Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency

Notes

Notes 1. THEORY AND METHOD 1. Gates himself is engaged in signifyin(g) on Derridean ideas by superimposing Yoruba references. One example-uEsu's representations as the multiplicity of meaning, as the logos, and as what I shall call the Ogboni Supplement encapsulate his role for the critic" (36). "Ogboni Supplement," here, signifies simultaneously on Derrida and on the often published, esoteric Ogboni adage Ogboni meji, 0 di eta, "two Ogboni elders, it becomes three." The supplemental third Gates interprets as the transcendence of binary oppositions and contradiction. 2. Some wear ornate headdresses with wire frameworks adorned with colorful yam tassels and plastic toys. 3. See Robert Farris Thompson's pioneering work on African dance and its relation to drumming (1966; 1974). 4. As Chernoff (1979:125) points out, "in a context of multiple rhythms, people distinguish themselves from each other while they remain dynamically related." Or, as Thompson (1966:91) suggests, "multiple meter is, in brief, a communal examination of percussive individuality." 5. It is significant that the point beyond which she decided she could not ride was the crossroads. In Yoruba thought, the crossroads represents the juncture of the spiritual realm and the phenomenal world. It is a liminal space where sacrifices are often placed and where the trickster deity, E~u, is said to reside. As an ambivalent spot, it is also a perfect place to make a ritual adjustment. 6. See Fabian (1983) on the problem of co..evalness and the use of ethnographic tropes to create temporal and spatial distance between researchers and their Others. 7. In the past, Yoruba kings were sacred ("second to the gods") and did not travel outside their domains. Indeed they never appeared publicly except on certain ritual occasions. On his expedition to the QYQ Yoruba capital in the 1820s, Clapperton (1829) visited with the king, who sat behind a screen so that no one could view him. Even during rare ritual appearances, the king's face was covered so no one could gaze into his eyes. Although kings travel today, there is still a lingering sense of uneasiness involved in contravening old rules, for not only is a king treading on someone else's territory, but in leaving his own domain he makes himself vulnerable to his enemies at home. Among the Yoruba, it is understood that any powerful individual, particularly an enormously popular one, has enemies. 2. YORUBA PLAY AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF RITUAL 1. All Yoruba festivals are spectacles, but not all rituals. Divination rituals, for example, are not usually called spectacle, because they are private, small, and 206 Notes for pages 15-26 sedate. However, when rituals are public and the intention of the organizers is to amass people, attempting to attract the entire community as well as strangers from other places, they can also be referred to as spectacles. A well..known saying about the rituals of the G~lt;d~ masking society, performed to "cool" or appease spiritually powerful women, declares: "the eyes that have seen G~lt;d~ have seen the ultimate spectacle" (H. Drewal and M. Drewal 1983). The number of spectators such spectacles draw is considered indicative of their success as rituals. 2. In Czikszentmihalyi's words (1975:181), "a matching of personal skills against a range of physical or symbolic opportunities for action that represent meaningful challenges to the individual." 3. Ere is also pronounced ire and are, depending on the geographical area (Abraham 1958:314). 4. Thus when Yoruba say 0 n~e YC:-YC:;, the phrase is often translated into English as "he is making nonsense," as opposed to 0 n~'ere [n~e ere1, "he is playing." 5. Odun literally means "year" but, when used in conjunction with performances of Ifa or O~ugbo (Qdun Ifa, Qdun O~ugbo), refers more specifically to the annual festivals of Ifa and O~ugbo. Similarly, QSC:; literally means "week," but is also used to speak of rituals performed weeklY-Qsc:- Ifa and QSC:- O~ugbo, for example. Apart from the temporal spacing between each ritual repetition, the main difference between weekly rites and annual festivals is one of scale and expense. 6. As Omari (1984:25) notes, "public festivals (xire, Yoruba for play, gala, party) provide an opportunity for aesthetic and theatrical display. Initiates are able to be 'onstage' and the focus of attention for a time. When viewing these attempts to please the Orixa [Yoruba deitiesI through a rich and colorful exhibition of beautiful and unusual costume elements, an...