What àwọn ìyá wa actually names, why "witch" mistranslates it, the ambivalence built into the power, Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ as the institutional answer to it, and the Atinga witch-hunt of 1950-51 with Apter's cocoa-economy explanation.
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.
Àjẹ́ na the name of power wey women dey hold. People believe say this power dey real, e fit build or destroy, e dey work through ways wey eyes no dey see, and na elder women particularly dey get am. People dey call the people wey hold this power together with respect say àwọn ìyá wa, "our mothers", or ìyá mi, "my mother". Writing for English almost everywhere don dey translate àjẹ́ as "witch", and this translation dey wrong for ways wey don cause real damage, both to how people understand am and, for twentieth century, to real women.
Na this topic people don misrepresent pass for the whole tradition. We dey treat am here without making noise about am and without doing the opposite mistake, wey be to clean am up make e look like ordinary gentle female power and wipe out the fear. Wetin Yoruba record hold get both the respect and the fear, and ethnographic literature document the two. Any reader wey want only one of them no go see the true stand of the tradition.
Plenty of wetin people really know about àjẹ́ dey inside hand of people wey dem initiate, e no dey open to the public. The public side, wey be Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́, get plenty documentation. The inside part no get plenty record and na mostly through informants wey dey talk about group wey dem no claim say dem belong to. That difference dey run through everything for bottom here, and na clear talk dem take put am instead of to hide am.
Make we start with wetin English dey bring enter.
The English word "witch" dey carry all the baggage of European witch trials: say na pure wickedness be the main character, say secret meeting on its own na crime, covenant with devil, and say na to wipe dem out completely be the right way society suppose respond. Dem create that category so dat dem go fit prosecute people. The Yoruba category different for structure. E dey name power wey people hold, wey dey dangerous, wey also fit create life, and wetin society suppose do na to appease and give am honour instead of to wipe dem out .
Sarah Mathews explain the translation wahala straight: inside Western discourse, "witch" dey usually get bad meaning wey concern women wey dey use spiritual power to cause harm, and the Yoruba meaning of àjẹ́ "no be direct synonym to wetin people generally understand as witch or witchcraft inside Western discourse, wey people rarely think say e get connection to good mind and power wey dey do good" She point out say Margaret Drewal, Oyeronke Olajubu and Teresa Washington all raise this same objection .
The way the Drewals put am na the standard one. Even though àjẹ́ fit be word to insult person among the Yoruba, dem dey call the holders ìyá mi or àwọn ìyá wa "to recognize their positive side as ancestors wey dey protect, healers... and people wey dey guard morality, how society arrange, and how power, wealth, plus respect suppose spread correctly" Look the last thing for that list. People believe say the mothers dey make sure say justice dey work for how things dey spread. Power wey its work include to punish people wey dey hoard wealth no dey do wetin European witch dey do.
Two other translation wahala still join add on top the first one.
The taboo on top the name. Àjẹ́ no be the normal word wey dem dey take call person. The respectful ways to call dem around the corner, like ìyá mi and àwọn ìyá wa, na wetin dem dey use, and dem dey use am precisely because the direct word dey dangerous or e dey offend. To translate the word wey people dey run from instead of the one wey dem dey use dey turn the register upside down: e dey carry the word wey the culture dey avoid make am the standard English label.
The tone wey dey clash. Àjẹ́, the power, and Ajé, the òrìṣà of market, of wealth and of profit, na different words with different tone patterns. English-language writing wey no get tone marks dey constantly mix dem up, and sometimes authors wey dey argue say connection dey between women economic power and their spiritual power dey deliberately join dem together . That connection na real argument and we treat am below, but the words na two different words. This corpus dey separate dem and mark the tone. Ajé the òrìṣà dem treat am inside The Smaller Òrìṣà.
Translations wey better pass "witch", though none of dem reach: the mothers; women spiritual power; elder women power. No English word dey. This corpus dey use the Yoruba word.
Na Margaret Drewal own people dey quote pass. Àjẹ́ na "the concentration of vital force inside women, their àṣẹ, their power to bring things come existence, to make things happen, to create extraordinary potential wey fit show itself in both positive and negative ways" The main point na say àjẹ́ no be separate substance, but na concentration of àṣẹ, the general Yoruba concept of power wey dey make things happen, wey dem treat inside Àṣẹ. E no be foreign or demonic power. Na the normal generative power of the cosmos, wey dey inside unusual concentration.
Àjẹ́ dey name both the power and the women wey hold am .
