African Arts Volume 20 issue 1 1986 [doi 10.2307_3336567] Margaret Thompson Drewal -- Art and Trance among Yoruba Shango Devotees.pdf

Art and Trance among Yoruba Shango DevoteesAuthor(s): Margaret Thompson DrewalSource: African Arts, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Nov., 1986), pp. 60-67+98-99Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies CenterStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3336567 .

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Art and Trance among Yoruba Shango Devotees

MARGARET THOMPSON DREWAL

Robert Plant Armstrong wrote of the

twinned celts adorning Shango dance staffs, "The self times the self is power plus power - celt times celt, thunder times thunder, Shango squared" (1983:32). He was concerned here with the "Yorubaness" of the aesthetic power of doubling rather than with ethnographic description. To underscore Armstrong's idea, I would like to offer in his memory some of that description.

The overall form of the dance staff known as oshe is based on the neolithic

1. OSHE SHANGO WITH DOUBLE CELTS AT THE BOTTOM. PROBABLY CARVED BY BOGUNJOKO OF ILA ORANGUN. REPORTEDLY COLLECTED BY THE BASLER MISSION ABOUT 1820. MUSEUM RIETBURG, ZURICH. RIGHT 2. POSSESSED PRIESTESSES IN PROCESSION DURING THE OBATALA FESTIVAL. EGBA, 1978.

axe. Morphologically it is usually com- posed of three parts: the handle, a figure or figures, and the double-axe motif, recognized widely as a depiction of the thundercelts that Shango hurls to earth during thunderstorms (Wescott & Morton-Williams 1962) (Figs. 1,4; see also Armstrong 1983: figs. 2, 5, 7-10, cover).1 The celts may be highly stylized or rela- tively naturalistic.

Within this basic format, artists play on the forms, elaborating, inverting, transposing, and transforming them. The handle and the double celts are

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standard features, but figures are op- tional (Figs. 3, 16; Armstrong 1983: figs. 1,4). Their identity and arrangement are determined in part by regional stylistic conventions, but also by negotiations between artists and patrons. In one oldoshe in the Museum Rietburg, Zurich, reportedly collected in 1820, the conventional format has been inverted so that the twinned celts appear at the bottom of the handle instead of the top (Fig. 1). Some oshe do not depict the twinned celts at all (Fig. 9). In these cases, a priest is usually shown on top of the handle holding a ram, an oshe, or a gourd rattle and/or wearing a distinctive Shango priest's hairdo. There is usually some such visual identification with Shango.

The oshe is in a sense a portable representation of the caryatid containers known as arugba that often form the cen- terpieces of Shango shrines. Like many oshe, Shango caryatids show female figures supporting the power of the deity on top of their heads, in this case actual celts. One Shango shrine in Ila Orangun (Fig. 7) depicts a kneeling female supporting a bowl on her head that contains a large Shango thundercelt, over which the blood of a sacrificial cock is poured. Another arugba by an Anago Yoruba artist has a latch on the lid for locking Shan- go's vital force inside. Among extreme western Yoruba peoples, the arms of the central figure on the oshe are frequently raised to support the twinned celts on the head in the same manner as they are in arugba (Fig. 18).

On one level, the head-loading pose reflects actual behavior (Fig. 5). On another, it alludes to the female as recepta- cle, and to her head as container for the power of the deity. Both of these ideas are conveyed in western Yorubaland during festivals when large sculptures are placed in basins containing the vital force of particular deities that are then placed on the heads of priestesses before they proceed to a nearby stream to gather water and herbs. As the basins are mounted on top of their heads, the priestesses go instantly into possession trance (Fig. 2). The fundamental role of a priest among the Yoruba is that of a medium between the world and the spirit realm, that is, one who becomes possessed by his or her deity.

During initiations into Yoruba priesthoods, novices go through extensive training that in large part is devoted to preparing them for spirit mediumship. Initiation involves a symbolic death and rebirth. It marks the person's break with the past and consecration to the deity. From the day of rebirth until a new name is bestowed, the initiate dwells in a catatonic-like state and is called "a new child" (omotun) (Verger 1954: 337).

During this period, the novices' clothes are taken away, their heads are shaved, and they are secluded in a dark

3. OSHE SHANGO CARVED BY LAWANI OJO OF IMASHAI. EGBADO, 1978.

shrine where they must remain quiet and still for some weeks. During this period, the head is bathed regularly in the ashe, or vital force, of the deity, made up of an amalgam of leaves, blood of animals, and pulverized minerals (Verger 1954:324; 1969: 65, n. 2). Fur- thermore, the deity's ashe is rubbed into incisions made in the shaved head. This is thought to fix the deity's power in the head and to stimulate possession trance. The initiate is now known as adoshu, one who has received the ball of medicine, or oshu, of the god. Later, special hairdos are worn by the newly initiated to identify them with their particular god and to show that this is a head endowed with power (Fig. 6). Finally, the devotee re- ceives a special new name that suggests the deity's hold or claim on him or her, such as Odakusin, "The-one-who- fainted-while-worshipping," implying that this person fell into trance, signaling the deity's strong influence.

With the deity's power inserted into the head of the priestess during rites of initiation, she becomes Shango's medium, his conduit into the world.

4. OSHE SHANGO FROM THE ANAGO YORUBA AREA, DEPICTING A MOTHER OF TWINS, ONE NURSING, ONE TIED TO HER BACK. SHE HOLDS AN OSHE IN HER RIGHT HAND. 34.9cm. NEUBERGER MUSEUM, STATE UNIVER- SITY OF NEW YORK AT PURCHASE. LENT BY ELIOT HIR- SHBERG FROM THE AIMEE HIRSHBERG COLLECTION OF AFRICAN ART

Even in cases where men become possession priests among the Yoruba, they are generally referred to as the "wives" of the deity and often wear female garb and hairstyles. Male Shango priests from the town of Ede, for example, plait their hair in two different female styles; in Figure 6, the three priests on the left wear the shuku style, which refers to the round basket in which marketwomen carry their wares on their heads, and the two on the right have the traditional Yoruba bridal hairstyle known as agogo.2 And in Figure 11 a male Oya priest from the Ijebu Remo area poses wearing a women's-style wrapper tied under the

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5. IFA WIVES IN PROCESSION, CARRYING CALABASHES FULL OF OFFERINGS ON THEIR HEADS DURING AN IFA FESTIVAL. LAGOS, 1977.

