ILE-IFE: THE LEGEND OF MOREMI

The story of Moremi which captures the heroic deeds of a woman, who   dared the odds to save her people, is very alive in Ile-Ife.

Today, if you stand at the very front of the palace of the Ooni of Ife, in Osun state, you  will see  an impressive   statue of a woman holding   a fire brand. Upon reflection, one can say that the firebrand also symbolizes the power of a woman’s intuition, and there is a lot about the  woman’s intuition in this story. This is the statue of Moremi, after whom the Edi festival is held. This  festival is held every year in Ile-Ife, and there is an inspiring story behind  its  celebration .The story revolves around the life of Moremi, a beautiful woman from Offa, who was married to Oranmiyan, who was  Ooni at a time Igbo invaders, dressed  in raffia palms, used to harass Ile-Ife. This took place in an unrelenting fashion, year  after  year, and all this occurred at a distant time  in the history of  Ile-Ife. Nathaniel Ogunmola, an  Ethnographer at the National Museum, Ile-Ife, speaking on the legend of Moremi and the raiding Igbo warriors says “They did this every year and gave Oranmiyan many problems. At a point in time ,he was so disturbed that Moremi asked him what the problem was.” He  now replied that it was the constant raids by the Igbo warriors and the havoc this caused, that was giving him much food for thought.

Adedoyin  Sikiru of the National Museum Ile-Ife, commenting on this in a paper titled Moremi: Heroine of Primordial Time, writes “They used to disguise in raffia palms and they usually covered their faces with masks. This  made Ife warriors to believe that Igbo warriors were supernatural beings, and therefore unassailable. Consequently, Oranmiyan  became nervous and troubled.”  Moremi now reflected on a course of action to restore her husband’s happiness, and bring peace to the people of Ile-Ife. According to Mr. Ogunmola “Moremi now decided that a solution must be found. She went and approached the river goddess to find a solution to the incessant problem. The goddess now adviced that she is going to help her, but this would be at a price. Moremi now said if the goddess is going to help her, then she is ready to pay any price. The  goddess now said that she will take a most prized thing from Moremi, and the latter agreed, thinking that that the goddess wanted  a cow, or something similar like a goat or a ram.” The goddess now adviced that when next the Igbo raiders come, Moremi should allow herself to be captured’and being a very pretty woman, the  next time they came, she  was captured and she was taken as a war captive.When the king of the Igbos saw her, he  fell in love with her,and made her one of his wives,” Mr. Ogunmola adds. Within a short period of time she had integrated herself within the palace and the society, and soon found out that the raffia palm was simply a disguise the Igbos used to make themselves invisible while attacking Ile-Ife.She  also discovered that a fire brand can destroy the Igbo raiders who always came covered in raffia palms. Mr Ogunmola adds “The point was that people had to attack the raffia with  a firebrand, and, immediately, the Igbo invaders will get burnt.”
Having  discovered this secret she now waited for a golden opportunity, and  then fled back to Ile-Ife with this very important information. When she arrived Ile-Ife she conveyed this information to the King and the elders, for which they were glad and happy, and they all waited patiently for the next time the Igbo invaders would come. As soon as the invaders came, the people lit firebrands and attacked the Igbo raiders, and they perished. This significant event turned around the fate of the people as well as that of the town of Ile-Ife.Interestigly, Moremi  acted with the  intuition that everything will work victoriously  for her people.

After the rejoicing among the townspeople, the river goddess appeared to Moremi, and asked for the fulfillment of the promise earlier made. Again Mr Ogunmola reveals ‘The river goddess appeared to Moremi,asking her to fulfil her vow. Moremi now brought a cow as well as  a ram. But the goddess rejected these, saying that it was Moremi’s son that she wanted as a sacrifice.Moremi had no option but to offer her only son.’
 As a result of the huge loss to Moremi, the people of Ife, as well as the elders in a remarkable act, all decided that from that day onwards, they would all  be her children.Thus, from that day onwards the Edi festival was instituted, as a  rememebrance  of the heroic deeds of Moremi who saved her people from the raiding activities of Igbo warriors. This  is significant because it depicts a society made up of both male and female, submitting to an exemplary woman, endowed  with powerful intuitions and courage ,  who  lived among , and was  one of them . The legend of Moremi also demonstrates the early involvement of women in politics in Yoruba society, and  it also highlights that heroic deeds were also carried out by women, and not just the men alone at a point in the history of Ile-Ife .At the University of Lagos,a popular hall has been named after Moremi ,and the legend  of Moremi  is   also  widespread  among the Yoruba diaspora ,some of which can  be found with rich traditions  in the Caribbean.