The Efe and Gelede masked spectacle of the western Yoruba, what it says about women's spiritual power, why it is one of the most conceptually sophisticated things in the tradition, and its UNESCO inscription.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ na masquerade festival for western Yorùbá, wey dem dey perform for Kétu, Ẹ̀gbádò, Àwórì, and Ohori areas wey dey across Nigeria-Benin border, and wetin e dey talk about na the spiritual power of women. Dem dey do this performance for àwọn ìyá wa, "our mothers," group wey include old women wey dey alive, female ancestors, and female divinities, and people understand say their power fit build community or scatter am. Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ dey give respect to that power, e dey acknowledge am in public, and as e dey do so, e dey try make the power dey work for the good of the community.
E good make person talk straight why this thing matter. Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ na public, yearly institution wey dem dey spend heavy money on, wey dem build completely on the idea say na women hold spiritual power wey dey decide things, say this power dey dangerous if dem ignore am, and say the correct way wey the whole society suppose respond na to dey give am continuous, expensive, and artful respect. Na remarkable thing for any pre-modern society to set up this kind institution. UNESCO document note am say na the only known masquerade society wey women dey also control .
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ no be just one single event, but na sequence wey get two different halves wey dey do different work.
Efe na the night part. Na im dey open the festival and e dey run reach dawn. The main character na the Orò Efè mask, wey one single male performer, the Elefe, dey wear, and im work na to sing song. Efe songs dey satirical, dem dey teach lesson, and dem dey sharp: dem dey praise, dem dey invoke, dem dey instruct, and dem dey attack. The Efe singer dey talk for public wetin nobody else for the town fit talk, as e dey call out corruption, dey yab bad behaviour, and dey criticize people wey get power, and this freedom no happen by mistake, na how the structure be. Dem dey describe am as the voice of the community, wey dey talk and do things wey society no go accept if na another person talk or do am . The night dey start with invocation to the mothers and to the ancestors, and na after that e go move enter satire.
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ proper na the day part, wey dem dey do for the marketplace. Here the masquerade people dey perform in pairs, men wey wear headdresses and costumes wey represent women, dey dance to fast, driving drumming. The daytime performance na display: colour, precision, athleticism, and how the dancers take match their metal ankle rattles exactly with the drums .
Henry John Drewal and Margaret Thompson Drewal work Gẹlẹdẹ: Art and Female Power among the Yoruba (1983) na the foundational study, and e make the relationship between the two halves clear: wetin dem dey voice out for Efe songs na im dem dey show visually with more power for Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ masks and costumes [S3]. The night dey talk am; the day dey show am.
Na this concept the whole institution dey stand on, and e no get any single English word wey match am directly.
Àwọn ìyá wa literally mean "our mothers," and the category cover old women for the community, female ancestors, and female divinities together . Wetin join dem together no be say dem born pikin for biological way, but say dem get one particular kind power wey women dey hold, wey fit create life when e dey generative and fit kill person when e no be so.
When that power show face in a destructive way, dem dey call the people wey get am àjẹ́, and na this word English translate as "witch." The translation poor well well. The English word dey carry all the baggage of European witch-trial history: say wickedness na the main character, say secret na crime, and say the correct response na to wipe dem out completely. The Yorùbá category different for structure. Àjẹ́ dey name power wey dey real, wey some women get, wey fit face any direction, and wey the correct communal response na to manage am with respect instead of trying to destroy am. The accounts of the Drewals and Lawal both stress say the mothers fit bring down individuals and whole communities if vex enter their body, and at the same time say na their favour dey make community prosper [S3].
Ìyá Nlá, the Great Mother, na the primordial figure wey dey head of the category. Babatunde Lawal identify Ìyá Nlá with Yẹwájọbí, wey dem explain as the Mother of All and the Mother of Mothers . Na im dem dey address for the opening invocations, and na im be the source of the whole institution for the origin story.
