Ajodun n' bo l'ono...

Here we are thinking about our Ajodun and the end of the year is approaching fast...

AJODUN OMO EGBE YORUBA NI ALABAMA

• It got me thinking again of home and what the end of the year would usually bring - a big celebration involving lots of family and food.

You see, it's my father's birthday on the 31st of December and on that day, all the cousins and extended family would gather around. An agbo (Ram) was prepared and there was merriment usually all around. It was Christmas, end of the year, birthday party and new year's eve all rolled into one.

We got sparklers and ran around saying "Ina oluwa ki i jo yan", which is not true really since if you got touched by those sparklers you knew they burnt! Ahhhh. We exploded "knockouts", shaking the neighborhood with excitement and the anticipation of a new year approaching, may be a new beginning for all...

Moving here to the United states is a new beginning for most if not all of us. I dare say we could all tell stories on how and why we came here.

 We won't be preparing an agbo but we will be doing something equally meaningful, which is to each bring of ourselves, an offering to share with others at the Ajodun. I guess in my mind what we are trying to do is to re-create that sense of extended family and kinship for our children, and for ourselves,  if I may say so, who miss that "Je le n ke"  in Nigeria of days gone by...

So on we go. Planning our Ajodun with intensity and loaded meaning, for ourselves. Hope to see you there. It will be here sooner than you think....

Funke Abolade,

Social/Publicity Secretary.