This is the first in this series where I will be examining the different features of Yoruba culture in Abimbola Adunni Adelakun’s book. The book, a creative expository of Yoruba beliefs, culture, worldview and tradition, is dotted by either one Yoruba saying ,proverb or belief. Interestingly, the writer has a number of them transliterated to English. In this day of globalization , when a lot of people see being versed in their own tradition as a sign of being backward, it is important to point out this great endeavour by this ‘daughter of the soil’. Do you care to go on a tour of the Yoruba world with me? Let us ecplore the list of Yoruba sayings in the book :
- Obinrin so iwa nu, o ni oun lori oko
· A woman loses character and blames her head for not giving her a good husband
- Owo iya ko di ti omo lowo
· A mother’s trade does not disturb the daughter’s
- Eniyan o ki nse owo meji, ki eran ma je kan
· No one can do two trades at a time without one being affected
(Pages 18-19)
- Aparo kan o ga ju kan lo, a fi eyi to ba gun ebe
· One sparrow is not higher than the other except one stands on the ‘ebe’
- Enu, enu ni ese fi n pa epuro oju ona
· It is yet with the mouth that foot crushes the palm kernel
- Ile ni apoti joko de idi
· It is at home that the stool sits to wait for the buttocks
- E je ki ase bi won ti n se , ki o leri bi ti ri
· Let’s do it the way it is done so that it may go the way it should
- Ile ti o ti oju eni su, enikan ki mo irin be rin
· The darkness that did not fall before one’s eyes, willit not be difficult for one to walk through it
- Ibi a nlo o jinna , ibi ti a ya lopo
· Where one is going is not far, it is where one will branch that are many
- A ni tori pe a je eran, ki a pe malu ni buoda
* You do not say because you want to eat meat, you will start calling a cow ‘Big Brother’
- Mo lo, mo bo mi o bomo je
· I went , I came back and I didn’t spoil my father’s name
- Oro sunnunkun, oju sunnunkun ni a fi wo
· A mater that is sunnunkun, we use sunnunkun eyes to look at it
- Alfa soro, ojo ku, o ni olohun se eri oun
· The Alfa spoke and thunder r rumbled, he said even God attests to what he is saying
(pages 24-26)
- Kini oun jo e lowo, too fi n jo ile
· What’s hot on your hands that you are putting on the gtound
- Oro kan ki wuwo ka fi obe bu, enu ni a fi do
· A matter can not be so hard that one should use a knife to cut it, it’s still with the mouth you say it
- Erin ki fon , ki omo e ko fon
· An elephant does not trumpet and its child does too
- O ri oju ese were, o bu, se ti eyan gidi lo ma ri bu bayen
· You see a madman’s footprints on the way and you don’t quickly scoop it to make rituals that will bring you money; you think a sane person will leave his own lying around
(pages 67-69)
- Obe bu omo lowo, a fi ibinu ju obe nu, se obe o ti se ijamba naa ni?
· The knife cuts the child’s hand, you throw the knife away , has the knife done its work
- Aso o ba Omoye mo, Omoye ti rin ihoho wo oja
· The cloth cannot reach Omoye again, Omoye has wlked naked to the market
- O pe laye, oju e o ni ri ibi, o fowo mu kan ninu mejeji
· If you want to live long and not experience evil , you will have to choose one
- Eyele I ba onile je, ba onile mu, ki o dojo iponju ki o fo lo
· The pigeon does not eat with his owner , drink with his owner and fly away on trying days
These and many more sayings are used in the book. Watch out for the other parts bringing out indigenous knowledge contained in the fictional piece.
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