This Week in the Compass

*Durbar at the African Festival!
*Yoruba spirituality
*African spirituality

plus business news, events and regular features

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UPCOMING AFRICAN FESTIVAL--DURBAR!!!!

Don't forget to mark your calendar!!! Saminaka will host SL's first-ever African Festival, and we want to make it a memorable one! In addition to some new architecture, there will be lectures, contests, a decorated canoe regatta (see last week's issue), parties with African music, demonstrations, masqueraders, stiltwalkers and acrobats, a treasure hunt, several exhibitions, readings, and...a durbar!

What? You didn't all react with astonishment and joy? Did I sense some of you scratching your heads and mouthing, "What's a durbar?" What indeed? The durbar is one of those rare breeds--something introduced by colonialists that everybody enjoys! The British took the concept of Indian displays of horsemanship, the product of Mogul courts, whispered about it to the Hausa emirs, and presto! A new form of royal entertainment was born.

"Durbar" is actually a Persian word, used to mean either a state council meeting in India or, under the British, a ceremonial review. The first was a demonstration of loyalty to the Crown held in 1877 when Victoria was first called "Empress of India," but they were regular features of the British Raj.

While the purpose in Nigeria may have been similar in colonial days, durbars persist in numerous Northern Nigerian emirates, a way for rulers to dazzle their constituents and bask in the approval and admiration of their citizens. These celebrations consist of a parade on horseback by the king, his chiefs, and selected officials, accompanied by music. They are a considerable draw for tourists as well as the





















community, and are scheduled during sallah (religious celebration) periods, primarily at Eid-el-Fitr and Eid-el-Kabir.

While durbars are mostly Hausa festivals (held regularly at Kano, Zaria, Bauchi, and Katsina), the Nupe also hold them at Bida. They are most definitely events at which one sees and is seen, and they evoke the historical past when savannah armies on horseback crossed large territories, officers in splendid embroidered robes and turbans. The horses themselves are on show as well, wearing leather and metallic trappings like the finest of jewels.

Saminaka's durbar may include some citizens on horseback, but it will certainly include horse avatars enjoying the admiration of onlookers. In the week or so prior to the festival, Northern Nigerian leatherworkers will enter the sim to put their products in the market for the interested equine community. The festival itself will include a colorful slide display and examination of the horse's place in African history, as well as a book that includes the identical information. Come saddle up with us!

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UNDER THE MANGO TREE--Tamsin Barzane

With Oliha's return from Nigeria, we're stepping up the African spirituality aspect of our sim, and, since this is a column rather than an article, I figure I can get personal with this material. I've had an interest in African spirituality since I was eleven and first read a Jorge Amado novel. I started making lists of Yoruba words and their translations (yes, yes, a curious child), and started the love affair that was to lead me to study African art.

While I am a Catholic from birth and happy with that, I've picked up a lot of information regarding African religions in my studies, research, and personal experience, and am always interested is seeing what those of us in the Americas like and promote. Well, the Yoruba win, hands down. They got a strong early start, since they were poured into Brazil (to create candomble) and Cuba (birthplace of la Regla da Ocha/santeria) in great











numbers, and brought their religion along. Kongo people outnumbered them, but many had become Catholics in Africa, and their religion was more preoccupied with a High God and ancestors (and world manipulation through medicine) than with particular divinities. The Akan had an impact in Surinam, Jamaica, Brazil and other places, but again it was medicine--obeah--and the ancestors that held the spotlight. The religion of the Aja, who followed the vodunsi, was firmly planted in Haiti after the 1724 destruction of Allada by the Fon, who promptly rounded up all of Allada's findable citizens and shipped them out, but it transmuted in the New World when it collided with the Kongolese, creating a new Vodun ("voodoo") with deities in an Aja "Rada rite" and a Kongo "Petro rite."

Much of African religion in the New World died out after the the Africans who practiced it passed into the other world. In the U.S., it was primarily Kongo medicine practices that hung on through the root/conjure men and women and "hoodoo," though vodun came up to Louisiana with the entrance of Haitians. In the late 20th century, the spread of African religions through Cuban, Puerto Rican and Haitian immigration entered many urban communities, and the Yoruba continued to dominate.












Their special appeal is partially because the religion is so very rich, filled with several complex divination systems and a collection of randy, rambunctious deities that can match anything the Greeks had. In part, too, it is accompanied by exquisite works of art that speak straight to the soul, lauding the here and now but also alluding to the world beyond. And there's so much scholarship attached to Yoruba religion, in Nigeria and elsewhere--a devotee could while away considerable time in the library and on the Internet, where orisha (the name for the lesser deities who involve themselves with humans; the High God, Oludumare, keeps his distance) followers argue about points of doctrine as carefully as Hasidic scholars do.

