Nigeria. Because Sango, a former Oyo ruler, is identified with thunder
and lightning, an ancestor who is said to have hanged himself. The
festival Last about Seven days, sacrifices are made at the shrine of
the god, in the compound of the hereditary priest. the festival is
held in his honor takes place toward the end of the rainy season in
early November and features various ceremonies connected with rain
magic.
On the first day of the seven-day festival, women form a procession to
the river, where they sink a hollow calabash gourd filled with special
medicines to mark the beginning of the dry season. TheTimi, or king,
meets the worshippers at a place near the river, accompanied by
drummers, trumpeters, and a huge crowd of onlookers. The women of the
palace put on a special musical performance praising all the tribe's
rulers throughout its history.
The remainder of the week is devoted to similar performances of music
and dance before the Timi, although their real purpose is to please
and entertain the god Sango. The main performer each day dances in a
self-induced trance-like state, during which it is believed that he
speaks with the voice of Sango and is impervious to pain. The festival
concludes on the seventh day with a procession of fire in which a
worshipper carries a large pot containing a sacred flame that brings
blessings to all parts of the village. On the final day, the priest
becomes possessed by the god and gains magical powers. He eats fire
and swallows gunpowder. The procession again goes off to the Oba's
palace and the feast begins, accompanied by palm wine, roast meat, and
more dancing.
In the past, the priest of this cult would have been a very rich and
powerful man. With the decline in power of the Obas, and the large
numbers of people who no longer profess to believe in the old pantheon
of gods, the priests of the Yoruba are much poorer and less powerful
than they once were.
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