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religion that was considered an obsolete pagan way of life. Likewise, in 

the midst of Christianity, Shadrack initiated a form of Voodoo tradition, 

called National Suicide Day in which he encouraged people to sacrifice 

their lives.  In addition, Morrison depicted Ajax's mother as a powerful 

conjure woman who was capable of performing rather unbelievable 

magic. Thus, in both Sula and The Saint exposed the prevalence of 

syncretism in Nigeria and America in the twenty first century.

Works Cited

Adegbindin, Tade. The Saint. Ibadan: Extension,2012.

Akin-Otiko, Akinmayowa and Abbas, Aremu Rahman. “Return to 

African Traditional Religion After Conversion to Christianity or 

Islam: Patronage of Culture of Religious Conversion?” Ilorin 

Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 2019, pp. 211—704.

American Folklife Preservation Act. Public Law 94-201. U.S. Congress, 

1975.

Asika, Ikechukwu.“Folklore is Life: Interview with Odili Tony 

Ujubuonu.” Journal of Arts and Contemporary Society, vol 5, no. 

1, 2013, pp. 89-109.

Babajo, Ahmad Kofa. Orature: Meaning, Nature and Forms. Slimline 

Communications, 2016.

Freud, Sigmund. The Future of Illusion. Hogarth Press,1933.

Hansberry, Lorraine .Raisin in the Sun. Vintage,2011.

Morrison, Toni.Sula. Vintage International,1972.

Newport, Francis “Percentage of Christians in U.S. Drifting Down but 

Still High”. in Gallip, 2015.

Oduah, Comeh. Nigeria under Cover Atheists in their Words. 

www.aljazeera.com TH,(18  September), 2018. 

OjoOlatunji.“Slavery and Human Sacrifice in Yoruba Land.” Journal of 

African History,vol. 46, no. 3, 2005, pp.379 – 404.                                                                      
thPEW Research Center. Atheists. in The PEW Charitable Trusts(13  

Dec),2105. 

Pew Forum US Decline of Christianity. in , 2019.www.pewforum.org

Oríkì: A  Modified Oral System of Myth and Realism
   

   OlatunbosunTaofeek

            Mountain Top University

    Department of Languages

   jostadele@gmail.co

    &

   Oyeyemi Abigail

   Mountain Top University

   Department of Languages

   jostadele@gmail.co

Abstract

The aesthetic quality of man, especially Africans lies in the fact that they 

are a group of people who hold certain principles, opinions, beliefs and 

values connecting them to their environment. This can be 

historiographical exuded as a panegyric imitation expanding the 

horizon of myth and realism in Yorúbà praise poetry. Thus aiding 

socialisation as well as cultural appreciation of indigenous value 

system. Our concern is Africa; precisely, the oríkì of the Yorúbà 

extraction in Southwest Nigeria, WestAfrica. Etymologically, from the 

primitive societies the Yorúbà entrenched their beliefs system from one 

generation to another in the form of folktales, myths, story-telling, and 

dance as a modified oral system known as oríkì. This is to keep sacred 

realities employed in engineering socio-conditioning and cosmological 

interpretations. Oríkì as a concept captures the whole essence of an 

individual's personology in both terrestrial and celestial domains. This is 

further regarded as the whole essence of a person in connection with 

his/her origination, hence, if you want to know “someone ideological 

individualism as well as collectivism as related to an environment” then 

you have to understand his/her oríkì, premier facie. The quest to know 

this was motivated by the desire to access the extent to which myths and 

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http://www.aljazeera.com
https://www.researchgate.net/journal/The-Journal-of-African-History-1469-5138
https://www.researchgate.net/journal/The-Journal-of-African-History-1469-5138
http://www.pewforum.org


realism are embedded in Yorúbà Oríkì and subsequently how it 

contributes to the element of assessment in praise-poetry. For possible 

investigation, archetypal criticism is employed to investigate the 

relationship between Yorúbà worldview of oríkì, praise-poetry, and its 

relevance to contemporary realities wherewith to interpret the 

philosophy, psychology and sociology of individual/collective 

existence.

