The Impact Of Modernity On Burial Rites Among The Yoruba

Project and Seminar Material Under Religious and Cultural Studies

Abstract

Indigenous burial rites in southwestern Nigeria are traditional rituals performed before and after burial to honour the dead and ensure the well-being of the living. Previous studies on burial rites among the Ekiti have concentrated on the art of burying, celebration of the dead, and their socio-economic implications, with little attention paid to their changing patterns as determined by foreign religions and modernity, especially from the 19th century to the present time. This study was, therefore, designed to examine the continuity and changein burial rites in selected Èkìtì communities, with a view to highlighting their socio-religious implications. Talcott Parson’s Modernisation Theory, which is concerned with the progressive transformation of traditional practices of a society, was adopted as framework. The ethnographic design was used. Adó-Èkìtì, Ìkéṛé-Èkìtìand ̣ Ìkòḷé-Èkìtì communities were purposively selected because they were the largest cities and constituted the hub of socioeconomic, religious and cultural activities. In-depth interviews were conducted with 60 indigenes, comprising six traditional high chiefs, two members of the Aborigine Ògbóni Fraternity, four Ifá priests and eight adherents of indigenous religion who were inclined to indigenous burial rites. Five sessions of focus group discussions were held in each of the selected communities, with six participants each who were between age 60 and 100. The participants were one Aborigine Ògbónifraternity, two Ifá priests, two community heads and one indigene. Data were content-analysed. Twelve resilient indigenous burial rites were identified in the three communities: YíyaÈsìsílè, Òdìgbóró, Pakájà, Ewúré-Etígbè, Omi-Èrò, Ẹran-Bàwè, Òsorò, Gbàrà- ̣ mọgbó, ̣ Itìpá, Òkú-Sùn-yèwù, Upè and Òkè –Aède. The first five rites are performed for deceased Ifá priests to help separate the individual from other Ifá priests, while the second five elements are rites performed by traditional high chiefs to ensure that the ghost of the deceased does not haunt both the deceased family and the co-traditional chiefs. The last two rites are exclusive burial rites performed for departedỌba in Ìkéṛé-Èkìtì ̣ . Ten identified rites;Ìfèyìngbè, Ekún-sísun, Òòṣà-Ìgbélé, Pípọn-omi-Òsun, Osé, Adìye-Ùrànà, Òsorò, Ugbó-Oriro, Abóbakú and Etígbè are no longer performed due to the influence of Christianity, Islam and modernity. In Adó-Èkìtì, Ìfèyìngbè and Ekún-Sísun were special rites for the extremely old people; in Ikéré-Èkìtì, Òòsà-Ìgbélé, Pípon-Omi-Òsun and Osè were the exclusive burial rites for a departed Oba; in Ìkòlé-Èkìtì, Òsorò rites is performed to bring out the Egígún (masquerade) of the deceased. The Ùgbo-Òrìro burial site for EniÒrìsà(companion of gods) is now called Ugbó-Ajé and is the present location of ỌláOlúwa Muslim Grammar School, Adó-Èkìtì; Ansar-Ud-deen High School,Ìkéré and Ansar-Ud-deen High School, Ìkòlé. It was believed that the influence of foreign religions led to the erosion of some indigenous burial rites.

Table of Content

Title Page
Certification
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Table of Content
List of Tables
Abstract

Chapter One:

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4 Research Questions
1.5 Significance of the Study
1.6 Scope of the Study
1.7 Limitation of the Study
1.8 Definition of Terms
1.9 Organization of the Study

Chapter Two:

Review of Literature

2.1 Conceptual Framework
2.2 Theoretical Framework
2.3 Empirical Review

Chapter Three:

Research Methodology

3.1 Research Design
3.2 Population of the Study
3.3 Sample Size Determination
3.4 Sample Size Selection Technique and Procedure
3.5 Research Instrument and Administration
3.6 Method of Data Collection
3.7 Method of Data Analysis
3.8 Validity of the Study
3.9 Reliability of the Study
3.10 Ethical Consideration

Chapter Four:

