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The Sixteen armed palm tree
By: Jenn Zhang
The first ever tree was a palm tree, a sixteen-armed palm tree. The sixteen branches of this palm tree represent the first 16 kings after Obatala who, not so coincidentally, happened to be the 16 legitimate sons and grandsons of Obatala and his wife, Yemaya.
This sixteen-armed palm tree, grew from the palm nut that Obatala had brought down from the heavens and being from the heavens, it is sacred and has divine powers. When the palm nut hit “Ife” (the land), the tree sprouted from the sand instantaneously and began shedding its own palm nuts. The palm trees kept on shedding their nuts until there was a very large grove.
The Osun Festival, is an Yoruba festival where people celebrate the creation of the Earth and the Orisha. It involves Iwopopo which is the spiritual cleansing of the town and then, in a three day interval, the lighting of a 500 year-old lamp called Ina Olojumerindinlogun (literally translated to sixteen-faced lamp) which represents the first palm tree.
Today, the location of the first, sixteen-armed palm tree is forgotten however, upon stumbling upon a sixteen-branched palm tree, be sure to remember this story and respect nature.
Source: Wikimedia Commons