6. MALE PRIESTS OF SHANGO WITH THEIR HAIR PLAITED IN FEMALE HAIRDOS. OYO, 1971.

arms and Oya's cowrie vestment over his left shoulder.

Even though Shango is a male deity, it is women who are most often depicted on figurated oshe Shango. The spiritual powers of women make them the primary candidates for priesthoods in Yoruba society. Just as women are nurturers of children, so are they also the caretakers and nurturers of the gods, while men in Yoruba society are mas- queraders. During a long nursing period - up to three years - a woman's menstruation is suppressed and she practices sexual abstinence (Caldwell & Caldwell 1977; Jelliffe 1953). At such times she is considered ritually pure, perhaps one reason why nursing priest-

esses are often depicted inri Yoruba art (Fig. 4). The close physical and emo- tional bond that develops between mother and child during the first three years of a child's life creates an image of woman as soothing, indulgent, patient, and enduring (Abiodun 1976; in press). Biological realities and child-rearing practices are basic to concepts of women's spiritual power.

Female hairdos worn by Shango priests in the Egbado area (Fig. 14) and also seen on figures in oshe - a male in Figure 9- convey the idea of possession trance by signaling that the head has been prepared with medicine. Thus the head is shaved clean to the crown and braided from that point back. The reced-

ing hairline expands the forehead, creating the illusion of swelling, in reference to the state of possession trance in which the head is said to swell or expand (wu).

Although the oshe in Figure 9 is with- out double celts, it is identifiable by the male figure's distinctive hairdo with raised, paired braids down the back of the head that play on celts and are also reminiscent of the way ram's horns, another symbol of Shango's butting force, curve back and around close to the head. The kneeling figure has a cloth tied around his waist, for this is the first thing a priest does when he wants to make a sacrifice to his deity. Male priests in this way become ritually receptive and are therefore like women in their relationship to the deity.

Most oshe are carved in wood, but there are also brass, iron, and beaded ones. The form and medium of a brass oshe owned by the late Araba of Isale Eko suggest references to the Ogboni society (Fig. 8). Like edan Ogboni, the seated brass male-female couple is linked together at the tops of their heads. The doubling theme is played out further in the chameleons perched on the outer edges of the twinned celts. In contrast, the form of a large red, blue, black, gold, and white beaded oshe from western Yorubaland refers only cryptically to the double axe motif (Fig. 16). The entire sur- face of the oshe becomes a vast force field of lightning, energized with multi- colored zigzag patterns that radiate out- ward from the central shaft.

The visual elements of oshe Shango refer directly to the kinds of contexts in which they are placed. The double axehead is endowed with power (Smith 1967:99), serving protective as well as decorative functions. Thus, oshe are hung over doorways to protect houses from lightning and from thefts, situated at entrances to farms to inhibit tres- passers, and carried on dangerous out- ings, such as battles, to protect their owners (Lawal 1970: 94-95).

More frequently, oshe adorn shrines. Clusters of small unfigurated oshe fill various kinds of containers - wood, gourd, and enamel - that are then placed on' top of Shango pots and inverted mor- tars. In one Shango shrine in the city of Abeokuta, calabash containers full of unfigurated oshe sit on top of decorative Shango pots. One pot repeats the thundercelt motif in high relief near its mouth. Meanwhile, actual thundercelts are displayed in a plate on the floor in front, next to a ceramic cow.3 In another shrine in the Egbado area, oshe are placed together with Shango's gourd rattles (shere) in a large gourd container sur- mounting a whitewashed pot. Large figurated oshe then lean up against the pot, and an unfigurated iron oshe lies

across a bowl of thundercelts in front.

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Sometimes oshe are placed together in the company of other deities, as in a Shango shrine in Ijebu-Ode where sa- cred twin figures and animal horns rep- resenting Oya, who is the goddess of the Niger River and the whirlwind, are gathered together with oshe and placed atop an inverted mortar. Shango's rela- tionships to other deities are often vis- ualized in oshe. Thus, twins are the central theme in an oshe in the Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Purchase (Fig. 4). A mother sits crossleg- ged holding an oshe in her right hand so that she can nurse one child at her left breast. The other child is on her back. Twins are considered Shango's children in many parts of Yorubaland, while Oya is his second wife, after Oshun, who is not considered as strong (Thompson 1971a & b).

Similarly, in an Oya shrine, a cowrie- and-horn vestment hangs on the back wall, draped with old, rolled-up Ijebu cloths known as itagbe. To the left is Shango's arugba filled with thundercelts blackened with sacrificial residue. In ritual performances, the cowrie vestment is removed from the shrine by priests and carried outside. Many oshe from the Awori Yoruba area allude to Shango's association with Oya by depict-

7. ARUGBA SHANGO OF A KNEELING FEMALE FIGURE SUPPORTING ON HER HEAD A LARGE THUNDERCELT OVER WHICH THE BLOOD OF SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS IS POURED. SHE IS FLANKED BY TWO CHILDREN; A GOURD RATTLE LEANS AGAINST HER BREASTS. IGBOMINA, 1971.

ing priests carrying the cowrie vestment over the left shoulder (Fig. 10; see also Fagg 1982: pl. 11). Such oshe show, rather realistically, how the vestment actually looks when worn by priests in procession (Fig. 11). Like the Aworioshe Shango that often depict them, such items move back and forth between shrine and performance contexts, each context evoking the other in the same way that the symbols themselves move back and forth across object types to make cross- references.

A great number of the objects that operate in this fashion are designed to be hand held, like the neolithic axe on which the oshe's form is based. In the city of Abeokuta, where the nineteenth- century civil wars produced a powerful warrior class, Egungun masquerades from warrior's families, who are also devotees of Shango, wieldoshe on their out- ings around the town to assert their power. Wearing a medicinally treated tunic full of potent objects - human figures, combs, knives, tortoise shells -

one Egungun with a grotesque yellow face raises his oshe in victory (Fig. 12). Another warrior Egungun with a tray of images on his head carries an oshe with a kneeling female figure.

In other contexts oshe are carried to ceremonies by priests of Shango as in- signia of their office. Thus, a Shango priestess dances with her miniature staff during performances of the Egungun society. In this context, the oshe not only identifies her office, but implies that

Shango lends his support to the Egun- gun ceremonies, attested to by the priestess's very presence and participa- tion in the proceedings while displaying her staff. During rituals devoted specifi- cally to Shango, the priestess, known as Iya Shango (Shango's Wife), dresses in richly colored Shango garments; in her left hand, she carries a medicine horn wrapped in red cloth, and in her right, the oshe and a fan (Fig. 14).

