By: Brett Patrick Gasiorowski
Background
The definition of a mask is “a covering for all parts of the face, worn as a disguise, or to amuse or frighten others.” (Oxford) However, a mask is much more then a disguise. What makes a mask so much more then a piece of clay, wood, paper, or any other material is the essence it carries. This essence can represent a whole culture, religion, society, and individual all in one. A mask can transcend history and narrate the path of billions of people while still maintaining a unique personal story. It is life and anything the mind can conceive all in one.
The purpose of this webpage is to enlighten you about the Yoruba culture and how a simple mask can tell the brutal story of slavery, colonization, death, and sacrifice, while maintaining the beautiful contrast of ritual, heritage, and prayer.
Yoruba People, Art & Culture
Before addressing how an egungun mask dedicated to the Yoruba in Saint Lucia would be conceived, it is important to understand yoruba culture as a whole. In the video above, you can catch a glimpse of the rich history behind Yoruba people, art, and culture. As stated in the video, Yoruba is an ethnic group located in the South Western and Northern central of Nigeria, Benin and other parts in Western Africa. The Yoruba, number more than “30 million people” and traditionally “inhabit South-Western Nigeria, Togo, and Benin” (Olupona, 1993). However, The Yoruba transcend this geographical location of West Africa often shown in modern images.
This is mainly due to the sinister actions of nations during the colonial period. The presence of Yoruba cultural and religious practices outside West Africa resulted from the Atlantic slave trade. Although the slave trade “dealt a devastating blow to the growth of African cultures and customs, it brought about the practice of African religions in the Caribbean and North America,” which is one reason why we see the Yoruba nation dispersed across the globe (Adekunle, 2005). The original mapping of the Yoruba nation is shown in the video at 0:09, however this mapping is highly inaccurate and often misused. Toyin Falola speaks on this modern map and more below.
According to the modern world layout, Yoruba sits in the southwestern region of Nigeria as a result of colonial influence. As such, the culture of the Yoruba people has been prolonged through this Western-lense (Falola, Toyin, Genova, 2006). The map and video still contain valid and important information regarding the Yoruba nation and its history. The dispersement of the Yoruba people was due to the slave trade and has had an huge impact on the different developmental paths of the religion and culture as a whole. This can have drastic impacts on the differences in masks and ceremonies performed by the Yoruba population. To get a better understanding of the difference in religious rituals it is important to understand the act of masking an individual.
Yoruba, Egungun, and Kele
Egungun, in its overarching definition, is the act of masking or masquerading one’s self. However, the word is typically used in reference to the Oyo Yoruba, or the act of commemorating one’s ancestors. Yoruba as a whole has a connection to the history, culture, and society, of Saint Lucia. Yoruba divinities (òrisà) constitute the driving force behind new religions such as Kele in Saint Lucia (Drewal, 1978). The Kele have a direct tie to the Yoruba religion and culture in Western Africa however the difference is constituted through the slave trade which allowed for variation in rituals. The Kele perform a ritual named the kele ceremony which devoted to their African Ancestors who were of original Yoruba descent. The ceremony is performed to ask the African ancestors of present devotees for protection in all matters of importance – good crops, good health, and good fortune (Simpson, 1973). The main tools used in this ceremony are polished stone axes, drums, and agricultural implements, including cutlasses, axes, hoes, and forks. The most important tool used in this ceremony is the stone axes due to the cultural ties to the Yoruba religion. These axes are called Chango and symbolize the African ancestors of the Saint Lucians who celebrate Kele (Simpson, 1973). Chango is also the name of the thunder stones that enable the living to get in touch with their African ancestors and other deities.
Ties within Colonial Rule
The variation of the Yoruba people is mainly due to the colonial rule which is shown geographically and ritually but the purpose behind ritual and performance is strongly tied together. However, the links between african sacredness and Caribbean culture are legitimized by the central role played by religion in the original societies of the slaves. Traditionally, in these societies there is no dissociation opposing sacred and secular, sacred and social, political or artistic domains. The absence of such a dissociation between art and sacred implies that religious faith is expressed in proverbs, myths, legends, as well as in pictorial and sculptural art, choreography and music (Pradel, 1998).
Egungun Masks
Egungun masks can come in many different shapes and sizes, and can also carry different meanings depending on their usage in performance. Some of the variation in egungun masks are shown below. These masks tell the story unique to the individual who used them, and the community who was apart of them.
Global Engagement
With an absence of disassociation the differences in religious faiths are shown in the masks themselves. An individual can have a completely different devotion to his or her religion compared to the other which is shown directly in the style of the mask. The mask shows the outsider a different narrative compared to the individual who made and used the mask which is what makes the piece so special. One can have all of the contextual background on the mask such as ritual preformed, geographical location, and the maker of the mask, but they will never be able to comprehend what the mask was originally intended for. An egungun mask dedicated to the history and culture of Saint Lucia can be better imagined and conceptualized with this page. It is for your better understanding of the Yoruba culture within Western Africa and its entire diaspora to try and encompass what a mask would contain, who it would be devoted to, and how it would contribute to the notion of a global theatre.
Works Cited:
Adekunle, Julius. Africa Today, vol. 52, no. 1, 2005, pp. 127–129. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4187850.
Daderot. Mask, Yoruba, Egungun – Glenbow Museum. 21 September 2013, 11:22:27. Wikimedia Commons,https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mask,_Yoruba,_Egungun_-_Glenbow_Museum_-_DSC00328.JPG , 20 April 2019.
Drewal, Henry John. “The Arts of Egungun among Yoruba Peoples.” African Arts, vol. 11, no. 3, 1978, pp. 18–98. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3335409.
Falola, Toyin, and Ann Genova, editors. “THE YORÙBÁ NATION.” Yorùbá Identity and Power Politics, vol. 22, Boydell and Brewer, 2006, pp. 29–48. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt81p3p.5.
Olupọna, Jacob K. “The Study of Yoruba Religious Tradition in Historical Perspective.” Numen, vol. 40, no. 3, 1993, pp. 240–273., www.jstor.org/stable/3270151
Pradel, Lucie. “African Sacredness and Caribbean Cultural Forms.” Caribbean Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 1/2, 1998, pp. 145–152. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40654027.
Sailko. Nigeria, egba yoruba, maschera-copricapo a lepre egungun. 1 November 2016, 21:17:54. Wikimedia.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nigeria,_egba_yoruba,_maschera-copricapo_a_lepre_egungun,_xx_secolo.jpg , 20 April 2019.
Simpson, George Eaton. “The Kele (Chango) Cult in St. Lucia.” Caribbean Studies, vol. 13, no. 3, 1973, pp. 110–116. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25612555.
Taylor, Patrick. “Saint Lucia.” The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions: Volume 1: A-L; Volume 2: M-Z, edited by PATRICK TAYLOR et al. by JOYCE LEUNG, University of Illinois Press, 2013, pp. 895–898. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt2tt9kw.99.
Vega, Marta Moreno. “The Candomblé and Eshu-Eleggua in Brazilian and Cuban Yoruba-Based Ritual.” Black Theatre: Ritual Performance In The African Diaspora, edited by Paul Carter Harrison et al., Temple University Press, PHILADELPHIA, 2002, pp. 153–166. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt14bs6rh.13.
Wikimedia Commons. Map of the Yoruba cultural area of West Africa, showing some settlements. 4 January 2016. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yorubaland_Cultural_Area_of_West_Africa.jpg#filehistory
22 April 2019.