Savaldor, the state capital of the Republic of Brazil is a state which is highly concentrated and dominated by people and descendants of the Yoruba tribe, a tribe centralized in the Southwestern part of Nigeria.
This surprising case can be traced to the transportation and migration of the Yoruba people to other part of the America continent during the Trans - Atlantic Slave Trade in the past centuries ago.
The most amazing part of this case is that the Yoruba people that was transported to Salvador, Bahia, Sao Paulo and some other part of the Republic of Brazil never forgot to practice their innate traditional religion for once, despite stress and tribulation they went through as slaves.
Historical analysis has proven that the Yorubas took along their idols, and cultural heritage while being transported to their new home through the Badagry "Point Of No Return" and the Atlantic Ocean.
Brazil is one of the countries which received more African black slaves in the world, about 5.8 million of the 12.5 million (Philip Curtin claim) ‘trafficked’ from Africa to the Americas. In Brazil black slavery stands from 1535 to 1888, and of course a lot of culture was brought to the country by Africans. One of these is the afro-religions and the Yoruba language in its rituals.
For over 500 years In Salvador, the Yorubas has been worshiping the Yoruba God of Thunder, Sango (Xango) , the Yoruba Goddess who symbolizes Motherhood, Osun (Oxun), the Yoruba Goddess of the River, Iyemoja (Lemanja), and some selected Egungun masquerade.
Worshippers of the above mentioned Yoruba gods, were seen and known to always dress in white garments, representing the Symbolism of Obatala, a Yoruba god.
Being led by the Priests and priestesses, They prepare sacrifices for the gods, take it to their shrine and dance to the melodious tune of the powerful traditional drum, called "Ìlù Àgẹ̀rẹ̀" in Yoruba Land.
Another great feather to the mix and fusion in the culture of the Afro - Brazilian state, is the consumption of the popular Akara meal, otherwise known as the bean cake in over 5 states in Brazil.
Brazilians selling Yoruba adopted snacks, Acaraje
The people of Brazil eat the Akara meal which they call "Acaraje" and it is as well prepared with the recipes and ingredients used in Nigeria which are beans, onions, palm oil to mention a few. Selling of Acaraje on the street is however a business being run by some of the citizens. It is of great affluence for the Nigeria Yoruba culture to see Brazilians dress in white regalia uniforms, advertising and selling Akara in the popular streets of Brazil most especially in Rio De Janeiro.
In one of my previous articles I wrote in December, 2019 on this platform which I titled "5 Foreign countries that speaks Yoruba" which generated 875,989 reads, I highlighted some other foreign countries that speak Yoruba.
Picture of when Bahia was declared Yoruba capital.
According to Brazilian anthropologist, Nina Rodrigues (1862-1906) the Yoruba of Nigeria were the most numerous and influential Africans in the state of Bahia in the mid 19th century while Fayette Wimberly revealed that at this same time period, the Yoruba language had become the lingua franca for international communication in the Bahian city of Cachoeira. Rodrigues would also write that in the later part of the 19th century, Africans of all nations in Salvador, Bahia, were speaking Yoruba as were increasing numbers of Brazilian born blacks and mulattos. In fact, not only was there a constant flow of goods and people of the Yoruba coming into Bahia, but a small number were also leaving for Nigeria as well (Alonso 2014).
Some but few of these countries are Trinidad and Tobago, Bahia, Portugal, Cuba, and some other countries.
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, is renowned for his periodic courtesy visitation to Brazil to celebrate Yoruba festival with the Yoruba Descendants who reside in Brazil and have become the country's citizen.
The impact of Ooni Ogunwusi, representative of Oduduwa, who doubles as the Chairman, Traditional Council of Osun State, has assisted the Yoruba culture to be an official language in Brazil.
Ogunwusi's educational background, exposure and love for Yoruba cultural heritage and values has made him an international ambassador of the tribe and has again made Yoruba tribe appear in the World Map.
Kẹ́hìndé Àyànbọ́ádé is a multimedia Journalist and a young media entrepreneur and the Managing Publisher of Naija Metro News (naijametro.com.ng).
He has covered notable government functionaries, Oyo State House of Assembly, Oyo State Police Command, Nigeria Customs Service to mention few.
He started journalism in 2016 and has bylines with notable news organizations including The Punch Newspapers, The Nation Newspaper, Inside Oyo etc.
He is a graduate of Mass Communication from The Polytechnic, Ibadan and one of the best graduating students of his set.
Kẹ́hìndé who loves to write about Yoruba culture and tradition have many articles to his name.
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