On one level, hand-held objects carried by priests during dance identify the power of their deity Iron blades of various descriptions evoke Ogun's role as hunter and warrior; miniature flintlock guns suggest similar ideas; and miniature iron pincers evoke the work of the blacksmith (M.T. Drewal, forthcoming). Like the Shango priestess in Figure 14, mediums usually carry a combination of implements in their hands, which are often held rather statically, moving only in response to active shoulders. When a Shango priest carries an oshe, Shango's presence is implied even before the onset of possession trance. The oshe speaks of Shango's vital force and his stormy

8. BRASS AND WOOD OSHE SHANGO THAT PLAYS ON THE FORM OF EDAN OGBONI. LAGOS, 1977. LEFT. 9. OSHE SHANGO MISSING ITS HANDLE, EGBADO STYLE. PRIVATE COLLECTION.

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mode of action; the dance on the other hand evokes the dynamics required for that action.

Although Iya Shango carries her oshe in her right hand and her medicine horn in the left, it is more common that oshe are carried in the left in possession trance contexts (Figs. 15, 16). Even in formal portraits, priests often choose to display the oshe in their left hand (Fig. 18). Likewise oshe are usually depicted in the left hand of ritual figures as in a figure in the collection of Mrs. William Bascom (Fig. 17; see also H.J. Drewal 1986: fig. 12). Note that the gourd rattle is carried in the right, just as it is in Figure 18.

In possession trance performance, the left side is stressed to symbolize the spirit realm. Thus, the deities greet the community with the left hand; that is, the possessed priests, whose heads have been mounted by the deities, greet the community with the left (Fig. 13). Just as Shango mediums most often carry the oshe in the left, priests of Oya and Shango carry the cowrie vestment over the left shoulder (Figs. 10, 11), priests of Ogun carry iron implements in their left hands, and priests of Elegba, the divine messenger, carry a cudgel in the left. These power symbols in the left signal a visitation from the spirit realm, but at the same time they assert the authority and the responsibility of the medium to be

the god's conduit into the world. The left in Yoruba society is also used by Ogboni members to greet each other and guests inside the Ogboni lodge on special meeting days; and when Egungun society members don their masquerades, they step into the cloth with the left foot. These instances, too, establish a relationship with the realm of ancestral spirits.

Lefthandedness in ritual has a common purpose - to establish and suggest spiritual communication (M.T. Drewal 1975). As one devotee put it, "The right is used by men; the left is used by the gods." The prevalent interpretation in the literature on the Yoruba of the un- clean, antisocial left hand is misleading in that it does not allow us to perceive the importance of the left for spiritual communication in a ritual context. The left is reserved for ritual and must not, therefore, be used in ordinary social inter- course. The world (aye), a domain where people reside only temporarily, is ritually separated from the otherworld (orun), a metaphysical realm of permanent exis- tence. Seen from this perspective, it is then possible to understand why the social use of the left is unacceptable and even considered to be deviant behavior.

The right hand often carries percus- sion instruments shaken initially to invoke the god and ultimately to pro-

LEFT 10. OSHE SHANGO WITH A KNEELING FEMALE WEARING AN OYA COWRIE VESTMENT OVER THE LEFT SHOULDER. REPORTEDLY CARVED BY OLABIMTAN OF OTA. AWORI, 1982. RIGHT 11. PRIEST OFOYA WITH A COWRIE VESTMENT OVER HIS LEFT SHOULDER, WEARING A WOMAN'S-STYLE WRAPPER. IJEBU REMO, 1982.

12. WARRIOR EGUNGUN WEARING A TUNIC OF MEDICINE AND CARRYING AN OSHE SHANGO. EGBADO, 1978.

nounce "ashe, ashe, ashe" (so be it) in response to prayers. Lending efficacy to prayers and invocations, the sound of the gourd rattle or bell helps to bring about possession trance and, later in the ceremony, to enforce the words of the deities, spoken through the mediumship of the priest. To return to the Bascom piece, the left hand holds the oshe, while in the right hand, accurately reflecting actual performance, the figure carries the shere, the gourd rattle used to invoke Shango and to assert, "So be it" (Fig. 17).

Hand-held objects particular to the deities and carried in the left inevitably signal possession trance, when the deity "mounts" (gun) the head of his priest. When this happens, the devotee (elegun, "one who is mounted")) literally becomes the god. Temporarily, the animat- ing spirit of the deity (emi orisha) dis- places that of the person being mounted. Whatever the priest does from the mo- ment he or she enters the trance state is thought to represent the god's own ac- tions.

Among the Yoruba, possession trance states are expressed through the medium of dance. To my knowledge, there is no instance of possession trance among the Yoruba that does not occur as dance,

TOP LEFT 13. PRIESTS IN POSSESSION TRANCE GREET- ING DEVOTEES WITH THEIR LEFT HANDS. OHORI, 1978. TOP RIGHT 14. PRIESTESS OF SHANGO IN POSSESSION TRANCE WEARING RITUAL GARMENTS. EGBADO, 1975. BOTTOM LEFT 15. PRIESTESS OF SHANGO IN POSSES- SION TRANCE, CARRYING AN OSHE IN HER LEFT HAND. OHORI, 1975. BOTTOM RIGHT 16. PRIEST OF SHANGO WEARING A HAT WITH BEADED FRINGE AND CARRYING A BEADED OSHE IN HIS LEFT HAND. OHORI, 1978.

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or in association with dance.4 Under- standing spirit mediumship in Yoruba society is thus critical to understanding the meaning that oshe Shango have for those who use and experience them. The deities themselves are never explicitly depicted. Rather the images that domi- nate oshe, and Yoruba sculpture generally, depict mediators - priests and priestesses whose inner heads (ori inu) have been prepared at initiation into the priesthood to receive the deity's spirit in possession trance.

Invocations, praise poetry, music, and dance are all essential to Yoruba ritual performances in which spiritual forces are actualized. Invocations and drumming performed prior to the onset of possession trance bring Shango into contact with his priests. Through dance, Shango then materializes in the pheno- menal world. Shango's mediums gaze downward; their dance movements di-

17. OSHE SHANGO OF A KNEELING FEMALE FIGURE HOLDING AN OSHE IN HER LEFT HAND AND A GOURD RATTLE IN HER RIGHT COLLECTION OF MRS. WILLIAM BASCOM.

minish. A change in attitude occurs: from outgoing and playful to concen- trated, serious, and inwardly focused. As if bound to the spot, the mediums stop moving their feet; upper torsos veer to the side, heads drop, and left knees quiver, causing their bodies to tremble. The priests in this state are called "horses of the gods" (eshin orisha). Attendants rush to straighten their cloths and bind their waists and breasts tightly in much the same way a rider saddles a horse, pulling the straps tightly to secure the saddle in place, for Shango must mount and ride his medium. At this point, the mediums are fully transformed into the deity. They repeatedly lick their lips in an agitated fashion. Their upper torsos drop, the heads roll back, and eyes roll upward. Attendants quickly close their eyelids and bring their heads forward.

