Yoruba people

=== Festivals ===
[[File:Eyo Olokun.jpg|thumb|right|[[Eyo festival|Eyo]] Olokun|177x177px]]

One of the first observations of first time visitors to Yorubaland is the rich, exuberant and ceremonial nature of their culture, which is made even more visible by the urbanized structures of Yoruba settlements. These occasions are avenues to experience the richness of the Yoruba culture. Traditional musicians are always on hand to grace the occasions with heavy rhythms and extremely advanced [[Percussion instrument|percussion]], which the Yorubas are well known for all over the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tribes.tribe.net/africanspirituality/thread/92f4fde8-0ddf-491a-aa47-47f0c0af0d6e|access-date=10 June 2015|title=Yoruba Culture|website=Tribes|date=18 September 2007|archive-date=10 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610090351/http://tribes.tribe.net/africanspirituality/thread/92f4fde8-0ddf-491a-aa47-47f0c0af0d6e}}</ref> Praise singers and [[griot]]s are there to add their historical insight to the meaning and significance of the ceremony, and of course the varieties of colorful dresses and attires worn by the people, attest to the aesthetic sense of the average Yoruba.

[[File:Arugba Osun.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Arugba'' leading the procession to the [[Osun-Osogbo|Osun grove]]|252x252px]]
The Yoruba are a very expressive people who celebrate major events with colorful festivals and celebrations (Ayeye). Some of these festivals (about thirteen principal ones)<ref name=mapping>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfftg4o77QIC&q=Yoruba+festivals+America&pg=PA60|title=Mapping Yorùbá Networks: Power and Agency in the Making of Transnational Communities|author=Kamari Maxine Clarke|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-3342-5|pages=59, 60|date=12 July 2004}}</ref> are secular and only mark achievements and milestones in the achievement of mankind. These include wedding ceremonies (''Ìgbéyàwó''), naming ceremonies (''Ìsomolórúko''), funerals (''Ìsìnkú''), housewarming (''Ìsílé''), New-Yam festival (''Ìjesu''), Harvest ceremonies (''Ìkórè''), birth (''Ìbí''), chieftaincy (''Ìjòyè'') and so on.<ref name=understand>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2c4VAQAAIAAJ&q=Yoruba+igbeyawo|title=Understanding Yoruba life and culture|author1=Nike Lawal|author2=Matthew N. O. Sadiku|author3=Ade Dopamu|publisher=Africa World Press (the University of California)|date=22 July 2009|isbn=978-1-59221-025-1}}</ref> Others have a more spiritual connotation, such as the various days and celebrations dedicated to specific ''Orisha'' like the Ogun day (''Ojó Ògún'') or the ''Osun'' festival, which is usually done at the [[Osun-Osogbo|Osun-Osogbo sacred grove]] located on the banks of the [[Osun river]] and around the ancient town of [[Osogbo]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IKqOUfqt4cIC&q=Yoruba+festivals&pg=PA346|title=Traditional Festivals, Vol. 2 [M – Z]|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-089-5|page=346|year=2005}}</ref> The festival is dedicated to the river goddess ''[[Oshun|Osun]]'', which is usually celebrated in the month of August (''Osù Ògùn'') yearly. The festival attracts thousands of Osun worshippers from all over Yorubaland and the Yoruba diaspora in the Americas, spectators and tourists from all walks of life. The Osun-Osogbo Festival is a two-week-long programme. It starts with the traditional cleansing of the town called 'Iwopopo', which is then followed in three days by the lighting of the 500-year-old sixteen-point lamp called ''Ina Olojumerindinlogun'', which literally means ''The sixteen eyed fire''. The lighting of this sacred lamp heralds the beginning of the Osun festival. Then comes the 'Ibroriade', an assemblage of the crowns of the past ruler, the Ataoja of Osogbo, for blessings. This event is led by the sitting ''Ataoja'' of Osogbo and the Arugba Yeye Osun (who is usually a young virgin from the royal family dressed in white), who carries a sacred white calabash that contains propitiation materials meant for the goddess Osun. She is also accompanied by a committee of priestesses.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mynewswatchtimesng.com/behold-new-arugba-osun-wants-doctor/|work=Newswatch Times|title=Behold, new Arugba Osun, who wants to be doctor|date=31 August 2013|access-date=10 June 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060156/http://www.mynewswatchtimesng.com/behold-new-arugba-osun-wants-doctor/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201408221221.html|title=Nigeria: Osun Osogbo 2014 – Arugba's Berth Tastes Green With Goldberg Touch|author=Gregory Austin Nwakunor|date=22 August 2014|publisher=AllAfrica|access-date=10 June 2015}}</ref> A similar event holds in the New World as [[Odunde Festival]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6p2aLo2kafMC&q=Odunde+Festival+Yoruba+United+States+America&pg=PA32|title=The United States and West Africa: Interactions and Relations Volume 34 of Rochester studies in African history and the diaspora|issn=1092-5228|author1=Alusine Jalloh|author2=Toyin Falola|journal=Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora|publisher=University Rochester Press|year=2008|isbn=978-1-58046-308-9|page=32}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mK147fnLIrAC&q=Odunde+Festival+Yoruba+United+States+America&pg=PA44|title=Art in the Lives of Immigrant Communities in the United States Rutgers Series: The Public Life of the Arts|author1=Paul DiMaggio|author2=Patricia Fernandez-Kelly|author3=Gilberto Cârdenas|author4=Yen Espiritu|author5=Amaney Jamal|author6=Sunaina Maira|author7=Douglas Massey|author8=Cecilia Menjivar|author9=Clifford Murphy|author10=Terry Rey|author11=Susan Seifert|author12=Alex Stepick|author13=Mark Stern|author14=Domenic Vitiello|author15=Deborah Wong|page=44|publisher=Rutgers University Press, 2010|isbn=978-0-8135-5041-1|date=13 October 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Gèlèdé divinités vodou.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Gẹlẹdẹ|Gèlèdé]]'' costumes from a ''Yoruba-Nago'' community in Benin|173px]]
Another very popular festival with spiritual connotations is the [[Eyo festival|Eyo Olokun festival]] or ''Adamu Orisha'' play, celebrated by the people of [[Lagos]]. The Eyo festival is a dedication to the god of the Sea [[Olokun]], who is an Orisha, and whose name literally mean ''Owner of the Seas''.<ref name=mapping/> Generally, there is no customarily defined time for the staging of the Eyo Festival. This leads to a building anticipation as to what date would be decided upon. Once a date for its performance is selected and announced, the festival preparations begin. It encompasses a week-long series of activities, and culminates in a striking procession of thousands of men clothed in white and wearing a variety of coloured hats, called ''Aga''. The procession moves through Lagos Island ''Isale Eko'', which is the historical centre of the Lagos metropolis. On the streets, they move through various crucial locations and landmarks in the city, including the palace of the traditional ruler of Lagos, the Oba, known as the [[Iga Idunganran]]. The festival starts from dusk to dawn, and has been held on Saturdays (Ojó Àbáméta) from time immemorial. A full week before the festival (always a Sunday), the 'senior' Eyo group, the Adimu (identified by a black, broad-rimmed hat), goes public with a staff. When this happens, it means the event will take place on the following Saturday. Each of the four other 'important' groups – Laba (red), Oniko (yellow), Ologede (green) and Agere (purple) — take their turns in that order from Monday to Thursday.

