Hujambo (Greetings),
In this second installation of the Yoruba Art, we will focus on the following:
Royal arts
The Ogboni Society
The connection between art and Yoruba spirituality, and finally
Masquerades and masks
Now then.
The experience of societies consists of cycles of excellence and decline.
The early splendors of Yoruba centers, the cities of Owo and Ife, were suspended by civil wars that culminated in the enslavement of thousands of the Yoruba, the Fon and their neighbors. This period gave rise to the expression, Slave Coast, pertaining to the West African coast.
Stability only resumed after the the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, in the early nineteenth century. Art and other cultural expressions then bloomed by the late 19th and early 20th century, in different Yoruba centers.
We point out the disruption from slave trade in the 19th century, to highlight its impact to the African culture as a whole.
Let us now look at the first point:
The Royal Arts.
It is true that artistic expression in West Africa as a whole has changed across the eras, but the use of art to depict, acknowledge and celebrate leadership systems has survived; and is active in the 21st century. Additionally, artefacts have been used as linkages to the spiritual world, especially during religious events.
At the apex of Yoruba’s leadership system was the king, known as Oba. One of the prominent kings was the Ooni of Ife, whom we’ve mentioned in the previous installation. Oba was semi-devine. He carried the utmost political authority. He represented spiritual leadership.
When he died, he was succeeded by a person from his lineage; selected through a consultative process by the kingmakers, who also consulted the oracle.
With the help of a council of chiefs, the Oba governed effectively. The council advised the king, checked his powers, and administered the kingdom, through semi-autonomous city states, that had their own leadership and governance structures.
We proudly note here that the early Yoruba political system had women representation in governance, which played a significant role in decision making.
They also had an independent (of the King’s directives) war general, who led the army.
How then, did the arts portray this leadership outlook?
As we’ve mentioned, the king was semi-devine. Art therefore, pointed attention to the king and his court. Because of the reverence bestowed upon him as a deity, the king would be confined in the palace, to avoid being seen in public. And when he appeared in public to attend to the welfare of the people, he’d wear a royal garb to conceal his identity.
Today however, modern kings interact with the people freely.
a) The crown
The king’s crown, also called, adé or adenla, is made of a wickerwork cone covered with fabric or canvas. Coloured glass beads are then strung and attached to cover the entire surface in a creative design. The beaded fringe veil, the prime symbol of kingship, is to be worn only by those kings who can trace their lineages to Oduduwa.
The crown has the beaded veil to shield the people from the king’s gaze; birds to portray the power of women who supported the king’s rule; and a face, or faces, which represents the king’s ancestor or Oduduwa. The faces represent the living king’s connection with his divine predecessors; and he relies on their wisdom and powers.
The multiplicity of faces alludes to the all-seeing nature of ancestors and spirits and thus to the role of the king, whose supernatural vision allows him access to such authority.
Birds are an important element on Yoruba crowns.
The great bird at the top of the crown is said by some to represent the egret, the bird of decorum, a symbol of orderliness and settler of disputes. Others suggest it is the paradise flycatcher, a royal signifier whose tail sports extremely long feathers, or the pigeon, a symbol of victory and political power.
Still others see the birds as a reference to the special powers of “night people” such as Osanyin priests, Ifa priests, even the king himself, all of whom must ingest a secret substance in order to work either with or against mystical powers described as sorcery, or witchcraft.
In some regions of Yorubaland, such birds are references to “Our Mothers,” a collective term for all female ancestors, female deities, and elderly living women. “Our Mothers” are believed to have special powers and to be able to transform themselves into birds of the night. Kings cannot rule unless they are able to control or counteract the powers of such beings.
Now, when the king wears the sacred fringed crown, his being is modified. His outer head is covered by the crown, and his inner head becomes one with the sacred authority and power, ashe, of the ancestors. He cannot touch the earth, and thus stands on a mat or cloth.
Seated in state, his feet rest on a decorative cushion or footstool. His own face disappears behind the veil, and the faces of the royal ancestors stare out instead. It is the vision of the dynasty that is emphasized rather than the individual who wears the crown.
b) Afin
The king dwells in the afin, the royal palace.
The most imposing architectural structure in a Yoruba city, the afin, is also the site of the most sacred worship and celebrations. As in early Ife, the palace stands in the center of the city, and all roads lead to it.
The king’s market, usually the most important market in town, lies at its door. An afin consists of numerous courtyards of varying sizes, most surrounded by verandahs. Steep roofs, once thatched, are today covered with corrugated steel.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, artists fashioned wonderful objects to enhance the splendor of the palace, record the exploits of the kings and chiefs, and display religious symbols and metaphors to the public.
