http://www.araifa.com/
http://www.yoruba.org/links.htm
http://www.folklife.si.edu/africa/foods.htm#ceremonial

Tattoos in Yoruba Culture - Chief Atanda & Osunyemi
video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhB3aEft … re=related

ASPECTS OF YORUBA ORAL TRADITION:

IMPORTANCE, RICHNESS AND LIMITS IN THE CONTEXT OF UNFREEDOM

Segun Gbadegesin, Ph.D

Introduction

The distinctive feature of most, if not all, of literary production is that they were once expressed and transmitted orally. This is true of the "Sermon on the Mount" as it is of Ifa Divination Poetry. It is true of the (sources of) family history of many modern (Euro-American) families as it is true of African communities. An oral tradition exists where the oral transmission of ideas, beliefs and values predominates, and its significance as a means of understanding the life of a people, whether in literate or non-literate cultures, cannot be over-emphasized. In the case of the former, it is probably not obvious. Yet it is true that not every aspect of a people’s history can be recorded. It may also be true that some of the most interesting aspects of history may be overlooked by writers of history even in literate societies. In such cases, we must depend on the chroniclers of the community. In the case of predominantly oral cultures, oral tradition is an indispensable source of history, indicator of deep thought, and transmitter of cultural and religious values. It is through the ocean of the oral tradition of a non-literate culture that we explore their historical being and their contribution to the philosophic world. Those who have despised the African contribution to the world of culture have failed to recognize, as Du Bois did, that as late as the fifteenth century, "African and Asiatic civilizations far outstripped that of Europe"(Du Bois, 1965, p.44). It is in the spirit of Du Bois’s observations that I would like to discuss some aspects of Yoruba oral tradition.

What is oral tradition?

When, in the absence of, or as a complement to writing, the history of a people is (re)constructed through oral testimonies and cultural data supplied by individuals or groups, and this serves as a basis for future reconstruction which is also based on oral transmission, we have an approach to historical knowledge which has been aptly termed oral tradition. Basically, the term means the transmission of facts, values and fiction through oral means. It would not be termed "tradition", however, if it were just a momentary and temporary method of approach to historical knowledge. It is a tradition simply because it is the method that persists, endures and is stable. The term is therefore one that is used by the observer- the scholar- to refer to the source of his/her knowledge of a people’s history and culture. The griots’ chronicle of events, the sages’ myths, legends, cosmological ideas and proverbs, the storytellers’ folktales and the verbal artists’ riddles and tongue twisters, are the constituents of a people’s cultural data. When used adequately, the data provide knowledge that is, to a large extent, reliable and dependable, based as it is, on the tradition of knowing that has been relied upon by the people for generations. It is not all aspects of oral tradition that are originally motivated by the urge to record history. Folktales, proverbs, songs and chants may serve the people primarily as means of entertainment and expressing their ideas of ultimate reality and meaning, though these forms may also serve scholars as a means of understanding their history. The most important defining features of oral tradition are its oral nature and the fact that it is a medium for cultural continuity..

Language, Oral tradition and Yoruba Identity

The matter of defining Yoruba identity in terms of oral tradition appears to present a puzzle. A discussion of Yoruba oral tradition requires an understanding of the history and identity of the Yoruba. For to identify an oral tradition as Yoruba, we need to know who the Yoruba are. However, our knowledge of Yoruba history is also derived from oral tradition, and Yoruba identity is owed to the combined force of its past history and contemporary realities. To put it in another way, we may identify Yoruba oral tradition only if we are able to identify the Yoruba; but our knowledge of Yoruba identity is derived from its oral tradition. We get a sense of Yoruba history, culture and identity, from its historical and mythical legends, folktales and verbal arts. This is how it ought to be, in virtue of the fact that oral tradition is used to construct history, legitimize cultural values and pass judgement on contemporary political realities. The vehicle of thought common to all these usages is language and it may be the candidate for resolving our puzzle. If our knowledge of Yoruba history and identity is derived from its oral tradition, and that oral tradition is transmitted in a language that is uniquely identifiable with the Yoruba people, it would seem that, for the purpose of identifying them, we may use their language. Of course, there is more to identity than language. An individual may choose to not identify with a group of people who speak same language with him/her. However, in the particular case that interests us here, it seems that we have to grant a linguistic basis for Yoruba identity if we attend to the elements of their oral tradition. I will now go on to discuss aspects of Yoruba oral tradition, focussing on legends, myths and proverbs, their defining features, social functions, philosophical relevance and limits in the context of unfreedom in which the Yoruba now find themselves.

Legends

These stories about the exploits of traditional heroes embody the main historic records of a people. They may take the form of cosmogonic myths concerning the origin of the people, or historical accounts of migration and conquest of one group by another. In either case, they serve the function of providing a basis for communal identity and solidarity. The legend of Oduduwa serves these purposes effectively for the Yoruba.

Oduduwa is the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba. There are two variants of the story of how he achieved this feat. The first is cosmogonic, the second, political. The cosmogonic version also has two variants. According to the first variant of the cosmogonic myth, Orisanla (Obatala) was the arch-divinity who was chosen by Olodumare, the supreme deity to create a solid land out of the primordial water that constituted the earth and of populating the land with human beings. He descended from heaven on a chain, carrying a small snail shell full of earth, palm kernels and a five-toed chicken. He was to empty the content of the snail shell on the water after placing some pieces of iron on it, and then to place the chicken on the earth to spread it over the promirdial water. According to the first version of the story, Obatala completed this task to the satisfaction of Olodumare. He was then given the task of making the physical body of human beings after which Olodumare will give them the breath of life. He also completed this task and this is why he has the title of "obarisa" the king of orisas. The other variant of the cosmogonic myth does not credit Obatala with the completion of the task. While it concedes that Obatala was given the task, it avers that Obatala got drunk even before he got to the earth and he was unable to do the job. Olodumare got worried when he did not return on time, and he had to send Oduduwa to find out what was going on. When Oduduwa found Obatala drunk, he simply took over the task and completed it. He created land. The spot on which he landed from heaven and which he redeemed from water to become land is called Ile-Ife and is now considered the sacred and spiritual home of the Yoruba. Obatala was embarrased when he woke up and, due to this experience, he made it a taboo for any of his devotees to drink palm wine. Olodumare forgave him and gave him the responsibility of moulding the physical bodies of human beings. The making of land is a symbolic reference to the founding of the Yoruba kingdoms and this is why Oduduwa is credited with that achievement (Idowu, 1962).

According to the second version of the myth, however, there was a pre-existing civilization at Ile-Ife prior to its invasion by a group led by Oduduwa. This group came from the east, where Oduduwa and his group had been persecuted on the basis of religious differences. They came to Ile-Ife and fought and conquered the pre-existing Igbo (unrelated to the present Igbo) inhabitants led by Oreluere. Obviously, there is a connection between the two versions of the story. The political one may be the authentic story of the founding of Ife kingdom through conquest. However, the myth of creation lends it a legitimacy that is denied by the conquest story; just as it appears that it is lent some credence by the fact that, as a result of the embarrassment it caused their deity, the followers of Obatala are forbidden from taking palm wine. Indeed the second version of the cosmogonic myth also appears to foreshadow the political variant. The claim that Obatala got drunk and the task of creation had to be performed by Oduduwa already has some political coloration which is now explicit in the political version of the tradition.

Myths

These are stories which have elements of the sacred and divine in them. They serve the purpose of giving meaning to existence and ensuring that the community does not lose hold of its rationale for existence. As quasi-sacred stories, and in view of the purpose they serve, their tellers have to be true to the original story. This is not to deny variations from place to place and from time to time. This can be accounted for, in terms of individual creativity with regard to details, and in terms of the loss of memory that cannot be avoided in the circumstance. An important Yoruba myth with a philosophical significance is the Ayanmo myth which indicates belief in predestination. The belief in predestination is expressed in the concept of ori, and it seems to suggest that the Yoruba have some anxiety about human helplessness in certain situations. However, it also expresses the people’s conviction that human existence has meaning; that human beings are not on a purposeless mission in this world; that they have a mission to fulfill, and a message to deliver — which is the meaning of their existence — and that this mission has been fully endorsed by the creator. Whatever is [or is not] done by them should therefore be explained by appeal to this original mission. The concept of ori expresses this idea (Gbadegesin, 1984). Perhaps, it is their perception of the special place of the physical head to the existence of human beings which suggests to the Yoruba the idea that it must also have a spiritual dimension. Thus, the physical head is believed to symbolize or represent an inner head which is the bearer of a person’s destiny and which therefore is the remote controller of one’s endeavors in the world. It is this inner head which is referred to as ori-inu, or simply, ori .

Looking closely at the myth that is used to express the thought, it appears that the focus is on the explanation of success or failure in personal endeavors. The case of Oriseeku, Orilemere and Afuwape in Odu Ifa is clear on this. These three were about to begin their earth-bound journey from their pre-natal existence. The last rite to perform was the choice of ori (destiny). They had a warning from Orisa-nla to go straight to the house of Ajala without changing course. The first two did as they were told while Afuwape, the son of Orunmila decided to see his father before making a choice. It turned out to be a good decision because in his father’s house, he met two of his father’s divination priests who advised him to offer some sacrifice. He did, and the result was good for him. The other two were not assisted in their choice, but Afuwape was assisted because as a result of the sacrifice he performed, he had directions on what to do to receive favor from Ajala, the maker and custodian of inner heads. On their arrival in the world, the other two noticed that things were going well for Afuwape while they were having difficult times. They reacted with a song:

Emi o mo ‘bi olori n yan ‘ri o
M ba lo yan temi
N go mo bi Afuwape yan ‘ri o
M ba lo yan temi

I do not know where people with good destiny picked theirs
I would have picked mine there too
I do not know where Afuwape picked his good destiny
I would have gone there

To which Afuwape replied:

Eyin o mo ‘bi olori n yan ‘ri o
E ba lo yan t’eyin
Ibikan na la gbe yan ri o
Kadara o papo ni.

You do not know where good destiny is picked
You would have gone there for yours
We picked our destinies from the same source
Only their contents are not identical.

( For an application of this concept to a contemporary case, see Isokan Yoruba Magazine Vol. III, No. II Spring 1997)

This story raises a number of philosophical problems and how much attention was paid to these problems by the initiator of this idea is not now known. For instance, is there favoritism in the choice of destiny and if so, can it be justified? Can an unfavorable destiny be changed? How does the idea of destiny tie up with the idea of moral responsibility? (Gbadegesin, 1991) In spite of these questions, however, what can be assumed is that the story is an aid for the expression of a number of philosophical theses. First, it expresses the Yoruba pragmatic approach to morality. There is no hard and fast rule concerning rightness and wrongness and, in most cases, an individual must take a personal decision and follow it through. Though, people are still counselled by the elders, and there are certain kinds of behavior that are considered wrong (wanton destruction of life), in certain cases, the situation determines what is right to do. This is what happens in the case of Afuwape who decided to violate the instruction of the orisa. Second, generosity pays in the end. As the saying goes, "Igba olore ki i fo" (The calabash of the generous person never breaks). Afuwape was generous with his possessions and it paid off in the end. The importance of sacrifice in Yoruba traditional religion can be recognized by an ardent observer. But, though sacrifice is supposedly for the purpose of pleasing the gods, the sages of the group also know that it is principlally a "means of making one’s close associates taste the fruits of one’s labour and thereby receiving their blessing and support in whatever one wants to do.... Sacrifice can...be viewed as a means of uniting people and strengthening their bonds of relationship and association (Abimbola, 1975, p. 27). Finally, we are here on a mission: to deliver a message. Therefore we are not on our own. This assurrance is expected to provide some solace to the weary. This is one of the points powerfully expressed by Wole Soyinka in The Strong Breed.

Fables

These are stories which have no explanatory or historical purposes to serve. They are told as forms of entertainment, with emphasis on the creative and imaginative talents of the artist. Because they are forms of entertainment, they occur in more relaxed atmospheres, and there is no age limit for narrators. A fable could be a dilemma tale or a trickster tale and it may have human or animal characters. It might also perform some moral functions, though this need not be its primary focus. Due to their belief in spiritual forces and supernatural powers, many Yoruba fables involve elements of the supernatural. For instance, in the story of Oro Iroko (Iroko Tree Demon), the son of a farmer was trapped on a tree which was being maliciously cut by a demon. The boy had three magic gourds in his pocket. Each time the demon was about to succeed in cutting the tree, the boy would throw one gourd and the tree would be joined together again. After he had thrown the last magic gourd, he seemed to be at the mercy of the demon. Then he remembered the flute that his father had given him. He blew it loud and sang as follows:

Okemo kerewu, aja ode

The one who cuts in pieces: hunter’s dog

Osopaka gbe won mi, aja ode

The one who swallows at an instant: hunter’s dog

Ogbale gbarawe, aja ode

The one who cleans like a broom: hunter’s dog

Iya nje mi lehin re o, aja ode

I am suffering in your absence: hunter’s dog

At the sound of the flute, all his dogs reported and devoured the demon.

Proverbs

In the Yoruba culture, proverbs are appreciated as the vehicle for words. As one proverb on proverbs puts it: proverbs are the horses for words, for when words are lost, we use proverbs to seek them out. The value placed on proverbs extends to those individuals who are well-skilled in their use. They are revered in the community because they have the ability to get to the heart of a matter through the use of appropriate proverbs. Since proverbs are not immutable, and since they have times and contexts of application, it is important for a skilful verbal artist to know the appropriate time and context for their use. There is what is called "asipa owe" or wrong proverb-making. A person who is able to detect "asipa owe" and come up with a counter proverb is also deserving of respect in the community. Take the following example:

Erin ki i fon ki omo re fon

(Mother elephant and baby elephant do not trumpet at the same time.) ( see Owomoyela, 1988)

This is used to discourage a person from enhancing his/her children’s image through his/her own status. For instance, a politician may be campaigning for an elective position while his son is also interested in a political career. The father’s opponent might discourage them with this proverb. However if the father is also well versed in proverbs, the appropriate response is

Fere ko pe meji ni

(Only if there is not more than one trumpet.)

The point of this response is that the first proverb is irrelevant in this situation because there are more than one position and the father and son have enough resources to compete successfully on their own individual merits.

That the Yoruba are generally pragmatic in their approach to ethics and moral issues is illustrated by their proverbs which may appear contradictory, but which actually are meant to indicate caution. Consider the following pair of proverbs on hard work:

Kira kita k’o mola, ka sise bi eru ko da nkankan

(Strenous laboring does not bring wealth; struggling like a slave does not eradicate poverty)

Ise loogun ise

(Work is the cure for poverty)

An adequate resolution of the apparent conflict here must take account of the fact that the Yoruba are generally against extremes in any direction. To work excessively in order to have wealth is to expose oneself to untimely death. This is what the first proverbs cautions against. On the other hand, to refuse to work is to expose oneself to incurable poverty. This is the point of the second proverb.

Some proverbs arise from observations of natural phenomena and/or human affairs. For instance:

Obe kan ki i mu ki o gbe eeku ara re

(No knife is so sharp that it is able to carve its own hilt.)

This proverb can be interpreted in two ways. First, it is impossible for a knife to carve its own hilt because it cannot cut anything without having a good hilt. Therefore, since it will have to have a hilt in order to cut anything, it cannot cut its own hilt. Second, even after it has got a hilt, however sharp a knife is, it cannot cut or scrape its own hilt. Another knife will have to be used for that purpose. The meaning of this is that however smart one is, one will still need other people to help one with important personal matters. One should therefore avoid arrogance.

