Women and Spirituality: The Case of Yoruba Indigenous Oro Cult and Pentecostalism

Abstract

This paper is a comparative investigation of the Oro cult and the Ikoyi Pentecostal prayer mountain, both in Southwest Nigeria. Among the indigenous Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria, women are not allowed to be part of Oro cult and the attendant rituals. Women are not also allowed access to partake of the spiritual activities in Ikoyi prayer mountain in southwest Nigeria. This striking semblance of practice between the two traditions motivates a comparative study of the two traditions. The paper, therefore, investigates spirituality and its disruption in the two traditions. It investigates the practice of alienating women from revered roles in the religious practices of the two traditions. The significance of gender to spirituality in the religious practices of the two traditions was interrogated. The study adopts both comparative and phenomenological methods of investigation, hence scholarly works on Yoruba indigenous religion and Pentecostalism were consulted; the paper makes use of archival materials on the indigenous Yoruba Oro cult and the origin and practice of Pentecostalism in Nigeria; quantitative data were used, in this context fifty people responded to questionnaire and twenty people responded to interview. The study was carried out in four stages: planning and desk work; base line survey; writing; revision of draft and demonstration. The findings, presented through simple descriptive method of data analysis, shows an amazing similarity in the believe of the two traditions on spirituality. Both believe in alienating women from revered roles in religious practices.



Author Information
Sunday Funmilola Babalola, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Nigeria

Paper Information
Conference: ECAH2019
Stream: Spirituality

This paper is part of the ECAH2019 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon