INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY ON YORUBA BURIAL RITES IN OGBOMOSO L.G.A., OYO STATE

Abstract

Burial is a means of showing respect for the dead. As it is among the Yoruba's age, circumstances of death and social status of the dead determines the type of burial to be accorded. Generally, when an aged and respectable man dies a good death, the corpse is quickly covered with a mat while the relatives spreads the messages concerning the death. The Yoruba ogbonies do not burry people in the public cemeteries but in the family compound sometimes in the person's particular room. But the advent of Christianity has changed lot of things, a change that is eased but not amassed by the African Traditional Religion. This study was therefore carried out to examine the influence of Christianity on Burial Rites in Nigeria: Case study of Ogbomoso L.G.A, Oyo state. To assess the influence of Christianity on Burial Rites in Nigeria, the qualitative approach was used. Findings showed that Christianity holds sway on the society and has enormous influence on Yoruba burial rites in Ogbomoso. The study recommends that there is need for the church to train and teach the members on the significance of burial rites and its relations to burial rites among the Jews and that there is also need for the Ogbomoso people to compare their burial rites with the practice of burial rites among many other people in other cultures. This will help with the analysis of the rites and consider aspects of the burial rites which are ideal and those that are not culturally legitimate.