Society & Social Order

Àjọṣe & Ilé-Àiyé

How Yoruba life is structured — the Oba institution and kingship, lineage and kinship networks, naming traditions and social ceremonies, gender roles, markets, guilds, and the elaborate social hierarchy that sustained one of Africa's great urban civilisations.

Traditional Yoruba beaded jewelry and ceremony elements

Society & Social Order Entries

Naming Ceremonies

Isomoloruko

The traditional ceremony held on the seventh day (for females) or ninth day (for males) after birth, involving prayers, symbolic foods, and the bestowing of names — the ritual that anchors a child to the visible world.

Oruko Amutorunwa

Names determined by the circumstances of birth. Twins are always named Taiwo and Kehinde; children born in unusual circumstances receive names that mark and interpret those circumstances.

The Oba Institution

Ìjọba Ọba

Coming Soon

Lineage & Kinship