Happy International Women's day from the Yoruba nation

 It's International Women's Day.

In the Yorùbá ancient history/mythology, the first human community was Ifẹ̀ Oòndaiyé. OLÓDÙMARÈ once sent a special team of sixteen Òrìṣàs to this community of humans in order to make life on Earth less complicated for them. Ọ̀ṢUN was the only feminine Òriṣ̀a among this group of primordial divinities. Ọ̀ṣun is the Òrìṣa of the cool waters, care, beauty, meditation, lover of children, and the Òrìṣà of introspection.
On getting to Oòdáiyé, the fifteen masculine Òrìṣàs set the wheel of male supremacy in motion, side lining Òṣun in all of their plans and implementations. Ọ̀sún showed her displeasure by leaving them. Then things began to go awry for the conspirators, they were sent to the World to make it a better place but the extreme opposite is what is being experienced. Pestilence swept through Ifẹ̀ Oòndaiyé, death of people in their prime became so rampant, the fifteen masculine Òrìṣà tried all they could but to no avail, then the worst happened, Ifẹ̀ Oòndaiyé suffered a deluge which flooded Ifẹ̀ and swept almost everyone away.
Frustrated and out of wits, the fifteen went back to meet with OLÓDÙMARÈ who knew what they had done even before they gave a long narration of what is happening, OLÓDÙMARÈ asked the golden question "WHERE IS ÒṢUN?" They stammered that she's just a woman and OLÓDÙMARÈ chided them severely saying "How can you refuse to honour her and expect everything to go well? Now go back, appease Òṣun and see how everything gets better."
The fifteen Òrìṣà came back to what was left of Ifẹ̀ Oòndaiyé, they appeased Ọ̀ṣun and worked with her. The survivors of this deluge were able to rebuild their community with a new name telling their survival story, IFẸ̀ OÒYÈ'.
On this beautiful day, we are asking the Yorùbás everywhere in the world the same question OLÓDÙMARÈ asked, "HOW WELL ARE YOU TREATING Ọ̀ṢUN?"

Credit The Yoruba




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