2009 Typical Itinerary for Initiation in Nigeria

Osun Festival is August, 2009

Depart JFK or ATL August 18-19, 2009 - Return to JFK or ATL September 2, 2009.

You do not have to be a member of HATTAF to initiate to your Orisa or Ifa.

This itinerary is suggestive of what you can expect. The itinerary revolves around the Osun Festival and having Ifa and Orisa initiations performed before the festival. One thing is certain nothing is certain in Nigeria. So please stay flexible and be assured that you will have a memorable experience, perhaps the experience of a life time. As guests of Chief Atanda we will always be treated as dignitaries; given access denied to most.

Day 1: August 18, 2009 - Our representative will meet you at JFK or ATL to board our evening group flight to Lagos.

(If you are not flying from the USA we will make separate arrangements for you to be met in the airport in Lagos)

Day 2: Tuesday, August 19 - We arrive in Lagos in the evening. We collect our luggage (this can take a bit of time) and are met past customs by at least two Babalawos of HATTAF. They will safely guide us to their van and take us to the HATTAF Lagos temple. (Expect the 20 mile trip from the airport to take as much as two hours. If you are new to Africa you will enjoy streets lined with vendors dimly illuminated by oil lamps and car headlights.) At the temple we will undergo a brief welcoming ceremony and be provided with food. After eating, we will go to our hotel, or those housed at the Temple will go to their rooms.

Travel to Badagry to visit slave port

Day 3: Wednesday, August 20 - Orisa World Universal Day celebration. - In Osogbo we will stop briefly to greet Chief Atanda’s mother who lives in the historic Laro Street, HATTAF temple adjacent to the kings palace. From there we will go to the main temple were we will be welcomed by drummers and Chief Atanda’s family. Awo's from all over the world converge in Osogbo to celebrate this day. It is the first modern day, official recognition of the Orisa as a holiday for traditional practitioners in Nigeria.

Day 4: Thursday, August 21, Historic Sixteen Candle Celebration. (overnight) - We will sit with the Ifa priests and ranking Babalawos of Osogbo near the sixteen flame candelabra in the palace square. The square will be dimly lit and filled with thousands of celebrants. The king and his retinue will make three appearances as required by tradition. The Ifa priest will drum until dawn when the sixteen flame candelabra will be extinguished quickly before the kings’ last appearance; for this last time he must not see the flames not even the smoke.

Tired we will return to our accommodations and catch up on our sleep. Perhaps later in the afternoon we will be able to attend another Orisa celebration or spend some time visiting the colorful open market place and look into some shops or crafts stores.

Days 5, 6, 7: Friday, Saturday, Sunday - Osun/Orisa Initiations. - Later in the evening, after we have had a good meal, begins the initiation to Orisa. Initiates will be accompanied by priests and priestesses of their Orisa. Most of this process is not public however the new initiates will come out from the inner sanctuary periodically and dance with the attending community.

The attending community is numerous, consisting of priestesses with their children, Babalowos, drummers and local community members. Near sun rise we will hear the call to prayer from the many mosques in the city. It will be our time to go and get some rest. The new initiates will remain in the inner sanctum attended by priests and priestesses.

Days 8, 9, 10: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - Ifa Initiations

Day 11: Thursday, August 28, Veneration of Ori, Ancestors, Feeding Osun and all other Orisa priests and priestesses.

Day 12: Friday, August 29, Grand Finale, Osun Osogbo World Celebration and Annual Festival of Oluwo Atanda. - If you are an initiated Osun priest or priestess you may be honored and invited to join the barefoot high priestess and all the attending priestesses as they surround the Arugba as she walks from the palace to the Osun Grove and river carrying the sacred calabash. The crush of the crowds can be a bit intimidating as they struggle to be near the Arugba.

The rest of us will be in the company of Chief Atanda as he joins the Araba and high ranking Babalowos as they walk from the Laro Street, HATTAF temple to the Osun Grove. (A little over a mile). There we will be seated under tents near the king and his retinue to observe traditional performances.

Perhaps we will also be able to go to the river where devotees bring their prayers, offerings and petitions to Osun. Eventually we will make our way back to the Laro Street, HATTAF temple. The Arugba stops at Chief Atanda's house, the home owned by his grandmother who was head of all of the female priestesses in town. It is a time for a feast to which many local dignitaries are invited. The culmination will come when the Arugba returns from the grove and pays her respect, as is tradition, to Chief Atanda and his family. This is likely to be one of the unforgettable events of your life.

Day 13: Saturday, August 30, Sango Festival. - Sango temple square where we will witness the traditional Sango priests perform unusual physical feats to the delight of a huge attending crowd.

Day 14: Sunday, August 31 - Annual Divinations and Rituals.

Day 15: Monday, September 1 - Excursion to Atlantic Ocean in Lagos. Departure from Lagos. - During the day we will have and opportunity to go to the Atlantic coast from which many of our abducted ancestors embarked on the “Middle Passage”. That evening we will board the plane back to London and JFK.

As time allows we will squeeze in sight seeing excursions, visit other festivals. Tell us if you have a special desire to visit a site or participate in a specific event. We will try to make it happen. We want you to have a wonderful experience!