The final sign that Shango is present is signaled when the medium emits a deep gutteral yell. It is said that when the god mounts a medium's head he roots the person's feet to the earth. Thus, attendants release possessed devotees by slapping or stepping on the tops of their feet. Still possessed, the mediums then take giant steps, leading with the whole left side of their bodies, and make their way to the gathered crowd. Hands are placed on the hips, and knees and feet are lifted and extended forward. After greeting the entire assemblage with "E ku o!," the mediums sing, dance, and pray Shango in this way directs the drummers.

During the performance, spectators give money to Shango and the drummers. The amount ranges from several cents to one dollar, the average being about twenty cents. By "spending money" (ninonwo) for Shango, spectators receive special recognition and blessing from him. In a sense they invest in his dynamic power, and in return they receive the benefit of that power.

Shango's dances express the nature of his vital force. In all of them, the head is calm; in contrast, the shoulders and arms are active, especially the shoulder blades or scapulae, which are repetitively raised and lowered. This is a marked stylistic feature of Ohori Yoruba dancing known as ejika, a term that refers both to the shoulders and the movement associated with the shoulder blades. Such shoulder gestures have an amazing range of dynamic possibilities, from gen- tle and subtle to forceful and exaggerated, and from fluid and smooth to sharp and angular. As performed by Shango, however, they are distinctly forceful, sharp, and exaggerated, in keeping with his stormy manner. The oshe in the left hand then adds its own statement to the intensity of the shoulder action, as the priestess dances with knees flexed and torso pitched forward from the hips (Fig. 15).

The Iya Shango in Figure 14 describes her own Shango dance as powerful. It is "a dance performed kikan kikan with forcefulness" (ijo kikan kikan to l'agbara). The word kikan is ideophonic and simu- lates the quality of the effort in Shan- go's dance, that is, one in which a dom- inant motif is raising (ki) and percus- sively dropping (kan) the shoulders, or the torso, repetitively (i.e., kikan kikan). Ki is quick, sharp, and high (or up) in tone; kan is forceful, full, and heavy, dropping in tone in a manner analogous to the way Iya Shango plunges her body forward in her dance, thrusting her oshe, fan, and medicine horn toward the earth.

According to Rowland Abiodun, kikan connotes a forceful release of energy as if under pressure (personal communication, 1981). The dance evokes this in its speed and thrust, playing on the dynamics of lightning and thunder - in that order - that are associated with Shango. Indeed, lightning and thunder are felt in the power of their actual dynamic qualities, qualities that in turn reflect the nature of Shango's own power as it is expressed in dance and in the oshe itself, particularly evident in the colorful zigzag patterning on the oshe in Figure 16.

When Shango leaves the head of the medium, he withdraws suddenly. The body tenses up, and if the possessed medium is near a spectator, she (or he) grabs onto that person and holds tightly Attendants must be ready to catch the medium and help her to the sidelines to be seated gently. Once the deity leaves, there are a number of measures used to clear the medium's head and return her to normalcy Attendants pour gin over the head and rub it in, blow into the ears and onto the top of the head, press on the base of the neck, press their foreheads against the medium's forehead and tap the back of their heads, stretch the arms up and then place them on the knees, pull the legs out straight and forward by the big toes, and all the while call the medium's name. The medium comes to as if having just awakened from a deep sleep and sits quietly for a while gazing into space.

Spirit mediumship is the most signifi- cant role of a priest in Yoruba culture. The uniting of devotee and deity into one image often causes some confusion for researchers trying to establish the identity of figures represented in Yoruba sculpture. Sculpture represents the union of the priest and deity in the depiction of the former with the costumes, hairstyles, and paraphernalia identified with the latter. The twinned celts represent the inner spiritual reality of the priest with the power of Shango imbed- ded in the head and emanating from the top (cf. M.T. Drewal 1977).

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The oshe Shango is thus a depiction of the priest and deity simultaneously This is explicit in another Egbado priestess's dance staff that the owner dressed up in the same style as her own garments. She tied the cloth around the waist of the female figure in the same manner that she has tied her own. The priestess gives a particular identity to the oshe carried in the left hand as a representation of its owner's innate power, just as the oshe defines the priestess. In this context, the oshe acquires specificity. Likewise, the Egungun in Figure 12 gives particular identity to the oshe just as the oshe signals the spiritual affiliation of the Egungun.

It is in performance that the Shango priest brings an active deity - not mere- ly a representation - into the phe- nomenal world for the community. To become Shango through possession trance is the primary role of a medium. When the oshe and the priest/deity are brought together in the same context, as they are in Figures 14 and 15, they refer to each other.

An examination of the oshe's forms and meanings in relation to the various contexts in which they appear allows us to see the common threads of thought run- ning throughout, as well as the creative divergences. The concept of possession trance is a central, underlying theme. The head of the Shango priest has been prepared with power substances that have been inserted to stimulate possession trance. The top of the head is the point of entry or the channel for the deity, and this is conveyed with shaved foreheads and special female hairdos. It is at the top of the head of the carved figure where the paired celts inoshe Shango usually emerge. Inversions and trans- formations of this convention, as in the Rietburg oshe (Fig. 1) and the one with two braids in Figure 9, are playful twists on the rule and serve to underscore it. This is consistent with the shifts between left and right hands. In either case, the double-celt motif - inverted, trans- posed, and transformed - is a primary symbol of Shango's vital force played out in countless ways. Devotee and deity are synthesized both within the oshe itself and in performance, when it is carried by the priest in possession trance.

The figure does not depict a medium in a trance state literally, but rather the vital potential of the medium whose head is endowed with Shango's power. The devotee and deity represent a dual- ity analogous to the twinning of celts themselves. The two have a symbiotic relationship - in Armstrong's words, "the self times the self.., power plus power... Shango squared." The oshe Shango, like possession trance performance, is essentially about that relationship. OI

Notes, page 98 18. FORMAL PORTRAIT OF A SHANGO PRIESTESS HOLDING HER OSHE IN HER LEFT HAND, ACCOMPANIED

BY A MAN HOLDING SHANGO'S GOURD RATTLE (SHERE) IN HIS RIGHT HAND. OHORI, 1975.

