Show Notes
In this episode Manchán talks to Oyeyemi from the Yoruba tribe in southwestern Nigeria. ‘To be a Yoruba is a thing to be proud of. We are ready to learn new things and open to new cultures.’ Christianity and Islam are the principal faiths, but a traditional belief known as ifa, based on divination, is still practised. ‘There’s a god of iron, a god of thunder, a god of commerce, and also a god of the river and waters. I think we have the god of the forest too, that people worship and make sacrifices to.’
Each town will have a central altar, and people have smaller altars in their homes on which items like iron objects are placed for worship and blood sacrifices are made. Christian missionaries convinced the Yoruba that Christ had stronger magical powers than their gods and many converted, but Oyeyemi says, ‘In my own community there are still people who practise pagan worship.’ Both faiths emphasise honesty, sincerity and honourable practise. ‘The ifa faith says you must look after nature. You should not cut down trees. You have to respect your environment.’
Oyeyemi is grateful for the role Irish priests played in Nigeria in ‘getting people educated and treated like human beings and also advising against old practices. With all due respect, these are the things that I'd like to see in Ireland again. I want to see the saints and scholars again. I want to see their influence on society.’
Home Stories was funded by Creative Ireland alongside the county councils of Laois and Westmeath.
More from Home Stories with Manchán Magan
In this episode Manchán speaks with Tika from in a town in the southern part of Malawi, Blantyre. Her happiest memories are of her secondary school and the beautiful places they visited, ‘like Mount Mulanje which translates in the local language as ‘you don’t go there’, as people believed there were ghosts there that used to take people. This is because you need a guide there, or you won’t easily find your way back.
In this episode Manchán sits down with Fortunate from Zimbabwe. Fortunate grew up in a village in a mountainous region of Zimbabwe with many dangerous snakes, ‘All the mambas that you've ever heard about are in those mountains: black mamba, green mamba, white mamba. And we've got baboons - when we plough our maize they come to steal from us.’
In this episode Manchán speaks with Ivann from from the Guatemalan city of Quetzaltenango. He had to flee his home when drug cartels moved into the region. ‘It's close to the border with Mexico and five or ten years ago terrorists with guns set up in the area with drugs, and it changed everything, especially for the kids. Now it is very dangerous.’
In this episode Manchán speaks with Lwandise from Zimbabwe. Lwandise comes from a small farm of cattle, sheep, goats and other animals in Matebeleland South, Zimbabwe. His family also ‘grew grains so that we can feed our families throughout the year until the next rains.’ His father practised polygamy and so Lwandise had five siblings from his mother’s side and twelve from his father’s. Everyone was reared as part of the one family, ‘boys have their own rooms and girls have theirs, regardless of which family. It was a very good way of being brought up as there is always someone in the house for you. There is always a mother. In the village the more you are as a family the healthier you are, the more you can do and the more you can produce.’
In this episode Manchán has a chat with Nididi from Nigeria. Ndididi is from the eastern part of Nigeria from a village ‘that is like a city also, as all the amenities of the city are there. My own village even has a university. There is a big thick forest there, and a river, and a market and schools. There is electricity also. It is very beautiful.’ Their local market is renowned and people ‘from other cities, far and wide come to do their market there. People bring many foods and some people trade by barter. They might bring crayfish, and if they don't have money, they will exchange it for something else.’