As governments, groups, professionals, agencies and experts
continue to search for remedies to curtail the spread of the deadly
Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, traditional religious adherents have urged
governments at all levels to consider the use of traditional and spiritual
remedies to contain the spread of the virus.
The traditionalists urged President Muhammadu Buhari and
state governors not to ignore traditional and spiritual solutions in the battle
against the killer disease.
Secretary-General of Traditional Religion Worshippers’
Association of Oyo State (TRWASSO), Chief Fayemi Fatunde Fakayode (PhD), in a
statement on Monday, said that the use of modern
medicine should not been seen as the only solution to the deadly Coronavirus.
Fakayode who issued the statement on behalf of traditional
religious adherents in the state, maintained that the same approach by ”our
forefathers” can be employed to tackle the disease while the spiritual
solutions should not be ignored and should instead be handled by community
spiritual leaders.
Fakayode who is the founder of Ijo Imole Olodumare, Alade
Town in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital noted that to rescue the world from the
crisis of Coronavirus, it behoves everybody with the knowledge of the solution
to come forward.
He added that this is the main reason traditionalists in the
state were coming out to contribute their own quota in the containment of the
deadly Coronavirus in the country.
As part of measures to curtail the spread of Coronavirus
from the traditional perspective, Fakayode recommended that, “People should
squeeze ẹ̀fọ́ yánrin (wild lettuce) and ẹ̀fọ́ ewúro (bitter leaf) inside palm
wine and drink responsibly. It can also be rubbed on the body as sanitizer.
Also, daily consumption of gúgúrú (Popcorn) is recommended.”
Fakayode who suggested that palm wine consumption is very
advantageous in this period, added that some items of great symbolic
connotations like Akòko leaves and Tàǹgíìrì pod can be put at the entrance and
inside the house respectively to repel the Ajogun, noting that the kind of food
that Yoruba spirituality advise in this period of time is corn related.
“To rescue the world from this crisis of Coronavirus, it
behoves everybody with the knowledge of the remedies to come forward. Nowadays,
the same approach by our forefathers can be employed. While the spiritual
solutions should not be ignored and should instead be handled by the community
spiritual leaders, It is here recommended that for prevention and cure of
Coronavirus, people should squeeze ẹ̀fọ́ yánrin (wild lettuce) and ẹ̀fọ́ ewúro
(bitter leaf) in palm wine and drink responsibly. It can also be rubbed on the
body as sanitizer. Also, daily consumption of gúgúrú (Popcorn) is recommended.
“Another approach from Yoruba tradition is to squeeze ẹ̀fọ́
yánrin (wild lettuce) and ẹ̀fọ́ ewúro (bitter leaf) inside palm wine and use it
to rub the body as well as drinking part of it. Nowadays, some people
substitute alcohol (gin and spirit) for palm wine. Palm wine consumption is
very advantageous in this period. In Yoruba land, during this time of epidemic,
our ancestors drank palm wine and placed a bowl of palm wine in front of the
house. Who knows? Maybe the virus causing the epidemic is more attractive to
palm win and will get trapped in the bowl of palm tree juice.
“Some items of great symbolic connotations like akòko leaves
and Tàǹgíìrì pod can be put at the entrance and inside the house respectively
to repel the ajogun. The kind of food that Yoruba spirituality advise in this
period of time is corn related. It can be boiled corn called ègbo or popcorn
called gúgúrú. Back to the weapon at work now, though nobody for now could
emphatically tell the components, the implications could make one conclude that
each race has way of doing things with materials in line with her culture and
environment.
“It is pertinent to note that in those days, there were also
antidotes for this kind of ajogun called virus either it is natural or a
biological weapon. The antidotes were used for both preventive and curative
measures then. Oral history has it that the antidotes were always effective.
The antidotes might be in form of incision, sanitizer or soap to bathe, shear
butter to rub the body, water to drink or powder to lick which can be likened
to the modern day injection, soap, cream, syrup or capsules/tablets respectively.
“At times, in Yoruba spirituality, repelling this kind of
Ajogun would involve rituals like divinations, sacrifices and appeasement of
the natural forces and Divinities like Ọbalúayé/Sànpọ̀nná, Èṣù and Òrò. Sànpọ̀nná
is believed to have control over all unseen ajogun and as a result prevent or
rid off any kind of epidemic. Èṣù is capable of defending every boundary
against any ajogun that might want to spread from another territory. Hence, the
work of Èṣù is to restrict such virus to the very geographical location it
started till it gets annihilated. Ritual of Orò could be employed because, it
is believed that the voice of Orò is capable of repelling evil forces like this
unseen ajogun. The efficacy of the application of Orò voice could be felt when
one sees every obstacles moving away just because of the voice of siren.
Unfortunately, in Yoruba land today, some Muslims and Christians want Orò
rituals eradicated for allegation of “gender bias”.
“A virus is described as an infective agent that is too
small to be seen. By implication, it means that the agent is invisible to the
naked human eye. Though the invisibility persists, the virus could be seen only
by high resolution electron microscope. This virus could be said to be one of
the ajogun mentioned in Yoruba spirituality. The ajogun are said to be unseen
but Ifá, the scripture, is silent about the size. Therefore, no assurance that
it is too small to be seen, though Elénìní as one of the ajogun is said to be
smaller to the Divinities but could destroy them excluding Ọ̀rúnmìlà. However,
the Yoruba spirituality claims that though, the ajogun cannot be seen with
naked human eye, people with spiritual or inner eyes can sight the ajogun
clearly. The inner eyes could be likened to the high resolution electron
microscope.
“If Coronavirus is a natural infective agent, we can liken
it to the “ajogun” that come from celestial world to the terrestrial space for
a purpose, either favourable or unfavourable to the human race. That means, it
is not too strange to the Yoruba people who are versed in their spirituality.
And the solution might be the usual approach employed by the ancestors. If
Coronavirus is a biological weapon invented as an instrument of war by a world
power as alleged by people, I think such knowledge is not limited to a single
land.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com