Dem dey still call the holders ẹlẹ́yẹ, owners of birds, because of how the power connect with birds and with flying for night; bird na the standard visual sign for the mothers inside Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ headdresses and on top the Ọ̀ṣùgbó and Ògbóni edan.
The general explanation na say all women dey hold àjẹ́ latently and say elder women, especially women wey don pass menopause, dey hold am actively, and the reason wey dem give na because dem dey retain blood . Apter record the theory wey connect to reproductive blood: positive for its capacity to mix with male sperm and create new life, negative inside period blood, wey dem understand as blood wey commot because e no fit create new life, and wey men dey fear because if body touch am, e fit neutralize their most powerful medicine .
E good make person talk this thing straight instead of to dey soften am. The system dey link the power to how woman body dey born pikin, and e dey treat woman wey don pass childbearing age as the person wey get pass power, because the power no dey waste for childbearing again. Na theory of female power wey stand on top the body. Whatever wetin person make of am, no be system wey dey ignore anatomy, and this na one of the clear evidence against the strong argument say Yoruba thought no categorise by anatomy at all. Mathews make this exact argument and na the main thesis of her study .
Two story dey circulate inside the Ifá corpus and dem no reconcile dem.
Odùduwà and the calabash. Olódùmarè create three òrìṣà, two male and one female, and give the two male ones special power. The female, wey be Odùduwà here, ask wetin her own power go be, and Olódùmarè hand her closed calabash wey shape like the earth, wey special àṣẹ dey inside. When e ask wetin she go do with am, she talk say she go use am punish anybody wey insult her, and she no go hesitate to use am favor people wey support her. That power na àjẹ́ .
The moral structure of that answer na the whole matter inside one sentence. The power get condition and e dey work back-and-forth from the moment dem give am. E no be purely bad thing and e no be purely good thing. E dey respond.
Èṣù and the oath. Second Ifá verse hold say women go meet Èṣù make e give dem the power. E give dem, but e tell dem say make dem go meet Ọ̀rúnmìlà before dem carry am, and Ọ̀rúnmìlà make dem swear say dem go respect certain materials and signs make men for get way to protect themselves against the power. To tie the agreement, dem send the women go meet Ọlọ́run make dem swear the oath .
That version dey carry another meaning: the power don dey before, and wetin the men institution negotiate no be say make dem cancel am, but na agreement wey get terms. Babatunde Lawal and Raymond Prince record am .
The claim wey dem dey consistently report na say the mothers stand above the òrìṣà, as dem dey serve as intermediary between Olódùmarè and the deities, and say no òrìṣà get power pass dem . Drewal and Drewal put dem for second position for power after Olódùmarè wey no get gender .
If na wetin the tradition talk about itself be that, then the position of women spiritual power inside Yoruba cosmology no dey for corner, e no be ordinary addition to male gods, and e no be demonology. E dey at or near the very top.
Dem believe say the power dey do both of these two things, and na the same women dem believe say dey do dem.
Generative. Protection of children and lineage, fertility, healing, prosperity for trade, enforcement of fair distribution, and guarding of moral and social order . Communities dey prosper when the mothers show favour.
Destructive. Infertility and miscarriage, trouble with menstrual flow, impotence for men, sickness wey dey weaken person, and death. Apter own description from Black Kings and Critics be say àjẹ́ "denotes the woman who consumes life and blocks the flow of reproductive fluids", wey make am the opposite of fertility and safe delivery . McIntosh document nineteenth-century accusations say women poison or hurt their husbands through àjẹ́ .
The language all through na about consumption and flow. The mothers dey eat; dem dey block; dem dey hold back. The imagery na about circulation wey stop, whether na blood, children, or goods. This matter dey important for the economic argument below, because na the same language dey guide both.
Olajubu fieldwork include account from one woman wey describe her own initiation, wey make sense to report because na one of very few first-person accounts inside the literature and because e no fit the soft-pedaled reading:
Dem tell her say her left leg na ese awo (leg of secret), and dem cut am make the blood pour enter one of the small local pots. Every member come taste the blood. Dem make incisions for her head and eyelids make e make her strong, hard-hearted, and fit kill as many times as dem need... one live bird, wey she must swallow for her initiation.
Na account of person wey be initiate before be that, wey she give to Yoruba scholar of religion, and e dey describe society wey their stated purpose include killing. Dem present am here as testimony of wetin informant talk, wey be wetin e really be, and no be like confirmed description of practice. The corpus no settle am. But e note say any account of àjẹ́ wey contain only protection and healing no dey report wetin dey the ethnographic record.
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ na the public, annual, expensive, and artistically rich institution wey western Yoruba people dey use face the mothers. Dem treat am full for Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ and na only the logic as response to àjẹ́ dey here.