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WILLETT, notes, from page 53 1. Though he was posted back to Esie for a time in 1959-60 to work on the restoration of the broken stone figures (Dept. of

Antiquities, Annual Report, 1958-62, Lagos, n.d., p. 24). He had worked on the same task in 1957 before joining me in Ife

(Dept. of Antiquities, Annual Report, 1957-58, Lagos, 1961, pp. 2-3). This work is outlined in Stevens 1978: 10. 2. Brief reference to Akeredolu's thorn carvings willbe found in Bascom and Gebauer 1953: 43, pl. 26, and Bascom1976: 317. See also "Thorn Carvings by Native Nigerian Artist" (Design, no. 47 [Sept. 1945] p. 8, with three illustrations). 3. Dalziel 1937: 117, citing Irvine 1930 as authority for the statement about Ashanti. 4. In a later work Irvine (1961:189) writes, "The spines are carved into little figures or into letters used for embossing, and both these are sometimes sold in West African markets." This would appear to reflect the spread of figure carving first introduced by Akeredolu. 5. The head had been broken off and repaired with fish glue. It broke again on its way back to Glasgow, so has been re-

paired again. It had been exposed more than the other two

pieces, so even after careful cleaning it is darker in color. 6. Letter of January 2, 1986, Robson to Willett. 7. A life-size sculpture by one of Akeredolu's apprentices, Lamuren, no doubt reflects Akeredolu's work on a larger scale: see Willettl1966:36-37, pl. 1. John and Susan Picton own a relief panel by Akeredolu carved some time before 1968. It

represents a man playing a talking drum (Fig. 22). 8. Annual Report of the Antiquities Branch 1950-51, Ibadan (Government Printer), 1952, p. 1, para. 3. 9. Annual Report of the Antiquities Service for the Year 1953-54,

Lagos (Federal Government Printer), n.d. (1956), p. 5, para. 18. 10. Annual Report of the Antiquities Service for the Year 1954-55,

Lagos (Federal Government Printer), n.d. (1956), p. 3. para. 6. 11. Annual Report of the Antiquities Service for the Year 1956-57,

Lagos (Federal Government Printer), 1%1, p. 2. 12. Note that the pieces in Figures 11 and 13 were repaired by relatives to whom I gave them, so it is difficult to tell whether the breaks coincide with original joins. The legs of the pound- ing woman (Fig. 13) might have been carved separately. 13. Nigeria magazine, no. 14, June 1938, p. 138. Soft wood figure carvings. 14. Mrs. Robson has promised her Thomas Ona carvings to the Hunterian Museum too. Enclosure with letter to Willett of

January 2, 1986.

15. I sent a copy of the manuscript of this paper to Chief Akeredolu's widow, Chief (Mrs.) M.R. Brook, who kindly supplied the following additional information. The black ink was initially Kandahar Indian ink, later replaced by Pelikan, and the white was Chinese white, all formerly obtainable at local bookshops. Initially he used tube glue (Seccotine or

something similar) but later Araldite epoxy resin. He lost his

righy eye in 1963, and after the initial shock and convales- cence he continued carving the thorn figures: in the last years of his life they became a little larger although still retaining the original elegance and delicacy. Chief G.A. Aghara has re-

cently started a small carving studio and boutique (Nigeria Arts Centre, P.O. Box 124, Owo). His figures are a little larger and considerably less delicate than Akeredolu's; nevertheless they are very lively and attractive. He carves others in his little shop on Owo High Street using a penknife and does not

appear to have any assistant, nor does he seem very prosper- ous. Of course very few people in Nigeria are today Bibliography Akeredolu, Justus. 1958. "Ife Bronzes," Nigeria 59:341-53. Bascom, William. 1976. "Changing African Art," in Ethnic and

Tourist Arts, ed. Nelson H.H. Graburn. Berkeley: Univer-

sity of California Press. Bascom, William and Paul Gebauer. 1953. Handbook of West Af-

rican Art. Milwaukee: Milwaukee Public Museum (The Bruce Publishing Co.).

Dalziel, J.M. 1937. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. London: Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations.

Irvine, F.R. 1930. Plants of the Gold Coast. London: Oxford

University Press. Irvine, F.R. 1961. Woody Plants of Ghana with Special Reference to

Their Uses. London: Oxford University Press. Stevens, Jr., Phillips. 1978. TheStonelmages ofEsie. Ibadanand

Lagos: Ibadan University Press and the Nigerian Federal Department of Antiquities.

Willett, F. 1966. "On the Funeral Effigies of Owo and Be- nin..., "Man n.s. 1,1.

Willett, F. 1971. African Art: An Introduction. New York: Praeger Publishers.

PEEK, notes, from page 47 1. Personal communication, February 8, 1982. 2. It is interesting to note that while the oma image "should" reflect the sex of its "owner," this was not as critical as the

gender distinction in obo images (see Fig. 2). 3. This corresponds to the information Foss gathered among the Urhobo where, for example, a troublesome child has a small representation of ivri tied around his neck to aid in con-

trolling his behavior (1976:81). Foss (1976:106) comments ex-

tensively on his final choice of iphri as the proper phonetic representation of the Urhobo term; but for simplicity and because the complex is essentially the same among the Isoko and Urhobo clans, I have used the Isoko name ivri throughout this essay 4. It is especially unfortunate that I was not allowed to see this ivri, because Okpale is remembered as an Ukuane

(Kwale) Igbo settlement. If this ivri was truly theirs, it would have provided invaluable evidence for comparison of Isoko and Western Igbo traditions and artifacts. It may look like an ivri (Fig. 5) photographed in Ase, a village on Ase River that was originally Isoko but now is Ndosimili (Riverain) Igbo. 5. Although I did not encounter the association of ivri with

slave-raiding recorded by Hubbard (1948:230, 252) and Foss (1975:134; 1976:87), it is certainly a comparable concern. 6. Foss says thativri belong only to individuals and that those who are wealthy demonstrate their status by commissioning larger images. (Nevertheless, his informant told him that a

person should not hold too large an ivri or its power would overwhelm him; this parallels the Isoko belief that the larger carvings serve to intensify the holder's "ivri-ness.") Accord-

ing to Foss, the ivri of an important Urhobo leader is main- tained and served by the senior male of that social unit; as the

lineage expands, so does the realm of the carving. Although holders of the Igbu title (warriors who have killed another man) are noted as owning ivri, Foss makes no mention of Urhoboivri's reflecting war leadership or political structure as their Isoko counterparts do. 7. Other sources with ivri illustrated include Underwood

(1964:43, pl. 26), Fagg and Plass (1964:33-34), and Horton

(1965:pl. 66). 8. We should also recall such transitional communities as Ase

(Fig. 5) and possibly older Western Igbo clan groups. 9. Also, as Bradbury suggests, means of attaining socially ac-

ceptable personal success probably change over time (1961: 133,135). Bibliography Armstrong, Robert Plant. 1971. The Affecting Presence: An

Essay in Humanistic Anthropology. Urbana: University of 11- linois Press.

