Moremi
Moremi is a goddess of great beauty who is worshiped by the Yoruba in Ile-Ife (Osun state in southwestern Nigeria) and some surrounding cities, especially Offa .
Legend
According to legend, Moremi went to the supernatural Igbo to discover the secret of their mysterious warfare and the kidnapping they carried out. The king of the Igbo fell in love with her, made her his concubine and let her in on the secret of his masked warriors. Knowing that the masks could burn, Moremi returned to Ife. But there she first had to sacrifice her beloved only son - Ela or Oluorogbo - before she could instruct the inhabitants of the city to arm themselves with torches during the attack of the Igbo, in order to be able to burn the raffia masked robes of the threatening Igbo. With the victory over the Igbo, Moremi became the savior of her people.
Edi festival
In Ile-Ife and some neighboring towns, Moremi is still worshiped today in the Edi festival, where Moremi are represented by a priestess and the Igbo by members of a cult group. In Offa, the king and the last adherents of the tradition had to come to terms with the fact that Muslim believers made it impossible to celebrate the festival after the Moremi shrine was destroyed in 2000.
Parallels to the ancient Orient
Local authors pointed out parallels between the Moremi legend and the Miriam story in the biblical Exodus book ( Ex 15.20-21 EU ) early on . Analogies to the ancient oriental mythology of the Ishtar are also noteworthy .
bibliography
- Ademakinwa, JA, Ife, Cradle of the Yoruba , Lagos 1958.
- Olupona, Jacob K .: City of 201 Gods: Ile-Ife in Time, Space and Imagination, Berkeley 2011.
- Walsh, MJ, "The Edi festival at Ile Ife", African Affairs , 47 (1948), 231-8.