the ancestors wield tremendous power in their communities. Egungun (masquerade) is conceived primarily as an ancestor who has come back to live briefly among mankind. He comes to bless and to sanction. Also masquerades act as agents of social control in the community to correct evil. Moreover, the masquerades are also means of entertainment. Masquerades are cons'Tdered to be sacred beings, and this forms the basis for adulation for egungun so much so that to raise a hand against egungun is considered a taboo. Masquerades are acted by men who are dressed in long costumes made either of grass or clothings and wooden masks or animal heads and feathers. They appear by day or night and they are characterised with dancing, leaping, and grotesque steps. Generally, people know that egungun is a disguised human being, but it is never uttered. Masquerade cultic practices are common features of traditional African religion as data on Egungun of Yoruba, Egwu ofIgala and 151

egwugwu/mmanwu of Igbo have shown in the works of scholars like Basden (1921), Egbunu (2009), Fadipe (1970), Idowu (1960), Uchendu (1965) amongst others.

Figure 7: An Okun Egungun (masquerade) Source: Tubi 2015

Ghosts (iwin): Also found in Yoruba cosmology are spirit-beings called iwin or irunmole (Fagunwa, 1967). Among the Okun, iwin/irunmole are not direct objects of worship whereas among other Yoruba groups they are constituted as an integral part of religious ceremony. They populate rivers, trees, rocks and forests. Generally iwin/irunmole are not interested in human affairs. They dislike human interference and therefore they live far from human activities. -. ' Whenever men forage into their environment, they react. Hunters (ode) have reported seeing iwin in the bush. There are good and bad ghosts. Most of them are thought to be benign individuals but they can become malevolent when provoked. They are thought to be of different sizes and shapes. This is conceptualised in Igbo culture in the belief in the presence of arunsi and mmuo (Okonkwo, 2011:129-130). .

Table 1: Categories of Traditional Religious Features among the Okun

Framework Rituals Groups Linguistic Rites

Supreme Deity: Belief in No direct ritual is offered There is a general belief in Verbal formulae in songs, God (Olodumare), among to God, but he is a Supreme Being. He is praise names and emotive the Okun is expressed in acknowledged daily. known and worshipped by elements like fear and myths. theology and rituals. Olodumare is invoked in all. Olodumare has no awe. daily parlance priest

Deities: Belief in deities Worship involves The head of the religious Verbal formulae in songs, (ebora) hinges on the propitiatory rites and system is the chief priest. incantations, ritual dance, notion that they are patron- affective elements of fear, He is concretely aligned emotive elements of fear, deities of each community. ecstasy. with the deities and awe, zeal, trance and They are the direct objects ancestors possessions. of daily worship. They are intermediaries between the community and God. - 152

Ancestors (Egungun): The Ritual meals and The entire community is Verbal formulae, songs, mysterium of Ok un religion are offered to Ancestors involved but ownership is incantations, magical is expressed in oro where who have come back as located within a family. spell, dance, trance. ancestor .••are given cognate masquerades ccqa",y. and fear recognition. Ancestors- rites . are the acti ve expressionof life after death, the continuum of life of the community.

Ghosts: Presence of Ghosts They recei ve ritual meals There are no groups Verbal formulae, songs (iwill) is acknowledged. and sacrifices at road aligned to the worship of and dance. They are to be avoided junctions. iwin (ghosts) because they are irascible.

Anthropological roles of traditional religious system of the Okun- Religion has anthropological relevance in human society which has made it an integral part of human life to such an extent that only human beings can be defined anthropologically as religious beings conclusively. What are theroles of religion on Okun culture in the light of this research? These can be stated as follows:

Integration: One of the roles of the traditional religious system is that it has helped to integrate and unify the Okun- Yoruba. Religion as a unifying factor has been stressed by scholars like Ibenwa (2014:61), who underscores its usefulness as an integrative tool in all cultures of the world. In the same vein, religion has also been useful as tools for social cohesion of the various segments of Okun communities. Within Okun polity, the religio-political system has ensured solidarity and cohesion in the polity. Though traditional religion apportions different roles for men and women the people accept the underlying structure of unity and cohesiveness in welding together their community. Also with the advent of foreign religions, which are mutually exclusive from the traditional religion among the Okun, they have areas of convergence, like the believe in one Supreme Deity called Olodumare amongst traditionalists, muslims and christians which '~ enhances the collective will of the people to weld together a functional community. Social Control: The Okun- Yoruba have used their traditional religious system with social, economic and political systems as a means of social control. Culturally they help to control and reinforce the community norms. According to Chuta (1992), religion has acted as an instrument of social control in traditional African societies. The Okun cosmology, which is based on set boundaries and binaries are the means by which individuals are bound to operate, gives anthropological relevance to the roles of religion within their culture. These cultural boundaries have served as a means of social control and cohesion for the Okun- Yoruba. As pointed out by structuralists like Levi-Strauss (1976), the prevalence of binary opposition in a given cultural milieu is a part of the mechanism for social control of the polity. Maintenance of Cultural Values and Identity: Another role of traditional religion on the Okun- Yoruba is that it helps to maintain cultural values. The cultural values of the Okun- Yoruba equip them with fundamental values of honesty, morality, industriousness, amongst others. These are enshrined among the Okun people and their religious system cum political, economic and social systems ensures that they are encouraged and maintained. Promotion of Welfare: Religion is meant for the good of the people. It contributes to the general wellbeing of the people. In this light, the Okun-Yoruba's traditional beliefs system has aided the people to cater for the progress of their communities and ensure individuals' welfare. Traditional Okun religious system does not depend on unbridled accumulation of wealth as being practiced by Nigerian religious leaders. It has been pointed out that Nigeria's woes partly arose from the lust for money by politicians who siphon government funds and are supported by religious leaders (Egbunu, 2009; Ehusani, 2005). This study confirms that traditional Okun religion and its suh- 153