While the Yoruba have moral standards regarding the dispensation of justice, they are also aware of the reality of human frailty and the corresponding partiality and injustice that can result. Two proverbs can be used to illustrate this apparent conflict:

A gb’ejo idi kan da, agba osika ni.

(A person who makes a judgement after hearing only one side of a case is a most wicked judge.)

On the other hand, they also know human nature for what it is:

Eniti ko ni baba ni’gbejo, bo ba ro ejo are, ebi ni i je.

( A person who has no mentor on the judgement throne will lose even if he has a clean and just case.)

cf: O da wa l’ejo, o da ‘mo e l’are

(He judged us guilty; but he judged his child innocent)

O f’omo e l’apa re’le And took his child home safely

Ko dun wa o, ejo te e da o dun wa

It doesn’t pain us; your judgment does n’t pain us

B’Olorun ko ba pa wa)

As long as God spares our lives)

Here we have a combination of moral realism and idealism with respect to justice. Each has its use in the Yoruba cultural belief system, a system which places emphasis on moderation in everything.

Conclusion

From the foregoing, it seems clear that various aspects of the oral tradition of the Yoruba are important for enriching the social and moral life of the people and ensuring the continuity of their culture. These are highly effective means of expressing the ideals and values of the communities, teaching young generations the history of their ancestors and helping them improve their self-awareness by giving them the information they need for understanding their identity. Yoruba oral poetry, with its various themes of love, life, praise and death, is especially relevant in this regard. A young child is introduced to the oriki (praise name) of his/her family right from birth, through constant repetition by the female members of the household, who also tease him/her about the significance of his/her birth and the distinguished history of his/her ancestors. At the same time, he/she is encouraged to uphold this tradition and contribute to its distinction. This, among others, is an important function of oral tradition and it is what has kept it alive among the Yoruba in particular, and Africans in general.

But these are trying times for Yoruba culture and its oral tradition. In the first place, the old sages who accept the responsibility of transmitting the culture, are transiting fast to the realm of the ancestors, victims of ill-designed policies by a government that has no interest in the welfare of its citizens. In the second place, the middle age folks, who benefitted from the good old days of Yorubaland, when the glory of Yoruba culture was exhibited for the world in the works of the Fagunwas, the Odunjos, the Ogundes, the Ladipos, the Ogunmolas, the Olatunjis and Isolas, are not now in any privileged position to help their own offsprings, due to a combination of economic, social and political reasons. How can you project a culture when you cannot even be sure of what to expect from a government that is afflicted by Odua-phobia, a government that is afraid of even its own shadow, and which finds threatening any move by Yoruba people to advance the interests of Odua descendants. About a year ago, a foundation was set up to serve the social, economic and cultural interests of our people. Today, its main architect is incarcerated, accused of treason! In the third place, the younger ones, who are expected to serve as the link between the past and the future, have greater problems of life to deal with. How many Yoruba youths are roaming the streets with no visible means of livelihood even when they have successfully made the efforts to acquire education and the skills that come with it? Can we justifiably blame them for any indifference to culture and tradition when their sense of self-esteem has been so badly brutalized?

The lesson of our present predicament is clear. We find ourselves in such a bad shape vis-a-vis the future of our culture because, as a people, our autonomy has been compromised for a long time. Is n’t it the case now that even the most prominent of our Kabiyesis are not free citizens? Can they make claims on the basis of their conscience without risking discipline from the boys in Khaki? Can the Arole Oodua travel out without permission from the representative of the Northern oligachy? In order therefore to bring back the glory of our culture, we have to struggle for genuine autonomy. Our forefathers knew this much when they pressed for a true federal union. They knew that a multi-national state cannot survive and prosper under a unitary system. Yet, since 1966, we have been running a unitary sytem of government. It is time we knew that an arrangement in which the lion is expected to serve as purse-keeper for the tiger is an inherently unstable and unpeaceful one.The two will be advised to hunt separately. There are lessons to learn from them.

References
W.E.B. Du Bois, The World and Africa New York: International Publishers, 1965 p.44
Isodore Okpewho, African Oral Literature: Backgrounds, Character and Continuity Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992
Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God In Yoruba Belief Longman: Nigeria 1962.
Segun Gbadegesin, "Destiny, Personality and the Ultimate Reality of Human Existence", Ultimate Reality and Meaning, Vol 7 No. 3 1984 pp.173-188.
Segun Gbadegesin, African Philosophy: Traditional Yoruba Philosophy and Contemporary African Realities New York: Lang Publishing, 1991.
Wande Abimbola, Sixteen Great Poems of Ifa UNESCO, 1975
Oyekan Owomoyela, A Ki I: Yoruba Proscriptive and Prescriptive Proverbs Lanham: University Press of America, 1988.

Aworan: Representing the self and its Metaphysical other in Yoruba Art

Art Bulletin, The, Sept, 2001 by Babatunde Lawal

Among the Yoruba of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin, the word aworan commonly refers to any two- or three-dimensional representation, ranging from the naturalistic to the stylized (Figs. 1, 2). A contraction of (that which), wo (to look at), and ranti (to recall, that is, the subject), aworan is mnemonic in nature, identifying a work of art as a construct specially crafted to appeal to the eyes, relate a representation to its subject, and, at the same time, convey messages that may have aesthetic, social, political, or spiritual import. (1) It should be emphasized, however, that Yoruba is a tonal language, so that the same word may have different meanings depending on how it is pronounced. (2) For example, because of a change in the vowel tones, the word aworan refers not to a representation--which is aworan--but to its beholder, being a contraction of a (the one), wo (looking at), and tran (spectacle) . (3) The meaning of the root verb wo (to look) remains intact in the two words, linking the beholder to t he beheld.
Aroya: Imaging the Metaphysical Self

Whereas in ayajora (the naturalistic portrait), a Yoruba artist endeavors to summarize the iwa, the fact of being and the observable and recognizable features of the physical self, in aroya (the conceptual portrait), he is more concerned with the essence of the subject or the metaphysical self. This is particularly the case with memorials used in communicating with a dematerialized soul in Ehin-iwa, the Afterlife (Figs. 18, 20). As it is invisible to the naked eye, this Other self--the soul--can only be imagined. For this reason, most altar memorials are stylized to signify the return of a dematerialized soul from telluric existence to "prenatal" spirituality, as well as its ability to be omnipresent and to intercede with the orisa (deities) on behalf of the living. Accordingly, an artist need not know the dead to create an appropriate memorial--though he would be briefed about gender identity or any special mark worn on the face or body to identify the deceased with a family or lineage. However, after leavin g the artist's workshop, the image usually undergoes etutu, a personalization or naming ceremony aimed at establishing a spiritual kinship between object and subject. The ceremony varies from place to place. In some cases, it involves the dipping of a memorial into the water (omi iweku) used in washing the corpse of the deceased and preserved for this purpose. In other cases, the image may be rubbed with the soil (ilepa) collected from the grave of the deceased. Thereafter, a given image may be placed in a shrine, becoming the focus of prayers, oriki (eulogies), and libations intended to influence the deceased.

The shrine figure performs three major functions in Yoruba religion. First, it is an ami (a signifier), objectifying the human essence of the signified, making visible the invisible, and providing a locus of veneration and devotion. Second, since art (ona) commands admiration--as indicated by the popular Yoruba name Onaneye (literally, Art is honorable)--a memorial sculpture is ohun eye (a dignifier), reflecting the high esteem in which the deceased is held. Third, it is aroko (a visual metaphor), embodying a message; for example, the motif of a mother and child reminds a female ancestor of her maternal duties as a provider and nurturer, while a lance-holding male figure implores an ancestor so depicted to play the role of a protector. (98) These functions would seem to account for the frequent use of the equestrian warrior motif (jagunjagun) to memorialize male ancestors, in an attempt to secure their benevolence and divine protection. A nineteenth-century example is said to commemorate Alaafin (king) Ofinra n (Fig. 18), a grandson of Oduduwa and one of the earliest kings of Old Oyo, whose reign is often dated somewhere in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. (99) Yoruba oral traditions identify Alaafin Ofinran, popularly called Sango, as a great magician and warrior who led the Old Oyo cavalry to many spectacular victories, reportedly using his magical powers to attract the thunderstorm to overwhelm his enemies in the battlefield. On his death, he was deified and identified with thunder power. Alleged to have been salvaged from the principal Sango shrine at Old Oyo before its destruction by the Fulani about 1835, this equestrian statue conflates the historical and the mythological aspects of Sango--the warrior king and deified ancestor who now hurls down the thunderbolt from the sky. A similar imagery reverberates in his oriki (eulogy), often chanted in front of shrine images dedicated to him:le world. Iwa denotes not only the fact of being but also the distinctive quality or character of a person. (14)

The Yoruba identify a work of art as ona, that is, an embodiment of creative skills, implicating the archetypal action of Obatala the creativity deity and patron of the Yoruba artist. The process of creating a work of art is called onayiya (literally, ona, art, and yiya, creation or making), a term implicated in the aforementioned prayer for an expectant mother. Yiya derives from the root verb ya, meaning to create, fashion, or make. The fact that the female body mediates Obatala's creation (15) has led some to translate iya, the Yoruba word for a mother, as "someone from whom another life is fashioned" or the body "from which we are created." (16) The term jora denotes a striking resemblance between a child and any of its parents or among members of the same family. Thus, a naturalistic representation is called ayajora, a contraction of a (act of), ya (to create), jo (to resemble), and ara (physical body of the subject). That is to say, the artist's main goal is to capture individual likeness, as in a portr ait of one of the ancient kings (ooni) of Ife (Fig. 1). The reason for the prominence of the head in Yoruba art will be discussed shortly. A conceptual representation, on the other hand, is called aroya (a contraction of a, act of, ro, to think or imagine, and ya, to create) because it is done from memory. (17) For example, the seated female of Figure 2 is far from being a portrait of a known person. Rather, the image is a construct--a figure for an altar signifying the Earth Goddess (Ile) in her symbolic role as the "Mother and Caretaker of the World" (Iya Aye), hence, her appellation Onile (Owner of the House). The two small figures in her hands represent the male and female aspects of nature, whose interaction ensures the perpetuation of life on earth. (18) The emphasis here is not so much on empirical observation as on the use of the mind's eye to visualize and give material form to an idea. The literary equivalent of aroya (conceptual imagery) is arofo (oral poetry)--a shortened form of a (act of), ro (t o think or imagine), and fo (to chant or utter).

Although it has individual and regional variations (just as the Yoruba language has subdialects), the Yoruba sculptural style (evident especially in wood but also in stone and ivory sculpture) is distinguished by stylized figures--standing, kneeling, or riding on horseback--with large heads, elaborate hairdos, and protruding facial features (Figs. 4, 18, 20). (19) Through the apprenticeship system, young artists are trained to create images in the substyle characteristic of a particular region as well as to master and interpret the iconographic conventions (asa) handed down from the past. (20) The fact that much of Yoruba art functions in a religious context has stabilized these conventions, imposing some limitation on the extent of change within the canon, while, at the same time, allowing creativity, innovation, and the incorporation of new elements in time and place. An apprentice graduates after demonstrating enough imo (mastery of time-honored conventions), imoose (technical proficiency), and oju ona (li terally, artistic eye) to practice as a professional. Oju ona can be defined as "design consciousness," (21) or the visual cognition that enables an artist to select and process images from daily experience into schemata or templates (determined by the Yoruba style), which are then stored in pictorial memory, to be retrieved and modified when needed to express an idea. As a result, a well-trained artist does not need a life model or a preparatory sketch to represent a particular subject. A carver, for example, begins by staring intently at the wood while conjuring up the relevant schema from his pictorial memory. Thus, the term aworan signifies much more than an image that recalls the subject. It also alludes to the creative process, especially an artist's preliminary contemplation (a-wo) of the raw material and the pictorial memory (iranti) necessary for visualizing and objectifying the subject. Thereafter, the carver projects the schema onto the wood, reaches for his tools, and follows an established proced ure: (a) sisa (blocking out), using a big adze to reveal mass and volume and to outline the image(s), emphasizing the head(s); (b) onalile (tracking forms), using a smaller adze to clarify the image(s); (c) aletunle (consolidation), using chisels and knives to further define the component parts; (d) didan (smoothening), using knives and abrasive leaves to remove tool marks and rough edges; and (e) finfin (incising), using a knife to accentuate facial features and body parts, cut patterns, and create surface designs. (22) Modeling in clay

(later cast into brass or bronze) follows a similar procedure, though differences in material, tools, and technique invariably produce different results. Carvings tend to look more linear and angular, due to the subtractive technique, while modeled forms have a smoother finish because of the additive technique. According to the artists interviewed in different parts of Yorubaland, the creative process involves three deities, Obatala Ogun, and Esu. Obatala (creativity deity) p rovides the imaginative component, Ogun (iron deity), the tools for transforming the material, and Esu (divine messenger), the vision and ase (enabling power) that facilitate execution. (23)

Oriki: Glorifying the Head in Word and Image

Literally meaning "head praise," the term oriki refers to a eulogy or poem (arofo) glorifying the worthiness of an individual. It is chanted at critical moments to goad the head to action and thereby spur a person to greater achievement. (24) For the head (ori) is perceived as the seat of the ase (enabling power) that determines one's identity and existence, influencing behavior and personal destiny:

If I have money

It is my Ori [head] I will praise

My Ori, it is you

If I have children on earth

It is my Ori to whom I will give praise

My Ori it is you

All the good things I have on earth

It is Ori I will praise

My Ori, It is you. (25)

In effect, the head (ori) is the lord of the body and therefore must be acknowledged and given pride of place. A similar message is apparent in the emphasis on the head in Yoruba art. It is almost always the biggest and the most elaborately finished part of a typical figure sculpture, often adorned with a crownlike coiffure or headgear (Figs. 1, 2, 4, 18, 20). (26) With this complementarity of word and image in mind, the Yoruba linguistic scholar Olabiyi Yai has suggested, "When approaching Yoruba art, an intellectual orientation that would be consonant with Yoruba traditions of scholarship would be to consider each individual Yoruba art work and the entire corpus as oriki." (27) This is because while most oriki (eulogies) undergo changes and embellishment in the course of their oral transmission from one generation to another, they often retain a core of historical or iconographic elements that defines the essence and character of the subject. Moreover, Yoruba artists in the past were expected, as part of th eir training, to familiarize themselves with the oriki of important personalities and the major orisa (deities) in their community and with indigenous theology, which they took into consideration when creating shrines and related images. Thus, apart from their aesthetic qualities, shrine images speak volumes about Yoruba society, its social practices and worldview.

