What Wunmi Mosaku’s Pregnancy Reveal Teaches Us About Ritual, Protection and Cultural Pregnancy Traditions
In January 2026, at the Golden Globe Awards where Sinners received seven nominations, actress Wunmi Mosaku revealed her pregnancy in a moment that was as powerful as it was personal. Dressed in a radiant custom yellow gown, Mosaku shared a heartfelt essay describing her decision to embrace this chapter publicly. This is a choice deeply rooted in both her personal experience and cultural values.
She explained that in her Nigerian culture, pregnancy is not typically announced publicly as “it’s meant to be protected”. This resonates with longstanding Yoruba cultural practices in which pregnancy especially in the early months, is kept private as a form of protection and reverence. Elders and families often wait before publicly acknowledging an expectant pregnancy, believing that too much attention can invite unwanted spiritual or social interference.
This subtle but profound tradition isn’t simply superstition. It reflects a deep respect for the liminal space of pregnancy: that threshold between the visible world and the unseen changes within the body, soul, and family system. As a doula, listening to people’s needs during pregnancy, birth, and loss reminds me that these invisible spaces are sacred. For many cultural traditions like those within Yorubaland, keeping pregnancy private is a way of honouring its sacredness, guarding it, and acknowledging its fragility.
“Iya ni Wúrà” — Mother is Golden
Mosaku chose yellow for its cultural symbolism, rooted in the Yoruba phrase “Iya ni Wúrà,” meaning “mother is gold.” That simple phrase beautifully encapsulates the spiritual weight of motherhood in many West African traditions. Motherhood isn’t merely biological, it carries spiritual dignity and lineage. In Yoruba cosmology, the role of a mother extends beyond physical birth to include spiritual connection, emotional memory, and ancestral continuity.
In Sinners, we saw ritual embody this same sacred continuity. The flowers and jug of milk Smoke left at his daughter’s grave and the mojo bag Annie gave Smoke were more than symbols, they crossed over into the spiritual realm and nourished a family separated by death. The film explored how ritual sustains connection after loss, helping integrate grief into something enduring and spiritually harbouring.
Mosaku’s choice to publicly reveal her pregnancy while honouring her cultural instinct to protect it mirrors that duality: to celebrate life while holding its mysteries close, respectfully and with intention.
Why Pregnancy Might Be Kept Private in Yoruba Tradition
Across many African and diaspora cultures (including Yoruba), keeping pregnancy under wraps serves multiple emotional and spiritual purposes:
Protection from harm: Some traditions hold that announcing a pregnancy too early may attract negative attention or spiritual interference, so keeping it sacred protects the birthing parent and unborn child.
Respect for the transitional space: Pregnancy isn’t just a medical state, it’s an emotional and spiritual threshold that belongs first to the birthing parent and her immediate circle, not the crowds or commentary.
Focus on inner experience: Whether it’s anxiety, elation, vulnerability, or quiet hope, pregnancy embodies many complex emotions that are best honoured privately before being shared publicly.
These meanings echo the deeper birth traditions and rituals that doulas witness in practice: that pregnancy and birth aren’t only physical processes, they become alive through ritual, relationship, and emotional transition.
Just as ritual crossed worlds in Sinners, cultural practices around pregnancy and grief help us navigate transitions that are unseen but deeply felt. In both the film and Mosaku’s public sharing of her own pregnancy, we’re reminded that life’s beginnings and endings are woven together of,ten beyond what the eye can see.
As a doula, I celebrate how film, culture, and embodied experience come together to remind us that pregnancy is both personal and profound, deserving space, reverence, and protection, whether shared broadly, kept close, or held in ritual and care.
References
“Wunmi Mosaku on Her Golden Globes Pregnancy Reveal.” ELLE, 2026.
https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a69968072/wunmi-mosaku-golden-globes-2026-pregnancy-announcement/“The Cultural and Traditional Importance of Mothers in Yoruba Society.”
https://guardian.ng/life/understanding-the-cultural-and-traditional-importance-of-mothers-in-yoruba-society/“How Sinners Honours Hoodoo Without Demonising It.”
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/sinners-hoodoo-consultant-ryan-coogler-protecting-black-spirituality-blues-music
