Opinion article by Duke of Shomolu, Joseph Edgar
I had a long conversation with my friend Wole on African traditional religion last night.
He was so engaging and talked superlatives about its norms, traditions, and ceremonies.
He talked about the rules of engagements, the sacrifices, and the powers that come as a strong adherent.
I was not only interested but very curious. He said most big men were adherents and the number one man in the place was having a big ceremony today and as such we can’t visit the main shrine but we could visit some other ones.
We visited 7 today. They were not as beautiful as the guided mosques and churches we are used to.
They were scary and almost childish in their aportments. The first shrine under the second level of the famous Olumo rock housed the holy place of the Egbas.
The chief priest was nice. He wore all white and held the obvious horse tail. I asked if I could go in. They said no and that only the Alake and Chief priest can enter at a particular date.
Sacrifices are made there; we saw the blood on the floor, chicken feathers, and all other stuff.
The next one was for women. The Iya Oluwo. We saw two very old women sat on mats. We saw the shrine that cured chicken pox and other childhood illnesses like measles and we were told that the Iya Orisa who was 137-years-old was still alive.
I begged to meet her but they laughed that she no longer came to the shrine.
We gave them some money, and they prayed for us. The third one was one of my in-laws.
The men saw me and said, “You are our in-law, welcome.” I was amazed, and they repeated – you marry from Ikija, and I was amazed. How did they know.
The rock transcends two communities – Ikija and Itoko – and yes, I was married in Ikija.
They asked me to come in. I sat in between them, and they welcomed me ‘home’. I took pictures and thanked them for their warmth
I saw two other shrines, but by this time, I was tired and hungry, took their pictures, and went straight into the cave where ancient warriors hid to ward off attackers from Dahomey.
We saw a 250-year-old plant that was used to enthrone the Alake of Egbaland. We were told it never withered .
What I learned today is plenty. The slowness in modernizing their processes and methods is working against them in a digital age.
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Making live animal sacrifices, having shrines in scary places and secrecy of the methods all work against them, especially when competing religions have imbibed the digital age up to getting POS machines in churches to collect tithe.
Their penchant for secrecy also allows for a lot of myths and false assertions, which strengthens scary narratives about them and adherents.
Furthermore, their shrines also evoke fear. Their locations, their instruments of worship, all evoke fear, and if you compare this with other religions, you will see what I’m talking about.
But from what I saw today was the feel good factor from its adherents who were warm and were happy to receive us.
They allowed us take their pictures with us and to took time to explain some aspects of their religion but never failed to say, ‘ We can’t tell you that one’
As I came down the beautiful rock after inspecting a cave built over 500 years ago, which was still standing, I wondered just how long these beautiful stories would be shrouded in the secrecy of our dark past.
The stories I heard today were exciting, enthralling, and powerfully engaging.
Lovely.
*Duke of Shomolu*
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