THE
ORACLE AT GOLA
GOLA !!!! This is a
name that in yesteryears was pronounced only in whispers. That is until it
became synonymous to the water catchment tank that is situated in its environs.
The name has become common.
But GOLA is a sacred stream.
The Bali oracle is lodged at a particular spot in it just off the Baforchu -Bali
road. This picture was taken with a small hand camera having a fixed lens .No
possibility of zooming in. The man walking ahead
is Ba Gwayebe [late]. Behind him is HRH Galega 2nd. We are in the early
eighties. Say 1982/83. They have just consulted the oracle. The future is bleak
for the Bali clan and diaspora
alike. By the way the white cock which was beheaded some one hour ago did not “die well”.
After it flew to the north, west, east and south. Up and down. It landed and
died on the left wing. Horror, abomination, anger , mixed with
frustration. I heard an elderly palace tender curse. This never occurred for
years!
Worse still the divine
diver came out of the water with strange things in his basket. Bad omens.
Translation; a year of many calamities, bad harvest, disease and many deaths.
What baffled the inner circle was the message that a very big umbrella tree was
going to fall. The Lela was kind of
“wali wali”. Our Bawok friends were valiant at the “hilo halo”. And true the
year was catastrophic. And less than two years after that The Fon passed on and
followed his ancestors on the no return journey. Did the Oracle predict
it? Does the Oracle say the truth? An anecdote. Each time
I tried to send this article online I had a light failure or a disconnection.
For many days. I had no hitch
sending OUR RECENT PAST. Was or is it the Oracle disturbing? Since women are not
allowed at Gola and by this article they are going to read a few secrets. Maybe
that is why. But fear not. I am not sure its powers can go beyond
Bali.
