African Culture

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African Culture
African Culture
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• Olorun (OH-low-run), the sky god, lowered a great
  chain from the heavens to the ancient waters.
• Down climbed Oduduwa, Olorun's son.
• Oduduwa brought with him a handful of dirt, a
  special five-toed chicken, and a palm nut.
• He threw the dirt upon the ancient waters and set
  the chicken on the dirt.
• The chicken busily scratched and scattered the
  dirt until it formed the first dry earth.
• In the center of this new world, Oduduwa created
  the magnificent Ife (EE-fay) kingdom.
• He planted the palm nut, which grew into a proud
  tree with 16 branches, symbolizing the 16 sons
  and grandsons of Oduduwa.
• Oduduwa was the first ruler of the kingdom and
  the father of all Yoruba. Over time he crowned
  his 16 sons and grandsons and sent them off to
  establish their own great Yoruba kingdoms.

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BackgroundThe Yoruba

• The Yoruba peoples of West Africa have lived in
  the southwestern area of what are now Nigeria and
  the Republic of Benin
• The earliest Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo
  (oh-YO) spread over vast territories. Divine
  kings, descendants of Oduduwa, ruled these
  kingdoms, advised by councils of elders and
  chiefs.
• As part of their royal REGALIA, kings wore
  distinctive beaded veiled crowns.

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adenla ("great crown")

• The beaded veiled crown, called adenla ("great
  crown"), is more than a symbol of kingship.
• embodies ideals of political and personal
  stability, refuge for the oppressed, salvation,
  and much more.
• Worn only on ceremonial occasions, the crown gave
  the king the power to communicate with his spirit
  ancestors in order to benefit his people.
• crowns hold so much power, they are among the
  most sacred Yoruba objects.

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Elements of the African Art

• Resemblance to a human beingAfrican artists
  praise a carved figure by saying that it "looks
  like a human being
• LuminosityThe lustrously smooth surface of most
  African figural sculpture, often embellished with
  decorative scarification, indicates beautifully
  shining, healthy skin.
• Self-composureThe person who is composed
  behaves in a measured and rational way
• YouthfulnessA youthful appearance shows vigor,
  productiveness, fertility, and an ability to
  labor to work
• Clarity of form and detail, complexity of
  composition, balance and symmetry, smoothness of
  finish

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• SOWEI MASK
• Mende, Sierre Leone and Liberia
• This mask is worn over the head of a female elder
  who dances for the Sande women's society.
• The mask displays and celebrates Mende ideals of
  female beauty and virtue elaborately braided
  hair (cosmetic skills, sexuality) neck creases
  (full-bodied, good health) smooth, broad
  forehead (nobility, intelligence) lowered eyes
  (contemplativeness, restraint) well shaped ears
  small nose small mouth (not given to gossip)
  composed expression (inner serenity), smooth skin
  (youthfulness).

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• Bamana, Mali Republic
• To the Bamana people, farming is the most
  important and noblest profession.
• At planting time, men of the Chi-Wara association
  of farmers dance with headresses like these in
  the fields to honor Chi- Wara, the mythical
  "farming animal" that taught agriculture to the
  ancestors of the Bamana. The headdresses, always
  danced in male and female pairs, depict the
  antelope-like Chi-Wara and display the process of
  successful cultivation.

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• Bamana, Mali Republic
• The "female" Chi-Wara headdress, representing the
  earth, always accompanies the male headdress
  during the harvest dances.
• The baby carried by the female symbolizes baby
  human beings.
• As in the male Chi-Wara headdress, the long horns
  stand for the desired growth of tall millet.

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• Asante, Ghana
• The akua'ba figure is supposed to induce
  pregnancy and ensure safe delivery of a
  beautiful, healthy infant.
• After being blessed by a priest, a woman carries
  the statuette around with her and treats it like
  a real child she adorns it with beads and
  earrings, "nurses" it, and puts it to bed.

