The story behind the day
Ìṣẹ̀ṣe Day, 20 August, is a public holiday in Osun State in south-western Nigeria, on which practitioners of Ìṣẹ̀ṣe, the indigenous religion of the Yoruba, celebrate their faith and heritage. Osun State first declared it in 2013. It is a recent observance, and a scholar of religious freedom calls its recognition a step forward for the faith's standing in public life.[1–2]
Origins
Ìṣẹ̀ṣe is the indigenous religion of the Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria, who also live in the Republic of Benin and in Togo. Its foundation is the Odù Ifá, the corpus of Ifá divination, which a babalawo consults by casting sacred palm nuts or a divining chain; the corpus is organised into 256 collections, each with many verses. UNESCO proclaimed Ifá a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005 and inscribed it on its Representative List in 2008. Practitioners honour the òrìṣà, the deities, and Olodumare, the Supreme Being.[3–6]
What it marks
The day marks the right of practitioners to public recognition of their faith. When Osun State announced the first holiday on 20 August 2013, it called it the world traditional religion Isese Day and said that it honoured equality between the religious communities of the state. A scholar reads the continuing calls for national recognition as a demand for equitable treatment. A survey of south-western Nigeria in 2012 and 2013 found 67.1 per cent Christians, 31.6 per cent Muslims and 1.3 per cent who called themselves traditionalists. Practitioners thus share the region with a Christian majority and a large Muslim minority, and a scholar reports that other groups label their beliefs archaic or barbaric and their followers idol worshippers. UNESCO, writing of Ifá, notes that traditional practices have faced colonial and religious pressure.[1, 7–9]
How it came to be
Osun State, led by Governor Rauf Aregbesola, was the first south-western state to proclaim 20 August Ìṣẹ̀ṣe Day, in 2013. The state's own announcement named the holiday as one for the world traditional religion Isese Day, and a later scholar treats the recognition of the day as a step forward for the faith's place in public life.[1–2]
How it is kept
Communal gatherings in Ìṣẹ̀ṣe are mostly kept for major festivals, among them the festivals of Ṣàngó, the egúngún masquerades and Ifá. The egúngún festival is the most widespread and important in the Yoruba year, and the masquerades are performed at yearly festivals to honour the ancestors. Ìṣẹ̀ṣe Day gives practitioners a public day on which to celebrate their religion.[2, 10–11]
Sources
Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.
- Verifieddjhr.revistas.deusto.es; Osun govt.
- Correcteddjhr.revistas.deusto.es; Osun govt.
- Verifieddjhr.revistas.deusto.es; Encyclopedia.com, Yoruba religion.
- VerifiedUNESCO Ifá; Encyclopedia.com, Yoruba religion; djhr.revistas.deusto.es.
- VerifiedUNESCO Ifá; djhr.revistas.deusto.es.
- Verifieddjhr.revistas.deusto.es; Encyclopedia.com, Yoruba religion.
- CorrectedOsun govt; djhr.revistas.deusto.es.
- VerifiedNolte et al.; djhr.revistas.deusto.es.
- Verifieddjhr.revistas.deusto.es; UNESCO Ifá.
- Verifieddjhr.revistas.deusto.es; Encyclopedia.com, Yoruba religion.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com, Yoruba religion; learn.ncartmuseum.org, Egungun masquerade ensemble.