In making such commissions, kings historically sought the most skillful artists from their own realms and beyond. The best artists achieved the title are, which literally means “itinerant,” suggesting that they moved from kingdom to kingdom accepting work from a number of patrons.
One such artist was Olowe of Ise (died 1938), one of the best-known Yoruba sculptors of the twentieth century. Praise poetry still chanted in his memory calls him “the leader of all carvers,” one who carves the hard wood of the iroko tree “as though it were as soft as a calabash.”
Olowe was born during the nineteenth century in Efon-Alaiye, famed as a center of carving. He grew up in Ise, to the southeast. Over the course of his career he produced doors, posts, chairs, stools, tables, bowls, drums, and ritual objects for palaces and shrines in the kingdoms of Ijesa and Ilesha, and in various smaller kingdoms of the Akoko region of Yorubaland.
Between 1910 and 1914 Olowe worked at the palace of the king, ogoga, of Ikere, in northeastern Yorubaland. The ogoga was probably familiar with the works that Olowe had carved for the palace at Ise and wanted to make his own afin equally magnificent. Among the works Olowe created at Ikere are three verandah posts that once stood in the courtyard in which the ogoga sits in state for ritual and ceremonial occasions.
Olowe also produced a door for the same courtyard. A remarkable example of palace art, it depicts the ogoga’s reception in 1897 of Captain Ambrose, the British Commissioner of Ondo Province.
2. The Ogboni Society
Yoruba kings rule with the assistance of a number of councils and associations. Ogboni, an association consisting of both male and female elders, is one of the most prominent.
It is understood that the Ogboni organization serves to check the abuse of power by rulers, for the collective moral and political authority of these eminent citizens is as great as that of kings, royals and officials.
In the past Ogboni acted as a judiciary in criminal cases and was responsible for removing despots from office. Although its authority has been diluted, Ogboni still exercises significant power in traditional Yoruba politics, and its leaders still control the choosing, inauguration, and burial of kings.
Ogboni has a special relationship with Earth, who is seen as a deity. Earth is both the giver and taker of life, both mother and father. Earth as the land is the abode of numerous spirit forces and beings as well as of ancestors.
Ogboni connects those who live upon the earth and those who dwell within, acknowledging the omnipresence of spirits and ancestors, who observe all acts of the living and hear every spoken word.
Ogboni employs a variety of art forms in its work, foremost among them paired male and female figures. Large, freestanding pairs placed on altars are referred to as “owner of the house,” onile. Hidden away within the Ogboni lodge, they are accessible only to the most senior members.
The pair is treated as a single unit, referred to as Mother, iya. Onile perhaps alludes to dual aspects of Earth, on the one hand hard, negative, and masculine, on the other soft, positive, and feminine. Normally cast in copper alloys, onile are created under ritual circumstances and prepared with sacred substances.
Considered to have great sacred authority and power, ashe, the figures emphasize the importance of men and women working together within Ogboni and in the community at large.
Scarification marks on the chest of an onile chest indicate membership in Ogboni. Beaded necklaces acknowledge office in the organization. A cloth lushly decorated with geometric patterns, representing a textile called itagbe, may be draped over the left shoulder. And a conical cap would recall the Yoruba royal crown, and arching feathers–reminiscent of those that adorn the heads of kings.
a) Agba
An Ogboni drum, agba, has a hollow, tapered cylinder, carved from the trunk of a tree. An animal skin membrane is stretched and pegged at the top. Its sides are carved with images in sharp, low relief.
An agba would be part of a group of such drums, thought of as a family. The Largest of them is referred to as the “mother” drum. The smaller drums that accompany it are likely carved with related motifs.
Agba functions in a variety of ways. On a practical level, they announce the meetings of the Ogboni lodge every seventeen days. They are also sacred objects, and in yearly rituals the blood of sacrificial animals is rubbed into its sides. Because of its sacred character, the intricate iconography of this drum would never have been seen by anyone other than initiated members.
In nocturnal but public memorial services for deceased elders, for example, the sides are ritually covered to ensure that the surface designs are not seen by the uninitiated.
b) Edan
Another Ogboni sculpture, called edan, has several small heads, connected in pairs, that are carved on the body of the central figure as though tucked into its belt. More heads can be placed beneath the arching feathers of the headdress.
Although edan, like onile, are filled with ashe, non-members are allowed to see them. Edan serve as public symbols of the power and presence of Ogboni. They also refer to the male and female founders of the community and express the cooperation between men and women in society and the need for a balance of power between them.
c) Title-clothes
Many Yoruba rituals that acknowledge advancement in position or membership in an organization include the tying on of a distinctive cloth. A number of such special textiles, generically called title-clothes, are closely associated with the Ogboni society.
Created by a woman on an upright loom, it is embellished with richly colored geometric designs based on natural forms. Although weavers of such cloths are certainly familiar with the designs and symbols they are asked to create, they are not privy to their underlying meanings unless they too are members of the society, for interpretation is reserved for those who have the right to wear them.
