OLUWAIYALORISHA

Oshun awuraolu... The spirit of the river, turtle drummer. Serge si elewe roju oniki... Open the path of attraction, mother of salutations. Latojoku awede we mo... Cleansing spirit clean the inside and out. Eni ide ki su omi a san rere... The maker of brass does not polute the water. Alose k'oju ewuji o san rere... We are entitled to wear the crown that awakens all pleasure. Alode k'oju emuji o san rere... We are entitled to wear the crown that awakens all pleasure. O male odale o san rere... The spirit of the earth that wanders freely. ASHE-O.

OLWA NI OLUSO AGUTAN MI EMI KI YIO SE ALAINI O MU MI DUBULE NINU PAPA OKO TUTU O MU MI LOH SI HA OMI DIDAKE RORO O TU OKAN MI LARA O MU MI LO NIPA ONA ODODO NITORI ORUKO RE YÉ! BI MO KOJA IBOJI IKU MI O BERU OSHO NITORI TI IWO WA PELU MI OGO RE ATI OPA RE WON TU MI NINU IWO TE TABILI OUNJE SILE NIWAJU MI NI OJU AWON OTA MI IWO DA ORORO SI MI NI ORI AGO MI SIKUN AKUNWO SILE NITOTO, IRE ATI ANU NI YIO MA TO MI LEHIN NI OJO AIYE MI GBO GBO EMI O SI MA GBE NU´LE LOUWA LAILAI BEENI Oshun has many moods. Although women all over Yorubaland pray to her for children, she is strongest where she encircles her favorite town, Oshogbo. There her priests know how to heighten the beneficial properties of minerals found in her waters, how to communicate with the Orisha through her messengers and symbols. But even to the uninitiated she communicates her moods. A walk along her varied edges, passing in and out and around groves inhabited since time began by Oshun herself as well as by other Orisha, other spirits of earth and its vegetation, discloses some of the richness of her personality. For example, the meditative visitor comes upon a quiet pool overhung with branches whose varied twig and leaf patterns, intricate as crinkled lines on the palm of a deeply experienced person, make the whole seem like the reflection of an adire cloth in the pool below. Such pools enclose the gaze so that again and again the eye is compelled to look down into the dark water, immobile save for, here and there at the brim of the cup, a slender silver ripple around a stalk of tilted grass. Further on, the forest opens out to meet flat black rocks, deeply pitted in places (these, they say, are Oshun's dyeing pots), over which one may walk out into the midst of the river when it is in a bustling mood, taking varied courses, surging past higher black rocks. Some of these strange natural sculptures are, from some vantage points, concealed by tall clumps of sedges whose white seeds may be picked and strung into necklaces. Here and there on the flat rocks lie dark brown locust pods whose vanished seeds have left dents large as thumbprints. These pods can be strung into anklets for masked dancers. There is another place, a quiet backwater broad in scope, that goes from sloping gray rocks on the approachable shore to tall rain forest growth on the opposite side. Long exposed tree roots follow the broad rocks into the water on the near side to form honeycombed pools for minnows and tadpoles. Set back from this shore is oshun's largest riverside shrine where, once a year, her townspeople and visitors from miles around converge to pay her homage. There is another crossing, a place of flat rocks and moving waters whose current subtly meet and diverge at various levels. Here all is quietly alive, from surface ripple to amber colored shallow, to depths beyond the inquiring eye. This place speaks much to the storyteller. There are two stories of the founding of Oshogbo. They cannot be made to jibe on the surface, but must be taken as prior and subsequent currents flowing one on top of the other at the same time. When the ruler of ipole in Ijesha country died, his sons quarreled over his gowns and while they were thus occupied, his only daughter, Ogidan, powerful as a leopard, took his head dress and led a group of townspeople off in search of a better place to live. Through the forest they went and eventually arrived at Oshun. To Ogidan, who was getting ready to deliver child, this riverside place promised abundance of all the good things of life, so here she suggested they settle down. But Oshun, who used the flat rocks for indigo dyeing and was afraid they would break her pots, urged them to go on and said she would send them asign of her good will when they came to a suitable site for their town. At last Ogidan could go no further. She called all her people together and while they waited outside a hastily constructed shelter, she gave birth to a child who came into the world carrying Oshun's message! Ataoja, "Born with a fish in his hands," they called him, a title still borne by the king of Oshogbo. In the course of time, ogidan's brothers found out where she was and threatened to bring war upon the new town if she did not send back the head dress. Oshun advised her to do so and in exchange gave her a crown of brass, the metal that transmits the force personified by the river, to present to her son as soon as he grew up. The town prospered. About the time that timi was sent down from old Oyo to establish Ede, the Owe of Ilesha, foremost of the Ijesha towns, Sent the successful warrior laro west to found a rival outpost along the trade route then in question. But when he and his men arrived at the river crossing called Ofatado (where the bow and arrow rest), Laro said to his followers, "Let us put aside our weapons of war and death. Here where we will always find fresh water, let us found a town of our own and forget the harassments of our former existence." A few days later one of Laro's daughters, while bathing, disappeared beneath the water. This seemed like a bad omen, but as Laro stood grieving on a large rock overlooking the apparently treacherous inlet, his daughter reappeared, splendidly dressed in asaffron gown, her arms laden with brass bangles. Laro hastened to prepare offerings to bestow upon the river goddess in return for her generous kindness to his daughter. When many fish surfaced to accept his gifts, Laro said, "This is Natural." "She is as gracious as my daughter said. Surely all will be well for us from now on." But when one very large fish suddenly swam close to the place where Laro was seated and spit water upon him, the flounder caught the spout in his cup and drank it, saying, "Surely this is an exceptional occasion." Then he reached out and the large fish leaped into this hands, saying, "From now on you and your successors may call yourselves Ataoja (he who stretches forth his hands and grasps the fish). Furthermore, if you promise not to build here upon my mistress Oshun's sacred bank but, rather, farther up upon the knoll, she will protect your town forever." "In that case," said Ataoja, "I shall call my city Oshogbo (mature Oshun) in honor of her abundant waters. Tell her she need not fear to bury her riches in these sands. We will protect them. Tell her further that Ifor my part will renew our pact each year by making offerings to you, her messengers and that one in every four days shall be consecrated to her worship." "In that case," said the fish, "her generosity shall not fail to make your town, her special town, prosper. Don't forget cornmeal and honey are our favorite dishes." And with that he leaped out of the Ataoja's hands and back into the river. Every year the Ataoja, on behalf of his people, renews the original agreement. But it is a young girl, the sacred Arugba, who bears the weight of the occasion. Leaving the crowd to stand at the communal place of worship, she walks a separate, secluded path along the river accompanied only by high priests. In a deep trance she walks to encounter Oshun herself at the place where the Orisha first appeared to Ogidan, the pioneer from ipole. To the sound of ancient incantations, she walks gently so as not to stumble, so as not to bruise the hospitable earth and her mouth is closed upon two bitter kola nuts that she may not speak of what she meets and hears or sees.

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