14/09/2024
The Story of Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n, Goddess of Igogo
Over 600 years ago, there lived a great woman called Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n, the queen of Ọlọ́ghọ̀ Rẹnrẹngẹnjẹn who ruled Ọ̀ghọ̀/Ọ̀wọ̀ Kingdom between (1340 -1346).
According to oral Tradition Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n was said to first get married to a man called Urú from Emùré-ulé ( Ilé). A village some kilometers from Owo mentropolis after which she left for Ujo another village near Ọ̀ghọ̀/Ọ̀wọ̀ Kingdom where she get married again to Obàjò.
Based on her beauty, Ọlóghọ̀ Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn started to have interest in her, during the time she came for the then Ọ̀rẹ̀ festival. That is where Ọlọ́ghọ̀ Rẹnrẹngẹnjẹn took her as a wife from Obàjò. Ọlọ́ghọ̀ Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn replaced her with two women for Obàjò, since it was the belief that the most beautiful woman should be Ọlọ́ghọ̀’s wife.
Unknown to the Ọlọ́ghọ̀, Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n had supernatural powers. She was believed to excrete Beads that made Ọlọ́ghọ̀ Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn very rich.
However, queen Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n insisted on three taboos; Nobody should grind Okra in her presence, nobody should pour water into the yard any anyone arriving from the farm must not lump a load of firewood.
Based on the love that Ọlọ́ghọ̀ Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn have for her, he accepted all the conditions and cautioned his other queens not to carry out any of these activities.
One day, Queen Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n had a rift with the other queens of the Ọlọ́ghọ̀. They conspired against her with the intention of violating her taboos. Oluwa, the most senior wife of Ọlọ́ghọ̀ called a meeting with other Olori and they planned on how to violate Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n taboos.
When the stage was set, they sent Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n housekeeper to helped them call Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n after they have bribed her with a special meal. Immediately Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n walked into their mist, one of the Olori carried a bundle of wood and threw it down before Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n, another Olori pured water on the ground in front of her while one of the Olori was busy grinding okras on the stone near to Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n. Mean while King Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn was not in the palace when the taboos of his beloved Olori was violated.
Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n left the palace, when she reached Olísàghò house, she beat the wall of the house to bid goodbye to the palace, while beating the wall, her ring slipped off her finger and fell on to the ground without noticing it.
She later took a rest at Ugbó Ọgwáta where she dropped her hairpin called ẹká. It was this hairpin that Ọlọ́ghọ̀ is using as tẹkádo; the act of selecting or picking beautiful women by Ọlọ́ghọ̀ to become his wife. Since most beautiful things including women must belong to Ọlọ́ghọ̀.
Therefore, Ọlọ́ghọ̀ have the trado-cultural rights and plenipotentiary powers to take over the ownership of any beautiful women found in the king’s palace, regardless of the woman’s previous marital engagements.
In the process of achieving this, the king’s representative would attach hairpin (ẹká) that represented the king’s official signature to the woman’s hair, authormatically the woman will join the harem of the king’s wives.
When King Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn returned from battle only to learn that Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n has fled the palace on the day he arrived from the battle. Immidiatly, the King sent for the Isegbe-mesọ who are now called Ayóoyò today to look for Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n. Unfortunately they returned without a trace of Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n whereabouts.
The King sent out another set of Isegbe-meso , they could not found Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n but they get her ring and hairpin. They later noticed her footprint but her route was unknown to them.
When she discovered that the Isegbe-mesọ was about to get to where she was rested, she fled, leaving her head tie (ọ̀já) behind.
At last the Isegbe-mesọ caught up with her at Ugbó-laja , Ugbó-laja is now a sacred grove. But since it was forbidden for anybody to touch Ọlọ́ghọ̀’s wife, all what the Isegbe-mesọ could do was to pleaded with Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n to come back to the palace.
Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n, gave the Isegbe-mesọ a condition before she could return to palace. She demanded for the head of Oluwa the most senior wife of Ọlọ́ghọ̀ Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn, who was the master planner of the violation of her taboos, but because of the important position that Oluwa occupied, this made the fulfillment of the demand by Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n very difficult. Later an alternative head was provided and sent to Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n.
Ọ̀̀rọnṣẹ̀n was influriated at the sight of the substitute head and in anger she demanded for annual festival called Igogo if Ọ̀ghọ̀/Ọ̀wọ̀ Kingdom want to have peace and during this festival, they should always sacrifice two hundred items of different articles, such as dried fish, kolanut, Aligator pepper, bitter cola and many more for ritual and in return she promised to protect the Kingdom.
Thereafter, when the Isegbe-mesọ wanted to forcefully captured her, she disappeared into Ugbó-Oluwa. Ugbó Oluwa, is now a sacred forest, and the Isegbe-mesọ returned to King Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn to delivered the messages from Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n and all what they encountered during the process of bringing her back to the palace.
This tragedy plunged King Rẹrẹngẹnjẹn into a state of mourning by which he banned the beating of drums in the town, instead of drums, metal gongs are used during the festival. This metal gongs were also used in the forest in search of Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n.
Oral history also made us to understand that Urú the first husband of Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n usually comes from Emùré-ulé (ilé) every Igogo festival to help Ọlọ́ghọ̀ in invoking the spirit of Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n to receive the gifts and let peace reign supreme in the king’s kingdom by carryinng a piece of stick covered with white cloth and wet herbs.But now, high chief Àjànà and Osòwè now performing Urú’ function.
Queen Ọ̀rọnṣẹ̀n’s terra cotta sculptured image from Ugbó Oluwa stood at a distance to inform the Ọ̀ghọ̀/Ọ̀wọ̀ people that nothing will bring her back to the palace again.
