Time, Causation and Misfortune
The four-day week and the ritual calendar, how a Yoruba diagnosis of a problem actually proceeds, and an accurate account of aje, women's spiritual authority and the Gelede response.
Two tins dey join togeder for dis file bikos na so dem join for real practice. Yoruba time dey arranged by four-day ritual week wey each day belong to particular òrìṣà, so di calendar na timetable for duties instead of ordinary neutral grid. And di way Yoruba dey explain misfortune na diagnostic process wey dey run on top dat same ritual foundation, wey dey sort out wetin cause am between di person own action, dia destiny, how dia relationship with di dead and di divinities dey, and wetin oda pipo do. Di second half of di file dey talk about àjẹ́, wey be di topic wey pipo don sensationalise pass for di whole field and wey pesin must handle with care or make dem no touch am at all.
Di four-day week
Di traditional Yoruba week, ọ̀sẹ̀, na four days, and dem dedicate each day to particular òrìṣà . Di arrangement wey dem dey usually give na:
Day one: Ọbàtálá, Ṣọ̀pọ̀ná, Ìyàmi Àjẹ́ and Egúngún. Day two: Ọ̀rúnmìlà, Èṣù and Ọ̀ṣun. Day three: Ògún and Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì. Day four: Ṣàngó and Ọya.
Different sources dey give different starting points and small differences for how dem assign dem, and variations dey from region to region. Some accounts dey call di days Ọjọ́ Ògún, Ọjọ́ Awo, Ọjọ́ Ọ̀ṣẹ̀ or Ọjọ́ Ọ̀ṣun, and Ọjọ́ Jàkúta, where Jàkúta, person wey dey fight with stones, na Ṣàngó. Level of confidence: medium on any particular list, but high say di cycle na four days with òrìṣà dedications.
To dey keep time na specialist work. Di priests of Òrìṣà Oko, di farm divinity, na dem hold di responsibility to keep di calendar, and na after consultation with dem dem dey fix festival dates; di method wey dem record include to sacrifice pigeon for every new moon and keep di head inside one particular calabash . Dis na real astronomical and administrative practice, no be rough estimate, and e dey because dem need to coordinate di ritual and farming year across whole town.
Dem give di year as thirteen months wey each get seven four-day weeks, ninety-one weeks in total, and 364 days, wey dey run from 3 June to 2 June . Dem record names of months: Òkúdù, Agẹmọ, Ògún, Ọ̀wẹ́wẹ̀, Ọ̀wàrà, Bélú, Ọ̀pẹ, Ṣẹ́rẹ́, Èrèlé, Ẹrẹ́nà, Ìgbé, Ẹ̀bìbì .
Two warnings dey. Claims say di Yoruba calendar dey count one specific very large number of years, di Kojoda era, come from modern reconstruction and even di sources wey report dem mark dem as unreliable . And di neat way modern presentations take reconcile di four-day and thirteen-month system into 364-day year arrange pass wetin historical evidence support.
Di seven-day week na arrangement wey enter during colonial time, and modern Yoruba dey call di seven days: Ọjọ́ Àìkú, Ọjọ́ Ajé, Ọjọ́ Ìṣẹ́gun, Ọjọ́rú, Ọjọ́bọ̀, Ọjọ́ Ẹtì, Ọjọ́ Àbámẹ́ta . Di two systems dey exist side by side now, as di four-day cycle dey continue to control ritual observance and market days while di seven-day cycle dey control commerce and administration.
Wetin di calendar mean
Di four-day week na structural fact wey make sense make pesin pause look well, bikos na one of di clearest examples of Yoruba category wey no get equivalent for Europe.
Di market cycle and di ritual cycle na di same cycle. Yoruba markets dey rotate on di four-day period, so di market day of any town na also ritual day, wey be one reason why market na place of both economic and spiritual importance and why Èṣù's shrine dey inside am. Trade and ritual observance no be separate schedules wey just happen to clash.
Nothing for dis arrangement correspond to sabbath, day of rest wey dem separate from normal time as holy day. Every day belong to one òrìṣà. No secular remainder dey, and na so di calendar take show di point wey dey inside di file on ọ̀run and ayé: di division between sacred and secular no dey inside di system.
