Make una see me see matter o! Are Nigerians true Christians or just church goers? Can we mix Christianity and our old tradition? ok na. Read on.
TWO lecturers at Delta State University, DELSU, Abraka, Professor Christopher Orubu and Dr. Emmanuel Biri, have condemned the demonization of Urhobo culture under the facade of Christianity.
Both lecturers, speaking at the first Ughievwen Cultural Carnival, staged at Otughievwen, headquarters of Ughelli South Local Government Area, said the trend was robbing Urhobo nation and Ughievwen Urhobo in particular, economic oppor-tunities to sell its culture and heritage to the outside world.
Professor Orubu stated that as a people, Ughievwen of Urhobo evolved with peculiar cultural practices and heritage giving its sons and daughters a self- identity that cannot be sustained by any borrowed culture.
He said: ”Our four pivots of chieftaincy, Adeh, Eboh, Igbun-Otor and Igbun-Eshovwin, which have been handed down from generations have exclusive entertainment carriages in various festivals, which were the envy of non-natives, who throng the community from far and near to share in the fun.
Demonization of culture
“Today, in the name of Christianity, these attractions are fast fading away. We demonize our culture on the notion that they are fetish, but even the Pope has entered shrines, not of Christians, and acknowledged the sense of faith in God by adherents of the deities worshipped in such shrines.”
