In the traditional context in which the career of the hero Ozidi was recalled—an annual festival of seven days’ duration, involving a variety of symbolic rituals as well as singing and dancing—the reenactment took the form primarily of dramatization of key moments or episodes in the myth; the full story was never told in a coherent sequence from a canonical beginning to a canonical end. This way, there was ample room for the ritual officiant, dressed in white apparel and holding objects traditionally identified with the hero, to engage in song and dance sequences involving participation of acolytes and members of the attending crowd. Clark-Bekederemo, who first drew our attention to this exciting tradition in 1963 (“Azudu Saga”) and later published the full text of Okabou's story, also made a 6mm film of a festival honoring the Ozidi tradition in Tarakiri Orua, recognized as its home of origin.

In the fi lm, the emphasis of the performance is on a sequence of dramatic actions charting the representative moments in Ozidi's career. Words were obviously treated as ancillary to the dramatic moves made by the officiant. As Clark-Bekederemo tells us in his introductory essay, “What registered on tape in all the seven days of festival amounted to no more than a programme sheet. The narrator/protagonist, the late Erivini of Bulou Orua, although a fine performer, had not the gift of words” (xxxv).