Personal Experience Of Yoruba Culture Sociology Essay

My culture is Yoruba, one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. My relatives comprises of my mother, father, two step mothers, five brothers, two sisters, two nephews and my extended family. As a part of my culture, the extended family is considered the backbone of every family. People like my grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles help in shaping my life one way or the other. My parents always tell me that family is the most important thing, and we all help each other in order to survive. Members of my family practice different types of religion. My daddy is a Muslim, both of my grandparents are Muslim, two of my brothers are Muslim and the rest of the family are Christian.

In the community we live in, the neighbors help in taking care of the children, and we all have an understanding to help and support each other. At home my family tends to speak both Yoruba and English, and part of the reason why is because when we started elementary school the teachers spoke both languages to us. One of our family traditions that was started by my parents after they had two of my older brothers and one of my sister they started making all their children’s middle names to begin with A and the first name to begin with S

Family

As part of our family arrangement, the grandfather is respected to be the head of the family. Members of the family tend to go to him for advice, and he is usually called to settle an argument between family members. From time to time the grandfather takes care of the grand children when the parents are out. The grandmother also takes care of the family; sometimes the grandmother tells stories to the grandchildren about things that happened while she was growing up. The father is responsible for bringing food, building houses, repairing fences; he is also considered the head of the house. The mother is responsible making sure that all chores are done. The mother is also accountable for the well-being of her children and also their education. The mother also advices are daughters about who to marry. The daughters learn how to be good wives from their mother. As a family custom, we have to kneel down to greet an elder person. We are not allowed to call someone older than us by their first name; we have to use aunt or uncle.

Nontraditional

My family experience was a nontraditional because I was born and raised by a single mother in Lagos, located in the southern part of Nigeria in West Africa. My dad was not around for most of my life and as a result, my father’s side of my family is a mystery to me. According to my oldest brother my father’s families were faithful Muslims. My grandfather was in a polygamous relationship, living with four wives and lots of children. My grandmother on my father side was the most senior wife, and she was responsible for keeping the house and other wives in check. My father was one of the second oldest children of my grandfather, he practice the Muslim faith. My father was a man of contradiction, because he tried to be a faithful Muslim but he had a serious alcohol problem that prevented him from fully achieving success both in his private and business life. My mother met my dad while she was working for him at this business. At this point my dad was already married and had been divorced twice and had five children. My father and mother are from the Yoruba tribe of western Africa. This is a male dominated culture, but it is changing with modern times.

Traditional clothing

For special occasions we wear our traditional cloth, which consists of bright colors. Women’s traditional clothing consists of buba, kaba, iro, gele . Buba is a loose top that does not go past the waist and Iro is known as the bottom part of the cloth that is wrapped around the waist. And the gele, which is known as the head wrap, is tied around the head. Some of the men’s clothing is similar to the female’s, Men’s traditional clothing consists of a buba, fila sokota. Buba is a loose top that goes down almost to the thigh. Fila is known as the cap, which adds more style to the clothes, and the sokota is known as the pant.

Celebration

We celebrate birthdays in my family by wearing new clothes and having a little party with members of our families and then on Sunday we go to church for the pastor to pray for us. The most important holidays we celebrate are the New Year and Christmas. For Christmas we celebrate by decorating our homes and by making different types of food and inviting family, friends, and neighbors to visit. Sometimes we also celebrate Christmas by traveling to the village to spend time with our grandparents, and one of the things that happens when we go to the village is my grandfather buys a cow, and every member of the family gets a pieces. The cow is distributed from the grandparent to the children then to the grandchildren. The youngest out of the grandchildren gets the smallest piece of the cow. Some people celebrate New Year holiday by staying at home and praying, and some people make it a very joyful festivity by inviting some friends over for a party. We celebrate marriage by cooking different types of traditional food and playing different types of traditional music. Food is considered a very important aspect in my culture. Traditionally we eat food by using our right hand, but with the influence of western culture, people are starting to use things like forks, knives, and spoons. Different types of food are cooked to celebrate a child naming ceremony and marriage. When a child is born, family and friends come together for a naming ceremony, and the oldest family member prays for the baby. In comparing the Yoruba culture to Mexican traditional culture, Mexicans consider their relatives to be the building block of Mexican society. In Mexico when it comes to family, family is very important and have a lot to meaning to the Mexican people and family are considered to be the fundamental of Mexican life. According to the website on Mexican family and tradition, “families are considered to be the building blocks of the Mexican society and even with all the modernization we find the families in Mexico to be quite closely knit with their family and their extended side of the family, together with further extensions of the family being normal.” The world family has an important mean. Many kids and teenagers dance and celebrate with their grandparent’s different type of holiday celebration. This is similar to the Yoruba culture because

Family Traditions

As a part of Mexican culture gender role is assigned to members of the family. Most Mexican children tend to live with their parents till they get married. This is similar to the Yoruba culture , because in most Yoruba families gender roles are assigned to everyone in the family and most children live with their parent until they get married. It is important in the Mexican culture for family to have a close relationship with their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. For most Mexican families it common for them to live in the same area or house. Men have a great responsibility in taking care of their families. In the house hold the men’s role is considered to be the work place area. Women also have a great responsibility in taking care of their family. Women in Mexican culture are responsible for cleaning the house and making sure the children are taken care of. Men and women join together in making sure their family needs are being met.

For most young females they are always under the watch of the family until they are married. One of the most common family traditions is celebrating the fifteenth birthday of a young woman.

Celebration

The most commonly celebrated holidays in Mexico are Christmas and New Year holidays. Celebration for both holidays begins in the middle of December and last until the beginning of January. Dia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe is known as one of the most religious and important holidays in Mexico. This festivity is celebrated to pay respect to Guadalupe, who is known as the patron saint of Mexico. The festivity starts on December third; however Guadalupe Day is not praised on till December 12. Mexicans also have other major holiday that their celebrate like the Las posada, Noche Buena, Dia de Los Muerto and this are just few of the holidays they celebrate. As a part of Mexican culture, when celebrating birthdays, families get together and different types of music are played and different types of food are cooked. In Mexico, when a girl turn15 years of age, a party is giving to celebrate becoming a women. This is recognized as Quinceanera. The birthday is celebrated by inviting all family members, and also going to the church. As a part of Mexican custom their food includes different types of spices. Rice, beans, tortilla are one of the most common Mexican dishes

In comparing Mexican cultural to Yoruba cultural it shows that we both culture have a lot of similarity and few differences. One of the differences between the Mexican culture and Yoruba culture, in Yoruba culture we do not have a big birthday celebration for females that turn 15 years of age. How they celebrate their Christmas and New Year holiday is also different from the Yoruba culture. Some of the things that we have in common are our family values and how we both respect the older. Another thing that we have in common is also the food. We both like species food and we both love to get together with family and friends to celebrate special event and holidays.