The Yoruba themselves, however, are rapidly distancing themselves from traditional relgiion, though beliefs regarding medicine, witchcraft, ancestors and divination persist. But active worship and initiation? Except in rural areas, its practice has dropped radically in the past forty years. Scholars in the 1970s could merrily take photos of active shrines all over the place, manned by middle-aged priests and priestesses. Today? The shrine caretakers tend to be aged, the shrines themselves thick in palace areas, but crowded out in many regions.

Mosques and churches? Oh, hell yes! The sound of the 5:30 am call to prayer--over an insanely high-volume loudspeaker--awoke me everyday in Isolo, and the all-night Pentecostal services would abruptly awaken me with fear at 2 am, when a cry in the night usually meant thieves, not the faithful speaking in tongues. Muslim proselytization began in the early 1800s among the Yoruba, while the later 19th century saw an influx of Baptist and Methodist missionaries, followed by every other Christian denomination, as well as the invention of several new Christian brands that permitted polygamy and fought witchcraft.

When I did an informal survey of about 35 Yoruba under the age of 35 in 2002, I was surprised to see NOT ONE knew a friend or relative who was an orisha initiate. The only traditional festival any had attended was an egungun festival for the ancestors--popular and fun, no matter your usual spiritual affiliations (This egungun photo by Marilyn Houlberg). Many did not even know the names of most of the orisha, though all knew Ogun (god of iron and war, essential for those who drive taxis or use metal--computers are now under his purview) and Shango, both popular in Yoruba movies about the supernatural. But none knew the deity of smallpox, Shopona (Omolu in Brazil, Obaluaiye in Cuba). One young man in his twenties recognized the name, but didn't know the association. "My grandmother used to curse me with that name when I misbehaved," he said. "But I didn't know who it was."

We'll have future columns exploring the orisha in both real life and Second Life. For now I just want to note that making orisha ritual dress for the Saminaka shop Adire is a delight! In real life, I have been a ritual dressmaker in Benin City, making special appliqued wrappers for several high chiefs, as well as Olokun and Esango outfits for female initiates, and I will approach my SL constructions with equal respect, care, and informed knowledge.

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FROM THE SUITCASE--Oliha Yiwama

African Fertility Rites: Illusion or Reality?

Africa, the birthplace of humanity. Mother Africa. It logically follows that civilization sprang out of African soil, as well as some of the first questions of life. So too was the study of the mystical sciences of the universe. African civilization has many blessings to offer the world. One of the most cherished blessings is fertility.
Fertility in African society was important for the continuation of the family and society, and provided access to becoming a revered ancestor. Fertility and childbirth were the keys to obtaining immortality. Africans love children for the many blessings that they bring.

A family is unable to continue if there are no surviving children to carry on its name and memories. Society will end if there are no children to keep it evolving. And one is unable to become an ancestor if there are no children to perform the funeral rites, and make the prayers and offerings.

Fertility is what turns a couple into a family. It takes at least three persons to make a nuclear family. Father, mother, and child. None of the above can be accomplished without fertility. In Nigeria, families gauge their prosperity by the number of children they have. Children are the joy of life!

To ensure fertility, many women go to shrines and take ritual baths, or use medicines, prayers, or amulets to ensure a fertile marriage. The shrines are sacred spaces devoted to a specific deity. Most fertility deities are associated with water. All life stems from the bountiful sea of life. Wealth is also associated with the great sea. Water has a healing effect, and is used in purification rites and blessings. Many prophets were bathed in the healing waters.

Some of the Nigerian deities who are associated with fertility are Olokun, Oshun, Yemaya, and Mami Wata. Olokun, god of fertility, is most known as the god of the seas. The seas represent where all life springs from. Olokun is also associated with wealth, as are children. Olokun is portrayed as a male deity in the Edo region and a female deity in most of the Yoruba regions.

Edo women keep Olokun shrines to ensure fertility and a good childbirth. Men also have Olokun shrines dedicated to wealth. Olokun’s colors are white, dark blue, red, coral, and green. Some of the tools that represent Olokun are white cloth, white chalk (kaolin), ladders, mirrors, cowries, and coral.

Oshun is a Yoruba female deity of maternity, love, wealth, the Oshun river and, in the diaspora, waterfalls and inland waters. The colors of Oshun are yellow, metallic gold, and brass. Her ritual tools include a brass fan and a brass comb. She is also associated with the witches (aje) or powerful beings, those who complement the day, for both day and night are needed for the world to exist. There could be no day without night nor a night without day. Oshun’s role in the Yoruba pantheon is very important. The mother is the caregiver of all creation. Many initiates bathe in the bountiful waters of Oshun for prosperity.

Yemaya is a patron deity of pregnant women, maternity and, in the diaspora, the ocean. Yemaya represents the mother of all living things. Yemaya’s colors are crystal, blue and occasionally touches of red. Her metal implements also include a fan, but in the diaspora it is usually a "white" metal, silver or tin.