Even outsiders, however, know that Ogboni robes celebrate the richness and diversity of their owners’ experiences.
The way the Ogboni cloth is finished also carries meanings. The fringes are divided and wrapped with threads to create seven tassels. Seven is a ritually significant number in Ogboni.
The connection between art and Yoruba spirituality
The Yoruba venerate an infinite number of gods, orisha.
Some are primordial, created in the beginning of time by the Great God, Olorun. Some natural powers such as rivers, mountains, stones, or thunder and lightning may be perceived as orisha, and heroes may be apotheosized as well. The god Shango embodies both of these ideas in that while he is the personification of thunder, he is also a deified culture hero, fourth king of the Oyo empire.
The very concept of orisha suggests an endless number, and there is always the possibility that new ones will make themselves known to a particular human community or even to a particular family or individual. Thus an orisha acknowledged in one part of Yorubaland may not be known elsewhere, or may be thought of quite differently.
a) Orunmila and Eshu
Two primordial orisha, Orunmila and Eshu, serve as mediators between gods and humans. Seen as embodiments of the principles of certainty and uncertainty, the twosome is intimately connected in the minds of the Yoruba, for order does not exist without disorder, and disorder requires order by definition.
Orunmila, the orisha of destiny, embodies certainty, fate, equilibrium, and order. In Yoruba belief, each person chooses a destiny in the presence of the Creator God prior to birth. Orunmila can help people to gain knowledge of their destinies as they live them out. Through him, they can learn which forces control their future, and how to manipulate these forces in their favor.
Uncertainty, chance, violence, and trouble define Eshu. Ironically, the disorderly and mischievous Eshu is also the messenger of the gods, and to gain Orunmila’s attention, one must first approach the trickster Eshu.
A diviner, babalawo, mediates between Orunmila and the human community through the divination process known as ifa, understood to have been instituted by Orunmila himself. A babalawo employs numerous art objects in communicating with the spirit world. The essential sculptural object for ifa is a divination board, opon ifa.
When in use, the board is sprinkled with dust from a special wood. The babalawo throws sixteen palm nuts to determine a configuration of eight sets of signs. He draws the signs in the dust, then erases them. Each of the 256 configurations that can occur is known by a name and is associated with a body of oral literature. As the babalawo chants the appropriate verses, clients interpret them to apply to their own situations.
When attracting the attention of Orunmila and Eshu, the babalawo raps a special tapper, the iroke, on the center of the opon ifa, and at the same time recites verses to acknowledge and honor Eshu, the messenger.
Women are considered to be the ultimate containers for ashe or life force, and representations of nude female figures in a kneeling position become visual metaphors for those who seek their fates through divination.
Her nakedness, normally taboo in Yoruba culture, may well refer to the belief that the most powerful prayers and curses by Yoruba women were carried out in a state of nakedness.
At the same time, the state of undress indicates the condition in which one communicates with the Creator. The coiffure or crown-like headdress adds emphasis to the head, recalling the Yoruba philosophical concept of ori, which may be interpreted as “head” or “destiny,” and which embraces a person’s past, present, and future. A reference to ori is thus also a reference to fate, the concern of divination.
The palm nuts used in ifa are kept in a carved container called agere ifa. Fashioned of wood or more rarely of ivory, agere ifa vary greatly in form and may range in height from a few inches to over a foot.
Other divination paraphernalia may be stored in large, multi-compartmented, lidded containers, or divination bowls called opon igedeu.
***
While Orunmila is never depicted in shrines or on divination paraphernalia, Eshu is portrayed repeatedly. The only Yoruba orisha consistently represented, Eshu appears on houseposts, lintels, doors, and bowls. As a go-between for gods and humans, Eshu’s image embellishes many shrines. As the god of the marketplace, the gateway, and the crossroads, he is often represented in these places as well.
The gods Orunmila and Eshu make us aware of the possibility of change in Yoruba society and art. Eshu is a dynamic orisha, one who cannot be pinned down to remain the same. The very fact that Orunmila is sought on every occasion and that ifa is cast every four days suggests that change is vital, even in thinking about fate or destiny. Such change must be seen as a part of Yoruba artistic expression as well.
b) Ogun, Osanyin, and Eyinle
Ogun, the lord of iron and war, and Osanyin, the source of herbal medicine, are also primordial orisha, having come to earth at the time of creation. Like Eshu, each is a paradox.
Although Ogun is the ferocious and vehement bringer of war, he is also the founder and champion of civilization, a maker of paths, tiller of the soil, builder of towns.
