– Òòrùn Tan’mọ’s’óko
By Dele Ajaja
Young people acquire some of the life experiences they need to survive the complex world during their “Tales by Moonlight Years” (elementary and middle school years.) Children are generally open, oblivious, and uncomplicated at that stage of life. They view things in uncomplicated and unpretentious ways. They don’t contemplate the complex parts or gray areas of life – until they figure them out somehow. For instance, children associate sunlight with daytime, and moonlight with nighttime. Often, they don’t “account” for the grey areas between day and night (twilight) and night and day (dawn,) because they are more conversant with “daytime” and “nighttime.”
Growing up in the 60s, I recall the first time my cousins and I got tricked by the setting sun, and waited more than necessary at my maternal grandfather’s farm. ‘Look, the sun is still up! We can hang around a bit more before heading home,’ reassured one of my cousins. Innocently, we associated the setting sun with daytime, and believed that we had more time to play around the farm. Suddenly, the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, and the darkling twilight set upon us. It was dark when we arrived home, and told the adults that the sun just disappeared suddenly. “Orìrùn tan’mọ’s’óko (the sun that tricks children to linger at farm)!” My grandfather clarified, with his characteristic Ekiti grin.
IMAGE: Òòrùn tan’mọ’s’óko, the sun that tricks children to linger at farm.
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