Dance in the Yorùbá Family Rites of Birth, Marriage and Death
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Date
2018
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Abstract
Birth, marriage and death are three vital rites of passages occurring within a family setting in the Yorb land. They are
life celebrations which bring members of a Yorb family together. The Yorb social life is closely guided by religious
beliefs, so much so that it is sometimes difficult to draw a clear line between the sacred and the profane. Dance occupies
an important position in their family celebrations, in religions and communal experiences, and as a form of recreation.
Sacred or profane, however, dance plays a most significant role in the life of the people. The reasons for dance are as
diverse as the social occurrence. Rites of passage are rituals that mark an individual’s transition from one set of socially
identified circumstances to another. This paper therefore examines the important roles of dance in three rites of passages
in the Yorb land hoping, in the process, that the significance of dance in the life of a people can be determined. The
paper concludes among others that dance as it occurs during rites of passage functions mainly as means of bringing the
extended family together in the celebration of a happy or sad occasion. Dance functions as a reciprocal gesture between
children and their parents; while parents honour their children at birth and at their weddings; children in turn honour
their parents at death.
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Keywords
Dance Rite of passage, Yoruba family, Family celebrate