A few years ago, a man in Brazil who runs a temple for the worship of various Yoruba deities brought the Araba to Sao Paulo to do some work with them, casting Ifa, initiating people into Ifa, making sacrifices, and they really loved him. The Araba made over $5,000 or about 8 million Naira while there, but the Yoruba guy who took him everywhere and did all of the translation for him stole the money and disappeared! So since then the Araba has wanted to go back to Brazil, but he doesn’t speak Protuguese so it was impossible to communicate with the people in Sao Paulo. So last week my friend Wale said he knew someone on campus who had lived in Brazil and spoke portuguese fluently, so I arranged for us to meet and call the Araba’s friend in Sao Paulo to see what could be done. The first time we tried on Monday, we couldn’t get a hold of the guy in charge, so I set up another day (this past Thursday) to try again. That morning the Araba cast some kola nuts after feeding Ifa and asked what was going to happen, and Ifa said that that day we would get to talk to Leo (the man in Sao Paulo) and that we would start the whole process of going to Brazil. Fortunately Ifa was right!
I was worried we might not get him because when I bought some credit for the Araba to use his phone to call, the network was terrible and we couldn’t call an number at all, but right before we tried to call Leo, it opened up, and no more than 5 minutes after we were done talking, the network went bad again. It was really wild. So now Leo is trying to get a group of people together who will pay for a ticket to bring the Araba to Brazil to do some more work for them, and apparently Ifa said that the Araba will also do some work with some other groups in Brazil because they will like what happened with Leo so much. The Araba was very very happy about all of this because it’s been bugging him for a long time that he lost so much money, and that it would be so easy for him to make some more, especially now that he needs it to finish building his house.
On Thursday I believe, I witnessed a traditional version of a pregnancy test! Someone I know had been having trouble with his girlfriend and went to talk to the Araba about it. Apparently it had happened a few times before, and the Araba told him that there was no need to go to the hospital to get a paternity test done because Ifa said that he was the father of his girlfriend’s baby. The poor guy just wanted to be sure, so he kept asking Ifa, and Ifa kept saying the same thing( by “saying” I mean the Araba would cast Ifa and the message on the opele was always the same). I found it to be very fascinating, and certainly cheaper and more private than a paternity test would be. At any rate, Ifa told my friend that everything would be ok, and that his girlfriend would come back, and she called him about a few minutes after we left baba’s house. I hope everything works out for them, but it sounds like that’s what Ifa said would happen.
A few weeks ago when I was with the Araba one of his “aburos/junior brothers” who I think is actually his nephew, or maybe just a friend in Abuja called to let him know that his refrigerator had been stolen when he took it to be repaired at a shop. The Araba consulted Ifa while they were on the phone and told him that the fridge was still on the premises, and that the people who said it was stolen were not exactly lying because they were the ones who stole it. He then told the guy that Ifa said he would get it back, but he might have to make a sacrifice to do it. Unfortunately the guy was dragging his feet about paying the Araba to make the sacrifice for him, and since the Araba really wanted to do it, I gave him some money to get it started. Just this past week, the man called back to say that someone had told him that he saw the fridge in the security office of the shop, and he got mad and barged in. Sure enough, his fridge had been there all along. The guy was so happy and promised to send the Araba more money.
On Thursday I went back to Osogbo to do my last round of interviews, this time on the god my great-great-grandfather used to worship, Ogun. Wale, of course, knew the head Ogun priest, so I met up with him and we went to the Ogun shrine there so I could ask some questions. While there are still a few gods/goddesses that have proved more elusive than I had hoped, I think I have a very good grip on the major myths about them now, because for the past few interviews, whenever I was told various myths, for many or even most of them, I already knew it, if only in a different form. The differences are often as interesting as the stories themselves, so I’m always happy to hear different versions, but it was reaffirming to know that all of the information I was receiving wasn’t terribly foreign. After it was all over I bought him some beer and gave him some money, and he was so thrilled, he kept thanking Wale for bringing me to him.
After it was all over, since I don’t know when the next time I will be in Osogbo will be, I asked Wale if we could go to Osun’s grove since it was only a few minutes away. The grove is wonderful, and I wish I had made some more time before to go all around it, but I’m glad I made it there all the same. Since everything inside the grove is believed to embody the goddess herself, people aren’t allowed to cut the trees or kill the animals, so there were monkeys running all over the place and eating the food people had used for sacrifices. It was really interesting for me to see some of the places explained or described in myths and Ifa narratives there, and while we were walking around I was telling Wale how certain statues came to be in certain places, in whose image they were made, and in which Odu it came be found.
As yesterday was my last full day in Ife, and was conveniently also Ose Ifa (the sacred day of Ifa in the traditional Yoruba week), I went to the Araba’s house for the last time to give him some schnapps and akara to give to Ifa and he said a bunch of prayers for me and my whole family. Then I just hung out with him for a few hours, and took him out to a bar to buy him a bottle of Heineken (his favorite beer) one last time. Maybe it’s because I have gotten so used to coming and going to his house, but it didn’t really feel real when I got up to go finally and rode off. Somehow I think I still expect to go back there after spending the better part of each day with him since September 2010! Who knows, maybe I’ll see him again sometime soon! Well, actually, Ifa probably knows, but I know I don’t.
I had to pack up all of my things this morning because yesterday everybody and his brother wanted me to come see them to say goodbye, and by the time night fell I was really beat. Shortly after noon today, Mr. Toyin came to pick me up at Dr. Saah’s house, I said my final goodbyes to his family and we left for Ibadan. Before we left, I stopped by the store of my Igbo friend Stem because he was really sad to see me go, and he kept telling me that I had to come back. Now I’m with Aunty Bimbo and Gbebemi in my grandparents house on Agbeja street, and I’m not sure exactly when we’re going to return to Lagos, but my guess is Monday or Wednesday since the last round of elections is on Teusday.
Right now my plan is to keep transcribing some more Ifa verses and also start piecing together some of the stories I want to put in the book. I’ve been looking forward to this part because I think I must have learned well over 200 stories about 20 gods/goddesses and more about different people, towns and animals and seeing them all (or most of them) together in the same will be very interesting. I still have about another two and a half weeks to do so, so I’m sure it shouldn’t be much of a problem. That’s all for now, I hope everyone has a happy Easter!
No comments:
Post a Comment