Keywords: Oríkì, Oral,Yorúbà, Myth and Realism 

Introduction

Oríkì can reveal the history, psychology, sociology and the philosophy 

surrounding an individual, clan, family, community or generation.  The 

system of oríkì transcends time by emerging from primordial times to 

serve as a way of reflection on the nature of a character as well as 

recounting his/her ancestral patrimonies which become an oeuvre to be 

traced to/from the individual. This is mostly done in an epistemological 

style of literary conversation known as oríkì.

The sensitivity and inquisitiveness to the world around us give the 

wherewithal to existence and purpose by formulating stories (myths), 

which arise from given occurrences in an environment and thus 

attributing praises as a historical corpus.  These stories help 

philosophically, psychologically and sociologically to develop the 

humanistic repertoire that frames the socio-structure of an individual 

as well as collective. It provides the bases for caution and rewards for 

life whether to be rejected or accepted as a norm to educate the mind as 

a backdrop to realism.

These uniqueness are apparent in the behavioural patterns of humans 

which can be seen in their daily relationships. To explicate more on 

this, Abimbola sees myths and realism from the angle of communal 

culture and hence, he states that: “communal culture is at the level of 

group psychology which I hereby define as the set of beliefs, doings, 

and practices that make up the communal bank of a group's 

achievement” (129). This establishes the fact that the communal 

psychology can be related to the mental characteristics of a group about 

certain conceptual framework on their existence, whether through 

assimilation, imbibing or absolving which can be seen in the peoples' 

socio-biographical studies. In this, we can find myth and realism 

projected as media of conveying the communal conception of space, 

time, and thought about individual, family or community. 

It is a normal phenomenon that every society transcends the tenets that 

have been the straw that binds them together as well as helping them to 

survive. Over the years, values and expected behavioural patterns are 

being shaped into the minds of people, following how they are 

nurtured by their parents and guardians in oral form. Most common is 

the folklore in Africa that has been an intrinsic part of the Yorúbà 

society. In essence, the emergence of myths can be attributed to 

folklore which gives rise to stories used to buttress realities used by the 

older generation to the younger generations to keep the continuum of 

such realities.  It is expedient to say that different cultures have various 

myths attached to their existence. Thus, we can have Greek myths, 

Roman myths, English myths, and African myths. However, in this 

research we are concerned with the Yorúba ̀ myth, as enshrined in the 

reality of oríkì.

Defining Oríkì

Oríkì refers to the praise poem that is used to honour an individual in 

relation to his/her existence. Akporobaro says, like panegyric, praise 

poetry is “a public speech or written composition that is devoted to 

the prolonged, effusive praise of some person, group of people, or 

public body.” Also, he adds that oríkì, praise poetry, is a form of 

poetry that is specifically designed for the eulogistic portrayal of the 

virtues of a given subject. The subject of the praise may be a king, a 

chief, a war leader, an animal or plant (56).” Mostly, this is done 

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through a succinct use of metaphors, symbols, and allusion. 

Oríkì is  so  essential  that  praise-singers  use  it  as  an  opportunity  to  

gain  the favour of those being praised. Olatunji Olatunde says oríkì is, 

“the most powerful of Yorúbà poetic forms. Every Yorúbà poet 

therefore strives to know the oríkì of important people in his locality as 

well as lineage because every person, common or noble has his own 

body of utterances, by which he can be addressed” (97). Barber Karin 

regards, “Oríkì and its variants as essential oral forms which cuts across 

most African cultures” (1991). Oluwole Coker opines that “as an aspect 

of Yorúbà poetry, oríkì relies heavily on the knowledge and mastery of 

its subject by the performer” (2). UlliBeier, a distinguished and pioneer 

Yorúbà researcher adds that “Oríkì is a poetic phrase that is used to 

describe or praise a god or a person. Every Yorúbà has his own oríkì, 

which he inherited in the course of his life.”