Data Presentation and Analysis

4.1 Data Presentation
4.2 Analysis of Data
4.3 Answering Research Questions
4.4 Discussion of Findings

Chapter Five:

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Summary
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendation
References
APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

Burial rites are the last honours accorded the dead. These last honours are in form of ceremonies and rituals performed to bid the deceased a farewell and also to make the path to Ọ̀run alákeji through for the victim’s final destination. When death is unnatural, ritaulsare meant to send the victim away finally so that he or she will go to where he is destined to go. They may be done so that the angered divinities would be appeased. Burial rites proper begin at the point of death especially for the aged: the rites strongly connote the fact that the dead person still lives on in another world or in another environment. In other words, death is not the end of life but a transition to another realm1 . The Yorùbá believed that a dead person is also aware of everything that takes place during the burial and that if things are done amiss the victim would turn against the family and children altogether2 .

It is against this background that the Yoruba3 particularly Ekiti4 people attach much importance in preparing their dead to the world beyond. It is in fact correct to hold that celebrating the dead is necessary no matter the odds in Ekiti. This belief is proved by the sentiments expressed at funerals: when a child dies, they say he or she is dead, but when an old person dies, they say: Ara Àbá tàbi Èyé gbóná – father’s or mother’s body is hot. This shows that it is only children that die, old or aged people do not die. It is also believed that when a husband dies, the wife would never say that her husband is dead, that is, oko mi kú. She would rather say, ó ti pesè dà-he changes position. Besides, weeping is an important part of funeral rites because Ekiti people regard weeping as the money the deceased would spend in heaven. According to Oguntuyi 5 , weeping rite is seen as a privilege enjoyed by old people-the deceased while young ones are denied this privilege. For those below sixty years, they only mourn for them, they strive to avoid weeping for this category of people. Ìsìnkú – funerals are key occasions for celebrating the life of a person who has died, especially one who has lived a long, successful life and left a good legacy.

However, the contact of indigenous religion with modern trends and western lifestyle has, over the years, engendered changes in some aspects of burial and funeral rites among Ekiti people. This contact is such that the African is caught between a past he cannot retrieve and a future he cannot fully comprehend. Doubtless, most scholars agree that change is a distinctive character of religions, but so is its correlative constancy. Corroborating this contact, E.B Idowu6 writes, where an indigenous culture is strong enough it exercises power of rejection, in which case it takes what it chooses of the alien culture and refuses what is incompatible with its own ethos. In some cases, there are additions, in terms of its rites, and in other cases, subtractions, that may mean abandonment of the old for the new. An example here is the abandonment of the offering of adìyeÌrànà – the pathway/fare fowl, which the people believes would pave way for the deceased’s journey. In fact, there have been a lot of modifications, physical alterations7 , adaptations and total extinction in some burial rites in Ekiti that calls for scholarly attention to point out the implications of this on traditional religion, cherished culture and tradition that are gradually going down the drain.

1.1.1 Background Knowledge of Èkìtì

Èkìtì people were said to form one of the unique and largest ethnic groups in Yoruba land. They are culturally homogenous and speak a dialect of Yoruba language known as Èkìtì. Perhaps this made Adelowo 27 to refer to Èkìtì land as Okun land. However, the word Okun land has been rejected by indigenes of Ekiti because there is another tribe called Okun land for example Igbomina or Ekiti Kwara. Some Èkìtì communities were said to have traced their origin from Ọ̀rùnmìlà’s sonswho established major towns such as: Arámoko, Ìjerò, Itaji, Ìjèlú and Oyé in Èkìtì as found in Odù Ìwòrì mejì where Ifá says:

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Previous studies are predicated on the indigenous burial rites generally and their importance which are separation, transition and reincorporation. Thus, studies by scholars suchas Mbiti8 , Imasogie9 , Badham10, Nabofa11, Adiele12, Etuk13, and Adogbo14 among others chronicles the general belief of Africans on the immortality of the soul; and judgement of deceased spirit which is based on his earthly character. Idowu15, Awolalu16 , Adelowo17, Babalola18 Olatunji19 and Adegoke20focused their works on Yoruba belief, the act of burying the dead in the Yoruba traditional practice, ancestral spirit, judgement after death, different rites that must be observed, qualifications for being an ancestor which includes good earthly living, proper burial rites performed by his children and next of kin, and the importance attached to having a son as a successor; even those who wrote on the indigenous burial rites in Ekiti with which we are concerned in this study like Ojo21 , Oguntuyi22, Owoeye23, Olomola24 and Ibitoye25 worked on the belief of Ekiti on after-life, the essentiality of burial rites and the consequences of indecent burials.

