Greeting as an important part of Yoruba culture


Since culture is said to be a way of life of a group of people same could be said for greeting because basically in anything or everything we do as Yorubas we greet. Traditionally, greeting is an act that accustom respect to the person you are greeting irrespective of age, most times this act helps in promoting peace and unity amongst the parties involved. In fact it is not a hidden testimony that the Yorubas can greet even while sleeping hence showing how greeting is a cultural and popular act in the South Western part of Nigeria (geographic location of the Yorubas). The act of greeting is always instilled in a Yoruba born from birth hence making the child to recognize the importance and necessity of greeting one’s family, friends, siblings and even relatives etc. This act of learning how to properly greet is often described as part of what is known as character building (what we the Yorubas call Ẹ̀kọ́).
This process of greeting is always gender specific and it has a long way to go with showmanship especially when greeting an elderly person in terms of age and social affluence. As a male Child you prostrate (lying flat on the floor from head to toe with your chest on the floor) which is called “ìdọ̀bálẹ̀” in Yoruba whereas, as for the female they always kneel down to greet with both knees on the floor and this is called “Ìkúnlẹ̀”. Prayers, Oríkìs (eulogy) and also reciprocating greetings are said by the elderly person, afterwards the elder will instruct the male or female child to get up but with the advent of civilization, these traditional ways of “ìdọ̀bálẹ̀ and Ìkúnlẹ̀” has been modified as most times the male child only has to take a bow in greeting older people while the female can just flex her knees (without touching the ground). However, greeting someone’s peer doesn’t require all these showmanship as these gestures can easily be said in a familiar manner with laughter and cheerfulness.
There is no rule generally guiding the person to greet first, the first person to see the other person could be the first person to say the greetings, also, the younger person among the duo could greet first. While greeting, we use “Ẹ” for elderly people and then “O” for younger person. Every occasion, season, time of the day, ceremonies, anniversaries and activities have their own special type of greetings with appropriate responses, e.g Ẹ ku ile (Greeting the house and announcement of one’s arrival) goes with Ẹ kabo (which is telling the arriving party welcome)
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