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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Culture / The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) (38051 Views)
Why Are The People Of Ondo State Different From Other Yorubas / The Umale Festival Of The Ilaje And Itsekiri People / Similarities And Differences Between Ilaje And Itsekiri (2) (3) (4)
The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 1:33pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
The Ilajes are a distinguished, distinct linguistic group of the Yoruba stalk made up of four geo-political entities namely Ugbo Mahin Etikan and Aheri GEOGRAPHY ILAJELAND is bounded by the Ijebus to the West, the Ikale to the North, the Itsekiri to the East. The APOI and Arogbo Ijaw to the North East, while the Atlantic ocean formed the southern boundary. No doubt, the Ilajes are one of the most dynamic and enterprising people in Nigeria. Our aquatic skill, coupled with their high adaptational ability enable us to conquer the harsh geographical environment and turn it to a big advantage. Consequently, we were able to build large communities like Ugbonla, Aiyetoro, Zion PePe and Orioke. Aiyetoro for example in it's hey-days had the highest per capital income in the whole of Africa and attracted visitors, tourists and researchers from all over the world especially Europe, Canada, and America. Ilajes can also be found in cohesive diasporic communities in Douala (Cameroon), Sapele/Warri (Delta), Asejire (Oyo) and parts of Lagos State. According to the 2006 census statistics, we have a population of about 290,615 people. Igbokoda, the Ilaje local government headquarters is fast becoming an international trade center as it popular market attracts traders not only from other part of Nigeria, but, also from other African countries especially Togo Benin, Ghana, Cameroon and Gabon OUR ORIGIN We were said to have left ILE-IFE our original ancestral home/settlement in the 10th century. We mainly occupy the Atlantic coastline of Ondo State of Nigeria while a large population of them settles on land in the hinterland. The area we occupy today remains the Ondo State of Nigeria only outlet to the sea. According to our dethroned Olugbo Oba Mafimisebi "we were the aboriginal Yoruba that was displaced from Ife". He and Oba of Benin agreed up to this point. Olugbo claimed this is why Ugbo and Benin have similar chieftaincy titles: Lema, Ashogbon, Oliha, Ojomo, Yasere among others. They were the Obalufon, Obamakin, Obalufe, Obawinrin, etc whose Yoruba language were originally spoken, including the lingua fraca in Benin palace. According to Ben Omowafola Tomoloju, popularly known as ‘Pappy Ben’, a culture activist, author of books and the Aremo Onipopo of Ilaje Land, the Ilajes were members of the ancient communities that existed in Ile-Ife before the advent of Oduduwa in the the 10th century A.D. Upon the arrival of Oduduwa in Ife, he seized power from the incumbent ruler and assumed monarchical authority over the land. Tomoloju said: “The ancestors of the Ilajes detested the Oduduwa take-over and, therefore, migrated through the forest of Oke Mafunrangan to a place near Esinmirin River from where they invaded Ile-Ife over a long period, carting away spoils and capturing slaves". This invasion was what motivated the legendary Ife Queen, Moremi, to embark on a heroic espionage quest that led to the eventual defeat of the marauding aborigines. The coastal town, Ugbo, under the paramount ruler, Olugbo, is a major settlement of the protesting migrants. Its full meaning is ‘Mo r’ubo gbo ni.’ (I have a place to stay.) Ugbo is primary setting in the Moremi legend, which people sometimes mistake for Igboland in South-eastern Nigeria. “Another major town, Mahin, comes under the paramount rulership of the Amapetu. Ugbo, Mahin and other towns like Atijere, Obe-Nla and Igbo-Egunrin reflect a degree of cultural mix which suggest some form of historical kinship between the Ilaje, Itsekiri and the Edo. PRIMARY OCCUPATION Being riverine by nature, our primary occupation is fishing. An average Ilaje person knows which fish is gotten from the fresh water and which fish is gotten from the salt water. There are also seasons when the water in the Lagoon turns to salt water, this is between April and July, when we have heavy rainfall. despite fishing across several villages at a time, there is no occasion where any Ilaje fisherman loses his way on the high sea. This, he said is due to the fact that, when you are on the sea, there is a way you picture yourself and there are landmarks you will identify to tell you the distance from home. The weather condition, the direction of the wind, the position of the sun by day and the position of the moon by night, all contribute to forming part of your