systems have helped to promote the individual and collective welfare of the people by helping to provide dedicated leadership to the community.

Explanation of Life's Probtems: Human beings face a lot of challenges in lite. They include "'- misfortunes, illnesses, death, poverty, amongst others. The Okun- Yoruba have found answers to the vagaries of life within their traditional culture especially through the mediation of ifa oracle. The daily human challenges within Okun cultural milieu can be attributed to the activities of • spirits, deities, ancestors, destiny, man and nature. This explanatory role has helped to reduce fear, conflict and confusion that could arise out of existential human life.

Group Identity: One of the functions of the religious system of the Okun- Yoruba is that it gives and enhances their group identity among the larger Yoruba ethnic groups. What constitutes the Okun-ness of the people under study are principally found in their religious and political configurations. Generally speaking, , , and westernization have weakened the autochthonous religio-pclitical system of the Okun- Yoruba but, by and large, the people still adhere to certain traditional cultural practices that give them distinct group identity among the Yoruba. Despite the enormous conflicts that ensued between traditional Okun culture and Islam cum Christianity, westernization cum modernization, the contact between these different cultures has resulted in acculturation that did not erase traits of group identity among the Okun. In essence, traditional Okun religious and political systems have helped to maintain their group identity despite acculturation. _Irrespective of the salutary roles of religion and politics within the Okun cultural milieu, the people are still facing some challenges, which partly arose from the religious and political configurations such as conflict, violence, gender issues, discrimination, and exclusivism.

-.

Figure 8: Researcher interviewing a traditional Okun chief priest Source: Tubi 2615

Conclusion: Structuralism and Religion Structuralism gains current as an important method of analysis in multiple fields of study such as Anthropology, Biology, Sociology, Psychology, Linguistics and Philosophy. Structuralism brought to bear on Anthropology a realization of the nexus between language and culture (Levi- • Strauss 1976, Saussure 1959). It helps scholars to understand that cultural elements are meaningful if they are interpreted in terms of their relationship with the larger system. It is in this light that 'structuralism as an anthropological theory is examined in relation to religion in a traditional society. The basic relevance of structuralism to this study can be examined in its capacity to uncover structures that connect human activities, thinking and feelings. It is also apropos to this ~54

