ÀṢÀKẸ́

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

After several minutes of intense dancing, the drummers began to leave, and headed for the village square, with a great crowd trooping behind them, I followed them too. I danced so much and was full of joy that day; if you could collect my sweat, you could bathe a grown man with it. I made my way directly beside the young man who played the bàtá drum. He hit the faces of the drum so fast, I could only see the sticks and the drum. The bàtá drum is a double headed drum that is shaped like an hourglass, with one end of the drum larger than the other. It was very important, and still relevant today, and used during periods of festivities.

As we approached the square, beats from another set of drums became distinct, till they overshadowed that of the drummers we accompanied. The drummers soon left us and ran across to join their fellow drummers at the center of the square, everyone else ran except me. I stood alone in between the two large huts that were built just before the square, with my jaws widely separated. Never in my history of this festival had I ever seen so much crowd! The village square was a large expanse of land, it was the amphitheater of my village, and could hold enough crowd than the entire population of the village! There were clear orders not to build or construct anything on that land from the king, in case of occasions like the festival; it was one of the advantages we had over other villages. It was also at the square that the cooking competition was conducted on the third day of the festival.

A blue '504' was parked few steps from where I stood, not like many people knew it was a Peugeot. Other cars that clearly spelled 'foreigners' were parked across the square. Several long wooden benches were arranged for people to sit, with the king seated at the forefront. This time of the year was a period of prosperity for the carpenter, who was a close friend of bàámi. He was often given the project, yearly, of making many wooden benches and stools with a large sum of money. There was much noise and chaos everywhere.

"Àṣàkẹ́, wòó, gbà, bámi pín ẹmu yìí" (Asake, take, help me distribute this palm wine), a lady ran to me and said. She had in her hands a bowl full of palm wine in gourds and bottles. I began distribution, and used that as an opportunity to fight my way to the front where I could get a better view, and it really was. It took a few blows and unapologetic hits, but I got to the front and it wasn't as chaotic as it was at the back.

I was a few meters away from where the king sat, and paid close attention to the dance presentation of one of our neighboring villages. It was a little inclined towards a choreograpgical dance, with their legs doing the major work. Everyone cheered them as they danced, it was entertaining for me who had stopped distributing the palm wine. There were other presentations like the jaw-hanging display of the sango worshippers; they ate and spat fire, the showcasing of the village masquerades that come out twice a month, and their dance presentation. Everyone feared the masquerades and their mystical whips, they said they were divine beings, but I was smart enough to know they were just grown ups playing "Halloween". There was also the magical display of one of the midwives, this was before the king addressed everyone.

The chaos and noise came to a sudden stillness when the moderator announced that the king would address us shortly. The moderator handed over the megaphone to the king; the type the evangelist used. As soon as he placed the megaphone before his mouth to speak, everyone fell on their knees and chests, chanting "kááábííyèèèsííí o!". Despite being at the front, I could hardly hear what he said. He spoke with much efforts and little output and paused at regular intervals. I couldn't get a clear sight of his face, but outlines of his wrinkled face shone through his heavily beaded crown. We didn't use the regular golden plated crowns with shiny jewels at the sides, our crown was conical in shape and had a lot of art works around it. At the end of the crown hung a beaded veil that prevented people from seeing the king's face. It was obvious he was old, and would die soon and his only son would take over as king. His son prince Ademola was quite responsible and innovative, that being not a surprise; he returned from Lagos few years ago. One would expect his mind to be filled with innovations and ideas absorbed from his life as a "lagosian".