Ìyàmi Òṣòròngà na related and partly overlapping name for the mothers in their most powerful and most feared aspect. Ìyàmi literally mean "my mother." Teresa N. Washington book The Architects of Existence: Aje in Yoruba Cosmology, Ontology, and Orature (2014) na the most substantial single treatment of àjẹ́ as category, and e argue say make people read am as fundamental generative force instead of using the witchcraft frame . Take note say Washington write from engaged position and e better make person read her work alongside the ethnographic accounts instead of reading am alone.
One note on tone wey matter. Àjẹ́ (the power, and the people wey get am) and ajé (money, wealth, and the òrìṣà of wealth) na different words with different tone patterns, and English-language writing dey often confuse dem, sometimes deliberately by authors wey dey argue say dem get connection. This corpus treat Ajé, the wealth òrìṣà, inside 18-the-smaller-orisa.
Two different origin accounts dey circulate, and dem no agree with each other.
The Ifá narrative. One ẹsẹ Ifá recount say Yemọja, wey dem describe here as the mother of all the òrìṣà and of all living things, no get pikin. She consult Ifá, and the diviner tell her make she do sacrifice and dance with wooden images for her head and metal anklets for her feet. She do am and carry belle. Her first pikin na son wey dem nickname Efe, the person wey dey crack jokes, and her second pikin na daughter wey dem nickname Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ because she heavy like her mother and she like to dey dance. When time reach wey Efe and Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ self no fit get children, dem do the same ritual and succeed, and na so the practice pass down reach their children .
Make we look the internal logic: the mask and the ankle rattles no be symbols of the story, na dem be the exact sacrifice wey the story prescribe, and to perform Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ na to perform the ebọ wey work. Sources get different opinion on whether the figure for this verse na Yemọja or Ìyá Nlá / Yẹwájọbí, and some accounts even see dem as the same person. Lawal take Ìyá Nlá as the main person wey dem dey refer to .
The Kétu dynastic narrative. Kétu get one of the oldest and most elaborate Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ traditions, and another account for there link the origin to one royal succession fight between twin sons of a king wey dey die, where the brother wey dem plan to kill carve mask and decoy figure take escape the plot . This account place the mask inside political strategy instead of fertility ritual.
These na two competing accounts instead of two halves of one story, and the two of dem dey circulate inside the tradition. Places wey dem mention as origin for the institution include Ọ̀yọ́-Ilé, Kétu, and Ìlọ́bí, with Kétu as the one wey dem dey call pass .
The Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ "mask" properly na headdress: e dey rest on top the head, and cloth veil dey cover the person face separately . This construction different from face mask or helmet mask and e dey produce different visual effect, since the carved head dey sit above the performer own veiled head instead of to replace am.
The types of headdress wey dem document include orí ènìyàn (human head, the one wey common pass), ìyá (the Great Mother head), igi efè (the Efe headdress), olójú méjì (double-faced), elérù (head wey carry superstructure), onídòfòyí (two human heads wey snakes join together), orí ẹyẹ (bird head), and orí ẹranko (animal head) .
Na the superstructures make Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ carving special well well. Dem dey carry sculpted scenes: animals, human figures, and, inside twentieth-century examples, sewing machines, bicycles, drums, and other modern objects . Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ headdresses dey absorb the present. Carver dey respond to wetin dey happen inside the town, and the tradition dey treat this one as normal thing instead of corruption, wey be one of the reasons why Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ don survive where traditions wey dey more rigid no survive.
The costume na the other half. Wetin dey inside am include baby sash, constructed breasts, constructed buttocks, metal anklets, panels of coloured cloth, horsetail whisk, and fan . The baby sash dey represent nursing mother and at the same time e dey work as structural support inside the costume. Daytime Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ costumes elaborate and get colour pass the ones for night.
The performers na men wey wear representations of women, dey dance for front of audience where women hold senior positions, to honour women power. That arrangement no be by accident and e don generate plenty scholarly writing on gender inside Yorùbá ritual. 07-arts treat the carving and textiles as material culture.