However, nothing had been said about continuity and change in indigenous burial rites among the Ekiti people, vis-à-vis the elements of continuity and change; the catalysts or factors responsible for change, the effects of continuity and change, and the socio-religious implications for burial rites. This is the gap the study attempts to fill in scholarship.

In the light of the observations above, we ask the following questions: Can it be true that there are changes or discontinuity in the performance of burials today in Ekiti? If the answer is yes, what then are the elements of continuity and change in indigenous burial rites among Èkìtì people? What are the catalysts or factors combined to weaken and strengthen indigenous burial rites? What necessitated the plan to ban burial of the dead in family compounds?26 Will this not undermine the traditional and religious values of the people? Why should someone who dies in an urban area have to be buried in his or her village? What are the effects of those who are supposed to be buried in Ugbó-Òrìroforbidden bush and Ugbó-Aláparà- sacred bush but are not buried there? What is the implication of nonexistence of Ugbó-Òrìro, Ugbó-Adérè, and Ugbó-Aláparà? What are the impacts of burial rites on the religious, cultural and socio-economic life of Èkìtì people? Do traditional burial rites have any future? Do these changes occur as a result of western civilization, Christianity and lslamic religions? These are some of the questions this study seeks to answer.

1.3 Research Objective

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of modernity on burial rites among the Yoruba. Specific objectives include to:

Examine assesses the relevance of burial rites on the Yoruba people.
Examine the negative implications arising from improper performance of burial rites among Yoruba People.
Investigates the impact of modernity on indigenous religion in relation to burial rites among the Yoruba people.

1.4 Research Questions

The following research questions were raised to direct the study;

What is the relevance of burial rites on the Yoruba people?
That are the negative implications arising from improper performance of burial rites among Yoruba People?
What is theimpact of modernity on indigenous religion in relation to burial rites among the Yoruba people.

1.5 Significance of the Study

Given the above research objectives, the significance of this study cannot be overemphasized. The study provides appropriate knowledge on the nature of burial rites that have been affected by change. In that sense, it provides adequate information as to how the indigenous burial rites of Ekiti impinge on their modern religions. It offers comprehensive information on the catalysts and effects of indigenous burial rites on the people. Apart from the above, the study reveals some elements that have refused to change, thereby contributing to the dynamic nature of religious and cultural practices in the field of African lndigenous religion.

The study is significant because it addresses the issue of sentiments and indignation that often occurs between indigenes, ideas and beliefs on burial rites in indigenous religion and that of culture. It draws the attention of indigenous priests, adherents of indigenous religion and the society at large to the ill consequences of changeof some burial rites in Ekiti. The study also creates awareness that will make indigenous worshippers identify themselves with their own distinctive personalities and uphold their cultural religious values in the face of self-imposing western culture, Christianity and lslamic religions, by this means serving as a reference document for scholarship in the area of African indigenous religion.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The scope of this work is limited to three selected Ekiti communities in Èkìtì State of South-Western Nigeria. Although burial rites are not peculiar to Ekiti, the research site has been dictated by the belief of the indigenes about the enlightenment that came up among the three communities that brought about great changein burial rites. There were Christian and Muslim missions who were pioneers in the provision of western education and medicare services. These institutions were said to have brought rich harvest of converts to the communities and contributed to the growth and expansion of the missions while indigenous religion starts to dwindle. The establishment of high schools and tertiary institutions in these communities exposed the people to European culture, new opportunities and consequent transformation of the society and traditions. Hence, AdóÈkìtì, Ìkéré-Èkìtì and Ìkòlé-Èkìtì became the hub of social, economic and religious life of Èkìtì that brought noticeable change, thus necessitating the choice of the places.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

