It’s tough for me to imagine that everything that happened this week actually happened in just one week! I guess the biggest news here is that the elections got pushed back again, so the senatorial elections happened yesterday and not a week ago as planned. At first when the elections got moved back to Monday, I thought it was because the INEC (Independent National Election Committee) knew about some plans certain politicians had for disrupting the voting in certain areas (I know one candidate in Osun state who has been paying people 50,000 Naira each to intimidate voters, snatch ballot boxes and that kind of thing), but when it got pushed back again to this Saturday, I’m beginning to wonder if there really were just some logistical issues. At any rate, the elections happened yesterday with only a few reports of violence in some states, and at least here on campus the guy everyone knows to be a rogue got less than a tenth as many votes as his ACN opponent, which gives me some hope. We’ll see what happens next week with the presidential elections!
So this week instead of working with the Araba, I have been going to Osogbo with a guy I know here to collect more stories from some priests there. The first place we went was to a priest of Osanyin (the god of herbs and medicine) because Osanyin is popular enough that I’ll want him in the book, but not so common that you can find his priests everywhere like you could a babalawo. Anyway that interview was one of the most wild things that has ever happened to me. Since he is a priest of Osanyin he “has Osanyin” in a corner in his room (there are two myths about why that is the case, but you’ll have to read the book when it comes out to find out why), which means the objects that embody and represent Osanyin are put there. The amazing part about it was that the priest put on a special necklace and was asking Osanyin some questions, and when he shook a rattle, everyone in the room could hear Osanyin answer him! It wasn’t a regular human voice, but a kind of high-pitched squeaky kind of voice, and I could almost pick out the words it was saying in Yoruba. Apparently Osanyin said it was my destiny to do this project and that the priest should help me with it. I can’t really give any explanation for how we heard the voice because there was nothing “alive” in the corner, and the priest couldn’t have been making the noise because sometimes they were both talking at the same time. It was a bit freaky I have to admit, but definitely fascinating.
I also went to interview a priestess of Osun at the palace in Osogbo, but she and her brother got really greedy when they saw me and wanted me to give them a really exorbitant amount of money, so we left them alone and went to see another babalawo that my friend Wale knows really well. It made me think of a time way back in September when the Araba told me that I should stay close to Ifa because Ifa was going to look out for me and make sure I got what I needed because this guy is amazing. I of course give him something for his time, but unlike the other guys he never asked for a cent and knows infinitely more than the priestess did. He helped me out so much that the plan now is just to go back to him and see how far I can get with him, because he might be able to tell me everything I need to know.
It has been very interesting hearing more stories and Ifa verses from Olaifa (the babalawo in Osogbo) because many are similar but slightly different from the ones I have learned from the Araba and elsewhere. He said something really insightful that I think will probably put in the introduction to the book. Roughly translated he said, “If you were to ask about me from 4 people in the neighborhood, none of them would lie, but they would all tell you something at least slightly different about me. If you took what just one person said, you wouldn’t have a great idea of who I am, but if you took what all of them said together then you’d have a much more complete picture.” I’ve always been very interested in this kind of contradictory but conciliatory aspect of Yoruba culture and it was really neat to hear him say that.
I went back to visit the Araba on Friday and he showed me the developed pictures of him and me on my “graduation” along with one of all of the babalawos who were there too. He is really proud of them and hung them up on his wall already. Maybe it was just me being self-centered, but I hadn’t completely realized how much having me around had affected the Araba. I think I was so focused on how much he had taught me that I didn’t know that I had helped him out a lot as well. When I visited him, he told me that nothing was really going on anymore and he hadn’t really had any big customers so money was really tight. He of course was still giving money out so other people wouldn’t go hungry, but I found out that he was having some trouble finding enough food for his whole family too. I think I didn’t realize it before because while I was working with him I would pay him regularly and if I was around I always tried to pay for whatever little things I could. I gave him some extra money to help see him through elections, and in a strange way even though I was really sad that things are so tough for him, I was happy that I was at least able to give him something in return. I still think I may have gotten the better end of the bargain, since knowledge and wisdom are certainly worth more than money, but at least the money counted for something!
I’m going to go back to Osogbo on Monday to interview the babalawo there again, but I’m getting very close to having everything I need to the book and I’m hoping that by week’s end I’ll be able to just start editing and compiling!
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