One of the fundamentals of this worldview is that the visible head (ori ode) is no more than an enclosure for the inner, spiritual head, called ori inu, which localizes the ase that empowers the physical self. (28) Although the ase emanates from the Supreme Being, it is mediated by Esu (pronounced Eshu), the divine messenger and principle of dynamism in the Yoruba cosmos. (29) One myth claims that before an individual is born into the physical world, its soul must select an inner head (ori inu) from a collection of ready-made clay heads molded by Ajala, the heavenly potter. Because of their association with personal destiny, these clay heads are abstracted and made to look similar, though each is intrinsically different. The one selected by an individual becomes an integral part of the metaphysical self, constituting the inner core of the physical head and determining a person's lot on earth. (30) In the distant past, most adult Yoruba dedicated an altar called ibori to the inner head in the form of a cone-sh aped object covered with leather and adorned with cowrie shells (Fig. 3). Once used as currency, these shells allude to the wealth that a "good head" can bring to a person. Apart from concealing that person's fate (ipin), the ibori links the self with Esu, who originates the motions, emotions, and actions associated with iwa, earthly existence. As the divine messenger and the omnipresent agency of the Supreme Being in all living things, Esu is asoju (the observer), (31) and thus the catalyst for sight. (32) Esu's connection with the head, especially the face (oju), is illustrated by the popular notion that by blinking his eyes, he can make a person look beautiful or ugly. (33) Even fellow orisa in the Yoruba pantheon depend on Esu for their vision; according to a myth, he once confused Oduduwa's sight, with the result that the latter mistook the divination deity (Ifa) for a leopard and ran away in fright. (34) In other words, Esu activates the face, the site of perception and communication, reflecting the fee lings of pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, hope and despair, and other passions associated with temporal existence and behavior. The Yoruba word for a facade is oju-ile (literally, the face of the house) because the facade is to a house what the face is to the body, an index of identity. The doors of a house open and close just like the eyes. That is why Esu images or staffs are often placed, for security purposes, near the doorway, at the crossroads, and at the town gates. Some have two faces looking in opposite directions (Figs. 4, 5), as though monitoring developments from within and without, from left and right, from above and below, and from nearby and the great beyond. (35) The cowrie shells on this staff denote the blessings that Esu may bestow on those he favors, despite his prankishness. The flute or whistle motif identifies him both as the herald, who coordinates the activities of all the deities, and as a gatekeeper, guide, and detective. He thus exemplifies the principle of intelligence, vigilanc e, and surveillance, among others, in Yoruba culture. No wonder that the Esu image illustrated in Figure 6, one of three once installed in a public square in the middle of the village of Igbajo (about thirty-five miles from Ife) was reportedly vandalized by Ijesa warriors during their invasion of Igbajo in the 1880s; (36) note the damage to the left arm. Incidentally, Esu is anthropomorphized here, combining the look of a child with that of an adult in allusion to the paradoxical, betwixt-and-between nature of the deity and his association with the threshold--a recurring theme in much of his oriki (eulogies):

The short and tall one

Whose head is barely visible when he walks through a peanut farm

Thanks to the fact that he is very tall

But Esu must climb the hearthstone in order to put salt in the soup pot ...

Labolarinde, (37) if you reach the frontier and do not encounter him at the citygate working in the field

You will find him in the vicinity and he is always accessible to everyone, including the infirm. (38)

Ayajora: Portraying the Physical Self

The emphasis on ara (physical body) in the word ayajora reveals the objective of the Yoruba artist in a naturalistic portrait (Figs. 7-15): to capture a recognizable likeness of the subject with an emphasis on oju amuwaye (literally, earthly face), the face one is born with and which identifies one's iwa (telluric existence). This face is time-bound, changing with mood and age. (39) However, the artist frequently ignores the transitory emotional aspects, idealizing only those features that facilitate identity, the emphasis being on jijora, or what Robert Farris Thompson calls a "midpoint mimesis" between absolute abstraction and absolute likeness. (40) In the past, many Yoruba treated the naturalistic representation of a living person with ambivalence for two main reasons. One stems from a popular notion that every living person has a spirit partner ( a "look-alike") in heaven called enikeji (heavenly double) who offers spiritual protection to its earthly counterpart. (41) The creation of a lifelikeness in ar t (a human-made "look-alike") is perceived as a distraction that may jeopardize this relationship, causing the heavenly double to withdraw its spiritual protection. The second reason has to do with the belief that through sympathetic magic, a naturalistic portrait could be transformed into a surrogate for the human body and then manipulated for positive or negative ends. For instance, in preventive medicine called idira or isora (fortifying the body), a portrait, infused with charms, is kept in a secure place or a shrine to immunize the referent from witchcraft and infectious diseases. (42) In sorcery called asasi (evil spell) or edi (tethering), an image may be gagged or strangled or have sharp objects driven into the eyes, ears, or throat to disable, maim, or kill the person it represents. In another type of sorcery called apeje (instruct and obey), the subject is hypnotized, via a sculpted portrait, to act or behave irrationally, such as dancing without music or laughing at random for no justifiable reason . In some cases, a physical likeness is not necessary; giving the image the subject's name or attaching an article from his or her body (such as clothing, a lock of hair, or a nail paring) will suffice. (43)

Yoruba diviners trace most acts of sorcery to awon aye, the evil-minded ones, such as witches, sadists, rivals, jealous neighbors, enemies, or close relations who either have a few old scores to settle or simply envy the success of another individual. Of major concern is Esu, the unpredictable trickster, divine messenger, and controller of fate who could be benevolent at one moment and malevolent the next, capriciously turning joy into sorrow, and vice versa. He is the agent provocateur who plays a lot of pranks with a view to reforming humanity. Like the trickster motif in other cultures, Esu embodies what Lewis Hyde calls the "paradoxical category of sacred amorality" by which societies articulate and regulate their social life and behavior. (44) That is why the Yoruba code of ethics enjoins everyone to be courteous, sociable, respectful, humble, diplomatic, and to "bear both wealth and poverty (45) Also, one must exercise self-control in the face of provocation or temptation; one must learn a lesson from t he Olofefunra myth. According to the myth, Olofefunra, a deity in ancient Ife, had a peculiar way of welcoming visitors to its grove by laughing loudly and making humorous remarks as though he was reuniting with old and long-missed friends. But should any visitor reciprocate, his or her facial features "would remain permanently fixed in the contortion of mirthless laughter!" (46) By the same token, it would be risky to allow oneself to be portrayed in a naturalistic and overtly expressive manner; there is the fear that enemies might read arrogance into an innocent smile, steal the portrait, and instigate a sorcerer to harm the subject through it. (47) This explains why naturalistic portraits are few and far between in Yoruba art and there is little interest in physiognomy, that is, the use of the face to reveal the "soul" or character of the subject. (48)

Ako and Ipade: Naturalistic Second-Burial Effigies for the Dead

However, during second-burial ceremonies for the dead, naturalistic portraits appear with some frequency (Figs. 7-12). (49) This can be attributed to two major factors. The first derives from the belief that the soul of a deceased person now operates at a superhuman plane of existence and so is immune to sorcery. (50) The second is that the mnemonic power of a life-size naturalistic effigy (ako) vivifies the presence of the dead during the second-burial ceremony, enabling mourners to treat the image as if it were alive. The costly ceremony usually takes place some days or weeks after the burial of the corpse and is normally performed only for the rich and famous as well as for those who had lived to a ripe old age and were survived by children. (51) One of the reasons for the ceremony is that it would enable the deceased to carry over to Ehin-Iwa (the Afterlife) the high status achieved on earth. Not until the performance of this ceremony will the soul of the deceased leave the community. Failure of the child ren to do so in time or after a reasonable period may cause the soul to haunt them in the form of a ghost. In addition, as an artist must have been aquainted with the deceased to produce his or her visual likeness, the longer the interval between the first burial (of the real corpse) and the second (of the effigy) the weaker the artist's pictorial memory of the deceased. To circumvent this problem, an artist is allowed to use as a reference point the face of a child who closely resembles the deceased. (52) This partly explains why some second-burial effigies look much younger than the deceased at the time of death. Thanks to modern photography, many families now keep photo albums from which a good picture of the deceased (usually in his or her middle age) may be selected and given to an artist to translate into a second-burial effigy. Since the image is usually costumed, the carver pays most attention to the head, forearms, and legs, leaving the other parts of the body relatively unfinished (Fig. 7). During a typical ako ceremony, the effigy, dressed in the best clothes of the deceased (Fig. 8), would be displayed in his or her residence for a few days to allow friends, relations, and well-wishers to pay their last respects. Specially designated family members chant the oriki (eulogy) of the deceased at regular intervals. For example:

Oronaye (O!)

May you be fortunate

May your fortune last

You, who have the great sword....

The sharp sword that draws blood

The one of great fame

My father is the great one being celebrated

A popular man of Owo

Great men of Owo, my father is the great one being celebrated. (53)

After the indoor ceremonies, the image would be carried in a public procession around the town accompanied by survivors, all singing and wishing the deceased a happy retirement in Ehin-Iwa, the Afterlife:

Do not eat millipedes

Do not eat earthworms

It's what they eat in the Afterlife

That you should eat

May you fare well

Until we cross paths

Until you appear in our dreams

Shall we meet again. (54)

Through the effigy, messages are sent to long-dead ancestors. At the same time, the newly dead is beseeched not to forget the living and to use his or her spiritual powers to protect them. (55) After the public procession, the effigy is buried, destroyed, or abandoned in the forest. (56)

Figure 9 is a portrait of the late Queen Ameri Olasubude of Owo, carved by Lamuren for Olasubude's second-burial ceremony in 1944. The portrait, however, was rejected by the family of the deceased on the grounds that the artist did not achieve enough idealization. For instance, the toes and fingers of the figure are touching one another (Fig. 10) instead of being carved separate, as required by tradition. (57)

Unlike the ako, which is almost always a full figure that can be displayed in a seated position by virtue of its articulated body and limbs, the ipade (a hunter's second-burial memorial) is usually unarticulated. Only the head is finished, with the rest of the body given a rudimentary treatment, as in the portrait of Chief Aniwe, one of the most powerful hunters in Ife before his death in 1962 (Fig. 11). It was carved by Taye Adegun. A short stick nailed to the chest of the figure serves as the shoulders for fitting one of the garments of the deceased (Fig. 12). (58) In some cases, two sticks shaped like a cross and draped with a hat and garment of the deceased may serve as a substitute for a naturalistic effigy. (59) A portrait statue carved by Taiwo Fadipe of the late Chief Akinyemi Osogun of Ife, a high-ranking priest of Ogun (iron and war deity) who died in 1964, was later acquired by the Ife Museum of Antiquities. In 1976, I took a print of the statue to the compound of the deceased, where I compared it with a photograph of him. The statue bore only a faint resemblance to the deceased, but the three marks (abaja) on the cheeks are exactly the same as those on the photograph, conceivably creating enough likeness for those who knew Chief Akinyemi Osogun when he was alive. (60)

That the memorial function of the "lifelike" image has a long history in Yoruba culture seems to be attested by the discovery at Ife of several naturalistic, life-size brass heads dated between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries C.E. (Figs. 13, 14). (61) Some of them wear crowns, while others have holes around the hairline, apparently for securing real headgears or crowns. Amost all the heads have holes at the neck (Fig. 13), indicating that they might have been nailed to wooden torsos and attired in the same manner as the ako. Consequently, Justine Cordwell and Frank Willett have suggested that most of the heads were probably used in funeral or second-burial ceremonies for kings and other distinguished persons. (62) This speculation has been questioned on the grounds that the creation of a funeral effigy for a king (oba) is incompatible with the public perception of him as a divine being who does not die but simply disappears "into the earth." (63) In view of a ceremony in present-day Okuku during which the king of the town makes sacrificial offerings to his "inner head" (ori inu) in a special room inside the palace where many beaded crowns are displayed, though not on portrait heads, Henry Drewal is of the opinion that the life-size Ife brass heads might have been "created to display actual regalia in a shrine context," perhaps during an annual rite of purification and renewal for the king and his people. (64) While the possibility cannot be ruled out altogether, it does not necessarily follow that all the heads performed only this function in the past. Neither does the public perception of the king as divine automatically preclude him from being honored with a second-burial ceremony. Despite the king's liminal status and the secrecy surrounding his death and burial, it is public knowledge that he is a flesh-and-blood human being who reigns and then passes away. The popular saying "Oba mewa; igba mewa" (Ten kings; ten epochs) makes it clear that the notion that the king does not die is only a metaphor for the antiquity and continuity of divine kingship among the Yoruba. As to be expected, a good king would be fondly remembered; a bad one could be impeached by a council of elders (called Ogboni in some areas) and if found guilty of a serious offence, forced to commit suicide or executed. In fact, some unpopular Ife kings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries met with violent deaths at the hands of their subjects. (65) Moreover, a king's mortality is explicit in the word abobaku, referring to "those who die with the king" in order to serve him in the Afterlife. (66) The question then arises: If chiefs and other important persons could be honored with a befitting farewell or second-burial ceremony--to enable them to carry over to the Afterlife the high status achieved on earth--why not the king himself, the most distinguished individual in a given community? That the ceremony was performed for kings in ancient Ife may be inferred from a legend that palace officials once colluded with court artists to delay the a ppointment of a new king. Instead of disclosing the death of the incumbent king to the relevant authorities, these officials installed his effigy in a dark corner of the state room and continued to conduct business as usual, issuing orders on behalf of the dead king. The senior chiefs and members of the public unsuspectingly paid homage to the effigy until the deception was uncovered. (67) This legend has two implications. First, it suggests that the plotters had misappropriated an effigy that could have been used eventually for the second-burial ceremony of the same king and which, predictably, would have received a similar homage and befitting farewell messages. Second, it corroborates the thesis that the holes around the hairline of the life-size Ife heads (Fig. 13) might have been used for securing a beaded crown with veil (some still have bead fragments) that would have covered the face--as they normally do when worn by the king (Fig. 22). (68) The holes around the mouth probably sported a combination of beard and mustache that would have further obscured the face, thus enabling the alleged conspiracy to succeed for a while.

Finally, that second-burial ceremonies for kings were common in the past is evident in the Adamuorisa (Eyo) obsequy of the Awori Yoruba of Lagos. (69) Until recently, a new king would not be allowed to perform certain rites until he had "completed the final funeral ceremonies of his predecessor...which included the staging of the Adamuorisa..." (70) Two of the most memorable Adamuorisa were performed for Oba (king) Akitoye on February 20, 1854, and for Oba Dosumu on April 30, l885. (71) However, unlike the ako figure, which may be carried in a public procession, the Adamuorisa (Eyo) second-burial effigy for a deceased king is displayed inside the palace only. The effigy is usually a banana tree trunk dressed up in expensive clothes and made to look like a real human figure wearing a hat or crown, though the face is covered with cloth. The display is accompanied by drumming and eulogizing, as is done for an ako figure. On the last day of the ceremony, hundreds of Eyo masquerades in white robes participate in a public parade to bid the deceased the last farewell. (72) Since a king's corpse is sometimes dismembered for ritual purposes, a second-burial effigy is, as it were, a "re-membering" of that body, providing a unique opportunity for a farewell ceremony that would enable the deceased to carry over to the Afterlife the high status achieved on earth.