The Eyo masquerade essentially admits tall people, which is why it is described as ''Agogoro Eyo'' (literally meaning the tall Eyo masquerade). In the manner of a spirit (An Orisha) visiting the earth on a purpose, the Eyo masquerade speaks in a ventriloquial voice, suggestive of its otherworldliness; and when greeted, it replies: ''Mo yo fun e, mo yo fun ara mi'', which in Yoruba means: ''I rejoice for you, and I rejoice for myself''. This response connotes the masquerades as rejoicing with the person greeting it for the witnessing of the day, and its own joy at taking the hallowed responsibility of cleansing. During the festival, Sandals and foot wear, as well as ''Suku'', a hairstyle that is popular among the Yorubas – one that has the hair converge at the middle, then shoot upward, before tipping downward – are prohibited. The festival has also taken a more touristic dimension in recent times, which like the Osun Osogbo festival, attracts visitors from all across Nigeria, as well as Yoruba diaspora populations. In fact, it is widely believed that the play is one of the manifestations of the customary African revelry that serves as the forerunner of the modern carnival in Brazil and other parts of the New World, which may have been started by the Yoruba slaves transplanted in that part of the world due to the Atlantic slave trade.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spyghana.com/celebrating-eyo-festival-in-the-modern-way/|title=Celebrating Eyo the Modern Way|website=SpyGhana|date=21 March 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kingdomsofnigeria.com/eyolagosagog.php|title=Royalty in the news: Lagos agog for Eyo Festival today.|website=Kingdoms of Nigeria|access-date=10 June 2015|archive-date=29 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229113727/http://www.kingdomsofnigeria.com/eyolagosagog.php|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aboutlagos.com/?p=654|title=Eyo Festival|website=About Lagos|access-date=10 June 2015|archive-date=27 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627090332/http://www.aboutlagos.com/?p=654}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IKqOUfqt4cIC&q=Yoruba+festivals+America&pg=PA346|page=346|title=Traditional Festivals, Vol. 2 [M – Z]|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-089-5|access-date=10 June 2015|year=2005}}</ref>