ADEDAYO
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Waking me was the gaze of the morning light as my body ached of uneasiness. At sudden realization of what today held, I sat up on my bulked raffia mat and reached to my side's far end to take the calabash filled with water for raising off my morning face. Stealing a glance at myself everytime I lifted my hands out of the water while i rinsed my face, I reminisced. The training, teaching, the people....the words my uncle said. "I'm not sitting that throne a coward", I ruminated as I got up and took up my wrapper from a basket and cleaned my face with it. I then hear Dada's voice at my room's entrance saying " My prince, are you awake?". I voiced him to enter with him followed by two bath maidens.
With myself showing facial displeasure at the sight of them, three of them greeted me with Dada implying
"The General insists you let the maidens of Osun bathe you today so as to purify your body and prepare you for the ritual".
I finished my bathing with the maidens at the bathing pond in our palace, with it's water linked through channels to the Osun water shrine, the maidens bathed me as they made steam of the pond's water to therapeutically soothe me with their Osun's Ashe of manipulating water. I met my attire for the ritual ready on the mat in my room and wore it.
With guards awaiting to escort me, wearing the colourful wrapper while bare chested for the ritual for it required i be so, I made it out of the palace's compound with my guards. As soon as I stepped into the light, roars of the Gangàn hit the air. At the front of the large number of people gathered to escort me to the square was my uncle, my aunt "Iya lekan" with my cousin Lekan, his younger brother tosin, the vice chief priest and all of the Iron Guard.
Drummers and dancers swayed to rhythms they play as they danced and approached me. I moved closer to the crowd with the dancers circling me, heaving appraisals at me, i looked my uncle in the eye and he nodded in expectancy. Taking it all in, as I saw these chieftains and people before me, all here to witness my ascent, the beauty of this submission,with my head held up high, I raised my hand high up with a note of confidence. At sight of this, the people cheered and the sound of the Gangàns grew louder, then I made way through the crowd and headed to the square to claim my Ashe and the THRONE.