Ogun’s embodiment in shrines may merely be a bit of metal, raw or carefully worked, or a sacred plant or a stone. Several art forms are specifically identified with Ogun, among them ceremonial swords, staffs, iron pokers, and axes.
As maker of roads and penetrator, Ogun readies the way for all the orisha, and references to Ogun are thus present in the shrines of many gods. Diminutive forged iron implements—hoes, knives, arrows, swords, and bells—announce the intervention of Ogun in the work of healing deities, for his slashing blades permit healers to venture into the depths of the forest for curative materials. Iron staffs enhance the worship of healing deities, while expressing their link to Ogun.
The tiny Osanyin, visualized as having but one eye, one arm, and one leg, and having numberless problems of his own, is the bringer of healing, completeness, and well-being to the human community.
Eyinle is a local orisha of hunting, rivers, and healing leaves, a companion of Osanyin.
c) Shango and Ibeji
Shango, who controls thunder, is associated with the expansion of the Oyo empire in western Yorubaland. The historical personage Shango, a descendant of Oranmiyan, was the tyrannical fourth king of Oyo.
Oral traditions maintain that he was a despot, coerced into surrendering his crown and committing suicide. His supporters denied his death and declared that he had become a god, merged with the forces of thunder and lightning, which they could call down on their enemies.
The Shango legend illustrates a significant aspect of Yoruba orisha: they are not idealized. Shango was a sacred king, but he is still presented as a remorseless despot whose need for control overstepped the boundaries suitable to political authority. In his attempt to control mystical and magical powers, he was unable to master them and was eventually controlled by them. Once a mortal, Shango did not die, but he commands great powers of nature as an orisha. In dreadful storms he hurls flashes of lightning upon those who do not respect him. These thunderbolts take the form of ancient stone axes that are exposed on the surface of the earth after heavy rains.
Altars
As in most African cultures, shrines are places where human beings interact with deities and spirits. The Agbeni Shango shrine in Ibadan, is an example.
Sculptural forms are added to the shrine as gifts to the orisha. One extraordinarily complex and dynamic bowl, probably intended for the altar of an orisha, was created by Olowe of Ise.
4. Masks and Masquerades
Perhaps the most thoroughly dynamic art forms of the Yoruba are masquerades. As elsewhere in Africa, Yoruba masks are not created or perceived as static sculptural entities but as components of a larger, multimedia art of performance that includes costume, dance, music, poetry, and interaction with a participating crowd of onlookers.
A variety of masks and masquerades aid Yoruba communities in communicating with the spirit world while they entertain the living.
a) Egungun
The most widespread is egungun, found throughout Yorubaland. Myths and legends preserved in divination poetry support the belief that egungun first appeared among the Oyo Yoruba.
This dramatic Yoruba masquerade may have developed in response to ancestral celebrations of the Nupe peoples, who live to the northeast of the Oyo region. Nupe ancestors are honored with spectacular masquerades consisting of moving cylinders made of white cloth, columns that rise mysteriously to tower high above the participants.
Whatever its history, egungun is particularly important in Oyo. There, egungun celebrations take place over a period of several weeks, manifested in performances within lineage compounds and in public performances.
Many Yoruba associate egungun with the veneration of ancestors, believed capable of helping the living community if they are properly honored. Some egungun masquerades impersonate the spirit of the recently departed, returning to ensure that all is in order prior to making the final journey to the spirit world.
In other situations the egungun merely appears to entertain when ancestors are venerated. Egungun, like the ancestors they are associated with, are identified with specific families. They play a regulating role in the family and serve as a link between the living and the dead.
There is an air of the sacred attached to the egungun and to the rites and celebrations of which they are a part. They are prepared for action within a sacred grove. Prayers are said, ifa is cast, and charms are attached to the body of the masker and placed within his costume.
Donning the costume, the masker is depersonalized, ritually transformed into a human repository for the spirit of the returning ancestor. When he enters a state of possession, he speaks with the voice of the deceased.
Whereas egungun is manifested all over Yoruba country in one form or another, there are other masquerade types that are restricted to specific regions. The masquerades of the Gelede society are limited to the southwestern region.
b) Gelede
Gelede’s origins are often attributed to the kingdom of Ketu, situated in the present Republic of Benin, and to another kingdom, Ilobi. Some suggest that Gelede evolved from celebrations performed in honor of the patron orisha of small children, and that the masquerade was modified in response to disputes over royal succession in these two ancient kingdoms. Today the festivals focus on the placation of the great goddess, Iyanla, and on the general well being of the community.
As we share this African art corpus, we express our deepest gratitude to great art historians, like Frank Willett, Peter Garlake, Dennis Duerden and Monica Visona; whose works have formed the foundation of this story. On other online sources we also relied.
Coming soon: Yoruba Art, Part III.
Part of this writing was contributed by Denis Chiedo.
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