Di unit na four instead of seven, so e no come from lunar quarter, and di Yoruba week no be subdivision of di month di way Semitic week be. E na im own separate cycle.
Concerning Mbiti claim about African time, say African languages no get developed future tense and say African thought therefore no get real conception of distant future, dis corpus no depend on am. Pipo don criticize dat claim well well based on linguistics, and di Yoruba material dey speak directly against am: calendar of thirteen months wey specialist priesthood dey maintain, with festival dates wey dem fix ahead of time through astronomical observation, no be product of culture wey no get future .
How diagnosis take dey go
Di practical question na wetin dey happen when something go wrong: sickness, business wey dey fail, lack of pikin, accident after accident, or death.
Di procedure no be to find who do am. Na to find out which kind of cause dey work, and Yoruba explanation recognise several kinds wey no dey compete with each oda.
Àfọwọ́fá, self-caused. From fi ọwọ́ fà, to pull with pesin own hand. Di problem wey di person bring upon dia body through dia own action, wey dey located within natural order and pesin fit observe am empirically . Dis category big pass wetin outsiders dey expect and na im be di first option, no be di last. Man wey dey drink, dey fight, and dey abandon im farm get problem wey pesin fit diagnose, and na àfọwọ́fá. Dem dey punish pipo for wrong action precisely bikos dem hold dem responsible for am .
Ordinary natural causation. Yoruba medicine na well-developed practice wey get materia medica, and sickness get physical causes and physical treatments. To consult herbalist for herbal remedy no be religious act wey dem just cover with natural look, and di onísègùn knowledge of plants na real knowledge in di ordinary sense, wey dem test di way dem describe inside di epistemology file.
Destiny. When one pattern continue even after pesin don try everything wey make sense, di explanation dey point to orí. Dis na di residual category, no be di default .
Relations in disrepair. Ancestor wey dem neglect, divinity obligation wey dem no meet, taboo wey dem break, vow wey dem never pay, pesin own orí wey dem never feed. Di trouble dey come from relationship wey don spoil, and di solution na to repair am.
Wetin oda pipo do. E include àjẹ́ and bad spiritual attack. Dis na just one option among plenti oda ones, no be di standard answer.
Na divination be di tool wey dey sort out dis tins, and na dis be im practical work. Wetin dey comot na diagnosis and prescription, and di prescription dey mix different categories together plenti times: do dis offering, stop to dey do dat tin, and take dis medicine join. Yoruba explanation no be say e must either be natural or spiritual, and di question say which one e be no get answer inside di system, because di system no dey divide tins like dat.
Look how dis tin take resemble proper consultation inside any tradition. Person go present problem, specialist go use standard procedure check am, dem go find out wetin cause am, and dem go tell di person wetin e go do, wey mostly dey make di client change im own behaviour. Di picture wey pipo dey paint say Yoruba pipo dey fear bad spirit sotey dem no fit move, no match wetin dey really happen.
Àjẹ́
Na dis topic person need to handle with di highest care, and di reason dey clear: Yoruba person wey dem raise as Christian don learn say àjẹ́ mean witch, say witchcraft hold Yoruba society for neck, and say dis one dey prove say di tradition na darkness. Almost everything for inside dat thinking na wrong view, and to correct am no mean say person go pretend say notin dey inside wey dey bring wahala.
Di word
Yoruba tone mark dey separate two different words wey English join together. Ajé na deity of market and, on top dat one, wealth. Àjẹ́ na di power wey we dey talk about, and as noun, na di women wey get di power . Dem be different words, and to confuse dem inside writing wey no get tone mark don cause real damage.
Àjẹ́ no mean di same tin as witch as English pipo take dey understand am normally, and di difference no small at all. English witchcraft, wey European witch trials shape and wey Christian view join with agreement with devil, na tin wey pipo hardly believe say e fit dey for good intention or good power . Àjẹ́ na power wey person fit use for bad tin and for good tin , and di same women wey get am na dem pipo dey call as protective ancestors, healers, and guardians of morality, social order, and proper sharing of power, wealth, and prestige .