Sometimes, the oríkì may be sung by professional bards or played by 

drummers. For instance, a set of drummers could be placed at the 

entrance of the gate, who announces the presence of a visitor to the king 

by chanting their oríkì. This means that the drummers must know the 

praise names of every family in the town. Beier adds that 'on certain 

days, they go about the streets, addressing each passer-by with his 

oríkì.” Then those being praised give the drummers an amount of 

money. This act of singing the praise names of individuals by these 

singers also serves as a means of livelihood to them and as 

entertainment for the listeners. Examples of musicians that benefitted 

from such acts are Shina Peters, Ebenezer Obey, Sunny Ade, amongst 

others.

Oríkì in Yorúbà land is performed by different categories of people for 

various occasion. Okpewho (1990) observes in his comprehensive 

study of the audience that, “Performance relationship in oral 

performance affirms this constitutive value of oríkì in diverse 

performances.” Furthermore, instances abound in the rendition made by 

ìjáláorÌrèmòjé(Hunters chant/dirge) as the exclusive preserve of the 

lineage of the hunters. We also have the iyere Ifá rendered by the 

worshippers of the Ifá oracle. There is also the Ẹkún Ìyàwó sung by 

brides and is handed down from generation to generation.  

Coker notes that, “Yorúbà, like any other human society, believe not 

only in celebrating humanistic achievements or landmarks, they also 

attach great importance to human innate   tendencies for praise 

singing.”  Here, oríkì then becomes a means of personally appreciating 

a person for the good deeds that is been done. Most times, the person 

being praised utters that “his head is swelling” as a result of the delights 

he gets form the oríkì.

Another dimension of oríkì is also seen in religious situations. 

Akinyemi notes that 

“Besides major Yorúbà deities likeÒgún, Ṣàngó, Ifá, oríkì serves ́
as the basis of the religious chant used in the worship of the Òrìsà 

in Yorúbà communities.”

Oríkì is also used as a way of describing a character.  Olatunji suggests 

that “naming is a significant factor in oríkì. This is because a name 

assigned to an individual transcends identity but extends to other 

pedants as the situation warrants” (68).  Coker also observes that in 

contemporary times, a name often becomes the easiest way to describe 

and celebrate a person. Oríkì is used as well to describe the personal 

traits or physical appearance of a person. To this, Babalola opines that:

There are various oríkì of people of diverse classes therefore for 

every individual, there is likely to be an oríkì that describes him in 

totality, taking into account physical, structural and even the natural 

construct or mien of the person. In contemporary times, names 

which are part of a person's identity usually reveal individual's traits 

(125).

Amongst the descriptions used in identifying a person includes, 

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agùntásoólò used to call a person that is very tall. Ìbàdíàrán for a 

beautiful lady. Abólóunjẹkú used to call an individual that is a glutton. 

Abìwàtútù for a calm and cool-headed person. Abifèrèsélénu for an 

individual with a gap-tooth. Ọkùnrinméjì for a volorous person. Coker 

adds that “these descriptions are essentially direct assessment of the 

individuals concerned as oríkì employs descriptive metaphors in doing 

this.” He also attests to the fact that “Oríkì is also used as a worthy tool 

of satire and social reformation. Contemporary social and political 

developments have been subjects of folk musicians' approach to 

praising individuals involved in identifiable scenarios.”

Barber describes oríkì as “attributions or appellations: epithets, 

elaborated or concise, which is addressed as subject and which are 

equivalent to, or alternatives to, names”. She also adds that:

All entities in existence are said to have their own oríkì. Oríkì are 

felt to capture and evoke the essential characteristics of the subject: 

to have the most profound and intimate access to its inner nature. In 

utterance, therefore, they evoke the subject's power, arouse it to 

action, and enhance its aura. They are always in the vocative case, 

and in utterance the performer always establishes an intense, one to 

one bond with the addressee as long as the utterance lasts (315).

