From: Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan, Most Revd. Gabriel Abegunrin, has vowed to lead a revolution to ensure that bridegrooms and brides wear traditional attires for their wedding instead of suits and gowns.
In an interview with journalists in Ibadan, Abegunrin, who did not condemn English wears, said wearing of traditional attires for wedding ceremonies, either in the church or registry, would help in promoting good aspects of culture, which could not be separated from identities.
According to him, “We are losing a lot of good culture; a lot of values we are losing. It’s not everything that we do that is barbaric. It’s not everything we do that is bad or fetish. But we have brushed out everything, that everything must be imported even character.
“Like young men and women now, when they want to wed, that marriage is not valid until they wear suit and gown. Isn’t it? Is that not true? It is not true at all? The suit and the gown are not the ones making the marriage valid, either in the church or even in the registry, not at all.
“What makes the marriage valid is the exchange of consent and they are the ministers of their own marriage. That exchange of consent makes them the ministers of their marriage.
“Actually, I’m going to start a crusade very soon to encourage youths to use their traditional dresses to get married. You can see the engagement day, they go into beautiful attires; they throw like this, throw like that or the simple ones whether in lace or beautiful ankara or whatever.
“On Saturday, they become something else, so stiff that they can’t bend. But on Friday, they are so beautiful, dancing the way they want, throwing agbada. The woman can have a ‘satellite’ (head gear) on the head. Why can’t they change that now to say use one of these traditional wears on the engagement day and on the wedding day, use another beautiful one? It is valid my dear people, and they should do that.
“I will be encouraging youths to use traditional dresses, complete with cap is very good. Complete ‘iro and buba’ (wrapper and blouse) and ‘iborun’ are very good for marriage. It’s not invalidating anything. It is only promoting culture.
“But some people, unless you are in suit or you are in gown, it’s not valid, it’s not true. It’s only a copyright. What we copy now has become our master and we have thrown our own away.
“Some of us who have aunties or uncles and parents who wedded in the registry or church, they didn’t use suit at all. The black and white photos are still there in their sitting rooms or parlours. The aso-ofi and trousers that are big and not reaching the ground, very beautiful and their marriages are valid and they have beautiful children like you and like me, trained children, children that you can trust. They had a pattern for everything.
“Then, they did not even use to carry flowers, only the bag. Sometimes, it’s even the man that will carry the bag, I don’t know what that means, maybe that was the culture then. We throw a lot of our cultures away now and part of it is our behavior, our character.
“We are losing our language. Yoruba say it, Igbo say it, Efik say it, Idoma says it that we are losing our language. Where are we going? I’m not saying English is not good at all. It is good, but that doesn’t mean we should throw away what God has created with us.
“English was created the same way Yoruba was created, the same way Igbo, Hausa, Idoma were created and with values. I know certain things are barbaric and we have to throw them away. Yes, we can throw all those bad things away, and retain those that are useful, cultures that are of luck, and of unity.
“Do you know where our unity began to crack? It began when we stopped eating together in the same plate. I grew up with that system of eating in the same plate with my brothers and sisters when we were little. We would eat with right hand, and hold meat with the left hand or you wait before they give you your own piece of meat and we drank from the same bowl of water, not every person has cup or glass. We sat on the mat, not on chairs or table, that’s how I grew up.
“Having grown up that way, those who ate on tables, who carried their own plates, who drank with glass or plastic cup, who wore socks to school and shoes, what is the difference between them and myself now? I cannot see it. Where they have been to, I’ve been to. What they are doing, I am doing. They have risen, I have risen. This is not pride at all, I’m sorry if it sounds like pride. What I’m saying is that we don’t throw away a culture that does not disturb our progress.
“I did not go to any private school, I went to public school, but look at how much money parents now spend on their child or children before they can get good education. Once you’re married and you have a child, you have a project already, forget other things. It is pathetic.
“Now we blame government for a lot of things but sometimes we cause it too, because we encourage those in government to do what they are doing. When they are wrong, we still hail them. When they are right, we hail them. But it’s not everything they do that is wrong. If someone is dancing, if he continues to dance and they gather to watch him, when the crowd disappears one by one, he will stop dancing, but because we support lies, that is why lies are multiplying.”
