SANGO

Sango the god of thunder was held in healthy respect in her village and you do not swear in his name in a trivial manner. One of the things her mother always told was not to stand in the doorway when it rains as that might irritate Sango if he was on a mission. One of the several functions of Sango was like some kind of investigative police officer as you could appeal to Sango if you wanted to catch a thief, or someone had refused to tell the truth about something and it was important. Interestingly, you could have your answer within seven days, the standard regulation time.

Ife had been skeptical until one lazy afternoon, during a previous visit when she had

heard a scream and rushed out. The day had started innocently dry and sunny with no

hint of rain in the wind nor in the sky, then a slight breeze had started and while still

sunny some showers of rain started. Suddenly there was a loud rumble and flash of

lightning, the rain stopped, as the screams came.

Lying on the ground with a bag of cocoa beans on his chest had been a pastor. It was

clear what had happened. He had stolen the bag of beans and the victim had appealed

to Sango to fish out the thief. No one could touch the body in obedience to the custom, her grandmother was sent for and she started up drums and songs, to summon the devotees who soon joined her. They had to search for Sango’s axe round the victim and they danced watched by crowd as they searched for the axe, when they found it they needed a black smith to extract it from the ground, so they took the man to the blacksmith. Sango was known as a blacksmith in his earth days when he lived as a man before he became a god so blacksmiths were always consulted on anything that had to do with him.

However the devotees found the axe just a few meters away. Ife had stared awed by the whole drama. Just before the pastor finally died, the devotees revived him and asked him to explain what had happened to him, he confessed to stealing the bag of cocoa beans, the Sango priests were asked to conduct the funeral by a shame faced congregation. Ife had wondered a lot about traditional religion and became hesitant about seeing it as a joke.

She remembered that her Dad had said religion was a matter of faith, experiences and

conviction. He had said those who practiced traditional religion believed it and it worked

for them. He just wished to be left alone because he felt it was presumptuous attempting to describe a Creator or the concept of one. She did not really know what he meant but she had nodded in some dim understanding.

There was also her mum who insisted that the world was full of evil spirits and could only be overcome by constant prayers, fasts, and seeing visions. She would light candles everywhere, refuse to drink palm wine or even water that was in bowl that had contained palm wine. Will pray into water to make them holy or sanctify them as she

said. Her father would tease that the savior she followed took the occasional bottle or

else why would he make casks of wine from water as a wedding guest? Ife would be afraid to laugh with her father because of her mother’s scandalized expressions and pursed lips of intense disapproval.