Yorùbá is a language spoken in West Africa and most prominently South western Nigeria. The number of speakers of Yoruba is estimated between 30 and 40 million, primarily by the ethnic Yoruba people.[4][5][6] It is a pluricentric language spoken principally in Nigeria and Benin, with communities in Sierra Leone, Liberia, other parts of Africa, the Americas, and Europe. The non-vernacular remains of the language in the Caribbean, Lucumi, is the liturgical language of the Santería religion of the region. Many Yoruba words are used in the Afro-Brazilian religion known as Candomblé. Yoruba language remants are also used in many other Afro-American religions in the Americas and the Caribbean. Yoruba is most closely related to the Itsekiri language (spoken in the Niger Delta) and to Igala (spoken in central Nigeria).[1]
It is no news that there is an age-long relationship between Brazil and the Yoruba Language. Yoruba is a language spoken across West Africa, it is the main language of the people from the Oyo Empire, and was exported to communities along the West African coast as far as Liberia, through trade and military expansion. According to ‘Metzler Lexikon Sprache,’ written by Helmut Gluck, Yoruba is the native language of about 30 Million Africans.
Although the relationship between the language and Brazilian heritage dates as far back as the Pre-colonial era, adopting it as an official language was indeed a bold step by the Brazilian authorities.
The Brazilian Minister of Culture, Dr Sérgio Sá leitão, while speaking at the Institute of African Studies, University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil paraded important dignitaries including Nigerian artists and historians, as well as professors of arts and African studies at a lecture on the importance of Yoruba language in the Brazilian culture and tradition.
According to him, the inclusion of African History and Yoruba Language in the curriculum would help bring the African Brazilian people close to their roots, and thus encourage the understandings of the language among other important languages in Brazil apart from Portuguese which is the official language.
The Minister highlighted the role played by Brazil during the festival of arts and culture, ‘FESTAC 77’, held in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977; the constant intercultural programmes between Nigeria and Brazil; the annual carnival of arts, music and cultural displays featuring prominent African artists and Yoruba writers such as Yinka Shonibare, Adeyinka Olaiya, El Anatsui among many others, including the highly respected Yoruba writer, Professor Wande Abimbola…..
Also speaking at the event, Peruvian Nobel Laureate, Prof. Mário Vargas Llosa made mention of the African community in Peru where the African Peruvians are settled till date. Vargas Llosa, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, is known as one of Latin America’s most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading writers of his generation.
According to Vargas Llosa, Yoruba people and their culture have helped the universe. He said the Yoruba language should no longer be approached as an ethnic language, but a universal language that is alive in the culture and tradition of African and her roots around the universe.
Speaking in Yoruba and Portuguese, Prof Katiuscia Ribeiro of the Institute of African Studies drew attention to the African philosophical practices introducing the constant representation of the Yoruba culture and religion in the Brazilian traditional beliefs.
A Nigerian carnival artist, painter and illustrator, Adeyinka Olaiya, also expressed the benefits the Yoruba language would bring to the Brazilian culture if fully integrated into the Brazilian educational curriculum.
According to Olaiya, living in Salvador, Brazil, is like living in any of the western states of Nigeria where the Yoruba are predominantly located.
He said:
“Most of the cultures and traditions in evidence in Brazil are all of the heritages brought along to the Latin American country by the majority Yoruba families, victims of the BARCO NEGREIROS, the NEGRO BOAT that forcefully brought the enslaved West Africans to Brazil in the 13th century.
“The Yoruba heritage that represents the majority of the African cultural practices in Brazil today is having several words in Yoruba roots. Akara, Dendê, Iyalode, Babalawo, Iyalawo and lots more are all derived from the Yoruba roots.”
Many Africans, both those living in the continent and in the diaspora have welcomed the news saying it will give the ‘lost sons‘ of Africa in Brazil a sense of belonging.
Yoruba is allegedly an official language in Brazil.. Read Below
Brazil’s minister of culture has announced that Yoruba will become one of their official languages and African history will be added school curriculum.
Brazil has accumulated quite a number of Yoruba speakers and Orisha worshippers.
The African slaves from the west, carried along their Yoruba religion with them when they were brought to Brazil. This religion is referred to as Candomblé by Afro-Brazilians — a religion that seeks harmony with nature. This culture and religion is still very much relevant and gave birth to the Òrìsà-worshipping and Yoruba-speaking people of Brazil.
Last week at AYO, after a national meeting of African-Brazilian storytellers, It was alleged that the Brazilian minister of culture, Dr Sérgio Sá leitão announced that Yoruba is now one of their official languages and language and African History will be introduced as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools curriculum. However, the Brazilian Ministry of Culture has denied this and will keep us updated on further changes….
Quilombola, were big names such as renowned Professor Wole Soyinka, Dr. Sophie Oluwole, the first female PhD holder in Yoruba Philosophy, and painter and illustrator Adeyinka Olaiya.
If this move is made, it will do well in bringing Afro-Brazilians closer to their roots and help them better understand the link between the current Brazilian practices and Western Yoruba cultures.
Due to many reasons — trans-atlantic slave trade, cattle grazing, immigration — small communities have grown in other countries where some Nigerian languages are actually spoken. Brazil is not the only country that has Yoruba as their official language, excluding Nigeria. Outside Nigeria, you can find large yoruba-speaking communities in Togo and Benin Republic. Smaller communities can be found in Sierra Leone, Liberia and other African countries. In these countries, French is the lingua-franca but perchance you can’t speak it, Yoruba is your next best option…
In Ghana, there is a growing Hausa community and in Equatorial Guinea, Igbo is recognised as a minority tribe with about 53,000 speakers.…
More Info coming up About Yoruba languag…. Stay Update
Compiled by Oluwasegun (Amazing Blogger)
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