Ojúde Oba Festival
1. INTRODUCTION
2. ORIGIN
The festival began over 100 years ago.
Today, the festival is usually attended by over 250000 people across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The festival is often sponsored by the incumbent Awujale, the people of Ijebu-Ode, individuals and corporate organizations.
According to oral historical accounts, the festival began when Balogun Kuku, one of the leading personalities in the community, accepted Islam. He decided to gather his friends, families, and well-wishers to pay homage to the king for giving them the opportunity to practice their religion peacefully (Balogun Kuku, n.d.).
In another account, the festival was said to have started when Imam Tunwatoba led his friends and family members to pay homage to his friend, who was also the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Fidipote during the eid-l-adha festival. Imam Tunwatoba thanked the king for being instrumental to the freedom enjoyed by the Muslims in the community to practice their faith in a peaceful atmosphere (Babatunde, 2007). They prayed for the monarch to enjoy a long life, good health, and for the progress and prosperity of Ijebuland. Since then, what began as a visit has grown in leaps and bounds to assume the status of a flagship cultural festival.
3. THE FESTIVAL
4. THE WOMPARI/AGE GROUP/REGBEREGBE
The Wompari is a unique and agelong institution, designed to wield the society into age groups, male and female, and for bringing development and progress to the community.
Most of these groups comprise heads of industries, top managers, and chief executive officers. They dance before the king one after the other. Each group is expected to clad in the latest fashion. They file past in turn with their drummers to pay homage to the king.
During the 1-day event are the glowing tributes of a festival that is responsive to social trends, while retaining the tradition of having different age groups to entertain and renew their allegiance to the traditional ruler. It is usually a dance, but more importantly, a dance with meaning. Each age group displays at the expansive lawn that separates the king and his guests from the crowd. That makes the festival an inspiring experience.
The Ojude Oba festival has always had enough visual pleasantries for every visitor. Some of the attractions are the beauty of a group of people in the same age group coming together in service of their motherland. Many of the groups’ names are related to the king such as Obafuwaji, Bobakeye, Gbobayo, Gbobaniyi, and Gbobalaye
Each of these groups has its uniqueness, either in the manner of appearance, style of dressing, or dance pattern.
The Gbobaniyi comprises young middle-age men, and has Governor Gbenga Daniel as its patron (2004-). They make their appearance known by dressing in rich traditional Aso-Oke clothes. They all hold walking sticks and dance like conquerors. The Bobagbimo, true to the group’s name, always appear in learned and cerebral attire. The group has little of dance and pleasantries but more of grins, nods, and prayers.
Gaiety and dance are the hallmarks of the all-female Gbobaleye, which has the Waka Music Superstar, Queen Salawa Abeni, as one of its prominent members.
The parade of the Baloguns and Eleshins is usually the most colorful and breathtaking event of the festival. A Balogun or an Eleshin is a direct descendant of the war heroes who gained notable victories for the Ijebu during the inter-ethnic Yoruba wars in the pre-colonial history of Nigeria. It is commonly believed that it was at Ojude Oba that the families of the war heroes led by the reigning Balogun and deputies exhibited their equestrian prowess by simulating mock battle shows and displays.
It is always a performance to behold when each Balogun and Eleshin family takes its turn to pay homage to the king amid martial music, jubilation, and hilarity of an estimated crowd of over one million both at the palace square and through the town including participants, visitors, and tourists. This was what made Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona to describe the Ojude Oba day as the Ijebus’ national day. “Ojude Oba is now maturing into a world class event. It has all the ingredients of uniqueness and greatness” (Okoli, 2005).
5. THE ARTISTIC BEAUTY OF THE OJUDE OBA FESTIVAL
Art plays a significant role in the Ojude Oba festival. It is one of the reasons people from completely different cultural settings find the festival very interesting.
While looking at the artistic beauty of Ojude Oba, we would take into consideration the manner of dressing of the different age groups, music and musical instruments, the design on the horses of the Balogun families, the pattern of the banners and fans used in the ceremony, and so on.
6. THE DRESSING
In many Yoruba societies, dresses or the traditional robes play important roles in ceremonies.
It is one of the ways to display one’s economic status within the society. In Ojude Oba, the age grades try to beat one another through the kind of dress they wear. Therefore, it is not surprising when we see different age grades dressed in the most expensive kinds of cloth known to the people of the community.
In the age grade that comprises men and women, all are supposed to dress in the same pattern of cloth. The sheer impact of bulk and color and stripes created by an assemblage of individuals in close proximity, each person robed in identical pattern and hue, is indeed considerable.
The attire worn in the previous festival would not be repeated in the next festival. This is to show their economic status and wealth and make a statement that they are doing fine in their age grade. Most often, it is an entirely different dress that would be worn in the next Ojude Oba. The difference would not only be in color but also in style.
Traditionally, the favorite colors of the Yoruba are tan, the rich natural tone of the silk known as sanyan, and blue, ranging from the palest to the deepest blue black obtainable from the indigo dye pots. Reds and an occasional yellow are also traditional preferences.
More recently, however, innovations in pattern and hue have come to be prized, so that there is a more varied palette and an increased reliance on commercially manufactured yarns rather than dependence on hand-spun and locally dyed weaves. This is why today, some age grades would wear agbada (big overall cloth for men), laced with green damask.
In one of the previous Ojude Oba festivals, all the age grades wore the same pattern of cloth; the only difference was the color of caps for men and the headgear of the ladies. The reason for this was that that year’s festival was used to campaign for the creation of an Ijebu state for the Ijebu people. On the cloth worn by the age grades, the Ijebu state was written all over it.
7. MUSIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
8. BANNERS AND EMBLEMS
Another interesting aspect of the festival is the various banners and emblems that signify those who are present to honor the king depending on what is written on the banner.
The banners/emblems come in various colors and sizes. The popular colors are black and brown, but there are also pink, purple, red, and yellow.
The Balogun Kuku family uses brown, whereas the Alausa uses black.
Some of the banners/emblems are decorated with wool whereas others are decorated with feathers. Most of the banners have the name of the family written on them, with images of horses and the crown in some of them.
9. THE HORSES
The excessive decoration of the stallion horses is another interesting thing about the festival. Everything about the horse is decorated, from the head to its hoof. After all the decorations on the horses are done, one finds it difficult to call them horses, but rather moving artwork. Almost all colors can be found in the decoration of the horses. They also use cloths that have beads on them to create a glittering effect. This is why for most people, the parade of the Baloguns (warlord) is the most interesting part of the festival.
10. THE MOCK WAR
Looking at the life of the Yorubas, one will quickly notice how entertainment is injected into almost every facet of their life.
From the naming ceremony to burial ceremony, from conferment of chieftaincy title to festivals, just name it and one will find entertainment and drama.
The mock war is a significant part of the festival.
All the Baloguns/Eleshins take part in this show. In fact, movie actors sometimes not from Ijebuland are invited to take part.
The sound of Dane guns and various kinds of hunters’ guns are heard by all the spectators.
Furthermore, to show their skills in riding horses, the horses are made to dance and perform various kinds of tricks like standing on their hind legs and so on.
In the mock war, there are no winners or losers; the focus is on participation.
11. THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
12. THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE
Although the festival was started by Muslims during their Eid-l-adha, which is considered one of the important events for Muslims; the Ojude Oba festival encourages peaceful co-existence of people of different faiths.
The festival serves as an avenue to pray for the king, his members of cabinet, the people, and community as a whole.
Credit: Abdul Fatai Olawale Fahm