From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan, Most Revd Gabriel Abegunrin, has vowed that he will lead a revolution to ensure that bridegrooms and brides wear traditional attires for their wedding instead of suits and gowns.
In an interview with journalists in Ibadan, Abegunrin, who did not condemn English wears, said wearing of traditional attires for wedding ceremonies, either in the church or registry, would help in promoting good aspects of culture, which could not be separated from identities.
According to him, “We are losing a lot of good culture; a lot of values we are losing. It’s not everything that we do that is barbaric. It’s not everything we do that is bad or fetish. But we have brushed out everything, that everything must be imported even character.
“Like young men and women now, when they want to wed, that marriage is not valid until they wear suit and gown. Isn’t it? Is that not true? It is not true at all? The suit and the gown are not the ones making the marriage valid, either in the church or even in the registry, not at all.
“What makes the marriage valid is the exchange of consent and they are the ministers of their own marriage. That exchange of consent makes them the ministers of their marriage.
“Actually, I’m going to start a crusade very soon to encourage youths to use their traditional dresses to get married. You can see the engagement day, they go into beautiful attires; they throw like this, throw like that or the simple ones whether in lace or beautiful ankara or whatever.
“On Saturday, they become something else, so stiff that they can’t bend. But on Friday, they are so beautiful, dancing the way they want, throwing agbada. The woman can have a ‘satellite’ (head gear) on the head. Why can’t they change that now to say use one of these traditional wears on the engagement day and on the wedding day, use another beautiful one? It is valid my dear people, and they should do that.
“I will be encouraging youths to use traditional dresses, complete with cap is very good. Complete ‘iro and buba’ (wrapper and blouse) and ‘iborun’ are very good for marriage. It’s not invalidating anything. It is only promoting culture.
“But some people, unless you are in suit or you are in gown, it’s not valid, it’s not true. It’s only a copyright. What we copy now has become our master and we have thrown our own away.
“Some of us who have aunties or uncles and parents who wedded in the registry or church, they didn’t use suit at all. The black and white photos are still there in their sitting rooms or parlours. The aso-ofi and trousers that are big and not reaching the ground, very beautiful and their marriages are valid and they have beautiful children like you and like me, trained children, children that you can trust. They had a pattern for everything.
“Then, they did not even use to carry flowers, only the bag. Sometimes, it’s even the man that will carry the bag, I don’t know what that means, maybe that was the culture then. We throw a lot of our cultures away now and part of it is our behavior, our character.
“We are losing our language. Yoruba say it, Igbo say it, Efik say it, Idoma says it that we are losing our language. Where are we going? I’m not saying English is not good at all. It is good, but that doesn’t mean we should throw away what God has created with us.
“English was created the same way Yoruba was created, the same way Igbo, Hausa, Idoma were created and with values. I know certain things are barbaric and we have to throw them away. Yes, we can throw all those bad things away, and retain those that are useful, cultures that are of luck, and of unity.
“Do you know where our unity began to crack? It began when we stopped eating together in the same plate. I grew up with that system of eating in the same plate with my brothers and sisters when we were little. We would eat with right hand, and hold meat with the left hand or you wait before they give you your own piece of meat and we drank from the same bowl of water, not every person has cup or glass. We sat on the mat, not on chairs or table, that’s how I grew up.
“Having grown up that way, those who ate on tables, who carried their own plates, who drank with glass or plastic cup, who wore socks to school and shoes, what is the difference between them and myself now? I cannot see it. Where they have been to, I’ve been to. What they are doing, I am doing. They have risen, I have risen. This is not pride at all, I’m sorry if it sounds like pride. What I’m saying is that we don’t throw away a culture that does not disturb our progress.
“I did not go to any private school, I went to public school, but look at how much money parents now spend on their child or children before they can get good education. Once you’re married and you have a child, you have a project already, forget other things. It is pathetic.
“Now we blame government for a lot of things but sometimes we cause it too, because we encourage those in government to do what they are doing. When they are wrong, we still hail them. When they are right, we hail them. But it’s not everything they do that is wrong. If someone is dancing, if he continues to dance and they gather to watch him, when the crowd disappears one by one, he will stop dancing, but because we support lies, that is why lies are multiplying.”