The Coun­cil of Or­isha El­ders held its an­nu­al Moth­er Earth Day ob­ser­vance with a pro­ces­sion in San Fer­nan­do.

Start­ing at King’s Wharf, the pro­ces­sions went along High Street to Li­brary Cor­ner and end­ed at the Band­stand op­po­site City Hall.

Held to co­in­cide with glob­al cel­e­bra­tions of Earth Day, the ac­tiv­i­ties be­gan with li­ba­tions and prayers to Esu and the an­ces­tors led by Ba­ba Neal Rawl­ins.

Earth Day holds deep sig­nif­i­cance in the Or­isha tra­di­tion as it aligns with prin­ci­ples of en­vi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship and sus­tain­able liv­ing.

The tra­di­tion’s em­pha­sis on herbal heal­ing un­der­scores the im­por­tance of ho­n­our­ing the earth and its re­sources. The use of herbs in rit­u­als and for heal­ing re­flect in­dige­nous African spir­i­tu­al be­liefs and high­light the in­ter­con­nect­ed­ness of all liv­ing be­ings and the im­por­tance of re­spect­ing the earth.