Buabu: A Festival of Divine Intervention
Uncover the Buabu Festival, where ancestral forces answer prayers and resolve life's challenges in an annual spiritual gathering.
Carter in Africa 6 (1978-05-01) by DRUMArchiving
The Buabu Festival of Igbobini
The Buabu Festival in Igbobini, Ondo State, is an annual spiritual gathering where people seek divine intervention for life's challenges through ancestral communion. DRUM magazine wrote about the festival in 1978.
2. The Festival of Divine Intervention
This annual festival of the Igbobini people serves as both a spiritual gathering and a divine intervention, where the community believes that heartfelt requests are granted through sacred communion with ancestral forces.
3. Beyond Age and Status
Igbobini transforms every year as the Buabu festival draws culture lovers from all over the region. The spiritual figure demonstrates divine authority by selecting offering-makers. At one celebration in the 1970s, a five-year-old boy was chosen.
4. Unbroken Faith
Despite the town's historical significance as a British colonial administration centre and expeditionary outpost during early Ondo Province days, sacred traditions remained unbroken. Those attending the festival with their troubles believe they will find prayers answered.
5. The High Priest's Sacred Calendar
Setting Buabu's date requires spiritual consultation by a high priest known as Belemowei. The festival holds significance across Ijo-speaking groups, extending from local settlements to distant Bonny and Nembe in Rivers State. A new moon appears on the night Buabu is celebrated.
6. The Sacred Procession
The festival begins with a procession led by the chief priestess, fellow priestesses, drummers, the Belemowei, Amenanawe, chiefs, and the community. This parade moves from the sacred grove to the beachside, where prayers for communal blessings rise to the heavens.
7. Removing Obstacles
The Belemowei serves as the community's spiritual voice, articulating hopes and prayers for the fulfilment of deepest wishes. Community members hurl sticks representing obstacle removal toward Ebute-Nla, believing this empowers supernatural forces.
8. The Sacred Dances
The final ceremony occurs at the Buabu shrine at Belebu, where Igbobini's founding settlers established the community. From dawn until dusk, priestesses perform traditional dances embodying movements of forest birds, animals and spiritual beings joining the festivities.
Nativity scene made from stones (before 1952) by UnknownMuseum Europäischer Kulturen, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Buabu Lives
The Buabu festival symbolises unity among the Igbobini people. Representing one of Africa's rarest surviving traditional religious practices, the festival continues in Ondo State today.
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