Yoruba Women & Gelede
The Yoruba
The Yoruba are one of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria, concentrated
in the south of the
country. The Yoruba people have occupied their habitat for several thousand
years (Yoruba). Archeological evidence suggests that they have lived in
the general area since prehistoric times. At one time of considerable power
and importance, the Yoruba kingdom broke up through a series of wars for
which the slave trade was partly responsible. The Yoruba people divided
into numerous independent kingdoms that share an origin myth, but probably
have never belonged to a political unit. The link that unites all Yorubas,
even through the diaspora, is the honor of gods through the maintenance
of history and religious traditions ("Cutting to the Essence-Shaping
to the Fire").
Map taken from "Cutting to the Essence"
Gelede
Gelede, the masquerade performances of ancestral spirits, provides an
outlet in which men play a major role (Drewal 2). This celebration is associated
with a deified founding foremother, either earth or water along with a
forefather (Drewal 7). The Gelede honors and serves spiritually powerful
women-elders, ancestors, and deities (Drewal 9). A woman's status derives
largely from her reputation in trading, her craftsmanship, and her wealth,
rather than her husband's importance. Since the principal occupation of
Yoruba women is trading, many Gelede masks depict marketwomen. These women
are economically independent of their husbands and have the potential to
earn even more money than the husband. Borrowing occurs, but with expectation
that it will be paid back (Drewal 182).
Gelede
performance: "Female" dancers performing
Ideals such as patience and control and reverence are personified as
women, the same women that are made tribute to. "The mothers, who
are united with all women by 'the flow of blood,' embody the concept of
balance, a female quality that man must understand -indeed emulate- in
order to survive" (Drewal 15). An elderly woman, her long years implying
a secret knowledge and power may be regarded as a "witch" (Drewal
74). These elderly women and priestesses tend to be shown much affection.
It is because of this special power that they have greater access to Yoruba
deities. Any elderly woman, her longevity suggesting a mystical power and
a secretive knowledge, is put into the same category as all those who hold
important titles in cults for the gods and ancestors. Old age implies spiritual
prowess taken from the end of menstruation (Drewal 74). Thus menopause
plays a role in the community that, unlike in the Western civilization,
is very revered.
The
Gelede masquerade consists of nighttime (Efe) and daytime (Gelede) performances,
with different masks worn for each event. In the example here the masculinity
of the Efe mask is represented in the flat, vertically striped, abstracted
beard.
As a whole, Gelde celebrates womanhood, mothers to be exact. Yorubas
claim that women possess the secret of life itself with both the powers
to bring and remove life, in the form of beings into and out of the world.
The power of the mothers is equal to if not superior to that of the gods,
according to the people's beliefs (Drewal 8). In these celebrations, masks
known as Great Mothers are extremely revered and display the amount of
respect for especially the elderly women and priestesses.
Works Cited
Cutting to the Essence-Shaping to the Fire. (1995, March 29). History.
[Online]. Available: http://kubrick.fa.indiana.edu/~conner/yoruba/cut.html
Drewal, Henry John and Margaret Thompson. Gelde: Art and Female Power
among the -----Yoruba. Bloomington:Indiana University Press, 1983. 8-74.
Yoruba. [Online]. Available: http://ils.unc.edu/~leonj/yoruba.htm
Related Sites
Author: Melissa Creary, Fall 1997
Links
within this site
Postcolonial Studies at Emory
(Image of an "Homme Carrefour" from Donald J.
Cosentino's Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou [Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler
Museum of Cultural History, 1995].)