There is ample evidence that the Ife heads might also have functioned in interregnum, succession, and/or coronation ceremonies, among others. According to a Benin oral tradition, before the fourteenth century, the head of a deceased Benin king (oba) was taken to Ife for burial and, in return, a brass head would be sent to Benin along with other royal emblems to confirm the successor on the throne. This is because Oranmiyan, one of Oduduwa's youngest sons, founded the Eweka ruling dynasty in Benin between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and ruled there for a while before returning to Ife, where he eventually died. (73) The Benin practice may very well be a variation on an ancient Yoruba ritual of removing the head of a deceased king and using it for the transfer of royal power to his successor. (74) The latter then kept the head "among his principal objects of worship." (75) Could the need to preserve the heads and memories of famous kings for a longer period have led to the creation of their likeness in brass? If so, could this phenomenon be responsible for the scarcity of the life-size royal heads? As yet, only about sixteen or so have been recovered out of almost fifty rulers on the Ife king list. (76) Even then, only a handful of the heads can now be positively identified with particular individuals. The mask in Figure 14, for instance, is said to represent Ooni (king) Obalufon, the son of Osangangan Obamakin, an Ife indigene who succeeded Oduduwa probably because he sided with the latter in his quest for political supremacy. (77) Obalufon (also known as Alayemoore) ascended the throne after his father's death but reigned for only a short period before being deposed by Oranmiyan, who had earlier left Ife to found ruling dynasties in Benin and Old Oyo. Obalufon was recalled from exile to reoccupy the Ife throne after the death of Oranmiyan. The exact time of his reign is unknown, though some historians are inclined to put it at the beginning of the second millennium C.E. He is said to have changed the t itle of the Ife king from olofin (owner of the palace)--introduced by Oduduwa--to ooni (owner of the land) to indicate the return of the Ife indigenes (that is, the pre-Oduduwa people) to power. (78) Before Obalufon ascended the throne, Ife had been constantly raided by the Igbo, a pro-Obatala group in exile that refused to acknowledge Oduduwa's sovereignty. This group was defeated, pacified, and reintegrated into Ife society during Obalufon's reign, when the city witnessed an unprecedented era of peace, cultural development, and economic prosperity. (79) Obalufon is remembered today as a great patron of the arts and as the one who introduced brass casting to the Yoruba. Thus, it may very well be that the tradition of making life-size brass heads at Ife began during his reign. The stylistic similarity of this mask to the other life-size heads, dated between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, suggests that it was probably made within the same period. (80) Despite the popular legend that Oduduwa originated the bead-embroidered crown (which he then gave to his sons, who subsequently left Ife to become kings in other parts of Yorubaland), Obalufon is regarded as the epitome of that crown, apparently because of his long, peaceful reign and his exemplary leadership. This may explain why at the coronation of a new king in Ife, the crown would first be placed on Obalufon's "head"--a stone image--before being put on a new king's head. (81) The openings below the eyes of the Obalufon mask suggest that it was worn on the face. It is therefore not impossible, as Suzanne Blier has proposed, that the mask might be integrally linked to this ceremony and "the related rites of rulership transition" in the past, reflecting Obalufon's legendary contributions to the early formation of the Ife state and his posthumous deification and association with prosperity and good government. (82)

A terra-cotta portrait head assigned to the same period as the Obalufon mask (Fig. 15) is said to commemorate the usurper Lajuwa, the chamberlain who temporarily seized the throne after the death of Ooni Aworokolokin, Obalufon's successor. There is an allegation that Aworokolokin did not belong to the Oduduwa faction and that he "probably died by some foul means at the hands of his courtiers, after his wife had been abducted." (83) Lajuwa reportedly hid his corpse, wore the royal regalia, and started impersonating the king. The disguise succeeded for some time apparently because, as mentioned earlier, the fringe of the beaded crown normally obscures the face of the person wearing it (Fig. 22). But the trick was soon uncovered and Lajuwa was executed along with accomplices, although his name continues to appear in some Ife king lists. (84) Lajuwa's long, wavy hairstyle might lend some credence to this story in that it seems to betray his mixed ancestry, recalling the legend that Oduduwa and his group came to I fe from the northeast, which some scholars have identified with the Nile valley or the Arabian Peninsula. (85)

Be that as it may, the palace conspiracy cited earlier is so similar to Lajuwa's that one is tempted to take the two as different versions of the same event. Yet they could very well refer to separate events. The chances are that Lajuwa had exploited an established tradition of using an effigy or a human surrogate to represent or impersonate the king when he could not be physically present in court or at a public ceremony. The cover provided by the beaded crown with fringe might have encouraged this tradition, apart from the fact that, in the past, the king frequently used an interpreter who already knew what to say. Even today, some kings are barely audible, leaving the interpreter to speak on their behalf--which conceivably might have made it easier in the past for an impersonator to pass for the king. For example, at Old Oyo, whose ruling dynasty was founded by Oranmiyan (who later returned to Ife to depose Obalufon during his first term in office), a court official called Osiefa specialized in impersonati ng the king legitimately wearing his crown and receiving the same honors due the king when the latter could not be physically present at a particular ceremony. (86) While there is no evidence as yet that a similar official impersonated the king in ancient Ife, it is significant that one of the early Ife kings, Ooni Giesi, often asked his daughter (Debooye) to represent him at certain ceremonies because he was too old to attend. (87) The question then arises: Could some of the Ife life-size heads have been made at the beginning of a new king's reign with surrogate, ritual, memorial, and other functions in mind? (88) The answer to this question must await further investigation. Nonetheless, the prominence given to royal regalia and bearing in many of the underlife-size portraits in the Ife corpus (Fig. 1) hints at a court art patently concerned as much with the personal appearance of the living as with the collective memory of the dead.

After studying them for more than four decades, Frank Willett, along with other scholars, has observed that many of the Ife life-size heads share certain "family resemblances" both in form and style. However, it is not clear at the moment whether all of them were made by only one artist, artists from the same workshop, or artists from different workshops, removed in time and space. (89) The similarities of the faces could be due to the fact that the artists probably did not work directly from life models, and therefore had to depend partly on memory and partly on time-honored formulas for representing the human face. Note that a good majority of the heads have a dignified look, with relaxed facial muscles; there is little or no attempt to express emotion. This idealization recalls the premium placed by the Yoruba on composure, suggesting, at the same time, that the artists might have been working within a stylistic idiom presumably aimed at relating all the individuals portrayed as Omo Oduduwa, or members of the same "extended" family. (90) Jean Borgatti has observed a similar tendency in other parts of Africa, namely, the downplaying of "individual" in favor of "social" identity, when an artist simplifies the face to conform to archetypes handed down from the past, though there is enough room for artistic inventions within a given stylistic convention. (91)

Not all the naturalistic figures from Ife and Owo had functioned in second-burial contexts. This is confirmed by the fact that some are not life-size, while others have their mouths gagged, recalling the custom of muzzling the victims of human sacrifice to prevent them from cursing the headsman. (92) We are also reminded of edi, the sorcery (mentioned above) for rendering a person tongue-tied. One striking terra-cotta figure excavated from Obalara's land (Ife), dated between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Fig. 16), wears a skull pendant around the neck; the face is contorted, with the mouth wide open, revealing the tongue. Other figures from the site have swollen faces. (93) The finding of such representations amid ritual vessels and several human skulls and bones has led to the hypothesis that the site "must have some direct relevance to human death" and that "the terra-cottas also may have played some part in post-mortem ritual." (94) It is significant that the site belongs to the Obalara family. The head of the family is a priest of Owinni, a deified ancestor whose shrine once served as a sanctuary for smallpox sufferers. This fact, as Peter Garlake points out, could very well link the terra-cottas to rites aimed at preventing the recurrence of infectious diseases in the community. (95) Equally intriguing is a fifteenth-century terra-cotta representation from Owo (about eighty miles southeast of Ife) of a basket filled with severed heads slashed on the face (Fig. 17). According to Chief Obadio, the high priest of Oduduwa in Ife, human sacrifice was offered to the deity in the past and that "terracotta human heads adorn the ritual spots." (96) In that case, can we regard this basket of heads from Owo as a variation of the practice at Ife? (97) Or are the heads substitutes for real ones in between major sacrifices? Insufficient archaeological evidence makes it impossible at the moment to answer any of these questions with confidence. What seems to be fairly certain is that in the past, naturalistic por traits had precise, limited, and specialized functions in ritual and ceremonial contexts in which recognizability of a living or deceased person was very important.

Aroya: Imaging the Metaphysical Self

Whereas in ayajora (the naturalistic portrait), a Yoruba artist endeavors to summarize the iwa, the fact of being and the observable and recognizable features of the physical self, in aroya (the conceptual portrait), he is more concerned with the essence of the subject or the metaphysical self. This is particularly the case with memorials used in communicating with a dematerialized soul in Ehin-iwa, the Afterlife (Figs. 18, 20). As it is invisible to the naked eye, this Other self--the soul--can only be imagined. For this reason, most altar memorials are stylized to signify the return of a dematerialized soul from telluric existence to "prenatal" spirituality, as well as its ability to be omnipresent and to intercede with the orisa (deities) on behalf of the living. Accordingly, an artist need not know the dead to create an appropriate memorial--though he would be briefed about gender identity or any special mark worn on the face or body to identify the deceased with a family or lineage. However, after leavin g the artist's workshop, the image usually undergoes etutu, a personalization or naming ceremony aimed at establishing a spiritual kinship between object and subject. The ceremony varies from place to place. In some cases, it involves the dipping of a memorial into the water (omi iweku) used in washing the corpse of the deceased and preserved for this purpose. In other cases, the image may be rubbed with the soil (ilepa) collected from the grave of the deceased. Thereafter, a given image may be placed in a shrine, becoming the focus of prayers, oriki (eulogies), and libations intended to influence the deceased.

The shrine figure performs three major functions in Yoruba religion. First, it is an ami (a signifier), objectifying the human essence of the signified, making visible the invisible, and providing a locus of veneration and devotion. Second, since art (ona) commands admiration--as indicated by the popular Yoruba name Onaneye (literally, Art is honorable)--a memorial sculpture is ohun eye (a dignifier), reflecting the high esteem in which the deceased is held. Third, it is aroko (a visual metaphor), embodying a message; for example, the motif of a mother and child reminds a female ancestor of her maternal duties as a provider and nurturer, while a lance-holding male figure implores an ancestor so depicted to play the role of a protector. (98) These functions would seem to account for the frequent use of the equestrian warrior motif (jagunjagun) to memorialize male ancestors, in an attempt to secure their benevolence and divine protection. A nineteenth-century example is said to commemorate Alaafin (king) Ofinra n (Fig. 18), a grandson of Oduduwa and one of the earliest kings of Old Oyo, whose reign is often dated somewhere in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. (99) Yoruba oral traditions identify Alaafin Ofinran, popularly called Sango, as a great magician and warrior who led the Old Oyo cavalry to many spectacular victories, reportedly using his magical powers to attract the thunderstorm to overwhelm his enemies in the battlefield. On his death, he was deified and identified with thunder power. Alleged to have been salvaged from the principal Sango shrine at Old Oyo before its destruction by the Fulani about 1835, this equestrian statue conflates the historical and the mythological aspects of Sango--the warrior king and deified ancestor who now hurls down the thunderbolt from the sky. A similar imagery reverberates in his oriki (eulogy), often chanted in front of shrine images dedicated to him:

Your eyes are white like bitter kola nut

Your cheeks are round like red kola nut

Fire-spitting masquerader, you frighten the big cat....

Fire in the eye, fire in the mouth, fire on the roof

You ride fire like a horse! (100)

(70.) Ibid., 432-33.

(71.) Ibid., 410; and Michael J.G. Echeruo, Victorian Lagos: Aspects of Nineteenth Century Lagos Life (London: Macmillan, 1977), 69-70.

(72.) As Olumide Lucas (as in n. 8), 145, has observed, "Even the Oba [the reigning king] ... May himself be an Eyo [masquerade] on that day." Since the 1940s, the function of the Adamuorisa festival has been expanded. Whereas in the past it was staged to honor only kings, chiefs, and members of the royal family, today it may also be staged to honor distinguished citizens of Lagos and to mark important events. See Osanyin (as in n. 69), 433.

(73.) Jacob Egharevba, A Short History of Benin (Ibadan, Nigeria: University of Ibadan Press, 1960), 12. According to Egharevba, this tradition stopped when Oba Oguola (who reigned in the 13th-14th century) requested the king of Ife to send a brass caster to teach Benin artists how to cast in metal. An Ife brass caster called Iguehae was later sent to Benin City. See also Willett, 1967, 132; and Paula G. Ben-Amos, The Art of Benin, rev. Ed. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995), 20-25.

(74.) Nathaniel A. Fadipe, The Sociology of the Yoruba (Ibadan, Nigeria: Ibadan University Press, 1970), 206.

(75.) Ibid., 207.

(76.) For a review of the Ife king list, see Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 96-121.

(77.) Adediran (as in n. 8), 90; and Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 96-97.

(78.) Adediran (as in n. 8), 91; and Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 96-97. Alaafin (owner of the palace), the Oyo title for the king, evidently derives from olofin, which is said to have been first used by Oduduwa.

(79.) Adediran (as in n. 8), 91-93. Until recently, some scholars had assumed that it was Obalufon who led the Igbo raids on Ife because he had been deposed by Oranmiyan (see, for instance, Adedeji [as in n. 11], 326-27, quoting J. O. Abiri; and Blier, 388-89, quoting Adedeji). But, as Adediran (ibid.) and Fabunmi, 17, have pointed Out, the defeat of the Igbo occurred during the second reign of Obalufon (Alayemoore), when the Ife heroine Moremi allowed herself to he captured by the Igbo. She later married the Igbo king, acquired knowledge of the Igbo war strategies, and then escaped. She returned to Ife and revealed these strategies to Obalufon, and the Igbo were routed when next they raided Ife. See also Duro Ladipo, Moremi (Lagos: Macmillan, 1971).

(80.) For a comprehensive review of Ife art and culture, see Willett, 1967.

(81.) Fabunmi, 10-11. See also Adediran (as in n. 8), 90-91; and Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 98-99, 105.

(82.) See Blier, 385-90. According to Frank Willett, 1967 (150), the Obalufon mask might have been worn by somebody masquerading as the king, possibly playing the role of Obalufon at certain ceremonies.

(83.) Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 99.

(84.) Willett, 1967, 57, 150; and Sir Adesoji Aderemi, "Notes on the City of Ife," Nigeria Magazine 12 (1937): 3-6.

(85.) Johnson (as in n. 5), 3-8; and Saburi O. Biobaku, The Orgin of the Yoruba, Humanities Monograph Series, no. 1 (Lagos: University of Lagos, 1971), 8-13.

(86.) See Johnson (as in n. 5), 59.

(87.) Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 104. According to some accounts, Debooye later succeeded her father, although others claim that she became king not immediately, hut several years later. Only a few female kings are mentioned in the Ife king list, the most famous being Luwo.

(88.) At Old Oyo, there was a custom of commissioning a carved, though sylized, portrait of a new king to serve as his surrogate at certain public and private ceremonies. The tradition has survived at present-day Oyo, (see below at n. 161 and Fig. 26). Elsewhere in Africa, among the Kuba of Zaire, it was the practice in the past to make a stylized portrait (ndop) of a new king at the beginning of his reign, which then served as his surrogate on certain occasions. This portrait was also involved in the ritual transfer of royal power from a deceased king to his successor. See Jan Vansina, "Ndop: Royal Statues among the Kuba," in African Art and Leadership, ed. Douglas Fraser and Herbert M. Cole (Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1972), 41-55; and Monni Adams, "18th Century Kuba King Figures," African Arts 21, no. 3 (1988): 32-38, 88.

(89.) See Willett, 1967, 28-30; and idem, "Stylistic Analysis and the Identification of Artists' Workshops in Ancient Ife," in Abiodun et al., 49-57. Because of the heads' formal and stylistic similarities, Kenneth Murray ("Ancient Ife: Letter to the Editor," Odu 9 [1963]: 71-80) has suggested that a good majority might have been made by one or two artists within a short period. Agreeing with Murray, Blier, 395-99, is of the opinion that, given the fact that most of the heads resemble the Oba1ufon mask (Fig. 14). They may very well be associated with that famous ruler.