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• Yoruba, Nigeria
• Among the Yoruba, twins (ibeji) are special
  children whose birth can bless their parents with
  good fortune.
• The Yoruba have one of the highest rates of twin
  births in the world.
• If a twin dies, the mother commissions a
  memorial figure (two if both twins die), and the
  soul of the deceased twin is transferred to it.
• The mother dresses the statuette in cloth and
  adorns it with jewelry, and keeps it near her
  bed. She also offers it food and prayers weekly
  and performs more elaborate rituals on the
  occasion of birthdays and annual festivals.

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• Baule, Ivory Coast
• The Baule believe that before people are born
  into this world they have a spouse in the other
  world, and that these spouses occasionally become
  angry or jealous and disturb the lives of their
  living partners.
• When this happens, a diviner recommends that an
  altar be established where the spirit may receive
  offerings and be appeased. The carved figure of
  the "spirit spouse" should be beautiful in order
  to please the spirit and attract it to the
  shrine. .

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• Makonde, Tanzania
• this piece depicts a "tree of life" motif the
  members of an extended family, including past and
  present generations, gently supporting each
  other, generation after generation, around the
  family ancestor.

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Areas of Traditional Religions
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Yoruba Religion

• The religion of the Yoruba people in West Africa,
  who live in Nigeria and Benin, is a thousands of
  years-old tradition of nature worship and
  ancestor reverance. In addition to the worship of
  one God, named Olodumare, the Yoruba worship
  dozens of deities known as "Orishas" who are
  personified aspects of nature and spirit. The
  principal orishas include Eleggua, Oggun, Ochosi,
  Obatala, Yemaya, Oshun, Shango, Oya, Babalu Aiye,
  and Orula.

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• Central features of the religion are its drumming
  and dancing celebrations known as tambors.
• At the tambors elaborate altars are created, and
  then food is offered to the Orishas.
• Depending on the nature of the celebration,
  percussionists and drummers (often playing the
  sacred 3-piece bata drums) play precise rhythms
  directed to specific Orishas while those present
  sing call-and-response songs in archaic Yoruba,
  causing the Orishas to descend and possess
  initiated priests and priestesses of the
  religion.

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• The rhythms and forms of Yoruba religion are said
  to be fundamental to the development of many
  forms of African American music from gospel to
  blues and jazz, and to musical forms such as
  Salsa and Latin Jazz.
• Carlos Santana, for example, has incorporated
  Orisha-themes and rhythms into several songs,
  including "Hannibal," which includes a Yoruba
  chant to Shango.

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Eleggua

• The Orisha of the Crossroads.
• Eleggua is the Orisha honored at the beginning
  and end of all ceremonies. He is said to be the
  force in nature which makes communication
  possible between humans and the orishas, and who
  brings magic into the realm of the possible. He
  lives at the crossroads, and is honored by
  devotees every Monday with offerings like rum and
  cigars. He is meaning in coincidence.
• He is often depicted as a mischievous child, and
  has a definite reputation as a trickster. Eleggua
  is one of the three Warriors, Orishas who are
  received by devotees as a prelude to full
  initiation into the mysteries of the religion.

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Yemaya

• The Orisha of the Oceans and Motherhood.
• Yemaya is the great mother goddess of Santeria
  the maternal force of life and creation.
• She is said to be the mother of many other
  Orishas, and is believed to live in the ocean.
• She has many aspects, one of them being Yemaya
  Okute, a fierce warrior.
• In Brazil her devotees set up elaborate beach
  front altars each New Year's Eve, setting out
  food and candles to be washed away by Yemaya
  (there called Iemanja) with the morning tides.

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Obatala

• The Orisha of the Mountains and Creativity.
• Obatala, which means "King of the White Cloth"
  represents the spiritual unity and
  interrelationship of all things. He is said to
  have many aspects, many of them androgynous or
  female.
• He is credited with creating humanity, and while
  becoming drunk on palm wine, is said to have
  accidentally created the crippled and deformed.