Armstrong, Robert Plant. 1975. Wellspring: On the Myth and Source of Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Armstrong, Robert Plant. 1981. The Powers of Presence: Con- sciousness, Myth, and Affecting Presence. Philadelphia: Uni- versity of Pennsylvania Press.

Boston, John. 1977. Ikenga Figures among the North-west Igbo and the Igala. London: Ethnographica and the Nigerian Federal Department of Antiquities.

Bradbury, R.E. 1961. "Ezomo's Ikegobo and the Benin Cult of the Hand," Man 61, 165: 129-38.

Fagg, William and Margaret Plass. 1964. African Sculpture: An

Anthology. London: Studio Vista and Dutton. Foss, W Perkins. 1975. "Images of Aggression: Ivwri Sculp-

ture of the Urhobo," in African Images: Essays in African Iconology, eds. D.F. McCall and E.G. Bay pp. 133-43. New York: !fricana.

Foss, W. Perkins. 1976. "The Arts of the Urhobo Peoples of Southern Nigeria." Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University

Horton, Robin. 1965. Kalabari Sculpture. Lagos: Department of

Antiquities. Hubbard, J.W. 1948. The Sobo of the Niger Delta. Zaria: Gaskiya

Corp. Peek, Philip M. 1976. "An Ethnohistorical Study of Isoko Re-

ligious Traditions." Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University Peek, Philip M. 1981a. "The Power of Words in African Verbal

Arts," Journal of American Folklore 94, 371: 19-43. Peek, Philip M. 1981b. "Figure (Ivri)," in For Spirits and Kings,

ed. S. Vogel, pp. 140-43. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rubin, Arnold. 1976. Figurative Sculptures of the Niger River Delta. Los Angeles: Gallery K.

Underwood, Leon. 1964. Figures in Wood of West Africa. Lon- don: Alec Tiranti.

Vlach, John Michael. 1982. Review of The Powers of Presence by Robert Plant Armstrong, in African Arts 15, 4: 82-84.

Vogel, Susan. 1974. Gods of Fortune: The Cult of the Hand in Nigeria. New York: Museum of Primitive Art.

Wittmer, Marcilene K. and William Arnett. 1978. Three Rivers of Nigeria. Atlanta: High Museum of Art.

CROWLEY, notes, from page 59 An earlier version of this paper was read at the meeting of the African Studies Association, Bloomington, October 21-24, 1981. 1. Full citations of the following historical sources can be found in Herskovits 1938, vol. 2: 373-76. Bibliography Armstrong, Robert Plant. 1971. The Affecting Presence, An

Essay in Humanistic Anthropology. Urbana. Bascom, William. African Arts. 1967. Berkeley Bay, Edna G. 1985. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. At-

lanta. Blackmun, Monica Lee. 1978. "The Asen of Dahomey: Iron

Altars from the People's Republic of Benin." M.A. thesis,

University of California, Santa Barbara. Burton, Captain Sir Richard F. 1893. A Mission to Gelele, King of

Dahomey..., 2 vols. London. Crowley, Daniel J. 1982. "Betises: Fon Brass Genre Figures,"

African Arts 15, 2: 56-58, 87. Dalzel, Archibald. 1793. The History of Dahomey, An Inland

Kingdom of Africa. London. Forbes, F.E. 1851. Dahomey and the Dahomans: being The Jour-

nals of Two Missions to the King of Dahomey, and Residence at His Capital, in the Years 1849 and 1850. London.

Garner, Nancy. 1978. "Dahomean Portable Altars." M.A. thesis, Columbia University.

Herskovits, Melville J. 1938. Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom. New York.

Herskovits, Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits. 1934. "The Art of Dahomey, I-Brass Casting and Appliqub Cloths," American Magazine of Art 27,2: 67-76.

Herskovits, Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits. 1958. Dahomean Narrative: A Cross-Cultural Analysis. Evanston.

Leuzinger, Elsy 1960. Africa: The Art of the Negro Peoples. Lon- don.

Mercier, Paul, 1952. Les Ase du Muse d'Abomey. Dakar. Mercier, Paul. 1954. "The Fon of Dahomey," in African Worlds,

ed. Daryll Forde. London. Mount, Marshall. 1973. African Art: The Years since 1920.

Bloomington. Murdock. George Peter. 1950. Africa, Its People and Their Cul-

ture History. New York. Plass, Margaret. 1956. African Tribal Sculpture. Philadelphia. Rawson, Phillip. 1973. Primitive Erotic Art. London. Robbins, Warren. 1966. African Art in American Collections.

New York. Skertchly, J.A. 1874. Dahomey as it is; being a Narrative of Eight

Months' Residence in that Country. London. Sydow, Eckart von. 1930. Handbuch der Afrikanischen Plastik.

New York. Vogel, Susan and Francine N'diaye. 1985. African Masterpieces

in the Mus&e de I'Homme. New York.

M. T. DREWAL, notes from page 67 1. A condensed version of this paper was read at the 23rd Annual African Studies Association Conference, Philadel- phia, Octoberl15-18, 1980. I wish to thank Henry John Drewal for research assistance in the field during the period that the material for this paper was gathered, and I especially wish to thank the many Yoruba friends and colleagues who have shared over the years their knowledge and experience. 2. The shu is oshu is the same as in shuku and has to do with roundness. 3. Since this shrine was also for Agemo - concealed behind the curtains - the ceramic cow may refer to the preferred sacrificial animal of Agemo priests, which alternates each

year between the cow and the bull. 4. The only exception I can think of is in the context of initiation when the novice dwells for a period of time in a mild catatonic-like state. Bibliography Abiodun, Rowland. 1976. "The Concept of Women in Tradi-

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tional Yoruba Religion and Art." Paper presented at the Conference on Nigerian Women and Development in Rela- tion to Changing Family Structure, University of Ibadan, April 26-30.

