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The Obatala Factor in Yoruba History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

O. B. Lawuyi
O. B. Lawuyi*
Affiliation:
Oyo State University of Technology
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Extract

History records it that Obatala was the ruler of the indigenous peoples of southwestern Nigeria when they were conquered by Oduduwa. The exact date of the encounter remains problematic, owing largely to the nature of the source of information, oral tradition. At one level of interpretation, therefore, Obatala myths represent the struggle for the domination of the autochthonous groups, but there is another dimension. Although Oduduwa's image and achievements came to overshadow and dwarf Obatala's role in history, the latter has persisted as a deity, appropriated into the Yoruba pantheon as a symbol of peace:

It is essentially difficult to describe a Yoruba religious festival. It is not what happens that really matters, nor indeed is it important what is done. What does matter is the intense spiritual experience that can be shared even by strangers. During these events sacrifices, prayers, drumming, singing, dancing all combine to create an atmosphere, an emotional situation which allows the worshippers to come near the god ….

The second day of the [Obatala] festival has a feature not unlike a Passion Play. There is no spoken dialogue but singing accompanies the performance and the entire action is danced. The story is of a fight between the Ajagemo [who is the personification of Obatala] and another priest bearing the title of Olunwi. Ajagemo is taken prisoner by Olunwi and carried off from the palace. The Oba [king], however, intervenes for his release. He pays ransom to Olunwi, and Ajagemo is liberated and allowed to return to the palace. The return gradually attains the qualities of a triumphal procession.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 19 , 1992 , pp. 369 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1992

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References

Notes

1. See Obayemi, Ade, “The Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples and Their Neighbours Before 1600” in Ajayi, J. F. A. and Crowder, M., eds., History of West Africa (London, 1971), 196–263Google Scholar; Gotrick, K.Apidan Theatre and Modern Drama (Stockholm, 1984), 25–29.Google Scholar

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3. Oduduwa can hardly be compared to Ogun, who is, as hunter, “the quintessential marginal man,” and as empire builder a central revolutionary force. He is a metaphorical representation of the realization that people create the means to destroy themselves. MacGaffey, W., “Review of Sandra T. Barnes, Africa's Ogun: Old World and New.” African Studies Review 33 (1990): 206–07.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4. Olupona, J. O. K., “A Phenomenological/Anthropological Analysis of the Religion of the Ondo Yoruba of Nigeria.” (Ph.D., Boston University, 1983), 92–93.Google Scholar

5. This, of course, is characteristic of many of his encounters. See Beier, Ulli. Yoruba Myths (Cambridge, 1980).Google Scholar

6. See Goody, Jack, Technology, Tradition, and the State in Africa (Ibadan, 1971).Google Scholar

7. Ibid., 49.

8. Taylor, C., “Interpretation and the Sciences of Man” in Rabinow, P. and Sullivan, W. M., eds. Interpretive Social Science: A Reader (Berkeley, 1979), 33.Google Scholar

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14. Ibid., 475.