The process leading to the conclusion of this work did not go without some constraints. This started with lack of any written work/literature on the changing patterns related to burying of the dead especially in the three communities of Adó-Èkìtì, Ìkéré-Èkìtì and Ìkólé-Èkìtì. The researcher, therefore, was constrained to depend solely on the evidence of oral tradition for historical references and information. Unfortunately, oral tradition quite often could lack reliability, authenticity, originality and critical quality control due to the level of education of those interviewed. Another major problem is secrecy attached to some of the burial rites especially the burial rites of Obas, Ògbóni, traditional high chiefs and priests. However, a large amount of data was gathered due to the researcher’s close relationship with some prominent traditionalists and indigenes of these communities with the promise not to divulge the sources of information.

1.8 Definition of Terms

The Yoruba People:

A West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by the Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland.

Funeral:

A ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances.

Ritual:

A sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community.

The Ekiti People:

One of the largest historical subgroups of the larger Yoruba people of West Africa, located in Nigeria. They are classified as a Central Yoruba group, alongside the Ijesha, Igbomina, Yagba and Ifes.

Death:

The irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism.

1.9 Organization of the Study

There are five chapters in this study, the first of which discusses the background, statement of the research problem, aims, research question, and research hypotheses as well as the study’s significance, scope, and limitations. Chapter 2 contains conceptual, theoretical, and empirical reviews. The study methodology is covered in Chapter 3. This chapter covers the research design, the study’s population, the sample size and methodology, the data collection source and method, the study’s instruments, the data analysis method, and the validity and reliability of the study.

Chapter Five

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Summary

Cultural resource management is very crucial and unavoidable in the conservation (preservation and restoration) of indigenous knowledge and technology which include archaeological, palaeontological or geological sites and deposits, landscapes, groups of building, as well as scientific collections, collections of art objects, manuscripts, books, published materials, archival and audio-visual materials and reproductions of any of the preceding or collections of historical value, as well as intangible cultural assets comprising arts, traditions, customs and skills employed in the performing arts, in applied arts and crafts, and other intangible assets which have a historical, artistic or ethnographic values.

This means that the management of cultural and natural resources generally involves the aspects of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the past and the present ways of life of the people. The management of these cultural and natural endowments should be securely anchored on the governments, communities, families and individuals, because, these resources are involved in daily activities of man in their various communities.

Nigeria has these resources in abundance, distributed in various ethnic groups in the country, and wherever they are found or exhibited they serve as a part of national identity. This research work is chosen and centred on the impacts of modernization on these resources in Ado and Igede Ekiti, due to the fact that, the management of these heritage is very low as a result of western cultural practices incorporated in the traditions of the people, and the carelessness of the custodians as presumed before going into the field where literatures, observations and interviews served as the major sources of data.

Ekiti State is abundantly blessed with valuable rich cultural and natural resources, embedded in the traditions of the people as they have been transmitted from 170 one generation to the other, and primitively managed through oral traditions, apprehenticeship, frequent participation in cultural events and succession. Due to the dynamism of the world, these valuable cultural endowments are greatly being polluted as a result of the various western cultural practices that have been extremely diffused in the country and embraced by the inhabitants of Ado and Igede Ekiti.

The people embraced modern ways of doing things, and as a result of this, according to the data gathered from the respondents during structured interviews, the valuable heritage and resources in the traditional settings are being ignorantly neglected and some vandalized by the custodians and the impact of Christianity. This has made the management of both tangible objects and intangible events or activities very low and ineffective in the face of modern development, and the incapacity of the cultural legislation and policy in the country also added to these problems.

Even though modernization positively affects the people under study and their immediate environment in the areas of road and building constructions, provision of social amenities and infrastructures, inclusion of formal education, development of modern means of transportation, institutionalization of cultural groups, abolishment of slavery and human sacrifices, communication networks, etc, yet, its negative effects in diminishing cultural values in Ado and Igede Ekiti cannot be overemphasized. The traditional ways of celebrating festivals, naming, marriage, coronation and burial are being done to soothe modern styles without taking their cultural values and future heirs into considerations, most crucially, as the majority of the present inhabitants have abandoned ifa consultations and rituals before and after traditional activities.

