THE OBSERVANCE of the first anniversary of the launch of the Alliance of Yorubas in Jamaica (AYJ) Association of Jamaica will take the form of a ‘Cultural Exposition inside the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology, Jamaica Papine campus, today starting at 5 p.m. Admission is $3,000.
The evening promises to be full of traditional Yoruba food, festivity and fashion, and, of course, mingling, networking and reconnection. Patrons will be entertained by a saxophonist, the AYJ live band, cultural dances and songs, ere osupa (moonlight story), a fashion parade to include the selection of the best male and female Yoruba attire, a naming ceremony drama, et cetera. The 360 degree camera booth will be revolving from 4 to 7 p.
m. to capture patrons in their flamboyant attire. The Yoruba is the second largest ethnic group in Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the others being the Hausa, the Igbo and the Fulani, with the official languages being Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Fulani.
Nigeria, located in west Africa with a population of over 230 million people, is Africa’s most populous country and the sixth most populous in the world. Hundreds of these peoples were transported from the early 1500s to 1838 to Jamaica to work on European-owned plantations in the brutal institution of slavery. Without a doubt, present-day black Jamaicans are descendants of west Africans who were brought here forcibly.
Yet, even after Emancipation in 1838, West African.