The structure of the response na to appease dem, no be to suppress dem. Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ dey honour the mothers, dey call their names, dey entertain dem, and dey beg dem make dem turn their power help the community. The Ẹfẹ̀ night dey start with invocation of the mothers before e enter satire, and the daytime Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ na display inside the market, wey be the mothers own territory . UNESCO inscription note am as the only known masquerade society wey women dey also control .
If person look am as social technology, this na serious solution to difficult problem. Society wey believe say elderly women hold decisive and dangerous power get two choices: make dem try destroy the people wey hold am, or make dem build institution wey go acknowledge the power for open and give the holders reason to care about the community progress. Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ na the second choice. E dey change scatter-scatter fear make am turn to scheduled, funded, artistic obligation, and e dey put the community for position of person wey dey beg women instead of person wey dey prosecute dem.
Na dat exact reason make wetin happen for 1950 dey significant.
For 1950 and 1951, one anti-witchcraft movement wey dem dey call Atinga, wey come from southern Gold Coast, move enter western Yorubaland for east side. Di people wey dey run di movement dey waka from town to town dey claim say dem fit catch witches. Dem beat di women wey dem identify or force make dem confess, collect dia property, and for some cases, kill dem .
Na dis be di single largest recorded case of violence against Yoruba women for history, and e happen for time wey people wey dey alive still remember, for di same region and among di same communities wey maintain Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́.
Make we put di puzzle clear. If di tradition believe say di mothers get power pass di òrìṣà, say na to honour dem instead of to destroy dem, and say whole yearly institution dey just to maintain good relationship with dem, why come be say plenty Yoruba communities suddenly join hand dey hunt and kill di women wey hold dat power?
Two bad answer dey ground and people dey spread di two.
Di first one na say di practice don always dey under-under and Atinga just bring out di hatred for women wey dem hide. Dat one no explain why e happen dat particular time, di geography, or why di movement come from foreign land.
Di second one na say na straight import: say Christian and colonial demonology change di meaning of àjẹ́ make e be like say na satan work and give authority make dem punish dem. Mathews raise dis possibility clearly, dey ask weda Western ideology about wetin witch be and how to treat witch influence wetin dem do . Sense dey inside small, since Atinga come from outside and mission Christianity translate àjẹ́ as "witch" with di idea say na to wipe dem commot. But e no explain why di movement take hold like dat for inside dese particular communities for dat particular time wey e no happen before.
Andrew Apter paper "Atinga Revisited: Yoruba Witchcraft and the Cocoa Economy, 1950-51", inside Jean and John Comaroff Modernity and Its Malcontents (University of Chicago Press, 1993), give di explanation wey still stand till today .
Im main point na say "the cocoa economy intensified structural contradictions that were already articulated by the logic of witchcraft" Make we break am down well, because e dey touch plenty things at di same time.
Di logic of àjẹ́ already be one language to talk about particular type of social bad habit: to gather wealth hide, to block money or things make e no circulate, and to commot wealth from di system wey suppose sustain family lineage and di whole community. Woman wey dem accuse of àjẹ́, according to di idiom, na person wey dey chop and hold back instead of to feed and release . Belasco observe say wealth from market trade among women dey usually bring accusation, based on di idea say dem dey hoard market goods and use power do am , and Apter phrase for wetin di accusation mean na di plan "to block the flow of productive resources"
Di cocoa boom come provide di exact conditions wey dat idiom dey talk about, on top level wey people never see before. Cash crop business bring quick, clear wealth wey single individual hold. E put husband and wife for commercial fight, since Yoruba women dey do dia own trade for dia own pocket and cocoa money dey enter hands wey traditional family obligation no fit easily control. E put youth wey go school against elders. E create wealth wey be real, private, and wey no answer to old traditional ways of sharing wealth.
Di summary sentence wey Apter write na di main one to hold: "if cocoa production stimulated greater commerce and trade, it pitted men against women, literate youth against elders... Atinga attacked the female body as icon and agent of commodity value; of false representation, of unbridled circulation, and of hidden accumulation"
So di answer to di puzzle na say Atinga no be rejection of traditional understanding of àjẹ́. Na dat same understanding dem apply under new economic changes wey make di main accusation, say person dey hoard wetin suppose circulate, make am look like say na true for many people at di same time. Di women wey dem attack pass na di ones wey look like accumulators for dat idiom: market traders, women wey get dia own money, and elder women.
Two things follow wey make sense to talk.
Dis economic explanation no dey excuse anybody and Apter no present am like excuse. E just explain why di violence take di shape and target wey e take. E no change di fact say na killing of women e be.
