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This chapter is devoted to the most feared and reviled aspects of Àjf: Àjf dúdu and Àjf pupa, which are supposedly distinguished by their respective black and red colors and wanton killing and maiming . Under the Western color hierarchy, the Yoruba word for the color black, dúdu, is associated with evil; however, the word connotes “great depth.” To fully understand certain acts of Àjf, such as violent retribution , it is necessary to eschew the convenient and super¤cial and investigate underlying terrestrial and cosmic issues, for close readings of works imbued with Àjf dúdu reveal balance, reciprocity, and compelling didactics at work. In my attempt to elucidate the cosmic depth of Àjf dúdu and Àjf pupa, I begin with brief analyses of Jean Pliya’s short story “The Watch-Night” and Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Jonah’s Gourd Vine. These works both typify and complicate stereotypical views of Àjf. The bulk of this chapter focuses on Ruby in Naylor’s Mama Day and the way in which Sapphira uses Ruby’s Àjf dúdu to right ancient wrongs and ¤nally institute peace. Pliya is a native of Benin Republic, and there are many cultural and spiritual similarities between the Fon and Yoruba peoples. These similarities are evident in Pliya’s short story. For example, the theory that all Africana women possess some degree of Àjf elucidates the character of Aunt Gussi, who is not a fully evolved Àjf but shares important information about the spiritual realm with her nephew. Aunt Gussi is the primary spiritual reference for and aunt of the young narrator , and the story opens with her admonishing her nephew for whistling at night, because he could summon “poisonous snakes . . . that . . . embody dangerous spirits or jinn.”1 Shedding light on the acquisition 6 The Relativity of Negativity of such abilities as shape-shifting and invisibility, Gussi goes on to inform her nephew that spirits “called aziza can even become friendly. They may, for example, tell us the secret of plants which make you invisible or change a man into a snake or lion” (84). In addition to her spiritual knowledge, Gussi divulges that Zannu, the watch-night, or guard, of the small community, owns a vast collection of powerful spiritual implements that lend him protection against the spirits of the night. In addition to a plethora of wicked bags, Zannu keeps his watch over the community from the base of a silk cotton tree. Ìrókò and silk cotton trees are known to be meeting places of Àjf, Osó, and other spiritual forces. Zannu’s choice of post and his wicked bags make it clear that he has Àjf. In fact, the narrative centers on his battle against Ayele, the community food-seller, and her Eye Àjf. Owls are commonly thought to be the birds of Àjf on the Continent , and in the ìtànkálg, the screech owl’s cry is considered an omen of death. In “The Watch-Night,” spiritual and physical violence begin when Zannu ¤nds that an owl has given birth in the narrator’s attic. Zannu tells the narrator’s father that the bird and its offspring are harbingers of evil. The father scoffs at what he considers superstition but orders Zannu to kill the infant owls. As soon as they are tossed into a pit latrine, David, the protagonist’s little brother, is stricken with a debilitating headache. Aunt Gussi, against the wishes of the patriarch , furtively consults a diviner. The home of the bokono (babaláwo) is replete with “wicked bags,” including a red feather of Àjf crowning a black bottle circled by white cowry shells. Using Afa divination, which is similar to Ifá, the diviner reveals that a “spell” had been cast on David as “revenge for a wrong suffered” at the hands of his family. At the end of the consultation, the bokono gives Aunt Gussie medicine that cures David. Three weeks later, an owl, ostensibly a parent of the baby owls, is spotted near the narrator’s home. The owl is simply perching in a mango tree, but the father insists that Zannu kill it. As Zannu prepares to burn the owl carcass, Gussi suggests collecting its scattered feathers “because it’s dangerous to let them lie around.” However, the straitlaced father reproaches her, saying, “One would think you’d turned into a sorceress yourself” (92). Following this, Ayele, the respected community food-seller, asks for one of the owl’s feathers so...

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