Thus, the value of oríkì among the Yorúbà be it at home or in diaspora is 

part of their humanity, value that is upheld by their offspring as a source 

of interpretation to their existence.

Myth as a Contemporary Issue 

Myth means false stories that are recounted from generation to 

generation. The survival of myth despite its proposition as false makes it 

thrive more and deeper in contemporary times, because of its values and 

relevance to race, class and tradition. Myths remain a part of our daily 

values as it forms part of our consciousness. Some myths are stories 

about beings that existed long ago and in the bid to strive to achieve 

some extraordinary feat, the lives of these beings are recalled and 

emulated. We cannot push aside or rule out myths from our 

contemporary times because they are old or archaic, it will only mean an 

attempt to shy away from the foundation/fundamental of our thought 

level which forms the microcosm of various ideologies.

In primordial times, some cultural practices that were regarded as 

important and necessary are now being put aside by young people in 

contemporary times. One of the areas is marriage which has continued to 

survive despite various odds and demands for change. In contemporary 

times there is an opposition that a woman should be duly committed to 

her husband despite being ill-treated. Thus, the contemporary woman 

believes she can be a single parent or even adopt a child without being 

necessarily joined to a man or woman in holy matrimony. On this, Idang 

opines that:

A look at the African reveals that marital rites and practices are 

usually carried out in line with the custom of the society concerned. 

The polygamous marriage was more preferred; not because the 

African is naturally polygamous as some would say, but because it 

was associated with wealth, power, influence, social status and the 

strong African desire to be surrounded by many children and 

relations (108).

In view of the above, it was expected that the woman should give birth 

to as many as she could. Some of the children would assist their father 

on the farmland as farming was the means of survival and sustenance. 

Hence, polygamy is encouraged as more children implied wealth, 

power, authority and strength. However, over the years, with the 

present economic condition, polygamy has been put under check as 

contemporary people have embraced monogamy as a way of life. 

Ologundudu posits that although Yorúbà men were mostly 

polygamous, the teaching of the Ifá stresses that it is suitable to keep 

one wife (97).

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To this end, marriage is seen as an integral institution of the society 

because it is from there we have individuals who would change other 

institutions such as financial, career, health, etc. There are series of 

activities that are carried out before, during and after the marriage 

ceremony. For instance, in the Yorúbà parlance, the bride to be has 

her own oríkì chanted by her to separate her from singlehood. 

Saliu suggests that, “nuptial weep (ẸkúnÌyàwó) is an epitomic 

and nostalgic repertoire of joy and sorrow. The bride, in her 

euphoria, feels highly elated as she attains the crucial stage of 

marital recognition (38).”

In ẸkúnÌyàwó, the bride expresses her feelings of being relocated 

to another place entirely different from her parents' home. Such 

chantas serious poetic ritual which signifies a rite of passage in a 

woman's life. In essence, the bride has little or no knowledge of 

the family she is about to go to and all the uncertainties that go 

with marriage. But in contemporary times, the couple to be are 

privy to the affairs they share and they interact freely without 

restriction to reduce uncertainties. In fact, the 21st century lady 

does not need to sing the Ẹkún Ìyàwó before she moves in with 

her husband. She is a self – dependent and never sees any 

significance in pre-marital cultural ethos. 

Another integral aspect of the society that also distinguishes man from 

animals is bodily garment, which appear in various style. In primordial 

times,Yorúbà garments were Ò�, Kampala, ìró and bùbá, and the 

apparel of the king as well as the warriors were different amongst others. 

But now in contemporary times, the relevance of the garments have 

dropped. 

