{"id":80,"date":"2017-09-14T21:35:23","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T01:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/?p=80"},"modified":"2017-09-14T21:35:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T01:35:23","slug":"comparisons-between-thompsons-altar-concept-and-sacred-journeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/2017\/09\/14\/comparisons-between-thompsons-altar-concept-and-sacred-journeys\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparisons Between Thompson’s Altar Concept and Sacred Journey’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Thompson talks extensively about his altar concept throughout\u00a0Face of the Gods<\/em>, placing importance on material objects, significant locales of worship, and connection with Orishas, or deities.\u00a0 The Osun-Osogbo Festival taking place in Osogbo, Nigeria reflects Thompson’s discussion of the altar concept in many ways.\u00a0 The festival incorporates many traditions into a multiday celebration and worship of Osun, one of the most important and powerful of the Yoruba Orishas.<\/p>\n

Similar to traditional Afro-Atlantic altars, material objects have a supreme place in the celebration and build up to the festival.\u00a0 Cloth and textiles include elaborate patterns and eloquent designs, with each color corresponding to a different Orisha.\u00a0 Participants in the religious ceremonies of the festival will wear these outfits to symbolize their connection with their related Orisha.\u00a0 Two women from New York are depicted being indoctrinated into the Yoruba faith during the film.\u00a0 Their multiday ceremony takes place both in public and in private, with the transformation occurring after days of seclusion with holy priests and priestesses.\u00a0 Upon indoctrination, the women don elaborate clothing and sacred crowns, which signify their completion of the ceremony.\u00a0 They then make their way to the banks of the Osun, where they officially become members of the Yoruba faith.\u00a0 Their intensive indoctrination process allows them to better understand and honor their faith.<\/p>\n

Other material objects closely associated with the festival include ceremonial bells.\u00a0 Small and portable, participants will ring these bells to help connect them to the gods while praying.\u00a0 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 Osun.<\/p>\n

One of the central components of the festival is the march from Osogbo to the Osun river, which surrounds a young virgin woman who carries the main sacrifice to the riverbank.\u00a0 The woman’s ceremonial preparation is long and intensive, she is kept sheltered away from the outside world for weeks leading to the ceremony.\u00a0 The preparation of the young woman is led by the high priestess, who live in a temple reflecting the sacred grove of the Osun river.\u00a0 As Thompson said, “Yoruba building altars thus construct a face\/surface\/door, a complex threshold for communication with the other world,” (Thompson 30).\u00a0 The high priestess’s home and secluded staging ground for the young woman’s training is rife with symbolic connection to the Yoruba faith and to Osun.\u00a0 The young woman’s connection to Osun is sacred and powerful after this intense ritualistic experience.\u00a0 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 Osun.\u00a0 These rituals, along with the ceremonial bells and intricate fabrics, help Yoruba followers to bridge the divide between the gods and the mortal world.<\/p>\n

In the film, host Bruce Feiler visits a Yoruba priest in order to have his prayer heard.\u00a0 Feiler notes the close, personal relationship induced by the environment of the priest’s temple.\u00a0 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 with praying.\u00a0 This personal, tight-knit atmosphere allows Feiler and other worshippers to better focus on the divine, and connect with the gods so they may hear their prayers.<\/p>\n

The atmosphere of the festival is largely communal and jovial.\u00a0 City residents of Osogbo and pilgrims alike partake in a celebration wrought with food, music, laughter, and dance, culminating in the march down to the river.\u00a0 The festival includes both religious ceremonies and exciting festivities throughout its duration.\u00a0 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 Osun, so that she may hear one’s prayers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Thompson talks extensively about his altar concept throughout\u00a0Face of the Gods, placing importance on material objects, significant locales of worship, and connection with Orishas, or deities.\u00a0 The Osun-Osogbo Festival taking place in Osogbo, Nigeria reflects Thompson’s discussion of the altar concept in many ways.\u00a0 The festival incorporates many traditions into a multiday celebration and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4537,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/vlbrenna-rel095fall2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}