Both my linear and my non-linear aspects of Ori (consciousness, awareness)
have been stimulated and fed on this journey. We drove to Osogbo today
to attend the World Oshun Festival Day. According to the Tradition,
Oshun became an Orisa when she transformed into the well water that
flows at the Oshun Temple in Ile-Ife and feeds the Oshun River in Osogbo.
She is the Goddess of Rivers, of the circulation of blood in the human
body, and of the attractive force between the male and the female. The
family told me that 85% - 90% of the Africans taken from the Continent
during the slave trade were Yoruba, many of them our young Babalawos
and Priestesses.
I made notes in my journal about the day.
(1) The roads - potholes, sinkholes, zigzagging cars; (2) The Journey - Images - Churches, Poverty - more Churches, and more
churches, and more… (3) The African Market - People, animals, all manner of goods, - color,
color, and more color. (4) The procession to the Oshun River - thousands and thousands of people.
A few Chinese and Caucasian visitors, (some of them media). (5) Got water from the Oshun River and made an ebo to Oshun (a gold
coin).
I got my luggage this morning when Ibiyemi came to pick me up. Aside
from my international electrical adapter to charge up my camera, the
luggage seemed unimportant. Homage to Orisa! As we drove through Osogbo
towards the Oshun River, the road was suddenly overwhelmed by the OPC,
Original Peoples Congress. The OPC is a national organization of Nigerian
youth who have brought police brutality to a virtual standstill and
are now directing their attention towards arresting crime and corruption,
and to bringing about a National Congress of all the Nigerian people.
I acquired a copy of their 11 Point Agenda. The OPC caught a young man
stealing at the Festival and took him from the grounds. I asked what
would happen to him. Ibiyemi told me that he would be disciplined a
bit, talked to, and released - probably to become a member of the OPC
himself. The road to the River was a navigational nightmare for the
cars and thousands of people but I had been prepared for anything.