Clothing has been an important part of daily lives and apart from it being 

a way of avoiding nudity, it also portrays the spirit of togetherness and 

depicts cultural essentialities among a set of people. Ajani suggests that, 

“one of the cultural traditions that have endured despite modernization 

among the Yorúbà in Nigeria is the aṣọ ẹbí practice (108).” Precisely, the 

aṣọ ẹbí is a local and traditional sowed garments in various style. He 

adds that, “at the onset of the practice, aṣọ ẹbí was originally meant to be 

a family uniform, among the Yorúbà people to enable the guest to 

identify members of the family during an occasion. However, in recent 

times, it has become a medium of economic transaction and diffused 

into other groups in Nigeria” (116). There is hardly any social ceremony 

such as wedding, naming, birthday, burial and more recently clothing in 

political campaigns, etc., that does not warrant the aṣọ ẹbí practice. This 

practice has also spread to other cultures in Nigeria such as the Igbo who 

call it Ashebi, and Hausa where it is known as Yaye (vogue), Znkooor 

aṣọ ẹbí; and more notable to other African cultures such as Ghana, 

Gambia, and Liberia amongst others. This actually is an extraction from 

the Yorúbà mythical philosophy of togetherness and semblance. 

In the oríkì of Anike we are told that sometimes the clothes men put on, 

though used to cover up their nakedness becomes a snare and discomfort 

to them. The contemporary line of clothes has gone to the extreme that 

all forms of crazy designs are formed to the extent that it bears similar 

resemblance to that of a naked person. 

Clothes we humans wear tend to conceal transparency and become a 

form of bondage. Yet without these clothes, without the expensive 

double strings of waist and hip beads. The buttocks will be exposed. 

Unlike you, others derobe and they resemble the fast and playful red 

colobus monkey. Some others derobe and behold resemble a plain 

monkey (Oríkì Àníke)́.̣
 

The above oríkì of Àníkeśhows the attempt humans make in clothing ̣
themselves. It is likened to that of dressing like a monkey, even though 

humans use beads around their hips and waist so as not to expose their 

buttocks. 

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Also, it is necessary to state that the act of avoiding nudity may be the 

reason garment is worn, but there are several garments that connote a 

particular symbol. It could be in the form of rags as seen in the oríkì of 

Ṣàngó, where he is clothed in rag like that of a widow:

If you do not share your maize gruel with him. He will slip under 

your finger nail and take share. Ṣàngó takes by force! If you do not 

offer him a seat he will sit on top of your nose! He takes his 

neighbour's roof and covers his own head. He lends money and 

does not ask for it in return. His cloth is ragged like that of a widow. 

Ṣàngó does as it pleases. If he likes, he can make maize gruel from 

bananas. If he likes, he can wear his torn garment (Oríkì Ṣàngó).

The above oríkì depicts Ṣàngó as a person with authority and a 

philanthropist who does as he pleases, yet he is clothed in rags like 

that of a widow. 

Also in the oríkì of Èṛinlè:

He owns something that cannot be found in the king's house: His 

cloth is full of lice! He refuses to pay for the beer, he refuses to pay 

for the kola. But we do not ask him for the money (Oríkì Èṛinlè).

This oríkì shows that Èṛinlè is dignified to be cloth with lice, possibly 

because he has some things in his possession that even the king does not 

have, and so he refuses to pay for some of his purchases because his 

fame/honour/integrity can stand for him.

Another contemporary issue that cuts across the society is the treatment 

of women. In primitive times, women were laden with the burden of 

child bearing and care of the family. Most importantly is the restriction 

on them to voice out their inadequacies. But it took the effort of some 

women who fought relentlessly to prove their worth. A notable example 

is Olókun, the goddess of the sea:

Come! Come! Come unto me. All you that need wealth. And I will 

give you the best. I am the goddess of the seas and oceans; Olókun, 

the very first woman to wear a crown. Olókun, three quarters of the 

earth, is mine. Olókun, infinitesimally small is earth's treasure, 

when compared to mine. Olókun, millions of yet undiscovered 

chest. Precious, I preserve for mankind. Olókun! You know the 

Atlantic; I was there as Olókun Sprawling the beds of the Atlantic. I 

am still Olókun millennia ago. I was senior to Olókun but I was 

created by your Olorun. Organism living Organism, non-living. All 

in my bosom. Precious stones, gold and corals, cowries, black gold 

and emeralds, all in my bosom. Come to me! Come to me! (Oríkì 

Olókun)

