The Sacred Yiebsane Ritual and Its Relationship to the Divine

Abstract

 This research article focuses on the Yiebsane ritual, a form of ritualized worship intimately linked to and associated with Nora tradition. The article, based on documentary research and using a conceptual framework provided by the seminal work of Kingkeo Attagrara, explores the relationship between the Yiebsane ritual and the practitioners' beliefs in divinities and the divine.
The findings show that the Yiebsane ritual is integrally linked with sacred practices in three supporting ways. First, much care and attention is devoted to the selection of an appropriate location where invocation can best be performed. The ritual usually takes place in a special house, where the Guru of Nora resides, built according to exacting and strictly adhered to rites and practices. Once constructed, a welcoming ritual is performed to entreat particular divinities to enter and permanently reside in the house. Second, the Nora who performs the ritual is carefully selected and nominated based on having passed a series of demanding tests that demonstrate expertise. Finally, a number of ritualized objects and relics, each imbued with deep symbolism and capable of portending the future, are used to contact and converse with the divinities. Together these sacred practices reveal the importance that local people place on the Yiebsane ritual as a conduit for connecting the human world to the disinities.