study because it espouses the interrelations of human life phenomena as well as the study of the subsystems into which these relations enter (Saussure, 1959). Structuralism's claim and the correlates, though fundamental, did not form the overriding principles ofthe religio-political organization among the Okun communities. The validity of structuralism can be measured by th'e specificity of delineated roles which form the totality of a given culture. Vital areas of modem life •• like ecology, subsistence and social mobility are variables found in all Okun communities as in all human communities, but the combination of these factors have not and may never be constant for different people at different locales and at different times (Andah 1988). Structuralism presents a general background to this study because of the relevance of its general assumptions as conceived by grand theorists like Levi-Strauss (1976), Evans-Pritchard (1951), and others, It has been appraised for studying the "underlying and relatively stable relationship among element parts or patterns in a unified organised whole" (Hogan, 2006:345). In structuralism. the nature of phenomena themselves as well as the subsystems into which these relations enter, are the foci of study. These perspectives are germane to our study of religion in a traditional but westernizing society like the Okun- Yoruba. This research also owes its theoretical foundationsto the nexus which has been established between theoretical concepts and field practicality of structuralism. . . , In line with structuralism, this study of the religion of Okun- Yoruba demands rigorous deconstructionism as an exegetical tool, which is hereby applied in this study. Deconstructionism as used here is an attempt made to critically examine and interpret all the aspects of the Okun tradition from-the various perspectives so that all bits of data are extracted, separated and interpreted. According to Levy (1988), deconstructionism denies the possibility of deriving one absolute meaning from any symbol or text, therefore there are multiplicity of cultural meanings hat can be derived ftom the religious symbolism of the Okun- Yoruba. In a systematic ethnographic discussion, it is imperative to begin by taking diagnostic steps like observing the difference between what has been and what might be, and also critically examine the culturalimpetus that is largely responsible for the present state. It is also essential to identify the methodology which dictates the observable cultural traits. It has been mentioned in Tubi (2015), that globalization and westernization have impacted greatly on the traditional Okun ..- culture, much as have been shown in anthropological studies in other parts of (Dike, 1985; Fadipe, 1970; Gluckman, 1955, 1%3). Despite the onslaught of globalization, the Okun are located in an area where Islam, Christianity and westernization do not exercise dominance on the life of the people, which makes the subculture to maintain a certain level of pristine cultural identity and originality in the face of onslaught of modernization. This study establishes a strong relationship between religion and other variables of community life in traditional societies like the Okun- Yoruba that are confronted with challenges in their attempt to welda coherent and functional society. Since this is an ethnographic study of religion in traditional African society which uses the Okun- Yoruba group as the focus of study, the imperative of this research is best appraised when the study is juxtaposed with the fact that the society is a globalizing and westernizing one. The study of the political and religious systems of the Okun- Yoruba people like many traditional but modernizing societies has not been ethnographically documented, even though some scholarly treatises have been written on aspects of their culture (Bakinde, 2009; Obayemi, 1979, Tubi 2015). The ethnography therefore involves . direct dealing with the life-ways and processes, description and evaluation of Okun religion and its effects on the people. . The ethno-historical study is concerned with patterned or observed uniformity of human actions. It is a holistic and integrative study of the Okun- Yoruba people. Thus, in line with structuralism, the research relates the individual Okun person to the cultural setting of Okunland. ,. This study probed by ethnographic methodology the resilience of Okun traditional religion and discussed the noticeable changes in the culture. Also the'research sought to understand the nexus between traditional and western institutions especially in relation to religious practices. It equally ascertained the effects of these changes. 155

Using structuralist's paradigms, the study of Okun's traditional religious system has helped to critically examine the very nature of the people's cultural phenomena in general. This has helped to study the various subsystems into which these relations enter, especially as they relate to the cultural elasticity, resiliency.rdynamism and vulnerability of the Okun cultural group. Theoretical orientations prior to structuralism have been embedded in orthodox apologetics which primarily dealt with upholding the supernaturalities of the history of mankind. With structuralism, rigorous theoretical orientations and methods have been employed by social scientists to study aspects of religion amongst others. It thus became pertinent for this researcher to be concerned with the present culture that pervades Okun cultural milieu, because according to Piaget (1968:5), "the notion of structure is comprised of three key ideas: the idea of wholeness, the idea of transformation, the idea of self-regulation". Structuralism ashas been said has enriched anthropology with a deep reflection ontbe nexus between culture and language (Levi Strauss, 1976; Saussure, 1959). This research on the traditional religion of Okun indicates that culture is more than language. There are non-linguistic symbolisms that make anthropological statements in the traditional Okun society. The religious rituals of the Okun contain diverse elements of speech, gesture and the use of ritual objects. Therefore despite the relevance of structuralism and post-structuralism on syntagmatic relations of the Saussurean notions and Levi Straussian communicative forms, structuralism fails to explain the entire pervasiveness of Okun culture so that despite the onslaught of modernization, Christianity and Islam, the Okunstill maintain an autochthonous culture. Moreover, the ethnography of Okun's religious system shows that language is not the most important element in their interpersonal discourse. This study shows that Okun's language does not inextricab1y constitute the sole means of cultural expressions. Despite the fact that structuralism as propagated by Levi-Strauss (1976), has largely excluded the study of the complexity of Africa's spirituality and relegated the dynamics of its social institutions, the application of Structuralism to the study of the religion of the Okun- Yoruba has helped to put the study in sharp focus. It hasshown the resilience and change that are taking place within Africa by using the Okun cultural milieu as a case study. Structuralism, the theoretical orientation adopted for this research, has provided a holistic and integrative study of the Okun- Yoruba. It also provides a theoretical base and support for this research. It has been useful because of its concern with observed uniformity of human actions, the relations between the diachronic and synchronic, the objective analysis and subjective experience, and the use of binary oppositions (Tubi 2015). The usefulness of structuralism to this study notwithstanding, its use can be critiqued on the following points: (1) Structuralism, though effecti ve, proves to be a static and ahistorical theory in the explanation of Okuncultural milieu. (2) . Structuralism does not account for human individuality within the Okun culture. (3) The theory does not account for independent human act. (4) The dynamic aspects and vitality of the Okun culture are not adequately addressed by Structuralism. 156

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