The Reincarnation. [1]

It was barely dawn!

The ambient music of the morning birds filled the brisk air.

I warmed myself up by rubbing both my hands on my arms simultaneously as I gaze towards the tiny creatures hopping around the trees and humming.

Just then a manly figure walked past my dead mother's hut.

He wore a worrisome face as he trudged into the place of sanctity. I watched Maleh from the edge of the door in my mum's hut as he brought out the old gong and struck it vigorously with a mallet, the sound reverberating through the village.

" this should wake everyone up, " I said to no one in particular.

Elderly women all dressed in white attire with vivid native beads on their waists walked out of their archaic huts in a reversed manner, chanting in native dialects I could barely understand, precisely mumbling words I couldn't hear.

The activity came to a halt and in absolute serenity when seven of them bent down still in the retro walking motion. Each of them picked up a palm tree frond from the calabash and placed it in between their lips. My eyes darted to the calabash, smoke wafting from it. They picked it up and placed it on their head which was tied with a white headscarf and turned forward to drop the pot a few meters at the front of their huts.

Wait!

" I have seen something like this before ", the memories zapped out in a spark.

Their faces respectively masked with native chalk under the right eye, three short vertical lines on the forehead and the jawline, a v-shape drawn under the three lines on the forehead while the edge where the two lines met "V" elongated down to the nasal tip.

I was perplexed when they looked at me in abrupt unison and that stern look made me recall my late mom whose hut I occupied.

A gust of wind blew me right back to mom's hut, I heard the resounding footsteps of Rikai. Bafflement wore me like a wedding dress, when did I suddenly hear sounds from a distance?

" A member of the ancient dynasty of the great and fiery deity of the Obudu clan made a loud gong from the house summoning everyone to the central hut to pay homage to the dying mistress. " ... said Rikai hastily as he tried to recover from panting.

" So we are to visit the central hut ", I asked Rikai, knowing so well that I was there in my foresight.

He nodded in affirmation.

In a moment, people filled the central hut, men and women, young and old, each sitting in their respective section, the seven elderly women were the seven priestesses of the obudu clan. We stayed there reciting chants and repeating some ceremonial rites, it's a tradition that everyone must witness the passing of the high priestess.

To be continued...