TABOO
THE ORO BAND WAGON
Whenever there is a call to lift a heavy burden in Igbonla, every one joins in and helps push the burden further lest the villagers dump the weight at their backyard, and the burden becomes theirs alone. This was the notion that prompted Odegbo to join the yearly Oro procession.
In Igbonla Township, the last day of the Oro festival is the day set aside for consultation with the oracle. Only those who are old enough to take responsibilities for their lives go for consultation with the priest, a phenomenal being, a blind crippled hunched back albino who resides at the mouth of the forest. Many have come to recognise his several physical challenges as a trait of the gods. Coupled with the fact that he lives at the mouth of the forest which is home to many wild animals, he is the bravo of Igbonla. And the procession which leads to his house annually to have their fate determined holds him in high esteem.
The death of Odekunle, Odegbo’s father forced him into maturity, as the villagers would say, ‘oti balaga’ and so Odegbo found himself at the tail end of the procession filing into the babalawo’s hut carrying a sacrificial lamb on his shoulder. With this he would appease the gods of Igbonla. People that enter exit through a different route, they must not run into those they left behind lest their destiny get short-changed.
When Odegbo made his entrance into the hut he left no one behind. He came face to face with Igbonla’s demigod, whose words were barely audible and he had to sit close enough to hear him, and when Odegbo left the shrine, it was with the lines the strange being had given him, he was wondering if the age old Igbonla tradition was worth it, visiting a priest to receive rhymes, and incantations, no charms, no amulets, no concoctions or any tangible substance to hold unto. His exit once again put him at the back of the procession of people mostly men and women of his age range chanting all the way home. Encouraged by the others he raised his voice, according to the spirit being, he must not forget his lines, he must pass it on to his children, and then it occurred to him that his father read him no such line. Even then he chanted on…
When you embrace your fear
The past will elude you
You will forsake the familiar
And in full consciousness
Embrace the semi-quasi dream world
You will receive other standards
Walk strange dimensions
And operate in a different time
And your spirit will been altered
By the power of plants
Reduced to ashes
Highly potent, very powerful
If a man gets burnt
As he passes through fire
And he keeps the company of men
Reserved unto fire
When elements burn
With fervent heat
And powers dissolve
He will find himself alone
Who is she?
That comes forth
As a royal diadem
Who is it?
That gives
Beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair.
Odegbo promised himself as he was entering his derelict compound house that he will not fail his children or his children’s children or their children after them.
THE ORO BAND WAGON
Whenever there is a call to lift a heavy burden in Igbonla, every one joins in and helps push the burden further lest the villagers dump the weight at their backyard, and the burden becomes theirs alone. This was the notion that prompted Odegbo to join the yearly Oro procession.
In Igbonla Township, the last day of the Oro festival is the day set aside for consultation with the oracle. Only those who are old enough to take responsibilities for their lives go for consultation with the priest, a phenomenal being, a blind crippled hunched back albino who resides at the mouth of the forest. Many have come to recognise his several physical challenges as a trait of the gods. Coupled with the fact that he lives at the mouth of the forest which is home to many wild animals, he is the bravo of Igbonla. And the procession which leads to his house annually to have their fate determined holds him in high esteem.
The death of Odekunle, Odegbo’s father forced him into maturity, as the villagers would say, ‘oti balaga’ and so Odegbo found himself at the tail end of the procession filing into the babalawo’s hut carrying a sacrificial lamb on his shoulder. With this he would appease the gods of Igbonla. People that enter exit through a different route, they must not run into those they left behind lest their destiny get short-changed.
When Odegbo made his entrance into the hut he left no one behind. He came face to face with Igbonla’s demigod, whose words were barely audible and he had to sit close enough to hear him, and when Odegbo left the shrine, it was with the lines the strange being had given him, he was wondering if the age old Igbonla tradition was worth it, visiting a priest to receive rhymes, and incantations, no charms, no amulets, no concoctions or any tangible substance to hold unto. His exit once again put him at the back of the procession of people mostly men and women of his age range chanting all the way home. Encouraged by the others he raised his voice, according to the spirit being, he must not forget his lines, he must pass it on to his children, and then it occurred to him that his father read him no such line. Even then he chanted on…
When you embrace your fear
The past will elude you
You will forsake the familiar
And in full consciousness
Embrace the semi-quasi dream world
You will receive other standards
Walk strange dimensions
And operate in a different time
And your spirit will been altered
By the power of plants
Reduced to ashes
Highly potent, very powerful
If a man gets burnt
As he passes through fire
And he keeps the company of men
Reserved unto fire
When elements burn
With fervent heat
And powers dissolve
He will find himself alone
Who is she?
That comes forth
As a royal diadem
Who is it?
That gives
Beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair.
Odegbo promised himself as he was entering his derelict compound house that he will not fail his children or his children’s children or their children after them.
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