Mami Wata exists in many parts of West and Central Africa. In Nigeria, she appears in Yoruba, Edo, and Igbo settings as a deity of water, fertility, healing, and wealth. Sometimes represented as a mermaid, also as fully human. Although Mami Wata is barren, she can give her devotees children upon supplication. Mami Wata’s colors are red and white.

Each deity has a form of divination that uses cowrie shells. Cowries come from the sea and are associated with water divinities. They are also associated with wealth, for they were used as a form of currency before the European conquest of Africa.

All of these Nigerian deities were brought to the Americas by African priests and priestesses. Coming this Thursday, you can find orisha and initiate’s clothesin Saminaka’s Adire store for devotees and potential married couples to wear and celebrate their fertility!

Saminka will also have an Olokun shrine, where fertility, love drawing, childbirth, divination, and naming ceremonies are performed by appointment. Many women who were once barren are now believers in the mystical powers of African fertility deities! Come and bathe in the healing waters of Olokun, and receive the blessing of life! Other shrines and products to come!

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HAWKING IN THE MARKET

***Oliha has returned from Nigeria, raring to go! His office on Saminaka will be accessible directly from the beachside, beside the new shrine, or through the Adire store. Be on the lookout! Hope to have it open this week

***VENDORS! CALLING ALL AFRICAN MERCHANTS! Saminaka will be holding SL’s first African Festival from the evening of Oct. 1 through Oct. 4. Its many events will include appearances by masqueraders, stiltwalkers and acrobats, as well as a decorated canoe regatta, a durbar with a display of finely attired horses, an African fashion conest, two (or three!) djed parties, a live musical performance, cultural lectures, readings, displays about Nupe culture, the horse in Africa, and Nigerian plants, a sim-wide treasure hunt, the launching of Ananse, an SL group devoted to African and Diaspora scholarship and more! During our last treasure hunt, our numbers were in the thousands. And what’s a festival without a special festival market? The big boat is coming down, and in its place we will have festival stalls, ready for stocking with African merchandise. Do you sell African clothes? Jewelry? Drums? Hair? Skins? Come and take a booth and sit back for a willing audience of strollers! Our prices are low because we really want your participation to add to the atmosphere: 125L a day for 25 prims worth of display, or 300L for the three and a half day period. Contact Tamsin Barzane for details; there will be a limited number of spots available, and we have about five already.

***Thursday, Sept. 10, 6 pm SLT. ADIRE EXTRAORDINAIRE! Adire has been a rather moribund store, but no longer! This Thursday, come and see the impact of Yoruba culture on the diaspora and the world, as Adire premieres its line of orisha ritual dress in African, Brazilian, and Cuban traditions. Visit our Olokun shrine as well, and be on the lookout for expansion in this area.

***Plans afoot in September. Tamsin is in a consolidation and new direction phase. Some aspects are still hush, hush, but be on the lookout for a new superstore on Saminaka, the cacao main store! Some of Tamsin's brands will be folded into this store, but that doesn't mean her off-sim stores will vanish. Kiko Life's cacao store will remain the jewel box it is, and will only carry the latest cacao collection, but Tropicality will change directions somewhat, becoming what its name implies--THE spot of African-inspired beachwear! Most of Pangolin Dreams' African art works will move into Seven Cowries, but Pangolin Dreams will continue to carry some art and artifacts while changing direction somewhat. As for the promised cacao superstore....wait and see! Its exterior will be a spectacular piece of Hausa architecture, filled with products you'll be eager to stock up on! Keep looking here for the grand opening date!

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WETIN BE DAT? Pidgin English phrase of the week

"We go yarn after."

"We'll tell each other our stories later."

MY PEOPLE SAY--NIGERIAN PROVERB OF THE WEEK

"A person's behavior and achievements reflect home training."

--Urhobo proverb

This Week in Saminaka--September 7-13, 2009

Tues., Sept. 8, 6 pm SLT. Weekly meeting of Egbe Akowe Writers Group at the new Slates, Scrolls & Sticks, Saminaka's library cum bookstore. Join the group and receive its missives by hitting the Subscribe-o-Matic (it doesn't add to group count) at the meeting location. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/174/194/30 or the Manatee Lookout Palm Wine Joint on Tarkwa Beach.

This week we will each be taking individual directions with the group story we started on "Samantha." Come join us!

Thursday, Sept. 10, 6 p.m. slt. GRAND OPENING ADIRE EXTRAORDINAIRE! Adire, our small store that had a few Yoruba items, has closed--to give birth to Adire Extraordinaire! This shop will contain orisha products, beginning with initiate outfits and expanding to include medicines and other products. Through its back door you can enter Oliha Yiwama's office and the Olokun shrine that faces the beach