BENIN OLOKUN SYMBOLISM AND INFINITY OF BEING

[toyin adepoju]

BENIN OLOKUN SYMBOLISM AND INFINITY OF BEING

Toyin Adepoju

 Eze n' Unghegbe n' Ebo

 Glittering White River that Reflects Heaven and Earth

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well known wrestler called O-nami,Great Waves.

O-nami was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling.In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher,but in public he was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.

O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help.Hakuju,a wandering teacher,was stopping in a little temple nearby,so O-nami went to see him and told him of his trouble.

'Great Waves is your name',the teacher advised, 'so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows.You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid.You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them,swallowing all in their path.Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land'.

The teacher retired.O-nami sat in meditation trying to imagine himself as waves.He thought of many different things.Then gradually he turned more and more to the feelings of the waves.As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger.They swept away the flowers in their vases.Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated.Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea.

In the moninng, the teacher found O-nami meditating,a faint smile on his face.He patted the wrestler's shoulder.'Now nothing can disturb you', he said. 'You are those waves.You will sweep everything before you.'

The same day O-nami entered the wrestling contests and won.After that,no one in Japan was able to defeat him.

Once drawn in a designated area and anointed with gin, kola, and ground yam (obobo) the [Igha-ede design above ] can be used to hold off negative forces. It is called "A Ma Na Ya Gbe Ode Ebe Rua," a  sign that prevents problems from occurring.

This igha-ede, painted with orhue and water, typically with the three middle fingers of the right hand, was made in conjunction with Olokun and Eziza, a deity associated with medicines derived from leaves, the bark of trees, and roots from the bush. The central image of the design represents the ever-flowing nature of water and water currents: A yan bu eze a i won ame oren fo (You go to the river, though one can never finish the water) . The many sets of three curved marks signify creatures that live in the water. The triple line crosses represent the power of the night people - deities that operate after sunset, like Esu, Eziza, and Ogun - to protect or tempt humans in the junctions where spirits congregate.

The night people can be offered sacrificial gifts: Ebo no setin gue ason guan (The deity that is able to talk to the strong people of the night).

The arrow symbol (osagbe) is described as the arrow that meets its target. Poison, in the form of a message using this image, can be sent to an enemy. The shaft of the arrow is covered by a snake representing the power of Eziza to move quickly through the bush. It refers to the swift, effective action of medicine. The following verse is popular in worship:

Eziza nu gbi ebo sel Eziza gue ebo wegbe:

Eziza makes the medicine to be effective

Eziza makes the medicine to be

strong.

The S marks are idiosyncratic, decorative images that identify this ohen.

Benin Olokun Igha-ede(top) and eze ame (bottom) images,explanatory text and Olokun praise name from Norma Rosen, "Chalk Iconography in Olokun Worship"African Arts, Vol. 22, No. 3 (May, 1989), pp. 44-53+88:

The story of Great waves is from Paul Reps,Zen Flesh,ZenBones,Penguin:Harmondsworth,1957.22-3.


Also blogged at Olokun Waters

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