This oríkì depicts the fact that women cannot be excused from the 

affairs of the society. Olókun as a woman describes her territory, the sea, 

as having a vast amount of resources such as beads, precious stones, 

cowries, black gold, emerald and corals in her possession. And so, she 

speaks authoritatively, that anyone who needs wealth should come to 

her. Furthermore, as part of the values in Yorúbà existence, the 

reverence and worship of gods and goddesses is held in high esteem and 

that is why despite the advent of Christianity and Islam in the 15th 

century, the worship of gods and goddesses is still much viable. 

Acquah observes that:

For many Africans and Ghanaians, in particular, it is religion more 

than anything else that shapes their worldview and participation in 

social life. The African traditional religious belief is that human 

beings do not live in this world alone; there is a sense of human 

beings' close relationship with nature. Humanity, animals, and 

plants have their own existence and place in the universe as 

independent parts of a whole. There are also spiritual beings that 

are more powerful than humankind and this opens up the African to 

the divine and to seeking affinity with these spiritual powers. 

Religious belief is thus diffused in all spheres of life filing them 

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with meaning and significance (10).

In the process of rendering the oríkì for a particular god, the worshipper 

is prone to making several promises and affirming their dedication to 

them. The worshipper profusely begs Ṣàngó as he makes his request 

known. 

Profit is seen as a source for wealth. In other words, anyone can be 

wealthy such as the madman referred to in the oríkì below. If a madman 

could be made wealthy, it means anyone could attain riches and wealth 

as long as life is concerned. This is synonymous to contemporary time 

where wealthy people are often children from poor homes, destitute, 

etc., who wrestle their ways to the top. This philosophy of life is like the 

laissez faire economy where anyone is capable of being wealthy to 

become anything in any society. This oríkì shows that the 

contemporary position of capital-democratic nature of wealth is 

possible and there is no exclusion to success as long as the 

person involved is ready for the visitation of Àje:̣́
Àje ̣gave light to the waŕ
Of the city Àje ̣gave thé
Light to the boa

Àje ̣you gave the light to Onipàsánòwèrè́
He went to the madman's house and made him a 

character

Àje,̣ I greet you, ...́
Ifá so that you can come with me Àje ̣please,́
Come to me, stay with me and do not leave me.

In the contemporary world, profit usually comes to those who strive 

and work hard and not to idle people who prefer to sit and do nothing. 

So, it is always profitable to be hardworking as there is a reward 

attached to being hardworking.

  Yorúbà Worldview in Relation to Contemporary Realities

The Yorúbà beliefs can be described as a rich cosmological endowment 

that has been active since the primordial times. The Yorúbà cosmology 

beliefs exude some of the tenets that are used to distinguish them as a 

people and such as are germane to sustaining a unique race. Soyinka 

captures this essence in the following lines: 

For the Yorúbà, the gods are the final measure of eternity, as 

humans are of earthly transience. To think, because of this, that the 

Yorúbà mind reaches intuitively towards absorption in godlike 

essence is to misunderstand the principle of religious rites, and to 

misread as many have done, the significance of religious 

possession. Past, present and future being so pertinently conceived 

and woven into the Yorúbà world view, the element of eternity 

which is the gods' prerogative does not have the same equality of 

remoteness or exclusiveness which it has in Christian or Buddhist 

culture. The belief of the Yorúbà in the contemporaneous existence 

within his daily experience of these aspects of time has long been 

recognized but again misinterpreted. It is no abstraction (144).

As part of the cosmology of the Yorúbà  worldview, there are three 

worlds known to them. They are the world of the unborn, the world of 

the dead and the world of the living. Soyinka opines that “the past is the 

ancestors, the present belongs to the living, and the future to the 

unborn” (148).