Abiodun, Rowland. In press. "Woman in Yoruba Religious Images: An Aesthetic Approach," in Visual Art as Social

Commentary, ed. John Picton. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Armstrong, Robert Plant, 1983. "Oshe Shango and the

Dynamic of Doubling," African Arts 16, 2:28-33. Caldwell, J.C. and P. Caldwell. 1977. "The Role of Marital

Sexual Abstinence in Determining Fertility: A Study of the Yoruba of Nigeria," Population Studies 31, 2:193-217.

Drewal, Henry John. 1986. "African Art at Cleveland State University," African Arts 19, 2:56-63, 91-92.

Drewal, Margaret Thompson. 1975. "Symbols of Possession: A Study of Movement and Regalia in an Anago-Yoruga Ceremony," Dance Research Journal 7, 2:15-24.

Drewal, MargaretThompson. 1977. "Projections from the Top in Yoruba Art," African Arts 11, 1:43-49, 91-92.

Drewal, Margaret Thompson. Forthcoming. "Dancing for

Ogun in Yorubaland and in Brazil," in Africa's Ogun: Old World and New, ed. Sandra Barnes.

Fagg, William. 1982. Yoruba Sculpture of West Africa. Descriptive Catalog by John Pemberton HIII, ed. Bryce Holcombe. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Jelliffe, D.B. 1953. "Infant Feeding among the Yoruba of Iba- dan," The West African Medical Journal n.s. 2,3:111-22.

Lawal, Babatunde. 1970. "Yoruba Sango Sculpture in Histori- cal Retrospect." Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University.

Smith, Robert S.1967. "Yoruba Armament," Journal of African History 8, 1:87-106.

Thompson, Robert Farris. 1971a. Black Gods and Kings. Los Angeles: University of California.

Thompson, Robert Farris. 1971b. "Sons of Thunder," African Arts 4, 3:8-13, 77-80.

Verger, Pierre. 1954. "Role Jou? par l'Etat d'Hbtb&ude au cours de l'Initiation des Novices aux Cultes des Orisha et Vo- dun," Bulletin de I.FA.N., ser. B, 16, 3-4:322-40.

Verger, Pierre. 1969. "Trance and Convention in Nago-Yoruba Spirit Mediumship," in Spirit Mediumship and Society in Af- rica, eds. J. Beattie and J. Middleton, pp. 50-66. New York: Africana Publishing Co.

Wescott, Joan and Peter Morton-Williams. 1%2. "The Sym- bolism and Ritual Context of the Yoruba Laba Shango," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 92:23-37.

WAHLMAN, notes, from page 76 1. See Herskovits (1941,1955), Courlander (1960), Szwed and Abraham (1979), and Wood (1974). 2. American Indian traditions appear mostly in Afro-Latin American textiles and Mardi Gras costumes. African ideas also occur in Seminole Indian patchwork textiles. 3. Herskovits goes on to say: "The term penitence has been taken from church terminology, and the motivating sanction derives equally from African and Christian concepts; for example, the wearing of the garment is a compliment to the African deities represented by the colors, while the various rules about abstinence during its term of wearing is the Euro- pean pattern of penitence." 4. Personal communication: Rosalind Jeffries, 1980; and Marie-Jeanne Adams, 1983. 5. The earlier quilt was exhibited at the Cotton Fair in Athens, Georgia, in 1886. Purchased in 1891 by Jennie Smith, it was eventually given to the Smithsonian Institution. Its display at the 1896 Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta resulted in the commissioning of the second Bible quilt as a gift for the Reverend Charles Culber Hall. This quilt was given to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1964. 6. Retention of leopard society traditions makes sense in terms of slave trading history, for Old Calabar, at the mouth of the Cross River, was a major slave port. Check symbolism is retained in secret society costumes in Cuba, where an equally great number of Cross River peoples were sent. 7. Trudier Harris (pers. com., March 1984) tells me this concept derives from the Afro-American practice of leaving a Bible open at night; the power of religious words would protect a family against evil. And Roger Abrahams (pers. com., 1985) related that in many literate cultures, one put a Bible under a pillow tohave a wish fulfilled or toprotect a child; the practice of enclosing magical holy words to increase their power is found widely in early literate cultures. He noted that thelBible is used not only as an amulet butdas a divining tool as well; a person looking for guidance would open the Bible and read the first verse he encountered, and it would contain a sign indicating what action to take. 8. In Brazil Thompson (1981:18) found variations on this theme; one example has writing on the red plastic film cover- ing styrofoam. 9. Jean Ellen Jones, personal communication, 1984. 10. The y in mooyo lightly changes to a j (Robert Farris Thompson, pers. com., 1984). 11. This work is best seen from a distance in contrast to pastel New England quilts meant to be inspected in intimate set- tings. 12. Zora Neal Hurston (1931:385) documented the following color symbolism: red for victory; pink for love; green for driv-

ing off evil spirits; blue for success and protection and for causing death; yellow for money; brown for drawing money and people; lavender for causing harm; and black for death or evil. For Pecolia Warner (pers. com., 1980) the colors in her

quilts also had meanings beyond their aesthetic function. She said: "Red represents blood. But I like to put it in quilts -

makes it brighter and show up. Blue is for truth. White is for

peace... When a person dies you see the family wear all black. In a quilt that doesn't represent mourning. That makes it show up. They say that gold is for love. Silver is for

peace. Brass is for trouble.... Yellow is like gold; it means love."

13. For example, their reluctance may stem from the incom- patibility of Vodun symbols with Christianity. Bibliography Adams, Marie-Jeanne. 1980. "The Harriet Powers Pictorial

Quilts," Black Art 3, 4. Bass, Ruth. 1973. "

'Mojo' and 'The Little Man,' " in Mother

Wit and the Laughing Barrel, ed. Alan Dundes. New York: Prentice Hall.

Bohannan, Paul. 1973. "Rethinking Culture: A Project for Current Anthropologists," Current Anthropology 14, 4:357- 72.

Bunseki, Fu-Kiau. 1969. Nza Kongo, Kinshasa. Chase, Judith. 1980. "Afro-American Heritage from Ante-

Bellum Black Craftsmen," in Afro-American Folk Arts and Crafts. Southern Folklore Quarterly, ed. William Ferris.

Cole, Herbert and Doran Ross. 1977. The Arts of Ghana. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, UCLA.