(90.) The leading Yoruba historian Isaac Adeagbo Akinjogbin refers to the Omo Oduduwa concept as the "Ebi Commonwealth"; that is, an "extended family." See Isaac A. Akinjogbin, Dahomey and Its Neighbours, 1708-1818 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 14-17. Some of the Ife heads have striations and raised weals on the face, but we are not sure at the moment that such facial markings refer to particular individuals. Since people with similar facial markings are to be found in the northwestern and northeastern parts of Nigeria, hundreds of miles away from Ife, is it possible that such heads refer to outsiders? It is significant, however, that some Yoruba oral traditions identify Oduduwa as coming from the northeastern part of present-day Nigeria.

(91.) Jean Borgatti. "Portraiture in Africa," African Arts 23, no. 3 (1990): 35-36; see also Borgatti and Richard Brilliant. Likeness and Beyond: Portraits from Africa and the World (New York: Center for African Art. 1990).

(92.) For illustrations, see Willett, 1967, colorpls. V, vl, pl. 62.

(93.) See Peter S. Garlake, "Excavations at Obalara's Land, Ife: An Interim Report," West African Journal of Archaeology 6 (1974): 111--48; and Eyo and Willett, fig. 30.

(94.) Garlake (as in n. 93), 1.16. For other representations of diseased persons in Ife art, see Willett, 1967, 63, p1. 40, figs. 7, 8.

(95.) Garlake (as in n. 93).

(96.) Omotoso Eluyemi, "New Terracotta Finds at Oke-Eso, Ife," African Arts 9, no. 1 (1975): 34. See also Willett, 1967, 68.

(97.) According to Rowland Abiodun, the heads represented in this basket may be those of "strangers," since it was forbidden in ancient times to sacrifice an Owo indigene in local shrines. See Rowland Abiodun, "The Kingdom of Owo, in Drewal et al., 101.

(98.) For details. See Bahatunde Lawal, "From Africa to the New World: Art in Yoruba Religion," in Santeria Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin American Art, ed. Arturo Lindsay (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1996), 3-37.

(99.) Richard Law. The Oyo Empire, c. 1600-c. 1836: A West African Imperialism us tile Era of tile Atlantic Slave Trade (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1977), 32-33.

(100.) Beier, 31. Indeed, the frequency of the equestrian warrior motif in Sango's oriki reflects the critical role played by the cavalry in the heydays of the Old Oyo empire, between the 17th and 19th centuries, when its kings (alaafin) controlled a good part of northern and southwestern Yorubaland. We are also reminded of the importance attached to Sango's apotheosis during the period when his veneration as an ancestor was elevated to a state religion (transforming him into a deity [orisa] and many Sango priests served as tax collectors or resident governors in tributary kingdoms. For more details, see Law (as in n. 99), 104' and Morton-Williams (as in n. 18).

(101.) W.J.T. Mitchell, Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 88-89. He defines "imagetext" as a work that combines image and text.

(102.) Philip Wheelwright. Metaphor and Reality (Bloomington. Ind.; Indiana University Press, 1968). 94-95,

(103.) Robert F. Thompson, "Sons of Thunder, Twin Images of the Yoruba." African Arts 7, no, 3 (1971): 8-9.

(104.) For more on Yoruba twin memorials, see ibid., 8-13. 77-80; Houlberg (as in n. 41), 20-27, 91-92; Mareidi Stall, Gert Stoll, and Ulrich Klever, Ibeji: Zwillingsfiguren der Yoruba/Twin Figures of the Yoruba (Munich: By the authors. 1980); and Babatunde Lawal, "A Pair of Ere Ibeji (Twin Statuettes) in the Kresge Art Museum," Kresge Museum Art Bulletin 41, no. 1(1989): 91-103.

(105.) According to one Yoruba legend, twins were first born in Yorubaland at Isokun village in Old Oyo.

(106.) The Yoruba associate twins with time. Colobus monkey because this animal often gives birth to two babies at a time,

(107.) Tradition requires mothers of twins to dance frequently in public in honor of their living children or to appease the souls of deceased twins. On suds occasions, they are showered with gifts of all kinds by relatives and onlookers to enable them to meet the expenses of taking care of themselves and the children.

(108.) O. Daramola and A. Jeje, Awon Asa ati Orisa Ile Yoruba (Ibadan. Nigeria: Onibon-Oje Book Industries, 1967), 282-83.

(109.) According to the myth. The Supreme Being withdrew this privilege, replacing it with death.

(110.) See also Idowu. 13. There is a tendency among the Yoruba to regard as embodiments of ancient ancestors sculptures accidentally washed out of the ground by floods or recovered its the course of laying building foundations. Such sculputures are usually placed on altars with a view to harnessing the spiritual power of the souls they represent. The town of Esie, about ninety miles from Ife, has more than eight hundred such stone figures. The present inhabitants of the town claim that their ancestors found the sculptures in the town when they first settled there in the 18th century, so these figures are venerated as petrified aborigines. For more details, see Allison (as in n. 36), 21-24; and Phillips Stevens, The Stone Images of Este, Nigeria (New York: Africana. 1978).

(111.) J. A. Ademakinwa, Ife: Time Cradle of the Yoruba (Lagos: Pacific Printing Works, 1953), 40-41.

(112.) Idowu, 22; and Fabunmi, fig. 2.

(113.) Adegboyega Sobande, "Isinku ni Ile Yoruba," Olokun, no.9 (1970): 26.

(114.) Cited in Thompson (as in n. 40), 58. Thompson's interviews with several indigenous Yoruba carvers and critics reveal that one of the most important criteria for an ideal sculpture among the Yoruba is that it should represent the subject in the prime of life (see esp. 56-58). I have documented similar comments from carvers in Osi Ekiti, Oyo, and Ayetoro in northeastern, northcentral, and southwestern Yorubaland respectively. Frank Willett (1966, 37) has also observed that an ako second-burial effigy of the late mother of Chief Sasere Adetula of Owo (carved in 1943 by Ogunleye Ologan) "represents her as a yotmng woman...." The fact that this phenomenon is evident in both naturalistic and stylized portraits shows that it is deeply rooted in indigenous Yoruba aesthetics and cannot be explained solely by the practice of modeling the face of a second-burial effigy after that of a child who closely resembles the deceased. A similar tradition has been recorded in Benin City. According to a legend, King Ewuare of the 15th century once commissioned the royal brass caster and woodcarver guilds to make his portrait. The woodcarvers portrayed him as he really looked in old age, whereas the brass casters depicted him as a much younger man. King Ewuare was displeased with the woodcarvers and demoted them. See Borgatti and Brilliant (as in n. 91), 32, quoting Ben-Amos (as in n. 73). For a discussion of the concept in other parts of Africa, see Thompson (as in n. 48), 5-7. It should be noted, however, that not all Yoruba representations emphasize the prime of life. In the edan ogboni, a pair of male and female brass figures that serves as an emblem of the Ogboni society, the stress is on maturity. It signifies the desire of members for long life and prosperity. See Lawal (as in n. 18), 37-38.

(115.) For more on Yoruba twin memorials, see n. 104 above.

(116.) Abiodun, 8.

(117.) See Lawal, 1974, 245.

(118.) Illustrated in Lawal, 1996, 236-37.

(119.) For more on Yoruba masks, see Drewal et al., passim.

(120.) Frank Willett, African Art, rev. Ed. (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993). 212-13.

(121.) For more on Yoruba crowns, see Robert F. Thompson, "The Sign of the Divine King: Yoruba Beaded-Embroidered Crowns with Veil and Bird Decorations," in Fraser and Cole (as in n. 88), 227-60; and Ulli Beier, Yoruba Beaded Crowns: Sacred Regalia of the Olokuku of Okuku (London: Ethnographica, 1982).

(122.) Cited in Akinsola Akiwowo, Ajobi and Ajogbe; Variations on the Theme of Sociation (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: University of Ife Press, 1983), 11. See also Lawal (as in n. 104), 23-24.

(123.) See, for instance, Idowu, 84-85.

(124.) Polished stone axes and iron tools are sacred to Ogun, suggesting that the one preceded the other in his iconography.

(125.) E. M. Lijadu, Ifa: Imole re ti ise Ipile Isin ni lle Yoruba (Ado Ekiti, Nigeria: Standard Press, 1908), 35. Yoruba text: "Nje bi a ba te mi, ngo tun ra mi te / Eewo ti a ba ka fun mi, ngo gbo / Tite la te mi, ngo tun 'ra mi te,"

(126.) Idowu, 60; and Wole Soyinka, Myth. Literature and the African World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 10.

(127.) For details, see Karin Barber, "How Man Makes God in West Africa: Yoruba Attitudes towards the Orisa," Africa, journal oft* Ɔkyeame Kwame International African Instittute 51, no. 3 (1981): 724-45.

(128.) The Omo Oduduwa doctrine assumed a new aspect in 1945 when Yoruba students in London formed the Egbe Omo Oduduwa (Oduduwa Descendants Club), a cultural organization charged with the responsibility of advancing the cause of the Yoruba in colonial Nigerian politics. The organization eventually developed into a political party (the now defunct Action Group) whose membership included non-Yoruba politicians. The leader of the party, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was fond of wearing a special hat that soon became fashionable among his followers, enabling them to project a common identity at party rallies and conventions. See Arifalo (as in n. 12), 72.

(129.) Jacques Lacan, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York: W. W. Norton, 1981).

(130.) Ibid., 67-119. For a recent review of the literature on the gaze, see Margaret Olin, "Gaze," in Critical Terms far Art History, ed. Robert F. Nelson and Richard Shiff (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 208-19.

(131.) The word iran (spectacle) should not be confused with iran (generation) or iran (the tail of a tortoise), even though the three words have the same pronunciation.

(132.) Lawal (as in n. 118), 39. Yoruba text: "O nwo mi, mo nwo o,/ Tani seun ninu ara wa."

(133.) See Idowu, 205; and Olatunji (as in n. 54), 79. Fairly naturalistic memorials also occur on the superstructures of Gelede headdresses during a special farewell ceremony intended to terminate the participation of a deceased member in the annual festivals.

(134.) See Abiodun (as in n. 97), pl. 103.

(135.) Having grown up in, and traveled throughout, Yorubaland, I have witnessed several second-burial ceremonies involving naturalistic memorials such as ako, ipade, ajeje, and related forms, like the Eyo Adamuorisa (Eyo) effigy of Lagos. Igbogbo, and Ijebu, Unfortunately, most of these opportunities predated my research interest in the subject. More recently, I encountered other ceremonies while on social visits to some towns but had no camera on me to record them.

(136.) However, the Yoruba believe that the soul of a deceased parent can be reincarnated as a grandchild and begin a new life on earth. Lawal (as in n. 51), 50-61.

(137.) For illustrations, see Ulli Beier, A Story of Sacred Wood Carvings from One Small Yoruba Town (Lagos: Nigerian Printing and Publishing Company, 1957).

(138.) See Bice Benvenuto and Roger Kennedy, The Works of Jacques Lacan: An Introduction (London: Free Association Books, 1986), 55-58.

(139.) The inward look on the face of certain altar sculptures has led some scholars to compare it to the countenance of devotees possessed by a deity.

(140.) I am grateful to Chief Ifayemi Eleburuibon, a famous Osogho-based Yoruba diviner, for drawing my attention to this saying taken from the divination versa (Idikan), in an interview on July 6, 1998.

(141.) For Yoruba chants meant to attract positive gazes, see David A.A. Adeniji, Ofo Rere (Ibadan, Nigeria: University of Ibadan Press, 1982).

(142.) Adeboye Babalola, "Ounje Oju," Olokun 9 (1970): 39: "Ki l'a npe l'onje oju? / Ki l'o nyo oju bi oka ti nyo ikun? / Oju ko l'onje meji bikose iran.... / Meji pataki n'irufe re / Idan, orisi iran ni / Ewa, orisi iran nu l'eyi / Oju ki irewa k'o maa ki i / Enia ki iko adarabiegbin k'oma wo o.... / "Eegun npidan l'oja, je a lo wo o." / Onje oju la fe fi fun un...."

(143.) For details, see Lawal (as in n. 118), 39 n. 3, 128-29.

(144.) The word gbajumo can be etymologized as igba (two hundred), oju (faces or eyes), and mo (know).

(145.) Abraham (as in n. 3), 667.

(146.) See William Bascom, The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria (New York: Holt and Winston, 1969), 111.

(147.) Idowu, 77 (trans.). Yoruba text: "ifa te ju mo mi ki o wo mi 're / Bi o ba te 'ju mo 'ni la l'owo l'lowo / Bi o ba te ju mo 'ni la ri're."

(148.) In her review of the literature on the subject, Margaret Olin (as in n. 130), 209, notes, "There is usually something negative about the gaze as used in art theory." This may partly be due to an emphasis on the "evil eye" in Judeo-Christian thought. According to Jacques Lacan (as in n. 129), 115, whose theory is a major influence on contemporary hermeneutics of the gaze, "there is no trace anywhere of a good eye." In his words (118-19), "The eye may be prophylactic, it cannot be beneficent--it is maleficent. In the Bible and even in the New Testament, there is no good eye, but there are evil eyes all over the place." The existence among the Yoruba of the notion of a good eye (oju rere or oju aanu) contradicts this assumption and calls for a more open-minded approach to the subject. For a critique of the paranoid implications of the Lacanian theory of the gaze, see Norman Bryson, "The Gaze in the Expanded Field," in Vision and Visuality: Discussions in Contemporary Culture, ed. Hal Foster (Seattle: Bay Press, 1988), 104-8.

(149.) As a result, flattery, drumming, dancing, and commemorative displays are often employed to influence the deities in Yoruba religion, as Andrew Apter has rightly observed. See his Black Critics and Kings: The Hermeneutics of Power in Yoruba Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 99. For other implications of the face in Yaruba art, see Lawal (as in n. 28), 91-103.

(150.) Wande Abimbola, Sixteen Great Poems of Ifa (Zaria, Nigeria: UNESCO, 1975), 233. That the other orisa (deities) depend on Esu for vision is most evident in the iconography of Ifa, the divination deity. Most divination trays (opon Ifa) have at least one stylized face said to represent Esu, enabling Ifa to reveal the past and foretell the future. See also Bascom (as in n. 33), 34; and Hans Witte, "Ifa Trays from Osogbo and Ijebu Regions," in Abiodun et al., 58-77.

(151.) Abraham (as in n. 3), 667.

(152.) For a survey, see Mary H. Nooter, ad., Secrecy: African Art That Conceals and Reveals (New York: Museum of African Art; Munich: Prestel, 1993).

(153.) Susan Vogel, Baule: African Art/Western Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 110.

(154.) According to popular belief, shortly after its abandonment at the crossroads, a second-burial effigy would momentarily be animated by the ghost of the deceased and its eyes would be filled with tears as the mourners return home. If the effigy is buried, the ghost would stand on the spot, sadly staring at the mourners. Tradition enjoins the mourners not to look back after disposing of the effigy; whoever does so runs the risk of seeing the tearful face of the figure or the ghost and would subsequently die if certain propitiatory rites were not performed.