Di respectful names na ìyá mi, my mother, and àwọn ìyá wa, our mothers, and na dis names pipo dey use pass . Àwọn ìyá wa Ọ̀ṣọ̀rọ̀ngà na wetin dem dey translate as Our Mothers Arcane, or as Pierre Verger call am, Our Mothers Sorcerous .
Wetin di sources talk say di power be
Di scholarly accounts agree on top few points.
Dem believe say di power big well-well. Di sources describe àjẹ́ say dem get power pass di òrìṣà, and dem dey stand as middle person between Ọlọ́dùmarè and di deities, and na only Ọlọ́dùmarè wey no get gender get power pass dem . Lawal, Drewal and Drewal, and McIntosh all report dis tin .
Where e comot from dey inside Ifá verse for different versions. For di story wey Lawal record, Ọlọ́dùmarè create three òrìṣà, give special power to di two men, and when di woman, Odùduwà, ask wetin im own power go be, e give am one closed calabash wey shape like di world, wey get special àṣẹ inside. When dem ask wetin she go take am do, she talk say she go punish anybody wey insult am and e no go hard am to bless pipo wey support am, and na dis power be àjẹ́ . Inside another verse wey Lawal and Raymond Prince record, na Èṣù give àjẹ́ to di women, and e tell dem first say make dem go meet Ọ̀rúnmìlà, wey make dem swear oath say dem go respect certain materials and signs wey men fit use protect demselves, before dem come swear di oath for front of Ọlọ́run .
Di second version make sense to look because of how dem arrange am. Dem give di power, and dem put limit join am: protection dey, through agreement, with oath wey dem swear. Dis no be picture of wicked power wey nobody fit control. Na picture of big power under boundary wey dem agree on, and na so everything inside di universe dey.
Dem believe say na mostly older women and women wey don pass menopause dey get am, based on di reasoning say dem dey retain dia blood . Inside di sources, dem connect am to fertility and infertility, to di control of men, to success for business, and to political power .
Di scholarly disagreement
Weda àjẹ́ na bad tin by nature na tin wey scholars dey argue about well-well for academic writing.
Andrew Apter position inside Black Kings and Critics na di darker view: say àjẹ́ mean woman wey dey consume life and block fluid for body wey dey bring pikin, and say na based on dat dem dey link àjẹ́ to miscarriage and menstrual disturbance, wey be di opposite of fertility and safe delivery . For dis view, di main work of di power na obstruction.
Teresa Washington and oda pipo put eye on top di positive side, including àwọn ìyá wa as pipo wey dey bring fertility instead of to block am . Sarah Mathews summary na say if dem represent fertility, dem must to fit represent infertility too, since di power dey run for di two directions .
Di honest statement na say di sources support di two views because di power get two sides genuinely, and tradition wey describe power say e fit do big harm and big good no mean say e dey confuse. E just dey describe wetin power be.
Wetin happen to dis mata for history
Two history points must dey inside any accurate explanation.
Accusation dey follow women wey make money. Wetin Karin Barber find for Okuku na say any woman wey show wealth di way Big Man dey do am, dem go certainly accuse am of witchcraft . Belasco find out say women wey gather money through trade dey attract accusation . Di case of Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà and how dem treat Madam Tinubu, di Ìyálóde of the Ẹ̀gbá, one big trader wey dem pursue comot for Lagos and wey European and returnee traders wey vex for am call the Terror of Lagos, na standing examples . Di accusation na instrument wey dem use against women wey don become powerful.
And witch-hunting movement dey, and na twentieth-century tins wey get wetin concern money behind am. For mid twentieth century, the Atinga movement commot from southern Gold Coast come eastward enter western Yorubaland to wipe out witches, and people wey dem point finger to or force to confess, dem beat dem and sometimes kill dem . Apter argument for "Atinga Revisited" na say cocoa boom na im drive the movement, wey come make the wahala wey already dey inside society heavy pass before as witchcraft logic explain am, wey put men against women and youth wey go school against elders, and say Atinga attack woman body as the sign and agent of market value, of money wey dey move without control and wealth wey dem hide .
