A Report by Bishop James Johnson on the Work of the Benin Mission, presented to the Diocesan Synod of Nigeria
3. The Native Religion. This is Heathenism, pure and simple ; but it is one of a superior kind to that which is generally found among the other tribes of the Yoruba nation. It is marked by a strongly pronounced and often direct, separate and distinct worship, with prayers and sacrifices, of a particularly pure character ceremonially to the Great Being, the Creator of the Universe and all that dwell in it, which are offered upon an altar dedicated for service to Him exclusively.
He is always described in the Benin city district proper as Osanobua, in the Ora division as Oisheleburuwa, and in the Shekiri section simply as Orishe ( a contracted form ) ; terms which severally denote either, The Being to whom we owe existence, or, “ The Great Self Existent Being. Most of the other Yoruba tribes have generally designated the Creator as Olorun, the owner of the Heavens, or the universe, whilst an Orisha is for them an inferior and subordinate divinity ; a direct worship to this Great Being is not known to those tribes, or if it is known it is very rarely performed. A diligent and an earnest inquiry which I made many years ago among some of the most prominent tribes of the Yoruba nation failed to discover a place either in a house or in a grove where He was worshipped.
Benin Heathenism includes also ancestral worship which is of a like pronounced character to that of worship to the Great Being ; indeed altars for worshipping the spirits of deceased ancestors are always erected within the house devoted to the worship of the Supreme God. Belief is entertained not only in their continued existence after death and in their continued interest in the beloved ones whom they have left behind, but also in their ability to help them with God in the other world by means of their prayers to Him for them.
This belief has a firm hold on the minds of the people generally, and especially the Shekiris ; whilst Oro - worship, which is common to other Yoruba tribes and is also a worship of the spirits of deceased ancestors, is only an occasional worship, and it lacks the force which such a worship carries with it in the Benin district. The Benin system of worship includes also the worship of many other imaginary divinities, as Olokun, the god of the sea or river, and Ogun, the god of war, etc., and those gods who are supposed to preside over the different seasons and to whose subordinate power and influence, it is believed, we owe the sun's light and heat, rain and thunder and lightning, and which are among those worshipped by other Yoruba tribes also.
The following expressions, ' He saw the city wholly given to idolatry, ' and, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious, ' Acts xvii. 16 and 22, which are employed by both St. Luke and St. Paul to describe the intensive and superabundant character of the Heathenism and idolatry of Athens, may well be employed to describe those of the Benin district generally and particularly of the Benin city section ; for altars and ensigns of worship to Osanobuwa and to inferior divinities also are to be met with everywhere - in houses, in niches on walls of houses, in numerous groves, at entrances into farms or farm villages, in market places, and even on narrow pathways through forests, and elsewhere.
[A very frequent and large offering of human sacrifices, before the British Government's conquest of Benin city and subsequent assumption of rule over it in 1896, had marked public royal worship, which was commonly performed by the Ruler himself, under the direction of his priest, both for himself and his family and for the whole country over which he bore rule, the belief being, the higher the order of victims sacrificed to propitiate the gods the more acceptable the sacrifice, and the greater the advantage to country and people from it.]
By Reverend James 'Holy' Johnson, 1874 - http://themissingchapter.co.uk/
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