It was all comedy last week when some students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State organised a parody of the Oro rite being held by Ife chiefs in preparation for the funeral of the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade. AFEEZ LASISI (300-Level Political Science) reports.
A group of spiritualists carrying a sacrifice to the shrine to appease the deities. Leading the procession was the Oluawo (chief priest), who was clad in white cloths and a red blanket he fastened around his head. Behind him is an Ifa (divination) priest, who chanted dirges to which other initiates responded.
Trailing them is an Oro (the spirit), who carried the object of sacrifice – a teddy bear. They all move in measured steps, hissing endlessly as the procession makes its way to the ‘shrine’.
This was how students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State performed the ‘final rites’ for the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, who died on July 28 in London. The whole affair was a mimicry of the traditional rites that were simultaneously being performed by Ife chiefs on Wednesday, last week in preparation for the king’s burial.
Since the Ooni’s death was announced, Ile-Ife, the ancient town which hosts the university – has been agog with traditional rituals. The palace declared a seven-day dawn-to-dusk curfew in the town for the final rite for the late monarch, during which Oro sacrifice was performed.
To ensure compliance with the institution’s host community’s tradition, the OAU management released a memo, warning students to stay indoors for the period when the rite would be performed.
On Wednesday, last week when the palace chiefs gathered to perform the Oro rite, some students also gathered themselves to organise a mockery of the ritual.
Students residing in the hostels woke up to the shouts of “Oro! Oro!! Oro!!!”. It all started in a room in Awolowo Hall. Some students moved round the hostel to call their colleagues for a parody of the traditional formality.
In their usual manner, the students’ version of the Oro rite turned out to be an Aro (a comic display), which dramatised the traditional funeral rite being held in honour of the late Ooni.
Olufemi Akande, a non-teaching staff member, who witnessed the show, said he overheard some students shouting: “E je ki a lo gbe oro”(let us also perform oro rite).
“They chanted this as they came out in their numbers. Before we know what was happening, oro emerged from nowhere and the students quickly gathered materials they considered needed to perform the comic display and set for the task,” Akande said.
The oro rite started at 9 am at the Anglomoz Car Park with about 14 students. The crowd grew as the procession moved round the Halls of Residence. Staff and students watched in bewilderment as the procession passed by.
Akande added: “The late Ooni could not have had a better funeral.”
Traditionally, it is an abomination for women to watch oro, but this was not the case at the OAU. There was excitement in the female hostels as the procession stopped by. Many of the girls joined the procession.
The chief priest said: “Eyin olosho ogba yi, e tewo gba ebo wa” (we beseech women of easy virtue on campus to accept our sacrifice).
The student, who played oro, said at the entrance of female hostels: “If you are not a virgin, don’t look at me. It is dangerous for a girl who has been deflowered to look at me. Only a virgin is allowed.”
As the oro was being taking into the female hostel, a male student, who played woli (prophet), prayed:
“I decree that this campus be free of women of easy virtue, oppression, fee increment, unstable power supply…”
Members of the procession replied with shouts of ase, Yoruba for “amen”.
Asked why the oro performers did not talk to many people, one of them said oro does not talk until it is given a plate of Indomie and chicken.
A curious female student asked why the prophet was part of the procession; the woli said the rite was in line with 21st century culture. The excited female students burst into laughter as they were being entertained by their male counterpart.
As they made appeasement to the gods, the ‘chief priest’ said: “The spirit needs to take bread and you girls must find the bread to make appeasement for the gods.”
The statement elicited responses from the female students, who asked the ‘chief priest’ whether the spirits do eat. Some of the girls said: “Do spirits speak English in the land of the dead? Prove to us that you are from the land of the dead.”
When nobody offered them food, the babaalawos returned to their hostels. The performance excited students, who described it as the most hilarious show of the session.
A student, who identified himself as John, said: “I am not surprised at the comical display of the Awolowo Hall residents. Their version of Oro amuses and it confirms that Awolowo Hall residents are brilliant when it comes to performing something hilarious.”
Another student, who gave her name as Folashade Adeoti, said the Oro display made the campus lively after lectures were suspended because of the Ooni’s burial.
She said: “When I woke up this morning, everywhere looked dull because there was no lecture. I felt relaxed when I observed the Oro performance by Awolowo Hall boys.”
A student, Shayo, who played the Ifa priest, said: “We did not want the campus to be in boredom; that was why we gathered ourselves to organise a parody of the Oro ritual.”
