Shockwaves are reverberating across Yorùbáland and the global Yorùbá diaspora following the sudden death of the Baba Ọba (King’s Father) of the famed Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, USA. The late Baba Ọba, Lukman Arohunfale, a revered socialite and traditionalist, passed away under circumstances already sparking fierce controversy. His death comes just days after he publicly accused the newly installed Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty Oba Akeem Adéyẹmọ Owoade, of allegedly ordering his courtiers to beat him mercilessly during a recent courtesy visit to the Oyo palace in Nigeria. In a widely circulated voice recording, the deceased recounted how what was meant to be a simple homage turned violent. Although the Baba Ọba had reportedly battled ill health in the past year, growing insinuations suggest that the alleged physical assault may have aggravated his condition, ultimately leading to his untimely death. The palace in Oyo recently denied that s...
The bizarre-looking therapy called Otonamaki is becoming popular especially with new mums.
At a recent session in Tokyo organised by a non-profit organisation dedicated to post-natal women, five tried out the new trend.
Each took turns to tie each other in a large cloth from head to toe and in a cross-legged position, with the guidance from the session's organiser Yayoi Katayama.
They also swayed lightly from side-to-side after being laid gently on their backs in the hope of helping loosening the muscles and bones.
Some were given the option to use a colored cloth to help simulate different environments as they lay completely covered in the white cloths.
After emerging one woman said: "It felt warm and there was this feeling with my body. I have never experienced this before so its quite hard to describe properly."
Ms Katayama said the practice was first devised by a famous midwife called Nobuko Watanabe from Kyoto city, and was especially devised for women suffering from post-natal stiffness in their shoulders or hips.
She said: "We call baby swaddling in Japan 'doll wrap'.
"We wrap them in cloths and they sleep very well like that. I believe this came about when someone thought about doing this with adults."
"When we tried it, it was very relaxing.
"We understood why babies sleep well like this. And when adults tried it, it helped loosen them up.
We think it would be good to add this before exercises and also after birth - many new mothers have hip aches and shoulder aches - so we wrap mothers for this."
However some healthcare professionals are not convinced the therapy has any lasting medical benefits.
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