(155.) Stevens (as in n. 9), 194.

(156.) Oludare Olajubu and J.R.O. Ojo, "Some Aspects of Oyo Yoruba Masquerades," Africa, Journal of the International African Institute 47, no. 3 (1977): 269.

(157.) The term Orombo alludes to the unseeable.

(158.) Solomon O. Babayemi, Egungun among the Oyo Yoruba (Ibadan, Nigeria: Board Publications, 1980), 8-9 (trans.). Yoruba text: "Ma foju kan mi / Enikan ko gbodo foju kan Orombo / Nijo Agan ba jade osan / Igi a ma wo lu igi, ope a ma wolu ope / Igbo a ma jona tagbatagba / Odan a si jona teruwa teruwa / A difa fun Mafojukanmi / Ti i je Agan." Solomon Babayemi translates the name Mafojukanmi figuratively as "You must not see my face," which is correct. But I prefer the literal translation of the name, which is "Do not set your eyes on me."

(159.) Peter Morton-Williams, "The Egungun Society in South-Western Yoruba Kingdoms," in Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of the West African Institute of Social and Economic Research (Ibadan, Nigeria: WAISER, 1956), 95. I had a similar experience as a child growing up in Yorubaland. In some towns, the sound of bull roarers (oro) would fill the air as the procession moved from one ward to another, as if deliberately intended to awake the uninitiated, stressing the fact of their exclusion. In some cases, a sacred image may be brought out in daylight but concealed. Among the Ijebu subgroup, women are not allowed to see the charm of the Agemo masks, even in a concealed form, because of its use to reinforce the patriarchal social system. Women are therefore warned in advance to stay indoors: "Orisa is treading the highways / Lord of Life / Who dares behold him? / Who dares scan the features of the god! / A chance glance, a chance death! / Swellings on your body like ripe corn! / Glimmering shadow! / A s urreptitious glance, a surreptitious death." See John Pemberton, "The King and the Chameleon: Odun Agemo," Ife: Annals of the Institute of Cultural Studies (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife) 2 (1988): 52. In other cases, a sacred image may be seen by the general public but not at close range. A good example is the headdress of the Iya mask, which represents the Great Mother among the Ketu and Egbado subgroups. The mask usually comes out at night during the annual Gelede festival that is held in her honor. When the mask appears in the dance arena, all lights must be extinguished. For details, see Henry J. Drewal, "Art and the Perception of Women in Yoruba Culture," Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines 17, no. 4 (1977): 553.

(160.) Similar traditions of concealment have been observed in other parts of Africa and are exemplified by the so-called acoustic masks, which appear only at night, using sound rather than visibility to indicate their supernatural power. For details, see Rosalind I.J. Hackett, Art and Religion in Africa (New York: Cassell, 1996), 55-56; and Edward Lifschitz, "Hearing Is Believing: Acoustic Aspects of Masking in Africa," in West African Masks and Cultural Systems, ed. Sidney L. Kasfir (Trevuren: Musee Royale de l'Afrique Centrale, 1988), 221-27.

(161.) Since such an image is made at the beginning of an alaafin's reign, one can only wonder whether or not a similar tradition obtained in ancient Ife with which the life-size brass heads may be associated, one way or the other.

(162.) Sometimes, a framed photograph of the deceased may be carried in a public parade before the corpse is interred; in other cases, photographs are carried in a public procession during annual memorial celebrations. For illustrations, see Margaret T. Drewal, Yaruba Ritual.' Performers, Play, Agency (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1994), fig. 3.4. For Western influences on contemporary Yoruba portraiture, see idem, "Portraiture and the Construction of Reality in Yorubaland and Beyond," African Arts 23, no. 3 (1990): 40-49, 101. See also Stephen F. Sprague, "Yoruba Photography: How the Yoruba See Themselves," African Arts 12, no. 1 (1978): 52-59, 107.

(163.) See Drewal, 1990 (as in n. 162), 40-49.

(164.) Sprague (as in n. 162), 57.

(165.) Ibid. See also Houlberg (as in n. 41), 26-27; and idem, "Collecting the Anthropology of African Art," African Arts 9, no.3 (1976): 18-19; Susan Vogel, ed., Africa Explores: 20th Century African Art (New York: Center for African Art; Munich: Prestel, 1991), 44-47; and Olu Oguibe, "Photography and the Substance of the Image," in In/Sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present (New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1996), 243-46.

(166.) Houlberg (as in n. 165), 18.

Frequently Cited Sources

Abiodun, Rowland, "A Reconsideration of the Function of Ako, Second Burial Effigy of Owo," Africa, journal of the International African Institute 46, no. 1 (1976): 4-20.

Abiodun, Rowland, Henry J. Drewal, and John Pemberton III, eds., The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994).

Akinjogbin, Isaac A., ed. The Cradle of a Race: Ife from the Beginning to 1980 (Portharcourt, Nigeria: Sunray, 1992).

Beier, Ulli, Yoruba Poetry: An Anthology of Traditional Poems (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970).

Blier, Suzanne, "Kings, Crowns, and Rights of Succession: Obalufon Arts at Ife and Other Yoruba Centers," Art Bulletin 67 (1985): 383-401.

Drewal, Henry J., and John Pemberton with Rowland Abiodun, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought (New York: Center for African Art, 1989).

Eyo Ekpo and Frank Willett, Treasures of Ancient Nigeria (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980).

Fabunmi, Michael A., Ife Shrines (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: University of Ife Press, 1969).

Idowu, E. Bolaji, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, rev. Ed. (New York: Original Publications, 1995).

Lawal, Babatunde, 1974, "Some Aspects of Yoruba Aesthetics," British Journal of Aesthetics 14, no. 3: 239-49.

-----, 1996, The Gelede Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in an African Culture (Seattle: University of Washington Press).

Willett, Frank, 1966, "On the Funeral Effigies of Owo and Benin, and the Interpretation of the Life-Size Bronze Heads from Ife," Man, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, n.s., 1: 34-45.

-----, 1967, Ife in the History of West African Sculpture (New York: McGrawHill).

Babatunde Lawal is professor of art history, Virginia Commonwealth University. He has published extensively on traditional and contemporary African art, most recently The Gelede Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in an African Culture (1996). A new book, Sango: Art, Spirit Mediumship, and Thunder Power in Yoruba Culture, is nearing completion [Department of Art History, School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, P0 Box 843046, Richmond, Va. 23284-3046, blawal@titan.vcu.edu].

COPYRIGHT 2001 College Art Association
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group

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Yoruba traditional adjudicatory systems

Yorubic Medicine: The Art of divine Herbology
Yorubic Medicine: The Art of divine Herbology by Tariq Sawandi

Yorubic medicine is indigenous to and widely practiced on the African continent. Yorubic medicine has its roots in the Ifa Corpus, a religious text revealed by the mystic prophet, Orunmila, over 4,000 years ago in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, now known as Yorubaland. Within the last 400 years, this healing system has also been practiced in the day-to-day lives of individuals in the Caribbean, and South America, in large part, because of the traditions brought over by African slaves arriving in the Americas.

Orunmila's teachings were directed at the Yoruba people which centered around the topics of divination, prayer, dance, symbolic gestures, personal and communal elevation, spiritual baths, meditation, and herbal medicine. This ancient text, the Ifa Corpus, is the foundation for the art of divine herbology. Although Yorubic medicine has been practiced in Africa for over 4,000 years, its fundamental principles are little known to Westerners around the world. Among the various medical techniques for diagnosis and treatment, Yorubic medicine provides an important and valuable system worthy of study. The purpose of Yoruba is not merely to counteract the negative forces of disease in the human body, but also to achieve spiritual enlightenment and elevation which are the means of freeing the soul.

As with all ancient systems of medicine, the ideal of Yoruba herbology is to condition the body in its entirety so that disease will not attack it. (The term Osain is also used to describe Yorubic herbology. The word "Osain" means "the divine Orisha of plants". I will also use this term throughout the essay.) Many Westerners take it for granted that "African medicine" is a vague term for a collection of medical "voo doo". This myth about African medicine creeped in over centuries of misunderstandings. What is left is the negative image of primitive "voo doo" witch-doctors. This "voo doo" mentality is devoid of the sacred realities born of African thought in respect to religion, philosophy, and medicine. Therefore, the reader must separate witch-doctor myths from the genuine article when considering African herbal medicine.

In order to understand the system of Yoruba medicine, it is important to have some knowledge of the historical conditions that gave birth to this African art of healing. Many factors and dynamics were involved which influenced the beginnings and the development of this indigenous medicine.

The Yoruba history begins with the migration of an East African population across the trans-African route leading from the mid-Nile river area to the mid-Niger.1 Archaeologists, according to M. Omoleya, inform us that the Nigerian region was inhabited more than forty thousand years ago, or as far back as 65,000 B.C.2 During this period, the Nok culture occupied the region. The Nok culture was visited. By the "Yoruba people", between 2000 and 500 B.C. This group of people wer led, according to Yoruba historical accounts, by King Oduduwa, who settled peacefully in the already established Ile-Ife, the sacred city of the indigenous Nok people. This time period is known as the Bronze Age, a time of high civilization of both of these groups.

According to Olumide J. Lucue, "the Yoruba, during antiquity, lived in ancient Egypt before migrating to the Atlantic coast." He uses as demonstration the similarity of identity of languages, religious beliefs, customs, and names of persons, places and things.3 In addition, many ancient papyri discovered by archaeologists hint at an Egyptian origin.

Like almost everything else in the cultural life of Egypt, the development of science and medicine began with the priests, and dripped with evidences of its magical origins. Among the people, amulets and charms mere more popular than pills as preventive or curatives of disease. Disease was considered to them as possession by evil devils, and was to be treated with incantations along with the roots of certain plants and mystical concoctions. A cold for instance, could be exorcised by such magic words as: "Depart, cold, son of a cold, thou who breakest the bones, destroyest the skull, makest ill the seven openings of the head!...Go out on the floor, stink, stink, stink!" In many ways, this provided an effective cure, known today by various contemporary medicine as psychosomatic. Along side the incantations that were used, the sick patient was given a foul tasting concoction to help ward off the demon housed in the body.

The Egyptian principles of magic and medicine

There was a tendency of Egyptian physician and priest to associate magic with medicine. From such origins, there rose in Egypt great physicians, surgeons, and specialists, who acknowledged an ethical code that passed down into the famous Hippocratic oath. The Greeks derived much of their medical knowledge from Egyptian physicians around 750 B.C. The influence of Egyptian medicine was so great on European culture that even to this day Egyptian concepts still have its signature in modern Western medicine. For exemple, when a medical Doctor writes a prescription he uses the Egyptian symbol for health(Jupiter) with the symbol for retrograde= Rx This means, "I curse your health in retrograde" = death.

During the reign of King Menes, there developed a body of knowledge which centered around magic, medicine, philosophy and religion which is known as the Memphite Theolopy. Egyptian priest physicians saw the ideal of medicine as a magical principle: "that the qualities of animals or things are distributed throughout all their parts". Consequently, within the universe contact is established between objects through emanations (radiation), the result might be sensation or cognition, healing or contagion.4

There is no doubt the Memphite Theology played a major role in evolving Egyptian medical theory. To them, magic and healing was "applied religion". The Memphite Theology is an inscription on a stone, now kept in the British Museum. It contains theological, cosmological, and philosophical views of the Egyptians. It is dated 700 B.C. And bear the name of an Egyptian Pharaoh who stated that he had copied an inscription of his ancestors.

According to the Memphite Doctrine, "The primate God Ptah, conceived in his heart, everything that exist and by his utterance created them all. He first emerged from the primeval waters of Idun in the form of a primeval Hill. Closely following the Hill, the God (Atum) also emerged from the waters and set upon Ptah...out of the primeval chaos contained 10 principles: 4 pairs of opposite principles, together with two other gods: Ptah, Mind, Thought, and Creative utterance. While Atum joins himself to Ptah and acts as Demiurge and executes the work of creation.

Water is the source of all things creation was accomplished by the unity of two creative principles: Ptah and Alum, the unity of Mind (Nous) with Logos (creative utterance). Atum was Sun-God or fire-God Opposite Principles control the life of the universe. The elements in creation were fire (Atum), water (Nun), Earth (Ptah) and Air. The gods whom Atum projected from his body were:

Shu (Air)
Tefnut (moisture)
Geb (earth)
Nut (sky)

Who are said to have given birth to four other Gods:

Osiris
Isis
Seth (opposite of good)
Nephthys (unseen world)

The Egyptian concept of cosmology, like the Chinese doctrine of Yin and Yang, and the East Indian system of Tridosha (Pitta, Vata, and Kapha), offered a comprehensive explanation of the natural forces of the universe. There were other ideals which the Egyptians developed such as the Doctrine of the Soul. They believers that the soul and body were not two distinct things, but one in two different aspects, just as form related to matter. The soul is the power which a living body possesses, and it is the end for which the body exist, the final cause of its existence. By the time the Third Dynasty arrived during the reign of King Zoser, Imhotep, the great African physician had expanded on much of the earlier theories of medicine. Imhotep is regarded as the "real Father of Medicine". He diagnosed and treated more than two hundred diseases. Imhotep and his students knew how to detect diseases by the shape, color, or position of the visual parts of the body; they also practiced surgery, and extraction of medicine from plants. Imhotep also knew of the circulation of the blood, four thousand years before it was known in Europe. His sayings and proverbs, which embodied his philosophy of life, were handed down from generation to generation. He is best known for his saying, "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we shall die."

Imhotep also promoted health by public sanitation, by circumcision of males, and by teaching the people the frequent ipse of the enema. Diodorus Siculus, the historian tells us: "In order to prevent sicknesses they look after the health of their body by means of drenches, fastings and emetics, sometimes everyday, and sometimes at intervals of three or four days. For they say that the larger part of the food taken into the body is superfluous, and that it is from this superfluous part that diseases are engendered."

The habit of taking enemas was learned by the Egyptians from observing the "ibis", a bird. That counteracts the constipating character of its food by using its long bill as a rectal syringe. Herodotus, the Jewish historian reports that the Egyptians, "purge themselves every month, three days successively, seeking to preserve health by emetics and enemas; for they suppose that all diseases to which men are subject proceed from the food they use."

We can see that the Egyptians recognized the connection between food (disease) and the cause of certain pathological diseases. In Africentric science, all life (i.e. Elements) is created by harmony and recreates harmony. A disease is viewed as harmonizing healing crisis of the body. When a person gets overloaded with waste, toxins from constipating junk foods, drugs, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, sodas, fried foods, bleach white flour, enriched flour, white rice, dairy products, cooked pig and blood in meat, salt, white suger, incorrect food combinations (i.e. Protein and carbohydrates=meat and bread or potatoes) the body reacts with a healing crisis (cleansing reaction). This cleansing is called a disease by Western medicine. Actually, the disease is the "food itself". Western medicine tries to cure the body from curing (cleansing) itself with a cure (drugs) and/or surgical mutilations. Oddly enough, Western doctors blame the cleansing reaction.

The concept of universal harmony is character istic to African thought. Africans believe there is a harmony in the universe - the circling of the planets, the tides of the earth, the growth of vegetation, the lives of animals and. People all are related. All that is in the universe emanated from the same source, one universal Mind.

