B’áye bá wón bá ndùn
B’áye bá wón bá ndára
Ìwá ìbàjéni wón nhù
A difa fún Onígbìmò
Tí yó là là là
Tí yó fi aya rè mo orò

When life is sweet for them
When life is good for them
That is when they start to misbehave
Divined for Onigbimo
Who was so powerful
That he broke a taboo by taking his wife to the sacred grove

Itan

Onígbìmò, who was ruler, at one time was very poor who walked about aimlessly. After being sick and tired of his condition he went to Ifá for divination. They told him that his time would come and that he would be rich and honored if he made ebo. Though he did not make the ebo (sacrifice) he ended up becoming rich and was made a king. In the town that he presided over every year the ritual for Orò must be done yearly to maintain and bring peace and prosperity to the community. The king is required to attend these festivities. The problem comes in when Onígbìmò’s wife insisted on coming to the festivities. Though it is not taboo for a woman to go the festival it was and is taboo for her to enter Oro’s sacred grove. I should note here that this has nothing to do with being against women. There are certain Afrikan “secret” societies reserved for men and there are those reserved for women.

Even though Onígbìmò resisted his wife’s insistence on going to the grove for a long time he finally gave in. In time, the divinity of communications and sacrifices, Èşù, came to Òrúnmìlà and asked if Onígbìmò had given the required sacrifice mentioned by the Babaláwo. Òrúnmìlà said that he did not. Because of this Èşù convinced Onígbìmò to finally let his wife come to the festival and enter the sacred grove which was taboo. Onígbìmò, knowing that there was a point in the ceremony whereas the king had to place his foot in a basket, instructed his palace messengers to make a basket big enough for a human. He placed his wife in this basket and provided holes whereas she could look out and see everything. And she saw everything from the beginning to the end.

It came to a point whereas the priests had to throw their obi (kola nuts) to determine if all was well with the rituals and the offerings. Every time they cast their obi it said something was wrong. They finally had to consult Ifá and Ifá told them that it was because the king’s wife was in the basket. They opened the basket and the queen was discovered. The penalty for this crime against taboos: DEATH. Both the king and his wife were executed.

This verse in the Odù is an Odù about tradition and the consequences of violating the sacred laws of your own tradition. They were executed because they well knew the tradition and why certain taboos were in place. Most of the time people know the consequences of their actions especially when they have claimed an Afrikan tradition. It is obvious in ancient times, or we can say in Afrikan times, our traitors did not go unpunished. Our sell outs did not go uncalled out and punished. Those that disrespected the tradition and LIED on the deities did not go unpunished! They were eliminated!

Today we have many Onígbìmò’s. They are selling our culture and lying on the tradition in the process to back up their foolishness. The verse says that when life is sweet for them that is when they misbehave. This is a reference to our current complacency and our taking for granted what we have: our original Ancestral traditions. In our complacency, many have derived a pseudo fruitfulness to let the diseased of the planet (Yurugu bka whites) and other non-Afrikans, into our traditions. This will have to cease because the fate if Onígbìmò and his wife is the inevitable result of such childish actions. And the death of the two culprits in this itan (story) is a reference to the overall lack of development of New Afrikan people and Afrikan people around the globe. The lack of development I speak of has a caving in effect which eventually wipes out any influence, productivity, and respect that we may potentially have. Those that are lying saying that the Orisa accept homosexuality, whites, injustice against Afrikans, kwk are that same Onígbìmò. They know better but they lie to try to impose some sort of messianic hodge podge upon Afrikan tradition. We are not here to save the world. We have had taboos in place for thousands of years concerning our interaction with Yurugu. Every time we violated said taboos our civilizations would suffer the fate of Onígbìmò. It is happening as we speak!

Our sacred scriptures have the answer for all of the issues of our lives. These sacred scriptures are also replete with many metaphoric and actual examples of how to deal with your enemies. We need to take a deeper look into what these Odù are saying about our current situation as a collective dola (Ki Bantu for “nation”). It literally means the difference between living honorably or dying in disgrace!

Baba Fáwesagù, Áwotùndé Yáo Fáşeyin
Dámballà New Afrikan Vodùn Ancestral Order

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