Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II, has cautioned people to stop misrepresenting the importance of festivals and deities celebrated in the ancient city of Ile-Ife and all parts of Africa.
Speaking
at the 2016 celebration of Oranfe the god of fire in Ile Ife, Osun
state yesterday Oct. 26th, the Ooni said that some of the deities being
worshiped in Africa have their roots in holy books like the Bible and
Quran.
He
lamented that many people failed to promote the positive aspects of the
yoruba and African festivals due to slavish mentality and
over-Westernization. According to him, no human being can survive
without what the deities represent.
"Our
people really need to be enlightened. A lot of these festivals have
been misconstrued, misrepresented and demonized as if we are idol
worshippers. We are not idol worshippers. We are rather believers in
nature. I am not saying the
commandments of God should not be adhered to, but we must know that all
these deities are messengers of God. They represent nature. Nothing can
be done without nature regardless of our religion be it Islam or
Christianity or even traditional. We
only honour nature because we are all integra part of it, and not
worship idols. Some of the deities we worship have roots in the holy
books. We are also following the instructions of God needed for the
sustenance of mankind as everybody, including powerful leaders rely on
nature to survive." Ooni Ogunwusi said
He
faulted the influence of westernization on the cultural belief of
Africans, adding that it is a major factor responsible for the
increasing poverty facing the immeasurably blessed continent.
"Those
who keep sensitising people against us that we are worshipping idols
are not kind to history. I am proud to be associated with nature. Ife
has 201 out the 401 deities and they are all relevant. These
deities are divine messengers of God sent for different purposes. One
of them is ORANFE the god of fire being celebrated here today. It is a
pity that all powers in the possession of blackmen are being used for
battles and power tussles. It is from this unique powers that the west
sourced technology and development from and they are now using it
against us. We will continue to
experience poverty all over the place if we don't celebrate the good
side of our culture. Some of these deities also show the mysteries of
God. God wouldn't have made mistake in the creation of the deities. They
are representatives of sciences being taught in schools. It is very sad
that the western world has messed up our psyche and inflicted slavish
mentality on us making us to believe we are idol worshippers as our
pitiable neglect of our own culture and traditions a major factor
responsible for the poverty in the land. We left the positive sides and
allow the west to implant the negative side in our brain.
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