compass and a forewarning for straying off the normal route. A very few of the Ilaje, who live outside the water, known as the Ilaje Igbo (that is, Ilaje on land) try their hands on farming, but some people jocularly state that, nature never conferred farming on them but fishing, as a result they have not been able to produce beyond subsistence level as the lands are said not to be fertile enough for agriculture. So, they majorly depend on the Ikale and Apoi people for enough farm produce. Another occupation of ours is timber logging. Though the wood logging occupation in Ilaje land suffers some kind of setback due majorly to the absence of a sawmill, we still manage to use our canoe to ferry the woods to Igbekun, a neighbouring towns in the hinterland. The pre-colonial ilajes were also salt miners due to our closeness to the Atlantic ocean which contains a lot of salt water. RELIGION The advent of the white missionaries saw the Ilajes embracing Christianity with full force, with a slight majority of the Christians among them worshipping with the Cherubim and Seraphim Church of Zion, which has its headquarters in Ugbo Nla. There are also considerable amount of Anglican and Jehova witness worshippers. FESTIVITIES Though the Ilaje are scattered in various places along the coastal lines, at various times of the year, they all returnto their home base in Ondo to celebrate some of their festivals, which include: masquerading (the Umale festival), Malokun (a fertility festival for the goddess of the sea), regatta and periodically, the Epo (Raffia-costumed masquerade), which was used to scare the people of Ife before the Moremi saga. During these celebrations, there is the uniquely polyphonic renditions of both the Biripo traditional music and the Ilaje spirituals of the Zion Christian sect. They are particularly soul-lifting and you find a lot of upland Yoruba musicians trying to imitate these in their compositions. In a typical ilaje marriage ceremony where the bride comes from Ilaje, a court of young girls from the bride's place are selected to entertain their guests with the traditional biripo dance where the make use of obele(paddlestick) to demonstrate their dance act. MONOARCHIAL SYSTEM Ugbo is the major town in Ilaje land and is under the paramount ruler known as the OLU-UGBO of ugbo. Beside ugbo, there are three other major clans,These include Mahin, Aheri and Etikan. Aheri is presided over by the Maporure and Etikan is headed by the Onikan of Etikan while Ugbo is headed by the Amapetu of Mahin. DRESSING CULTURE Being migrants from Yoruba land, it would be surprising to know that the core Ilaje traditional dress code borrows from outside the Yoruba tribe. The Ilaje traditional mode of dressing is of the semblance of the Itsekiris or Urhobos with slight modifications. The men dress in wrapper with a buba top and a hat with feather stuck in one part of the hat, while the women dress in blouse and wrapper. But, in the past few decades, most Ilaje have embraced the conventional Yoruba mode of dressing, except on special occasions. FOOD CULTURE Though the presence of fish is emphasised in all the foods, there are special kinds of foods prepared. These foods are peculiar only to the Ilaje. They include the Pupuru and Obe Marugbo. The Pupuru is made from cassava, and prepared in a similar process as fufu, it also has a similar taste with fufu. The Obe Marugbo is cooked with a special type of vegetable that is grounded. The colour of the Obe Marugbo is dark green( I usually term it black soup..lol). There is the mashed yam and unnripe plantain prepared with palm oil(ogolale) and we also have what is called the Igbanyeghe, boiled corn with fish and palm oil added to some other Ilaje food condiments. NATURAL RESOURCES Apart from petroleum which is largely found in the area for which Ondo State today is recognized as an oil producing State. Other mineral raw materials that are abundantly available in Ilajeland include Glass Sand, Salt, Tar Sand, Quartz and Clay while Agro raw materials include fish, poultry, maize, Palm oil vegetables, Timber, Rafia, Poultry Okro, Cocoyam, Banana, Cassava, and Piggery And Lastly, the ilajes are highly accommodating and friendly. If u measure the hostility of an the scale of 1-100 on hostility he would score 0.95%. If you want to call the ilajes in a gathering to an attention just scream AYEMAFUGE de de ilaje oh...the response you get aftermath is AWAYE oh!!!! From Mr Dede Cc ishilove Lalasticlala Afam4eva 5 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 2:01pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
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Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by bokohalal(m): 3:02pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