And di older institution and di violence no be opposite things wey come from different worlds. Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ and Atinga na two different responses to di same premise. Di premise be say elder women hold real and dangerous power over how life and wealth take dey circulate. Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ answer am with honour; Atinga answer am with hunt. Any reader wey want make di tradition contain only di first one dey ask history for wetin e no carry.
Di link between women wealth and àjẹ́ accusation dey documented separate from Atinga, and na im be di part wey get di biggest social consequence for di whole category.
Wetin Karin Barber find from Okuku na di sharpest statement about am. "Big Women" for Okuku area no fit change wealth to big name di way "Big Men" dey do am, by buying land, marrying wives and having many children, and woman wey show off her wealth like man go face witchcraft accusation .
Dat one na ceiling, and dem describe am clearly. Di matter no be say women no fit make money, since proof dey say dem rich. Wetin happen na say to turn wealth into public standing, wey be di main point of wealth for Yoruba town, follow particular ways of showing off wey dem block against women, unless dem want face accusation. Di Ìyálóde title na one of di few legitimate ways wey dey available to convert wealth, and na part of why e matter dat kind plenty.
Mathews and Teresa Washington both note say people dey talk say na the possession of àjẹ́ give Ẹfúnróyè Tinúbú her power and wealth, and people link the same thing to Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà, together with the story about her wickedness wey dem check for The Ìyálóde . For the two cases, the way woman make business success and how men destroy her dey linked together through the accusation.
The main point na say àjẹ́ work like way to restrict how women dey gather wealth. E be both acknowledgement say women get real power and also tool to punish dem when dem show the power too much make everybody see. Both functions na the same category wey dey do im work.
On whether make dem view àjẹ́ primarily as generative principle. Teresa N. Washington im Our Mothers, Our Powers, Our Texts: Manifestations of Àjẹ́ in Africana Literature (Indiana University Press, 2005) and The Architects of Existence: Àjẹ́ in Yoruba Cosmology, Ontology, and Orature (2014) argue say make dem understand àjẹ́ as fundamental generative force, to bring am out from the frame of witchcraft . Washington write from an engaged position, and e better make dem read im work alongside the ethnographic accounts instead of to use am replace dem. The ethnographers, especially Apter, hold the destructive part as central thing and treat the category as talk about power and how people dey abuse am, instead of as positive metaphysics .
On wetin the category prove about Yoruba gender. Mathews thesis na say àjẹ́ and Ajé na decisive evidence against Oyěwùmí claim say the category "women" no exist for Yorubaland before European people come, because power wey dem theorise through female reproductive physiology and link specifically to older women no fit dey described without the category . Her argument on Atinga na say the threat wey successful women traders bring for economy wey dey grow show say female power wey dey grounded for body exist with serious force before European involvement . This na real argument and na one of the more concrete objections to the strongest form of Oyěwùmí thesis. The counter-position dey set out for Gender.
On whether the power na only for women. Most of the literature treat àjẹ́ as something for women. Some accounts agree say men fit hold am under other names, usually oṣó, sorcerer, wey dem treat as different and lower thing. The relationship between àjẹ́ and oṣó no get consistent report and the corpus no settle am.
Three things.
The category no be witchcraft, and to translate am like that dey carry prosecution logic come inside wey Yoruba framework no get. The framework im own answer to female spiritual power na institution of honour, wey be genuinely unusual thing for society to build.
The power get two sides by definition, and the fear dey documented just as the reverence dey documented. Accounts wey keep only the reverence dey produce modern devotional literature, no be description.
And the category get social function pass the metaphysical one: e mark the boundary of wetin woman fit gather for public eye. When economic transformation make accumulation become common, dem enforce that boundary with violence against real women for time wey people still remember. Any account of Yoruba women spiritual power wey stop before 1950 dey stop before the hardest part of the evidence.
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.
An examination of female sacerdotal leadership, institutional authority, theological debates on gender, and the historical dispute surrounding the initiation of female Ifá diviners.
How market authority was structured, how trade wealth converted into political leverage and where that conversion was blocked, the credit system that financed women's trade, and the twentieth-century associations that turned market organisation into a political instrument.
Oyeronke Oyewumi's argument that gender was not the primary organizing category of Yoruba society, the serious criticisms of it, and the documented record of women's authority.
Seven orisa treated together: the farming orisa, the hunter who became a river, Sango's other wife and the ear narrative, the orisa of wealth, the sea, the hunter of Ketu, and the one whose diaspora identity diverged furthest from his Yoruba one.
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.