Field Notes on Contemporary Assessment of "AraJijo”, the Yoruba Heritage of Post Child Delivery Ritual of Hot Water Body Pressing

Abstract

The paper gives a first-hand account of the indigenous therapeutic ritual of Yoruba female elders of southwestern Nigeria in the post natal treatment of mothers and their newly delivered infants, using Ogun State, Nigeria as a study case. It notes that despite the modernity that has brought with it unimpeded contact with foreign cultures, the long term practice of hot water body pressing (arajijo) as a form medicinal cultural body maintenance has persisted among the Yoruba till the present time. The paper notes with interest that this indigenous traditional health care practice of body pressing (arajijo) nuances the dual conception of health, first as ‘well-being' and then as ‘cosmetic'. The paper further observes that even where either of these individuals dies during the period of delivery, the body maintenance therapy is still considered to be essential for the other party, thus emphasizing the importance of this indigenous practice.