The ancient Egyptian priest looked out at the universe, and noted the ratios of the different planetary cycles, and counted the rhythmic periods in nature. They also calculated the ratios of the human body. They put together a "sacred" geometry which were a set of mathematical ratios and proportions. They believed that these ratios if used in the sound of music and the architecture of buildings (pyrimids), this would resonate with the life forces of the universe and thus enhance life. The ancient physician/priests of the Nile Valley were said to have been instructed in temples which were called "Per Ankh." In today's language they would be called the "House of Life".

Of the thousands of medical papyri originally written, less then a dozen have been discovered, and of that number, the Ebers Papyrus and the Edwin Smith Papyrus are deemed the most profound. The Edwin Smith Papyrus was published in 1930 by James Henry Breasted, who had spent ten years translating the document. This papyrus describes 48 different injuries to the head, face, neck, thorax and spinal column and the appropriate surgical methods for attending to them. It is suspected that the Eighteenth Dynasty scribe who was responsible for copying the original text only wrote the first 48 cases dealing with the upper third of the body. There are more than 90 anatomical terms referenced in the Edwin Smith Papyrus, and there are more than 200 terms listed in various Nile Valley medical literature.

This papyrus is also of great importance because of its use of the word "brain" and references to the neurological relationship between the brain (spinal cord and nervous system) and the body. The Ebers Papyrus (ca. 1500 B.C.) explores a broad range of medical science and includes chapters on the pulse and cardio-vascular system, dermatology, gynecology, ophthalmology, obstetrics, tumors, burns, fractures, intestinal disorders and much more. There is also considerable evidence that physicians in Egypt (also Kemet) practiced circumcision, brain surgery and were extremely well versed in gynecology and obstetrics. By 2000 B.C. Physicians in Egypt had already created an effective organic chemical contraceptive. This formula consisted of acacia spikes, honey and dates, which were mixed in a specific ratio, and inserted into the girl thingy. Modern science has since discovered that acacia spikes contain lactic acid, which is a natural chemical spermicide.

Pregnancy and fetal sex tests were conducted by Egyptian herbalist who soaked bags of wheat and barley in a sample of a woman's urine. Urine from a pregnant woman was known to accelerate the growth of certain plants; if the barley sprouted, it meant that the woman was pregnant and was going to give birth to a female child, and if the wheat sprouted it meant that she would give birth to a male child. The urine pregnancy test was not rediscovered by modern science until 1926 and the wheat/barley sex determination teat was not developed until 1933.

In 1987, the National Academy of Sciences published a report by the National Academy of Engineers entitled Lasers: Invention to Application. In a chapter titled "Lasers in Medicine", the author, Rodney Perkins, M.D., suggests that a form of laser therapy was actually used in Egypt. Dr. Perkins states that: "The use of the laser in medicine and surgery has a relatively short pedigree of less than two decades. Although the range of laser radiation extends both below and above the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, that radiation is, in a sense, only a special form of light. The use of other forms of light in medicine has a longer history. There is documentation that the ancient Egyptians recognized and used the therapeutic power of light as long as 6,000 years ago. Patches of depigmented skin, now referred to as vitiligo, were cosmetically undesirable. Egyptian healers reportedly crushed a plant similar to present day parsley and rubbed the affected areas with the crushed leaves. Exposure to the sun's radiation produced a severe form of sunburn only in the treated areas. The erythema subsided, leaving hyperpigmentation in the previously depigmented areas."5

When looking at Nile Valley Egypt and its contributions to natural and herbal medicine, it must be understood that we are not just talking about Egypt alone. We must consider the whole continent which extends over 4,000 miles into the geography of Africa. Many tribes and African nations contributed their share of herbal and medical wisdom. This would include the Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mali, Libya, and dozens of other African nations. The Nile Valley, however, became something of a cultural highway which made it a great historical stopping place for wisdom and knowledge.

Out of Africa came the world's first organized system of herbal and medical science. This knowledge was so profound, much of it passed from the Egyptians to the Phonicians, the Yorubas, India, Syria, Babylon, the Middle East, the Greeks, to the Romans, and from the Romans to Western Europe. The three major herbal systems, Ayurveda, Chinese Traditional Medicine, and Western herbology were extracted from the knowledge created by the priests and wise men in the Nile Valley. When this gigantic work is completed, I believe the evidence will reveal information that will amaze humanity.

Early in its history and its development, Nile Valley civilization created a basic way of life that attracted teachers, and priests from other parts of Africa, always enriching the original composite composition of the Nile Valley. By the time the Yoruba people made their journey to the Nile Valley, led by the mystic prophet Orunmila, Egyptian priests had accumulated centuries of herbal and medical knowledge. The Yoruba's drew from this treasure chest of wisdom, and incorporated it into their own religious and cultural customs. The key point, in respect to the evolution of Yoruba medicine, is that Egyptian knowledge, coupled with the earlier Nok people, produced the outcome of Yoruba herbal practices.

From a conceptual standpoint, Osain herbalism is a religion, a philosophy, and a science, Born from this concept is the idea that oneness with the Creative Essence brings about a wholeness in the human essence. Seekers, or aspirants of the system of Osain, or Yoruba, seek to bring themselves into alignment (balanced health) with his spiritual being (immortal reality), and his relationship with the Divine Cause. This is achieved through herbs, spiritual baths, right living, diet, rituals, and self-development which are meant to maintain a healthy and happy life. Thus, Osain is a divine journey to the inner self which encompasses all aspects of life.

As envisioned by the ancient prophet, Orunmila, of Yoruba, the Ifa Corpus (Cosmic Intelligence) is the text of Osain herbalism. Orunmila saw that dual levels of potentiality existed in the human body. Through him, we understand that the study of animate and inanimate, manifest and unmanifest, visible and invisible worlds leads to fundamental understandings of the processes of growth and life cycles of trees and plants, the lives of insects, animals, and. Human nature. Through the guidance of Orunmila, the principles of Yoruba Cosmology evolved: "The Self-Existent Being (Oludumare), or the One Source, who is believed to be responsible for creation and maintenance of heaven and earth, of man and women, and who also brought into being divinities and spirits (Orisha) who are believed to be his functionaries as intermediaries between mankind and the Self-Existent Being (Oludumare)."6

It was through the Ashe (Nature) that matter and forces of creation evolved from. This was created by Oludumare for a divine purpose. The union of the Orisha (angelic forces) and Aba, (human development) gave birth to the dual potentiality of the human spirit. It is the goal of man to align his earthly consciousness with Ori (the physical and spiritual head) in order to connect with his divinity.

The Orisha, which are the angelic forces of Yoruba context: Elegba, Obatala, Oshun, Ogun, Yemoja, Shango, Oya, and others too numerous to mention. In the herbal context, each require special herbs and foods to bring out the life force energy that bring about their qualities. This "bringing about" is a dual endeavor as the herbalist need follow certain guidelines and practices to efficaciously heal or correct imbalance of physical health.

"Orisha" as a term, is actually the combination of two Yoruba words (I discovered that the root word is from the Egyptian god Osiris who had other qualities, "Osh", meaning many, and "iri", meaning to do or many eyed. Osiris came to mean Omniscient). "Ori" which is the reflective spark of human consciousness embedded in human essence, and "sha" which is the ultimate potentiality of that consciousness to enter into or assimilate itself into the divine consciousness.7 From this idea, we can see that given the right encouragement of the human consciousness, man can heal himself along with the use of herbs and foods as special inducements. From this standpoint, the Orisha assist in the development of (iwa-pele) or balanced character. This is the premise of true Yoruba medicine. The connection between one's consciousness (Ori) and one's behavior (iwa-pele) is clearly seen as a way of maintaining a correct attitude towards nutrition and lifestyles in order to ward off sickness (negative spirits) and disease.

Disease according to the theory of the Ifa Corpus, is caused by oppressive forces known as "ajogun". The Orisha are spirits of heaven-sent, to continually wrestle with the human nature in order to uplift it -- to purify it. The "ajogun" are the "demonic" beings. They are all earthly and heavenly forces whose destructive intent is to off-set the human body. It is the job of the Oloogun (medicine healer) to help the patient overcome the opposing forces that disrupt their health.

When understanding the African's use of demonic and spiritual agencies in medicine, it is important to understand that this concept is used merely as a cosmic-tool to explain physical phenomena in nature which is unique to African thought. When the Europeans came into Africa and saw the African dancing in a frenzy with their bodies covered in ashe, they did not understand or comprehend, so they labeled it primitive, savage and backward. They hadn't made the connection between the Creator, spirits and their manifestation in nature as the African had done. The Western mentality couldn't understand because of their materialistic way of seeing.

Because the Osain system have many Orisha which serve different purposes, we will only focus on Erinle-Orisha, the Orisha of medicine. The seven major Orisha are examined in table one. (The Yoruba's were obviously inspired with the seven Orishas by the ancient Eygptian's concept of the seven openings in the head.)

Table 1: The Seven Major Orisha

Orisha Attributes

Obatala Creator of Human Form, White purity, Cures illness and deformities.
Elegba Messenger of the Orisha, Holder of Ashe (pover) among the Orisha, he is prime negotiator between negative and positive forces in body, enforces the "law of being". Helps to enhance the power of herbs.
Ogun Orisha of Iron, he expands, he is divinity of clearing paths, specifically in respect to blockages or interruption of the flow vital energy at various points in the body. He is the liberator.

Yemoja Mother of Waters, Sexuality, Primal Waters, Nurturer. She is the amniotic fluid in the womb of the pregnant woman, as well as, the breasts which nurture. She is the protective energies of the feminine force.
Oshun Sensuality, Beauty, Gracefulness, she symbolizes clarity and flowing motion, she has power to heal with cool water, she is also the divinity of fertility and feminine essence, Women appeal to her for child-bearing and for the alleviation of female disorders, she is fond of babies and is sought if a baby becomes ill, she is known for her love of honey.

Shango Kingly, Virility, Masculinity, Fire, Lightning, Stones, Protector/ warrior, Magnetism, he possesses the ability to transform base substance into that which is pure and valuable.

Oya Tempest, Guardian of the Cemetery, Winds of Change, Storms, Progression, she is usually in the company of her counterpart Shango, she is the deity of rebirth as things must die so that new beginnings arise.

In the body, the Erinle-Orisha can be understood in terms of metabolic energy which activates, or stimulates the other Orisha. Each Orisha is characterized by certain attributes and is in charge of specific organ functions. Each has its dual force of ajogun (demonic force) and Orisha (positive force). The Orishas also have special places or main locations in the body where they can accumulate, or cause havoc and disease. Therefore, it is important to use the corresponding herbal treatment to correct the derangement.

Table 2: Physical Correspondences

Orisha Physical Correspondences
Obatala brain, bones, white fluids of the body
Elegba sympathetic nervous system, para sympathetic nervous system
Yemoja womb, liver, breasts, buttocks
Oshun circulatory system, digestive organs, elimination system, pubic area (female)
Ogun heart, kidney (adrenal glands), tendons, and sinews
Shango reproductive system (male), bone marrow, life force or chi
Oya lungs, bronchial passages, mucous membranes

EWE (Herbs)

The use of herbs and plants, called ewe in Yoruba, is of great importance. Herbs are picked for medicinal, and the spiritual powers they possess. In Yorubaland, herbs are gathered by the Oloogun, or by the various types of herbalists who inhabit the regions where Osain is practiced. The population can usually obtain herbs either by private practice or from the marketplace in town. In the Americas and the Caribbeans, Osain based practitioners are also directed to use herbs as medicine. Here the Oloogun or priests, as well as devotees alike gather herbs for medicine, baths, and religious artifacts. Because of the wide-spread practice of Osain in the New World, Nigerians and people from other African countries have begun to set up herbal businesses in increasing numbers. More and more indigenous herbs are now being made accessible to devotees here in the Americas. It is said that ewe (herbs) are for the "healing of Nations" and many health food stores provide them in powder, leaf, and capsule form. Adherents to the traditional practices of Osain are usually advised to use herbs as medicine before going to Western allopathic drugs for healing. There are many books written on the subject of herbology. Therefore, researching the possibilities of herbal use is recommended. Table 3 below shows herbal directives. They provide examples of the ewe based on the presiding Orisha correspondence. It is best that novices seek out divination before attempting to get and prepare herbal formulas. It is also advisable to rely on priests and qualified herbalists to begin the healing process before getting involved with the properties and powers of herbs yourself.

Table 3: The Ewe and Presiding Orisha Correspondences

Orisha Ewe (HERBS) for Medicinal Usage
Obatala Skullcap, Sage, Kola Nut, Basil, Hyssop, Blue Vervain, White Willow, Valerian
Elegba All Herbs
Oshun Yellow Dock, Burdock, Cinnamon, Damiana, Anis, Raspberry, Yarrow, Chamomile, Lotus, Uva-Ursi, Buchu, Myrrh, Echinacea
Yemoja Kelp, Squawvine, Cohosh, Dandelion, Yarrow, Aloe, Spirulina, Mints, Passion Plower, Wild Yam Root
Ogun Eucalyptus, Alfalfa, Hawthorn, Bloodroot, Parsley, Motherwort, Garlic
Oya Mullein, Comfrey, Cherrybark, Pleurisy Root, Elecampane, Horehound, Chickweed
Shango Plantain, Saw Palmetto, Hibiscus, Fo-ti, Sarsaparilla, Nettles, Cayenne

The following is a recommended way to prepare these herbs: The herbs can be used along or in combination with other herbs. Add the herbs to a pot of mildly boiling water (to prepare a decoction). Let the herbs steep for about thirty minutes before straining. The remaining herbal solution is then prepared as a tea. In some instances the herbal solutions are used in diluted form for enemas. Enemas are among one of the most effective treatments in cleaning out the colon which is the seat of many diseases. In Osain, sugar should never be added to herbal solutions. Honey may be used, however, along with some lemon.

Diagnosis and Treatment

As one can see, we have a useful system of categorization which applies to all levels of disease and treatment. To understand the application of Osain herbology, lets's take as an example a person suffering from a bronchial-pulmonary condition including cough, and spitting of white mucus. The approach of Osain herbology would be to determine which of the Orishas are out of alignment. Osain would do this by taking into account the patient's manifest symptoms along with locating the main areas in the body where the mis-alignment (disease) occurs. Our patient would be considered to have a mis-alignment in the "Oya" and "Obatala" Orishas. Oya Orisha predominates in the lungs, bronchial passages, and the mucous membranes. The Obatala Orisha is responsible for white fluids of the body which is located in the throat region of Orisha/Obatala (also known in Yaga as the 5th Chakra, see diagram 3). The condition can be corrected by prescribing the patient with Comfrey and Sage, as an herbal tea, or applied externally by a spiritual bath.

From this example, one can get an idea of the wholistic treatment approach of Osain Herbology. However, the emotional and spiritual causes of disease would be taken into account in order to appease the negative forces of ajogun to make the cure complete according to traditional Yoruba religious practices. This would include herbs, spiritual baths, symbolic sacrifice, song, dance, ani prayer, as well as a change of diet.

Some may argue that there is a fine line between "medicine" and "superstition" in the rituals of Yorubic healing arts. The art of medicine, as Yorubic practitioners understand. It involves practices by which human beings hoped to be able to understand and control the forces of the universe. Myth, legend, drama, ritual, dance, in addition to whatever it may be, are vehicles for carrying profound knowledge about the human experience. Every culture has its roots in esoteric concepts, philosophies, and religious practices. Constructively using spiritual archetypes allows man to energize and intensify life to a surprising degree. A careful study of history will show that Europeans developed from a background of taboos, and superstitions, as well as mythical beliefs. The Chinese thought Westerners barbarians and made no attempt to learn from them until recent.