It has been suggested that Ugbo has the answer to the Benin/Ife controversy but does not want to upset some powers. 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by macof(m): 3:51pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
bokohalal: That made up Ekaladerhan stuff? 3 Likes |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by Nobody: 4:08pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
dejavski: The bolded is at Mokuro where there are hills. There is a dam around that place now. One of my uncles (Obalepon Obatala) mentioned this to me last weekend. This was where Obatala went to and was accepted to be their king till Oduduwa sent delegates to go and appease Obatala to return to Igbo Itapa where Iranje Oko was/is. 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by macof(m): 4:51pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
Ugbo's story is commonly taken as "Ilaje history" wat of Mahin and the others |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 4:52pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
9jacrip:Oh.. thanks for that info The little history I have about my clan was given to me by my granny. I would still try and dig more |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by bokohalal(m): 5:00pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
macof: Ekaladerhan is part of Benin history. The characters in the story that led to his banishment lend credence to it.Whether he went to Ife or not is another matter entirely 4 Likes 1 Share |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by Nobody: 5:18pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
dejavski: Kindly share the history bro. You're Ugbo, I presume? 1 Like |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 5:25pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
9jacrip: Yes sire |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by bokohalal(m): 5:30pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
@macof, Bini history has it that the banishment of Ekaladerhan led to the end of the Ogiso dynasty. You have to have stronger and more persuasive evidence as to why we have the Ogiamien family today in Benin Kingdom. The progenitor of the Ogiamiens,Evian, who became the leader of the Republic due to the discontinuance of the Ogiso dynasty , the opposition to Orominyan when he entered Benin, the Ekiokpagha treaty that allowed the Oba a foothold in Benin,could not all have been made up. They are all linked to Ekaladerhan. 2 Likes 1 Share |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by tpiander: 5:33pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
who was Ekaladerhan? 1 Like |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by bokohalal(m): 5:37pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
tpiander:The one and only child of the last Ogiso . The Ogiso was unable to have other children due to the witchcraft of one of his Queens, Esagho. The Oracle was to be consulted and Esagho persuaded herself into the consultive committee. The oracle did indeed reveal that it was Esagho and that she had to be executed. It is said that on the way back she exposed herself to the men and threatened to tell the King that they had seen her unclothedness and the penalty was death. However, if they told the Ogiso that his only son and child,Ekaladerhan, was the reason he couldn't have more children, she wouldn't tell. The men swore an oath to do her wish. 4 Likes 1 Share |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by tpiander: 5:54pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
who was Ekaladerhan's mother? 1 Like |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by bokohalal(m): 5:55pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
The Ogiso decided to carry out the wish of the gods. The executioners however knew the truth and conscientiously allowed him to live but he must never set foot back in the kingdom , for obvious reasons. So,Ekaladerhan walked off into the bush, westwards. 2 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by bokohalal(m): 5:56pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
tpiander:Not Esagho. |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by tpiander: 5:57pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
is the info known? |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by bokohalal(m): 6:29pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
tpiander: I should think so 1 Like |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by Funjosh(m): 7:35pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
And Ishilove keepon getting mention ![]() |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by scholes0(m): 8:18pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