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Yoruba Divination

• Divination is a process that allows the Yoruba
  people to communicate with the deity, Ifa.
• Ifa, who was given "the power to speak for the
  gods and communicate with human beings " by
  Olorun, the sky God, is consulted by all Yoruba
  people regardless of their faith.
• The intermediaries between Ifa and the Yoruba are
  known as the babalawo.
• Through these rituals, or divination, the
  parents take information divined by Ositola and
  use it to create a pathway of spiritual guidance
  on which their children will travel as they grow.
  
• The parents, with the help of the diviner, are
  able to provide their children with medicinal
  elements as well as worldly advice.

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• There are three different rituals important for
  children
• The first ritual, stepping into the world
  usually takes place the week after the child is
  born.
• This divination not only provides parents with
  guidelines by which to raise their child, but it
  is both a literal and metaphorical representation
  of the child's first step into the world.
• To form this representation, the diviner takes
  the feet of the child, who is only seven days
  old, and places them on the divination tray in
  order to symbolize his introduction into the
  physical world.
• This action allows the persona of the child to
  be revealed and facilitates the successful
  rearing of the child by his parents.

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• At three months of age, the child will undergo a
  second ritual entitled knowing the head, "This
  time the objective is to learn the nature of the
  inner head (ori inu)--or personality--that the
  animating spirit or soul (emi) brought to the
  world, so the parents can help the child
  coordinate the two"
• The information the diviner acquires allows
  for the integration of the child's personality
  and soul, and provides him with a foundation in
  the world of the living.
• In this ritual, the child's second steps into
  the physical world are taken as the diviner
  touches the child's head to the to the ground and
  then to the divination tray. These symbolic steps
  build upon those taken by the child when he was
  only days old.

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• From this second ritual, the path of the child's
  life will become more definitive.
• There are ten paths indicative of Yoruba morals
  and expectations which, when ritualistically
  split in half, assume either negative or positive
  connotations.
• The diviners job is to relate the significance of
  the path on which the child travels and to
  determine the necessary sacrifices that will
  allow the child to stay on the correct course
  throughout his life.
• The third ritual through which the child will
  pass is the culmination of his initiation into
  Yoruba adulthood. Known as Itefa or the
  establishment of the self, this fourteen day
  ritual is complex due to the child's heightened
  self-consciousness.
• The Itefa ritual focuses on developing the
  child's personal identity and consequent social
  interaction.

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• Instead of relying on parental guidance, the
  child is equipped with vital texts and
  introspective tools so that he may undergo
  self-examination.
• The steps taken by the child as he walks from the
  village to the sacred grove, which again hold
  both literal and metaphorical significance, are
  reflective of the child's inner journey from a
  state of dependence on his elders to a state of
  self-sufficiency
• The role of the diviner permeates numerous
  integral segments of Yoruba life, as exemplified
  by the three rituals of Yoruba childhood.
• Most importantly, diviners are responsible for
  the progression of life and facilitate this
  progression through the guidance they provide for
  children and their parents.

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African Women

• Women are extremely valuable in the sight of
  society.
• Not only do they bear life, but they nurse, they
  cherish, they give warmth, they care for life
  since all human life passes through their own
  bodies.
• For that reason the primary African proverb says
  "A woman must not be killed, she is the mother of
  life, and to kill the woman is to kill children,
  to kill humanity itself.
• The woman should be handled with respect and not
  be treated as if she were a slave.

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African Women

• In traditional African life women play a
  significant role in the religious activities of
  society.
• One of the areas where this role is prominent,
  is in offering prayers for their families in
  particular and their communities in general.
• In many areas there were (and still are) women
  priests (priestesses) almost everywhere in
  Africa the mediums (who are so important in
  traditional medical practice) are nearly always
  women those who experience spirit possession are
  in most cases also women.

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African Women

• Traditional healing is a profession of both men
  and women and it is more often the women
  practitioners who handle children's and other
  women medical needs.