Ileya Festival

 Hangout Nigeria is a blog that tell of events or occasion that brings people together for majorly fun. This period, I believe we have discussed new yam festival which happens at the end of June to October depending on the ethic group one belongs in Nigeria. We had also discussed the Islamic holiday in the post, "where is my ram". It was said in the post that Eid al-ahda was also call Ileya festival in the south western part of Nigeria. We just want to talk about the uniqueness of the celebration in the south west (Yoruba) region of Nigeria.



It is always symbolized by the killing of a ram, that was why the first post was titled "where is your ram". It tells of the story of Abraham and Isaac. The Quran (Islamic holy book) has it's own version of the story but it's a little similar to that in the Bible - I'm a Christian. So let me narrate it the little I could. 

Abraham was one chosen of God to be blessed but he suffered having a child with his beloved wife Sarah. Out of the couples frustration, they decided to get there maid pregnant, but that to God couldn't take the blessings of Abraham but the one that came from Sarah and Abraham's loins. So she gave birth to Isaac at the age of 90 when everyone believed she was barren. The child grew and was a little discerning about the age of 13 or so, please correct me by leaving your comment. So God wanted to test the commitment of Abraham, he wanted to know where is love and loyalty lies, either to him or his beloveth son Isaac. He told him to sacrifice his son, his only son Isaac I believe that was how it was said. Abraham took his son and was about to sacrifice his son to God, immediately God stopped him and gave him a ram instead. That was were the name "Jehovah Jireh" was coin, to mean on the mountain of Sacrifice, God would provide. I have stated the spiritual aspect of the feast, let's get on to the fun part.

Though it's an Islamic holiday, in the south western part of Nigeria, it has no religion biased, it's a feast for all. Everyone needs to return to there villages or send ram 🐏 to their villages where everyone comes together and feast. The ram is distributed to everyone, some with great substance, invite well know musical to perform in the great occasion. This year ceremony comes on the 9 of July which is two days from the release of this blog post. I would have pointed my readers to a particular place in the south west where the groove would have been much, but would be denying the whole essence of the holiday. Literally, the meaning of Ileya in the Yoruba tribe means, "time to return to the village". So I would just do a little photo shoot during the festival and disclose where I hung out for this year "Ileya festival".

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