Budget VooDoo - African Village for Ten Bucks

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At the entrance to this compound a sign reads, " You Are Leaving the United States and Entering the Yoruba Kingdom, Oyotunji Village ". Since the respective continents are not contiguous, this already sounds somewhat suspect. The fact that this border checkpoint is in Beaufort County, SC, does some violence to the illusion, but we go forward and enter "Africa" anyway.

Our greeter and guide is pictured at the side of the GT. The message board under the stop sign asks visitors to blow their horn. Our greeter-guide did a pretty good job of blowing his. He was cordial, inviting and granted permission to photograph the village as long as the photos were not for commercial purposes, that is, not for profit. He then rounded up a few visitors to form a tour and collected Ten Dollars (US) from each person.

As we were conducted through the village our guide's commentary took a convoluted path weaving first through interpretive perhaps extemporaneous accounting of African lore then swerving back into contemporary low country South Carolina anecdotal references. His rich cultural tapestry went uninterrupted by even one common thread. Perhaps he was demonstrating Vachel Lindsay's classic poem, " The Congo ":
THEN I SAW THE CONGO, CREEPING THROUGH THE BLACK,
CUTTING THROUGH THE FOREST WITH A GOLDEN TRACK
Walk with care, walk with care,
Or Mumbo-Jumbo, God of the Congo,
And all the other
Gods of the Congo,
Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you.
It was an enjoyable visit, but we felt just a tad hoo-done.

OYOTUNJI - VooDoo Alive in SC

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A reader asked whether we had encountered "AWOLOWO" during our visit to the Yoruba Kingdom, Oyotunji Village at Sheldon, SC. The short answer is YES as can be seen in the photo above. During our tour this was barely mentioned and we were not motivated to ask. We can report that the container is an actual burial vault. The round object in front is not a wheel cover, but a medallion of some sort which was also not explained. Just to the lower right of the medallion is a regulation metal name plate used immediately following burial, but prior to the arrival of a rendered granite headstone. We noticed that several sacred sites are garnished with spent half pint liquor bottles. Perhaps this an accommodation for the after life much as for Pharaohs in their pyramids. Whether the figure on top of the vault is, but a representative figure of one which may be within, we also failed to discover.

In our meeting with AWOLOWO we must say that the conversation was a bit one sided. It was reminiscent of our visit to the Military Mannequins at Bowman, SC, last October: mustangrolling.blogspot.com/2005/10/of-mustang-and-militia...

During the lull in our guide's presentation, we looked expectantly toward the next exhibit. Fortunately, he moved us along. Some things are more fun when you don't know too much about them.