Anybody wey dem don teach say Yoruba tradition na reign of terror over witches suppose read that sequence well. The organised, deadly mass witch-hunt inside Yorubaland get documentation for colonial period, wey cash-crop boom and movement to wipe out witches wey dem bring from outside drive, and na the money position of women e target. Any kind fear wey àjẹ́ cause inside the old system, na the old system own institutions manage am, and the institution wey manage am na Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́.
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ na masquerade public festival to take honour àwọn ìyá wa, our mothers, wey mean female ancestors, female divinities and elderly women for the community, and to recognise their spiritual power and their position for society. The tins wey concern am na pikin bearing, motherhood and correct behavior for society . E strong pass for western Yoruba area with links to Ọ̀yọ́-Ilé, Kétu and Ìlọ̀bí, as Kétu get some of the oldest and most elaborate performances, and dem write am join UNESCO Representative List of intangible cultural heritage .
The main proverb wey dey guide am make sense to treat on im own.
Ayé ṣọ́ra.
Ayé (World / life) · ṣọ́ra (watch out / exercise caution).
Tread carefully in the world. Translator: Ìpilẹ̀ṣẹ̀ editorial rendering, unreviewed
Dem put the proverb inside the source as Eso l'aye, wey dem translate as "the world is fragile", with the meaning say life need make person dey careful, use diplomacy, get consideration, respect and dey live in peace . This corpus no fit stand gidigba say na so the Yoruba original be: the way dem print am no get tone mark and how dem divide the words no clear, and the reconstruction wey dey up there no too reliable. Confidence: low. The English meaning wey the source report na im dey here without three-layer treatment because dem no fit verify the original, and the corpus no dey reconstruct Yoruba text wey e no fit confirm.
Wetin matter for this file na the logic of the institution. The answer to the big power wey women hold wey fit turn two ways na public festival to honour that power, wey both men and women dey do, but women dey lead pass, wey society wey the head na Ìyálaṣẹ, mother of the shrine, dey organise alongside the Bàbálaṣẹ . The festival dey start with all-night performance wey dem dey call Èfè, where male masquerade performer dey use yabbis to entertain and to teach, and the Èlẹ́fẹ̀ wey carry the Èfè mask go pray for the community make things beta for dem . The headdress get wood carvings of people, animals, objects and sometimes modern tins like sewing machine, and Lawal observation na say the way headdress be to the costume na so orí be to human body, the real essence of the masker personality .
Put Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ near the European witch trial, and the difference for how the two institutions think clear well well. When dem face the belief say some women hold strong spiritual power wey fit dangerous, one tradition carry dem go court, torture dem and kill dem. The other one build festival to honour dem, where the whole community dey agree say the power dey, entertain the people wey hold am, yab bad behavior wey people do including their own, and ask for peace and well-being. The two na answer to the same fear. Dem no be the same answer, and the record of which one kill women pass no be matter of debate.
Oyèwùmí and the gender question
One more scholarly debate join body for here because e touch how person go read all these tins.
Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí argue inside The Invention of Women say gender no be the principle wey dem take arrange Yoruba society before colonial people come, na seniority be am, say Yoruba language no get words or third-person pronouns for gender, and say the category "woman" as e work for Western thought no dey for Yorubaland, so scholars just dey carry Western gender ideas put inside their Yoruba material .
The argument get weight and people don drag am well well. Bibi Bakare-Yusuf argue say the research no get enough evidence to back am, say gender dey work for Yoruba culture even though e hide behind seniority, and say the way Oyěwùmí take separate Yoruba culture from "the West" too tight and stiff in a way wey blind eye to how dem mix . J. Lorand Matory talk say na imaginary pre-colonial community wey gender no dey she invent . The particular objection wey Sarah Mathews bring from the àjẹ́ material na say Ifá verses about women, their power and how men dey protect themselves from am no be tin wey fit start after European people come, and say the whole institutional structure of female power for market, for Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ and for Ìyálóde and Ìyálọ́jà positions already assume say that category dey, the same one wey the thesis deny .
Why e matter for this file na say the àjẹ́ material na one of the strongest evidence wey stand against the hard form of Oyěwùmí thesis, and make readers know both say wetin she observe about the language correct, Yoruba really no get grammatical gender and no get sex pronoun, and say na the conclusion say woman as social category no dey na im people dey drag.