2 Likes |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by scholes0(m): 8:22pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
Please, this topic is about Ilajes, stop with all the silly Bini stuff....abeg . 4 Likes |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by scholes0(m): 8:27pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
dejavski: I ave noticed that the Ilaje, Owo, Ikale and to certain extents, the Idanre, Ondo and Ekiti dialects are infacts very very similar. with Ilaje-Owo being most similar even though miles apart. * These dialects have the presence of the fricatives "Gh"...... which has been condensed to just 'W" in standard Yoruba "Gw", "Kh", * Words beginning with "U" which in standard yoruba would be an "I" like: Ule - Ile, Isu - Usu, Use - Ise, Ugbo - Igbo, Etc * Use variants of Dede, Kete and Gede to refer to an entirety ... like Aghan oma Ilaje Dede (All the Ilaje children) , Oma Ekiti Kete (All Ekiti children) , Oma Ogho gede (All Owo children) Etc * All have slower and more "melancholic" / "melodic" forms or kinds of music which involves a slow chanting, and calculated step orientated movement like the Binis-- with rhythmic swaying of the body from side to side, and graceful leg movements. It is said that these South-Eastern dialects, are the most original form of Yoruba.... not the Oyo influenced generality that we all speak today. And Et cettera. 3 Likes |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 8:29pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
scholes0: Yea right... that's y we constitute Ondo state We r similar linguistically but differ in culture and tradition |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 8:37pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
scholes0: Are you from any of those places u outlined? If yes. How do u salute one another? |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by scholes0(m): 8:46pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
dejavski: I know about Owo- this is from the time i spent there They say: Mo ki ghan o, dede oma ogho imade |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 8:49pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
scholes0: Similar here... How are you/how far here means ko se gha |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by bokohalal(m): 10:01pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
scholes0:Sorry, boss. It is not silly,though. @tpiander, the name is Arhukho. 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by macof(m): 1:10am On Sep 08, 2015 |
bokohalal: How does that link to Ekaladerhan? If The Obas (sons of Oramiyan) were truly the descendants of the Ogiso why would Ogiamien sell their father's land to them? Especially when ogiamien wasn't descended from the Ogiso Why would the Uzama have equal power with the Oba prior to Oba Ewedo who ssuppressed them? Why would Ogiamien say Oba is not acceptable in the land prior to the treaty? Why would they even be called Oba if they were just an extension of the Ogiso lineage? Why were Obas prior to Oba Ovonramwen taken to Ife at death? |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by Nobody: 8:47am On Sep 08, 2015 |
scholes0: @ d bolded The Ilaje's use Oma ilaje Dede y I use Omi Iwerre Dede. Can u see d similarities ? can u see d big difference b/w Dede and Keke used by ilaje and Ekiti People ? This was wat am explaining earlier tat u guys keep tagging me Igbo boy.. d Ilaje dialect is entirely diff from most Yoruba language |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 10:49am On Sep 08, 2015 |
Ilaje versions of yoruba words Omo - Yoruba / Oma - ilaje Ori(child) - yoruba/ Origho - ilaje Enu(Mouth) - yoruba/ erhu - ilaje Ile(House) - Yoruba/ Ule - ilaje Gbogbo(everything) - Yoruba/ de de(not related to dede which is a name) - ilaje Iyara(Room) - Yoruba/ kurudu - ilaje Bawo ni (how are you) - yoruba/ ko se gha - ilaje Ori mi rire(i am fortunate) - yoruba/ Orighomisan/Orimisan/Orimihan - ilaje Ki lo so(what did you say) - yoruba/ ki wo fo - ilaje Ta ni iwo(who are you) - yoruba/ ehi Lehi - ilaje Eniyan(person). - yoruba/ one - ilaje Egbon mi(my elder sibling or cousin or uncle) - yoruba/ ogbone mi - ilaje Tani (who) - yoruba/ Lehi - ilaje Any ilaje in the house feel free to add yours.. 5 Likes |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by dejavski(m): 10:53am On Sep 08, 2015 |
Goodboiyy: Exactly my point If the aworis, eguns, egbas, ijebus from the SW; ikwerres,ndokwas, agbors etc from SS can claim to be among the over 300 ethnic groups in Nigeria, I see no reason why the ilajes shouldn't be called an ethnic group |
Re: The ILAJE People Of Ondo State(history, Fact, Culture) by Nobody: 1:24pm On Sep 08, 2015 |
dejavski: well left 4 d ilaje'$ to speak 4 themselves... |
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