Exclusive: Ifa Priest, Araba Agbaye, Addresses Parliament in Brazil …Elevates Yoruba Traditional Religion

Adeyinka Olaiya, Sao Paulo/

Yoruba traditional religion was on the world stage in Brazil at the weekend, when a representative of the Ifa oracle was hosted at the Parliament in Sao Paulo.

The pre-eminent Ifa Priest from Nigeria, Aworeni Makoranwale 11, the Araba Agbaye, Olu Isese of Yoruba land showed his hosts what makes the culture and religion of the Yoruba people thick, as he displayed the simplicity in the Ifa divinity.

Many Yoruba traditionalists were with him at the event. He was also honoured by the Ifa community in Brazil.

Along with several Ifa priests, Araba was received at the government house, Sao Paulo where he spoke of the ancestral links between the Yoruba people in Brazil and the Yoruba in Nigeria. He told them why it is necessary to keep Ifa alive.

The Yoruba Priest dug deep into the Yoruba traditional religion and the practice in diaspora.

Otunba Adekunle Aderounmu, the president of Centro Cultural Africano, Sao Paulo, Brazil in an interview expressed the positivity in receiving the Araba Agbaye in Brazil.

“We will not relent until Yoruba culture and tradition is truly elevated around the world. Ifa is alive,” he told NewsmakersNG’s Editor-at-Large, Adeyinka Olaiya, at the event in Sao Paulo.

“It is a great honor visiting Brazil, I hope to be here more times. Our culture and religion is alive here in Brazil. I thank the Yoruba people in Brazil for keeping our religion alive. I thank Otunba Adekunle Aderounmu for his efforts and I also thank African cultural centre in Brazil for the initiative,” Araba Agbaye told NewsmakersNG in an exclusive interview.

The Ifa ceremonies were also performed along with several other priests, including Babalawo Awolowo Akanni and Babalawo Fola Oludare Ayodele of the “Ijo Orunmila Groove” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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