The world of the unborn refers to the world of the future where the 

existence of life springs from. This world is likened to the world of the 

innumerable germ cells that abound in the loins of a man. At the time of 

copulation, the cells are released and the race for the egg begins, upon 

which, despite their innumerable amount, only the lucky cell is 

enclosed and life begins. This is the world of the unborn. In Soyinka's 

Fourth Stage, he explains that “it is necessary to recall that the past is 

not a mystery and that although the future (the unborn) is yet unknown, 

it is not a mystery to the Yorúbàbut co-existent in our present 

consciousness(149)”.

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The second world is the world of the dead which in the Yorúbà world 

view refers to the departed ancestors who are still ever present to 

provide assistance to the living. The Yorúbà believe the departed do not 

die but only ascend to the world of the ancestors to rest. Thus each 

individual's orí, destiny, comes with uniqueness in relation to the 

family, clan and community he/she is born. This uniqueness in relation 

to his/her ancestry forms an oríkì for that individual, the family or the 

community.

Conclusion

This study has examined the reflections on Yorúbà socio-cultural 

realities of oríkì as a panegyric exposition revealing the unique fluidity 

of praise-poetry between the past and the present. Thus expanding the 

horizon in myth and realism as embedded in oríkì. It is no doubt that 

contemporary times seem to be delineated from the activities of the 

primordial times and one of the ways to investigate primordial time from 

the Yorúbà  perspective is in oríkì which is an ancient philosophical, 

psychological, historical and literary corpus of an individual and 

collectives.  Hence, some of the ancient and traditional values of 

socializations are embedded in oríkì to encourage appreciation and 

integration and intergration of cultural heritage into modern systemic 

existence.

Works Cited

Akachi-Ezeigbo, Theodora. Facts and Fiction in the Literture of the 

Nigerian Civil War. University Press PLC, 2019. 

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Performance in Itsekiri Moonlight Games 
And Songs

 

 OVIE-JACK MATILDA  EYITUOYO

             DELTA  STATE SCHOOL OF MARINE 

                     TECHNOLOGY, BURUTU.

ebonnyt@yahoo.com,

ebonnyt03@gmail.com

 08037226601

Abstrat

Moonlight plays and their performances are major art forms still 

existing in most African societies. Among the Itsekiri people of Nigeria, 

the several genres of oral performances that have been researched and 

documented include the Ife, Owe, The Itsekiri language and Umale 

Okere. However, very little attention and studies have been committed 

to the oral performance of Itsekiri moonlight plays. Moonlight plays 

expose the participants to realities of human situations, problems, 

feelings and relationships. Moonlight plays are performed by children 

as well as teenagers whose ages fall between 3 and 17, adults often make 

up the audience.  It is a game that consists of several creative activities 

that serve as veritable mirror and cultural preserver in Itsekiri 

communities. This paper therefore investigates the style and evaluates 

the artistic importance in the oral performance of Itsekiri moonlight 

plays with the aim of exploring its significance in the life of the people. 

The sociological approach to literature is employed in this paper to 

examine the ethical and moral values of these plays as a means of 

cultural reintegration of the young to the society. The paper concludes 

that more researchers need to be involved in study in goral traditional 

performances by children. Especially, how the oral enactments in 

African traditional societies propagate, sustain and preserve the 

cherished social norms of the African people in the face of contemporary 

challenges especially the new media.

Keywords:  Moonlight play; Performance; Itsekiri, Songs, Player.

179 180

COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021 Ovie-Jackmatilda Eyituoyo: Performance in Itsekiri Moonlight Games and Songs

http://www.segilolasalami.co.uk/oriki-aje-poetry-goddess-of-wealth.%202018
http://www.segilolasalami.co.uk/oriki-aje-poetry-goddess-of-wealth.%202018
mailto:ebonnyt@yahoo.com,
mailto:ebonnyt@yahoo.com,

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