Several festivals, shrines, temples, burial sites, groves and traditional religion are also abandoned and classified as fetish or idolatry. What people prefer now is ceremonious activities that are of global standard and planned according to modern dictates. Most of the cultural titles that are aboriginally attached to festivals and shrines are left vacant and valueless, while some who have taken the traditional titles occupied the posts for political reasons and not for the promotion and management of the various traditional materials and behavioural activities in the community. The negligence of valuable cultural materials and activities generates to the demolition of 171 many archaeological sites and devaluation of ethnographic resources so as to give way for modern activities and development.

The rich local delicacies, mode of dressing, manner of greetings, dialect, traditional games, morals, norms, indigenous technology, oral traditions, informal education and kinship are now seen as primitive or “old school” among the people in these study areas, both young and old. The upcoming generations are not encouraged to be rooted in informal education as expected thinking that this age of enlightenment is only all about westernization. In this sensitive case, formal education is massively embraced as priority among the people in these study areas. The traditional ways of nurturing the young ones within communal settings for better future are neglected, thereby making them to abandon indigenous knowledge and technology.

In order to stay away from further or total destruction and abandonment of most of the valuable cultural (including natural ones that are rooted in the culture of the people) resources in Ado and Igede Ekiti, tourism industry, specifically cultural tourism, is strongly embraced in the State to revitalize and package these potentials into tourism destinations and products so as to meet global standard without being detrimental to their cultural values. This will help to promote cultural and nature-based forms of tourism, using modern equipments and methods as impetus as it is done in many other developed countries of the world.

In term of tourism developments, these two study areas are potentially rich in festivals, shrines and groves, historical sites, and traditional materials that are partially preserved and managed by the kings, chiefs and those who cherish the customs of the society and passionately enthuse in the preservation and restoration of cultural objects at the local level. They made laudable efforts in the past generations to manage their cultural resources and activities using traditional methods and ideology, but in this contemporary period, these ancient methods of managing these resources are not efficacious again to cope within this modern society unless modern methods and materials are incorporated in the system to boost cultural resources.

In the aspect of natural resources, Ado Ekiti is much richer in hills and rocks than Igede Ekiti, and the beneficial and adverse impacts of modernization are very much rampant in Ado Ekiti as a State Capital than any other towns in the State. On the other hand, Igede Ekiti, a watershed settlement and Local Government Headquarters, has many sources of rivers that are attached to their cultural activities than Ado Ekiti, especially the source of River Osun that is locally and internationally being adored and celebrated in Osun State during annual Osun-Osogbo fesitval. The most spectacular attribute of Igede Ekiti is that, no water runs into the town, but several rivers flow out of it.
For effective management of these resources, Nigerian government established many cultural institutions and apportioned the part(s) of culture to be managed and promoted (see appendix iv). They are guided by cultural policy and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This movement would have a long way for the development of parks, cultural centres, hotels, restaurants, modern markets, shops, promotion of indigenous knowledge and technology and moral values in Ado and Igede Ekiti, and the country at large.

5.2 Conclusion

Ado and Igede Ekiti are synonymous in all aspects of Yoruba tradition that is why their differences are not apparent. The people are termed Ekiti or Ekiti Kete anywhere they are found. The cultural practices that they inherited from the past are so valuable to them to the extent of signing some chiefs to manage them in the past. Oba is at the apex of hierarchy, who has enormous power to finalize any communal issues because he has the final say in the society.
Despite all the cultural values of the people, the rate through which modernization penetrated the two communities almost wiped-out the most cherish-able aspects of their culture. But, as a result of cultural resource management and planning, different forms of cultural vandalism are detected and many solutions to salvage or rescue these valuable traditions from being vandalized and deteriorated are found. In the process of embarking on this, it has been concluded that, cultural development can easily attract development into other sectors in this modern age. Tourism industry and archaeology administration (museum) can help in the promotion of cultural resources, development of natural endownments, generation and maximization of profits, creation of employment opportunities, provision of social amenities and infrastructures, establishment of mutual understanding, unity and cultural integration in the state, country and the world at large, if they are efficiently and effectively being planned and managed.

