Owonrin-Oshe

Owonrin-Oshe was cast for Orunmila.
They told him that Orunmila, and all
the people of his house, would never
meet a reason to be sad. They told them
to sacrifice a pigeon and 3200 cowries.
Orunmila listened and made the sacrifice.
Ebo: 1 pigeon, 630 cowries.

"Arúkú, Arùkú,
Aròkú-rojà-mátà,
the corpse that was carried
to the market but did not sell,
was thrown into the bush.
Then it was brought home, covered in a shroud,
and henceforth called Egungun"
cast Ifa for Owonrin of Isanyin
who died, and whose children
did not have the money to
take care of his funeral.
The oldest son Arúkú fled when
he saw the corpse. The second son
Arùkú dressed the corpse and
then abandoned it. The third son
Aròkú-rojà-mátà decided to sell
the corpse, but there were no buyers,
so he threw it into a bush and left it.
The eldest son succeeded his father
as the Ologbin of Ogbin, and he became
the Ologbo or Staff Bearer of the Alaafin,
who gave him Iya Mose as his wife.
The did not have children. Both consulted Ifa,
who told Iya Mose that she would have a son,
and the Ologbin that the reason for his problem
was that he had not completed his fathers funeral.
He was instructed to complete the rites,
and make sacrifice to the Ancestors. Oh dear!
That posed a problem! In order to conform,
he would have to bring back his fathers corpse,
but all there was left of it was bones!
In the meantime his wife Iya Mose went
to the river to fetch water and there, out of the bush,
jumped a monkey who grabbed and raped her.
Iya Mose became pregnant, and eventually
gave birth to a hybrid son... half human,
half monkey, of which she was so ashamed
that she threw it into the bush. But the child
was found, still alive, and Iya Mose told
her husband that the child was his son,
which mightily surprised the Ologbin!
He consulted Ifa, who told him that he was pleased
with the child, and that he would grow up to be
Amuludon, that is The One Who Cheers Up The Community.
However... the funeral of his father still had to be
performed, Ifa said... and added that it should take place
in the bush, in the shape of the part of a funeral called
Resurrecting the Dead. The spirit of the dead father, Ifa said,
would show up in a costumed masquerader who should carry
the hybrid child on his back, because the deceased father had a hump.
The offering to be made was 800 whips, 800 rolls of akara,
800 loaves of eko, and plenty of drinks.
And so it came to pass. The next day
there was a great festival and procession
with the masquerader from the Sacred Grove
to the town, while the people sang:
"See how perfectly set the bones
of the dead are! Perfectly set indeed!
The bones are well set!
They are well set, the bones!"
This is how it all came to pass
what the Awo's had said:
"Arúkú, Arùkú,
Aròkú-rojà-mátà,
the corpse that was carried
to the market but did not sell,
was thrown into the bush.
Then it was brought home, covered in a shroud,
and henceforth called Egungun".

Owonrin-Oshe

Owonrin-Oshe explains how the Egungun phenomenon came into existence.