Courlander, Harold. 1%0. The Drum and the Hoe: The Life and Lore of Haitian People. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Denis, Ferdinand M. 1823. La Guyane: ou histoire, moeurs, us-

ages et costumes des habitants de cette partie de l'Ambrique. Paris: Nepveu.

Deren, Maya. 1953. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. New York: Thames & Hudson.

Herskovits, Melville. 1941. Myth of the Negro Past. Boston: Beacon Press.

Herskovits, Melville. 1955. Cultural Anthropology. New York: Knopf.

Herskovits, Melville. 1971. Life in a Haitian Valley. Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Books.

Holmes, Peter. 1977. "Alice Bolling and the Quilt Fence," Yale College.

Hurston, Zora Neal. 1931. "Voodoo in America," Journal of American Folklore 44.

Hyatt, Henry. 1974. Hoodoo-Conjuration-Witchcraft-Rootwork. Hannibal, Mo.: Western Publications 4.

Janzen, John and Wyatt McGaffey. 1974. An Anthology of Kongo Religion. Lawrence: The University of Kansas Press.

Kubler, George. 1976. The Shape of Time. Yale University Press. Peto, Florence. 1939. Historic Quilts. New York: American His-

torical Company Reynolds, Elizabeth. 1978. Southern Comfort. Atlanta; Atlanta

Historical Society Rodman, Selden. 1973. The Miracle of Haitian Art. New York:

Doubleday & Co. Stebich, Ute. 1978. Haitian Art. New York: Brooklyn Museum. Szwed, John and Roger Abraham. 1979. An Annotated Bibli-

ography of Afro-American Folk Culture. Philadelphia: The American Folklore Society Bibliographic and Special Series.

Talbot, PA. 1912. In The Shadow of the Bush. London: William Heinemann.

Thompson, Robert Farris. 1974. African Art in Motion. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Thompson, Robert Farris. 1977-80. Lectures, Yale University. Thompson, Robert Farris. 1981. Four Moments of the Sun:

Kongo Art in Two Worlds (with Joseph Cornet). Washing- ton, D.C.: The National Gallery.

Thompson, Robert Farris. 1983. Flash of the Spirit; African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York: Random House.

Turner, Victor. 1967. The Forest of Symbols. New York: Cornell University Press.

Twining, Mary 1977. "An Examination of African Retentions in the Folk Culture of the South Carolina and Georgia Sea Islands." Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University

Verger, Pierre and Clement da Cruz. 1969. "Mushe Historique de Ouidah," Etudes Dahomienes n.s. 13.

Vlach, John Michael. 1978. The Afro-American Tradition in the Decorative Arts. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Wahlman, Maude Southwell and John Scully 1982. "Aesthe- tic Principles in Afro-American Quilts," in Folk Arts and Crafts, ed. William Ferris. Boston: G.K. Hall.

Welty, Eudora. 1971. One Time, One Place. New York: Random House.

Wood, Peter. 1974. The Black Majority. New York: W.W. Nor- ton.

CONTRIBUTORS DANIEL J. CROWLEY is Professor of Anthropology and Professor of Art at the University of California, Davis, and a member of the African Arts consulting editorial board. HENRY JOHN DREWAL, currently a Research Associate at the University of Ife while on a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, will resume his Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the Metropoli- tan Museum of Art in January 1987. MARGARET THOMPSON DREWAL is presently a Research Associate at the University of Ife while doing fieldwork under a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. She will return to the Department of Performance Studies, New York University, in January to complete work for her Ph.D. DANIEL McCALL is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Research Associate in the African Studies Center, Boston University. PHILIP M. PEEK, Associate Professor of Anthropology, conducted research in Nigeria and is teaching anthropology and folklore at Drew University. MAUDE SOUTHWELL WAHLMAN is Associate Professor and Chairman of the Art Department, University of Central Florida, Orlando. Her paper is based on a chapter from her forthcoming book, The Art of Afro-American Quiltmaking. FRANK WILLETT, Director of the Hunterian Museum, The University of Glasgow, was Professor of African Art at Northwestern University from 1966 to 1976.

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H.J. DREWAL, notes, from page 40 1. Fieldwork in 1982 for this study was made possible by a grant awarded to Margaret Thompson Drewal, John Pember- ton, and me from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency that supports the study of such fields as history, art history, philosophy, literature, and lan- guages. In addition, an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in the Department of Primitive Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1985-86 provided the opportunity for archival research and writing. I deeply appreciate the support of both institu- tions. I am also pleased to acknowledge the University of Ife, Nigeria, for a research affiliation and the Nigerian Museum for permission to study its archives and collections. Thanks are especially due Margaret Thompson Drewal for field research assistance, and my Yoruba friends, colleagues, and re- spondents for providing information and insights concern- ing the water spirits and the arts in their honor. I dedicate this essay to the memory of Robert Plant Armstrong, who explored the depths of Yoruba aesthetic expression. 2. These include Oya of the Niger River, Yemoja of the Ogun River, Yewa, Oshun, and Oba of the rivers that bear their names, Osa of the lagoon, and Olokun of the sea, as well as other important but more localized and less famous ones found throughout Yorubaland. 3. According to Ijo belief, performances to entertain and honor the water people were brought by the culture heroine, Ekineba, who was abducted by the water spirits and taken to their home where she witnessed their singing, dancing, and drumming. She later taught these arts to her people, thus creating the Ekine water-spirit masquerades (Horton 1960; 1963). A longer discussion of artistic traditions of the Delta and their relationship to Ijebu art history and belief is in prep- aration. 4. According to Abraham (1958:171-72), ebi connotes guilt, sin, or untruthfulness, ideas that may have some relationship to the Ebi rite. There seems to be an overt attempt to release suppressed concerns, for example when people openly crit- icize their rulers and elders. Fears about antisocial individuals also come out into the open in the invocations of death to wizards and witches. It seems, therefore, that Ebi is a sanctioned communal rite of catharsis in which the air is literally and figuratively cleared (of negative forces). It is catharsis in its original Aristotelian sense of "the purifying or relieving of emotions by art" (Webster's 1966:231). For an excellent ac- count of Ebi-Woro and other Ijebu rites see Ogunba 1967. 5. In one town, at the conclusion of the festival, children carry woro leaves to the palace where the king blesses them using the following procedure: they come forward and kneel, strike two bunches of leaves held in both hands three times on the ground and three times on their backs, and then hand them over to the king, who prays as he touches their backs three times with the leaves.



Documents

African Arts Volume 20 issue 1 1986 [doi 10.2307_3336567] Margaret Thompson Drewal -- Art and Trance among Yoruba Shango Devotees.pdf