When a hunter dies, he must be disarmed of his hunting tools, especially his charms.
The reason behind this is not far fetched, Yorùbá hunters are extremely fetish, they encharm their guns and other hunting tools, they also operate with lots of phial and charm to tackle their hurdles during hunting expedition, and in most cases, only the hunter knows the incantation that accompanies each charm and procedures to follow before making use of his fortified hunting tools, hence, it may be disastrous if anyone inherits any of his tools or charms when they are naive of the basics.
After burying the deceased hunter, a day is chosen to perform the ìṣípà rite and it is performed in the dead night.
hunters assemble in the dead hunter’s house and wrap up his hunting tools and charms in a basket, this wrapped items is called ‘Ìjèjé’ or ‘Ìpà’, an ill-lucked person is assigned to carry the Ìjèjé on his head and from there they proceed into the deep forest. Why they assign an ill-fated person to carry the Ìjèjé is that they believe that anyone who carries it will attract badluck, hence the saying; Ẹni ru Ìjèjé ọdẹ kì í là (he who carries the Ìjèjé can never be fortunate)
When they get into the deep forest, they begin to chant hunters’ dirge (Ìrèmọ̀jé) for hours, the content of this dirge shall be their experience with the deceased hunter when he was alive, his ancestral praise, praises of Ògún, condolence to the bereaved amongst other contents.