The documented Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ society offices :
Ìyálàṣẹ, mother of the shrine, chief priestess and head of the society, wey dey mediate between Ìyá Nlá, the society, and the community, and wey dey maintain the Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ shrine.
Babalàṣẹ, father of the shrine, chief priest, wey dey organise the festival and na the official keeper of the headdresses and costumes, wey dem dey appoint with approval from Ìyá Nlá.
Abọrẹ, male priest wey dey assist people wey dey find favour from the àjẹ́. The position dey often follow family line and e require ritual knowledge.
Elefe, the humorist, wey dey carry the Efe mask, dey pray for the community wellbeing, and must know the oral literature very well. Typically na middle-aged or older person.
Arugi, literally wood-carrier, the masker. Dancer wey get skill, wey know proverbs and the speech of the drums, with training wey start from childhood.
Onílù, the drummers, specialists for Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ music.
Àgbẹ̀rìn, the chorus, men and women wey dress the same way to show say dem be one group.
The society get plenty female members, wey connect to wetin e dey about and to the belief say participation dey help women fertility .
Three things make sense to mention directly.
E dey face dangerous social fact instead of to deny am. Every society must deal with the resentment of people wey e don put for structural disadvantage. The Yorùbá answer regarding senior women no be to deny say dem get power, or to persecute dem say dem get am, but to build annual institution wey dey name their power correctly, dey honour am for public with real expense, and dey ask make the power turn to blessing. If you compare am with how Europe handle the same category of women across the same centuries, the difference for outcome no be small thing.
E build criticism enter the ritual. The licence wey the Efe singer get na formal arrangement to talk wetin nobody for fit talk normally. Ritual for here no be tool to take reinforce authority, na the only occasion wey dem fit take attack authority for public. Andrew Apter argument say Yorùbá ritual dey function as critical practice instead of conservative reinforcement na point wey e make about òrìṣà cults generally, and Efe na one of the clearest examples .
E dey absorb the present instead of to resist am. Tradition wey carve sewing machine put on top sacred headdress get different relationship with change pass one wey treat im forms like say dem must never change.
Dem proclaim Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ as Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity for 2001 and inscribe am on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for 2008, as joint nomination from Benin, Nigeria, and Togo .
The UNESCO description tok say the ceremony dey honour the primordial mama Ìyá Nlá and the role wey women dey play for how dem dey arrange society, say e get carved mask, dance, and chants wey dem dey sing for Yorùbá wey dey trace back the history and myth of the Yorùbá-Nàgó people, say performance dey happen for night inside public square with singers, drummers, and masked dancers, and say na the only masquerade society wey people know wey women still dey control . The description add say even though the tradition don adapt to modern patriarchal structures, the oral heritage and dances fit be proof say matriarchal order bin dey before.
Make person look that last claim well. To conclude say matriarchy bin dey before just because women dey control ritual institution na something wey anthropology of religion dey argue, and independent evidence for Yorùbá history no support am. E show inside UNESCO description; scholars never agree say na so e be, and make readers take am as wetin the nomination file interpret, no be as history wey dem document. Wetin dem document na say women get senior authority inside this institution now and for ethnographic record.
The threats wey UNESCO list na how technical development dey make people lose traditional knowledge, and how tourism dey turn the practice to folklore product, but dem still observe say community commitment still strong and the number of people wey dey participate dey grow . 09-orisa-today look the matter of tourism across the tradition.
Efe songs na the main thing for the night performance and dem document am well well. Babatunde Lawal The Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ Spectacle print pass sixty Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ song texts, proverbs, and divination verses, each one inside the original Yorùbá with translation, wey come from more than twenty years of field research . The Drewals study include chapters on Efe songs and on the masks and costumes for Efe night [S3].
This corpus no reproduce those texts here because to present dem well, e need the original Yorùbá as Lawal transcribe am plus im own translation, and the person wey compile this work no get verified access to the transcriptions. To present paraphrase or to translate am again go break the corpus translation rule. Readers wey want the real Efe texts suppose go look Lawal and the Drewals [S3], wey be the two place wey dem dey properly.
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