Unlike many Yoruba children, I never had to prostrate to greet my parents. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with prostration, it is a traditional form of greeting that requires a younger person to bow or lower themselves in a specific fashion, to respect an older person.

I grew up in the UK and Austria, with culturally liberal parents who placed a high premium on respect, but did not require it to come in traditional packaging. In practice this meant that we could say “good morning/good evening” or even “hi” to our parents, as long as we made a point to greet them. 

It also meant that we had to be sensitive to the fact that such a relaxed position on greeting did not extend beyond the four corners of our household. 

Traditionally, greeting elders in Yoruba culture demands that women kunlẹ (kneel down on the floor), or bend their knees in a curtsey like motion, while men dọbalẹ, which in its purest form, requires a man to lie face down on the floor in a posture resembling a push up, though in most cases, a one-armed toe-touch suffices.