The Yorubas believed that the Orishas of the celestial world were emanations of Oludumare (The One Source) who conceived the universe by a series of emanations, and in this way it is possible to reconcile the unity of God with multiplicity. The One Source was the First Cause or Creator, the necessary Being in whom essence and existence were one. It is through incantations, drums and dance, and special herbs that one can communicate to the human body by awakening the internal Orishas, and thus return to unity, spiritual light, and health.

Western medicine deals in the area of eliminating the symptoms that have manifested in the physical body, while Yorubic healing deals with the elimination of the root source of the problem. All illness is the result of imbalance of the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects in the body. The Yorubic healer who cures the person of the symptoms has to dissipate the negative energies. Unless he addresses the cause of the disease, the sickness will eventually come back.

The only complete healing for a ailment must include a change of "consciousness" (Ori) where the individual recognizes the root cause and does not wish, or feel compelled to violate its pain. So the Western doctor, by removing the discomfort through drugs, has temporarily taken away the motivation (iwa-pele) for their patient to look for the true healing. However, as the patient's state of consciousness asserts itself, they will again violate the same natural law and eventually have another opportunity to receive motivation in the form of a new ailment to learn what they are doing wrong. Whenever we listen to our bodies, it moves to provide us with the training and the appropriate knowledge that we need to regain our balance.

The Integration of Yoruba medicine into Planetary Herbology

I have tried in this essay to accomplish the first part of a pleasant assignment which I rashly laid upon myself about two years ago: to integrate African medicine into the scheme of Planetary Herbology. It is no exaggeration to say that this work would not have been possible without the pioneering work of Dr. Michael Tierra. My goal was to add to the tremendous work Dr. Tierra laid out in integrating Eastern and Western philosophies and the principles of Chinese, Japanese, Ayurvedic, and North American Indian herbal medicine.

After close study of the herbal principles applied in African medicine, I noticed the fundamental unity and similarities within and between other herbal systems. Namely, Ayurvedic, North American Indian herbology, Western, and Chinese herbology. This was due pertly because of the historical, and cultural links of each of these systems. Yet, it is well to remember that the meeting of cultures have also triggered tremendous creative explosions in medicine and philosophy. East Indian medicine was born in a meeting of the Black Dalilia (the Black Untouchables) and Indo-Europeans. Chinese herbology adopted some of its principles with the meeting of Egypt. Japanese medicine was born in a meeting with Chinese culture, and Western herbology sprang from a meeting of the ancient Greek and Egyptian priests. These are only a few illustrations; much of what I find exciting and interesting.

Let us look at the correspondance between Western herbology and the Egyptian system. The Hypocritic humoural theory was taken from Egyptian Magical Principles (see diagram 1). The basis of this theory was the belief that the human body was made up of the four elements of which the whole material world was composed: fire, air, earth and water. It was also believed that each element possessed certain qualities: hot, dry, wet, and cold. These elements could be mixed in more ways than one, and the various mixtures gave rise to different temperaments and "humours". The proper balance of elements preserved the health of the body, and a lack of balance led to illness which called for the doctor's healing magic. The Yoruba priests adopted this same system with sleight modifications. In the Yorubic system, the four elements became: Shango (the fire element), Oya (the air element), Yemoja (the water element), and Elegba (the Ashe, or earth element).

Traditional Chinese Medicine places primary emphasis on the balance of qi, or vital energy. There are 12 major meridians, or pathways, for qi, and each is associated with a major vital organ or vital function. These meridians form an invisible network that carries qi to every tissue in the body. Under the Yoruba system, the major meridians are the 7 Orishas. The flow of vital energy is represented by Ogun, which is the divinity of clearing paths, specifically in respect to blockages, or interruption of the vital energy at various points in the body (see table 1). Upon close study, it becomes evident that the Orisha modes correspond very easily to the Chinese concept of qi. Also in Traditional Chinese medicine, the vital energy comprises two parts: Yin and Yang. They are considered opposites masculine and feminine, heavenly and earthly. The theoretical equivalent of Yin and Yang in Yoruba is represented by Oshun (the divinity of feminine essence), and Shango (the divinity of virility, and masculinity). It is interesting to note that just as Yin represents the quality of cool and Yang the quality of hot, Oshun represents the power to heal with cool water, and Shango is represented by fire (heat).

Physical and spiritual balance in Yorubic medicine is best described by the concept of "Aba", or human development. Aba is a circle in the center which is aligned with the seven Orishas, each of which is represented by smaller circles of the opposite colors of black and white. The smaller circles represents the ever changing nature of Orisha (spirit) and ajogun (demon), and each Orisha demonstrate that each contains the potential to transform into its corresponding demon (or disease). (see diagram 4) It is the job of the African healer to bring the internal Orishas into alignment. This coincides with the Chinese belief that the universe is forever changing through Yin and Yang.

In the Yoruba system, the seven Orisha's have many counterparts, or partners that bring about various qualities or spiritual forces. This reciprocal relationship, in turn, gives rise to the four elements, and other attributes which influence the physical world. (see diagram 5)

As in Western and Chinese herbology, the Yoruba system incorporates environmental and emotional states. Yoruba priests believe that the Orishas govern a law of human passions and desires which, if improperly indulged, or violated, will prevent a person from gaining spiritual benefit from the external acts of rituals. Demons, or negative spirits enters the body through the five senses, the imagination and the carnal appetites. The Chinese also recognize the "seven emotions" as causes to disease. The "seven emotions", or "evil vices" approximates "the law of human passions and desires" in Yoruba medicine. For example, under the Yoruba system, someone suffering from guilt can bring on a multitude of evil spirits, or illnesses, The Elegba Orisha, is the primary negotiator between negative and positive forces in the body. The emotion of guilt can put Elegba into a negative disposition, which in turn, can effect the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Physically, the negative disposition can cause chronic digestion problems, and a weakening of the immune system.

Shango Orisha represents the fire element and is hot and dry in nature. It is considered to be the Protector/Warrior, and possesses the ability to transform base substance into that which is pure and valuable. It is associated with the color red. It's season is summer.
Elegba Orisha represents the earth element and is dry and cold in nature. It is the Messenger of the Orisha, Holder of Ashe among the Orisha, and is associated with the colors red, black, and white,

Yemoja Orisha represents the water element and it is cold and wet in nature. It is the Mother of Waters, and is associated with the color blue and crystal. It's season is winter.
Oya Orisha represents the wind, or air element and is hot and wet in nature. It is responsible for the winds of change, and is associated with the color reddish-brown. It's season is spring.
The Oloogun (priest) may prescribe the patient various herbal combinations to be included in a spiritual bath to cleanse the person of negative influences which have impacted upon their aura essence. The spiritual bath is given along with prayers and incantations especially designed to help ward off the negative spirits. As in Tradition Chinese Medicine, the Yorubic priests help to cure physical symptoms by treating the emotional vice that lead to the ailment in the first place. Like other traditional medicines with a long history, Yorubic medicine focuses on the individual and what imbalances may be contributing to or causing illness or disease.

Now let's look at Ayurveda in light of Yorubic herbal principles. I found that there were many comparisons between the two systems. As I mentioned earlier, racially and linguistically, the East Indians and Africans have a common origin, going back to the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Dravidians. Ayurveda developed in contemporary contact and mutual influence from these ancient societies. Note the startling resemblance between the linguistic terminology of Yoruba and Ayurveda, very often the same sounding words, meanings, and similar spellings. These similarities in names can hardly be coincidental:

Yoruba-Ayurveda
Osiris-Iswara
Ishtar-Ishvara
Samad-Samadhi
Orisha-Dosha
Maye-Maya
Ogun-Guna
Obatala-Vata
Khepsh-Kapha

Ayurveda holds that the body is governed by three basic biological principles, or doshas, that control the body's functions. These doshas and the functions they govern are:

vata -- movement
pitta -- heat, metabolism
kapha -- physical structure

The Indians believe that each individual has a combination of doshas. Imbalance of these doshas is the cause of disease. A Vaidya (Ayurveda doctor) seeks to achieve health throuhh the balancing of the three doshas. The Oloogun's under the Osain system utilize a similar concept. They believe that the body is composed of seven Orishas which exist in focal points of the body. These Orishas are in harmony when in perfect alignment, and the result is balanced health. They believe that when a person is in spiritual alignment, demons cannot produce illness. At the very foundation, both systems draw from religious and philosophical view points, which brings a mind/body approach to medicine and life. Ultimately, the beliefs of Indians are similar to those of the Africans. Both are also rooted in the belief of supernatural forces for the minor ills of life. Oblations, charms, exorcisms, astrology, oracles, incantations, vows, divination, priests, fortune-tellers, and demonic spirits are a part of the historic picture of Africa and India. It should come as no surprise, then, that in Osain and Ayurveda, symptoms and diseases that could be viewed as mental thoughts, or feelings are just as important as symptoms and disease of the physical body.

In terms of therapeutic approaches, both systems have many comparisons. Ayurveda uses the Panchakarma for purification and removal of toxins in the body. Osain utilizes the spiritual bath for this same purpose. Ayurveda and Osain saw purification as a means of purging the body of possible infections and impurities, a practice which has proven to have a rational basis. It is recorded that the ancient Hindus used ritual purification in minor cases by such simple ceremonies as being sprinkled with holy water, and in major cases by more complicated methods, culminating in the Panchakarma. This purification consisted in drinking a substance called ghee, or clarified butter. A little more to the taste of Africans was the religious precept to use the spiritual bath; here again a hygienic and spiritual measure, highly desirable in Osain medicine, clothed in a religious form to expel the evil spirits that might have entered the body.

According to Osain herbology, medicinal herbs, spiritual baths, prayers, and meditation is the cornerstone of health. Many of the herbs users in Osain are specifically selected to effect a particular Orisha in the body, including the energies and therapeutic properties inherent in the nature of the herb. The herbal properties are absorbed into the human dimensions end assist in the dissipation of negative influences. The ewe(herbs) are also classified and used in order to enhance one's Ashe. This is essential in Yoruba medicine in order to bring one's nature back in contact with the inherent force of all creation. This "contact" with the inherent force involves a tri-lateral process which includes:

Nature (Ashe)
Angelic forces (Orisha) ------------------ ewe (herbs)
Humans (Physical forms)

By enhancing the ashe in the human form, the spiritual channels are increased in power in order to allow the internal Orishas to gain leverage over the oppressive negative forces which are upsetting the balance of the body. Now let us compare the Western system of classification with the herbal properties of the presiding Orisha correspondence:

Obatala: Antispasmodic, stimulants, nervine, diaphoretic
Elegba: All herbs (herbs used for harmonizing)
Oshun: Alteratives, blood tonics, cholagogues, emmenagogues, antipyretics, expectorants, carminatives
Yemoja: Perturient, tonics, diuretics, cholagogues
Shango: emmenagogues, astringents
Ogun: Rubefacients, antianemics, antihemorrhagics, nutritive tonics, cardiac tonics, diuretics
Oya: Antituesives, demulcents, expectorants, antiphlegmatics. Bladder infections, prostate planets, impotence, wasting diseases.

The Planetary system of herbology also recognizes environmental energies at the core of its principles. Environmental energy is also categorized in herbs using the Osain system of herbology. Furthermore, herbs are categorized. According to numbers, colors, and directions.

Table 4: Color, Number, and Natural Environment

Orisha Color Number Natural Environment
Obalata White 8, 24 Mountains, Woods
Elegba Red and Black, White and Black 1, 3, 21 Woods, Crossroads, Gateways
Yemoja Blue and Crystal 7 (salt water) Oceans, Lakes
Oshun Yellow 5 (fresh water) Rivers, Lakes
Ogun Green and Black 3 Railroads, Woods, Forges
Shango Red 6, 12 Places struck by lightning, base of trees
Oya Reddish-brown, Rust, earth tones 9 Cemetary, places hit by Hurricanes, Storms

It is believed by Africans that where a plant grows also effects its spiritual powers (energy) to heal. For instance, the Oya Orisha is considered the Guardian of the Cemetery. Any plants that are found growing in cemeteries, are said to have the enhancing powers of Oya. More specifically, the Oloogun priest will search for cemetery plants growing in brownish-rusty areas which is believed that Oya Orisha hides its spiritual powers. The number nine is associated with the number of Orisha counterparts which also accompany Oya Orisha. Yemoja Orisha, the Mother of Waters, is said to contain her powers in Lakes, and oceans (salt water). Plants in these areas are used to help protect energies of the feminine force. Examples of some of the herbs used under this classification is kelp, aloe, and Squawvine which have traditionally been used to treat female imbalances in the amniotic fluids in the womb of pregnant women. The direction that a plant is picked in a particular area is also important under Yorubic medicine. The Orishas are said to concentrate their spiritual energies in particular directions just as the internal Orishas reside in different parts of the body. After comparing the Yoruba system of direction with the "four directions of herbs" classified in the North American Indian medicine wheel, I discovered striking similarities.

Oshun, is represented by the color yellow. This Orisha indicates medicines which effect the circulatory system, digestive organs, and the elimination system. Its direction is East.

Ogun, is represented by the color green. This Orisha indicates medicines which tone the tendons, and sinews. Its direction is south.

Elegba, is represented by the color black. Medicines indicated are herbs which effect the Brain and nervous system. Its direction is West.

Obatala, is represented by the color white. This Orisha indicates white purity, and herbs that cure human deformities. Its direction is North.

The four directional energies that correspond perfectly with the wisdom of the Native Americans were: 1) Oshun; 2) Ogun; 3) Elegba; and 4) Obatala. Again, Yoruba medical principles give us a system which harmonizes with the directional energies given in Planetary Herbology. One can perceive a universal wisdom that is common in every culture and system of herbal medicine. If the universal energy is One, then the foundation on which the four energies rest is Universal Energy. In other words, if the universal center is the source of all great herbal inspirations, then these four directional energies are the vehicles through which the inspiration becomes manifest. There is no other explanation for the similarities between herbal systems around the world. Every ancient culture taught the "sacred four". They indicated that we must pass through all four aspects, or directions, if we are to be complete and balanced human beings.

In earlier times, working these herbal principles was something that medicine men. Today, we are left to universal energies into was done by the great work these things out on our own. This can be an illuminating process. The essay I have given is by no means complete. It is merely a basis to establish the integration of African Medicine into the family of Planetary herbology. I invite your questions and suggestions for the topics given. I look forward to our dialogue.

Tariq Sawandi (A.K.A. Darrell Williams) can be reached as follows: 3B04-210, P.O.B. 3466, Corcoran, Ca. 93212

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References:

The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts by Baba Ifa Karade (Samuel Weiser, Inc.; York Beech, Maine; 1994), p. L
Michael Omoleya, Certificate History of Nigeria (London & Lagos: Longman Group, 1986), p. 15
Cheikh Anta Diop, Precolonial Black Africa (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, co-published with Lawrence Hill, 1992), p. 216
Stolen Legacy by George James (Julian Richardson Assoc.)
Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization by Anthony T. Browder (The Institute of Karmic Guidance, Inc; 1992)
Omosade Awolalu, Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites (White Plains, NY: Longman Groups, 1979) p. 3
The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concept , ibid., p. 23