This research work has designated why cultural and natural resources are not being put into consideration like other resources in Ado and Igede Ekiti which is as a result of the misinterpretation and utilization of western culture, and this can be resolved by delightfully incorporating modern equipment and methods in the tradition of the people with the support of cultural institutions, Kings, Chiefs and cultural oriented persons or groups in the country so as to be well packaged and embraced in these study areas. This work has made it known that, if cultural and natural resources are effectively and efficiently being managed with the materials that meet the contemporary taste in the country, the custodians of these resources would cherish them and engage in preserving them for posterity. In this case, it would be permissive for the government, tourism developers and promoters to fully assist the communities in the areas of cultural and eco-tourism, which in turn could bring forth development to all sectors in the society.

Finally, cultural resource management should be taken seriously, because, it is also as important as other resources in the country and this form of management is all about acquiring, interpreting, documenting, preserving, educating, exhibiting and promoting the cultural heritage both archaeological and ethnographic resources in different communities in the country, so that the tradition of the people in the areas of traditional games, language, indigenous technologies, food delicacies, mode of dressing, manner of greeting, methods of celebrating events, masquerading, and so-on would not go into extinction because they are part and parcel of cultural values and history that distinguish one cultural practice from the other.

5.3 Recommendation

According to the outcome of this research work, the following recommendations, if they are seriously put into considerations, would have laudable positive impacts in the management of cultural and natural resources and tourism development in Ado and Igede Ekiti and even in the country at large.

There is urgent need for the government, tourism developers, philanthropists, societal groups, hotel management, individuals and cultural institutions to be actively involved in funding and promoting festivals, indigenous knowledge and technology and other related traditional events in Ekiti State, so that cultural resources found in Ado and Igede Ekiti would be valuably restorative in this modern age. If these individuals and groups indulge in these, majority of the inhabitants would better appreciate their culture.

Cultural activities that have been included in the educational curricula from elementary to advanced stage, to enable the coming generations to know the rationale for managing and promoting cultural heritage and to have better mutual understanding among their age grades, should be effectively and efficiently taught and adhered to. This would formally educate the young ones to value both tangible and intangible aspects of their culture without counting them as idolatory. The students should also be taught and developed in the areas of creative arts to promote the objectification of cultural arts and crafts.

Mass excavations should be carried out in the present Oloidi`s farmland, this is an abandoned settlement discovered during the research, and some other archaeological sites in these study areas, to salvage or rescue those already embedded archaeological data like artifacts, monuments, chronofacts, features, etc, and those on the surface should be collected, treated, labelled and preserved for posterity. In addition to these activities, public archaeology should be formally initiated to enlighten and motivate inhabitants about the field of archaeology and cultural resource management. Environmental Impact Assessment should also be carried out before any construction takes place so that modern development would not recklessly destroy cultural objects and landscape.

Title holders should be well enlightened about the importance of taking traditional titles especially those related to festivals, to avoid being passive in actualizing their roles in the society. The titles that are still vacant should also be occupied by those who are (or those who would be working to be) culturally rooted and capable in the community, this would help to revive several festivals and other cultural activities in the society.

The state government should establish at least a modern museum for the preservation of cultural materials and to ensure that all findings and collections are published. The traditional rulers, the family and cultural groups in each community should help in compiling the comprehensive list of all cultural activities and objects soas to be forwarded to the government and museum administrators through cultural institutions/ministries.

Lastly, natural endowments in Ado and Igede Ekiti should be developed into recreation centres with restaurants, games, parks, art and crafts, exhibition halls, etc to promote all forms of tourism. For instance, Idanre hills at Ondo State were developed into a tourist destination where annual mountain climbing competition and sightseeing take place. Ikogosi Warm Spring in Ekiti State and Lekki Beach in Lagos State are other examples of natural resources developed with modern facilities.