Robert Thompson talks extensively about his Afro-Atlantic altar concept throughout Face of the Gods, placing importance on material objects, significant locales of worship, and connection with Orishas, or deities. The Oṣun-Oṣogbo Festival taking place in Oṣogbo, Nigeria, reflects Thompson’s discussion of the altar concept in many ways. The festival incorporates many traditions into a multiday celebration and worship of Oṣun, one of the most important and powerful of the Yoruba Orishas.
Similar to traditional Afro-Atlantic altars, material objects have a supreme place in the celebration and build up to the festival. Cloth and textiles include elaborate patterns and eloquent designs, with each color corresponding to a different Orisha. Participants in the religious ceremonies of the festival will wear these outfits to symbolize their connection with their related Orisha. Two women from New York are depicted being indoctrinated into the Yoruba faith during the film, Sacred Journeys. Their multiday ceremony takes place both in public and in private, with the transformation occurring after days of seclusion with holy priests and priestesses. Upon indoctrination, the women don elaborate clothing and sacred crowns, which signify their completion of the ceremony. They then make their way to the banks of the Oṣun, where they officially become members of the Yoruba faith. Their intensive indoctrination process allows them to better understand and honor their faith.
Other material objects closely associated with the festival include ceremonial bells. Small and portable, participants will ring these bells to help connect them to the gods while praying. Similar to altars found on both sides of the Atlantic, small sacrifices of food and drink, such as fried foods, gin and cola, are offered to Oṣun.
One of the central components of the festival is the march from Oṣogbo to the Oṣun river, which surrounds a young virgin woman who carries the main sacrifice to the riverbank. The woman’s ceremonial preparation is long and intensive, she is kept sheltered away from the outside world for weeks before the ceremony. The preparation of the young woman is led by the high priestess, who lives in a temple reflecting the sacred grove of the Oṣun river. As Thompson said, “Yoruba building altars thus construct a face/surface/door, a complex threshold for communication with the other world,” (Thompson 30). The high priestess’s home and secluded staging ground for the young woman’s training is rife with symbolic connections to Yoruba faith and to Oṣun. The young woman’s connection to Oṣun is sacred and powerful after this intense ritualistic experience. In the days leading up to the festival, she, along with many other priests and priestesses, make final preparations and prayers, often in hot, crowded rooms in order to closely connect with Oṣun. These rituals, along with the ceremonial bells and intricate fabrics, help Yoruba devotees to bridge the divide between the gods and the mortal world.
In the film, host Bruce Feiler visits a Yoruba priest in order to have his prayer heard. Feiler notes the close, personal relationship induced by the environment of the Priest’s temple. Feiler also comments on the closeness of the sacred objects of the Yoruba religion, in fact, he holds these objects and touches them to his head and chest while making his prayer. This personal, tight-knit atmosphere allows Feiler and other worshippers to better focus on the divine, and connect with the gods so that they may hear their prayers.
The atmosphere of the festival is largely communal and jovial. City residents of Oṣogbo and pilgrims alike partake in a celebration full of food, music, laughter, and dance, culminating in the march down to the river. The festival includes both religious ceremonies and exciting festivities throughout its duration. The main tenets of the festival closely reflect Thompson’s altar concept, placing importance on material objects, communal worship, closeness with the divine, and an opportunity to honor and connect with Oṣun, so that she may hear one’s prayers.