The Yoruba have always been a very flamboyant people as seen in their art, language, and poetry. Money spraying is an integral part of the Yoruba culture in Southwest Nigeria. It is a tradition loved by many Nigerians today, irrespective of their ethnic background or tribe.
Money spraying symbolizes a showering of happiness, good fortune, and a display of the guest’s affection for the couple at a wedding ceremony.
The bride and groom are ushered in and dance behind the wedding party. Guests walk in in turns or more recently encircle the couple on the dance floor and come forward, placing bills on the couple’s forehead, allowing them to “rain down.” As the money is sprayed, ‘collectors’ take the cash from the floor and place it in bags for the couple.”
In the mid 40s, the culture was absorbed by other ethnic groups and tribes who had moved into the Yoruba region of Nigeria. Money is now sprayed at weddings, house warmings, thanksgiving, etc across Yorubaland as a good gesture for the celebrants by the attendees. The money is placed one after the other on the celebrant’s temple, and is then left to drop onto the floor or into a tray that would later be collected by the celebrants’ family or friends.
The origins of money-spraying in Nigeria are intertwined with the rich history of traditional Yoruba music. Originated by the Yoruba people in Nigeria’s Southwest, money spraying symbolizes a showering of happiness, good fortune, and the guest’s affection for the couple or guest of honor. Listen to Ayinla Omowura. You’ll realize it’s been long the Yorubas have been spraying money, we like to party; in fact, owanbe was invented by the Yorubas, ina iwo(inawo).
Money spraying is deeply embedded in the Yoruba celebration culture of owambe, but the Central Bank of Nigeria outlawed the practice in 2007. The bank declared money spraying as ‘an abuse of a symbol of national pride’.
Peoplesmind