Ifa., the Supreme Oracle
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llamas' (Bnjflislj dpiscojral Cljurrlj, RUTLAND PLACE, WEST END. EDINBURGH. Reetor: Hon. Treasurer and Vestry Clerk: Rev. STEPHEN S. FARROW, B.D. J. I. FALCONER, Esq., W.S. 1 STRATHFILLAN ROAD. 71 HANOVER STREET. 16th April 1924. The Secretary, University of Edinburgh. Dear Sir, I beg to hand you herewith a Thesis, entitled "Yoruba Paganism, or the Religious Beliefs of th*- West African Negroes, particularly of the Yoruba Races of Southern Nigeria", embody ing the result of the course of study to which I was admitted by the Senatus in 1922, and I request that you will kindly submit this in due course to the Board of Theological Studies and to the Senatus, with my request for the granting; of the Degree. I enclose the required Fee of Ten Guineas (£10:10:0). In presenting the Thesis as a distinct contribution to the advancement of learning, I beg to submit that, - <li The thesis contains a considerable amount of information never before published in this country or elsewhere, being the outcome of my personal investigations. (2) It co-ordinates ana combines information gathered from divers/ aivers sources,>dealing with various branches of the subject, much of this being difficult of access, having never been published in this country, and some only in the Yoruba language. (3) It is (to the best of my knowledge) the first and only systematic-treatise devoted entirely to the Religion of the Yorubas and seeking to give at least some account of each aspect of the subject. I beg to add that the Thesis is entirely my own unaided work, except that I have acted under the guidance of Professor Paterson, to whom I am much indebted for valuable suggestions as to booiss to be consulted and as to aspects of the subject to be dealt with in certain chapters. The personal investigations made when living in West Africa have oeen supplemented and systematized during the past two years by my researches in the University Library and the Aa-vocates' Library in this city, and in the Reading Room of the British Museum, London, and by correspondence and conversa tions with natives of the Yoruba country. I apologize for the many corrections of typists' errors, and for any such as may have been overlooked. I am, Yours faithfully, Y 0 R U B A P A G A N I S M, or THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF THE TOST AFRICAN NE3ROES, particularly of the YORUBA TRIBES OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA. By STEPHEN S. FARROW, L.TJi., B. D. ' iDunelm.) f Examiner in the' Yoruba Language for the Pr'el imin ary E xam in at i'ons o f 't h'e" University of Edinburgh, and the Educational Institute of Scotland; formerly Missionary in t1 h'e Yoruba Co'unTr'y. Thesis submitted to the Universlt'y of Edinburgh for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 1924 . 6 CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. Introductory .............................. 1 II. Objects of Worship ........................ 16 III. Objects of Belief 'The Supreme Deity .... 32 IV. Do. Do. :The Orishas .......... 48 V. Do. Do. The Orishas (contd.) .. 85 VI. Do. Do. The Spirits of, the Dead 96 VII. Do. Do. The Devil ............ 120 VIII. Modes of Worship .......................... 127 II. The World of the Mysterious ............... 158 X. The Soul of Man and its Destiny .,.....,.,. 179 XI. The End in View ........................... 190 III. The Warrant, Object and Method of Christian Missions ................................... 199 XIII. Coneluaing Remarks ........................ 208 Appendix (A), An Ancient Yoruba Religious Hymn ........................ 222 Appendix (B) , Excursus The Origin of the Yoruba Tribes ............... 228 Appendix (C) , Yoruba Christian Lyrics ...... 233 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Mosque at Kemta, Abeokuta ................. 5a The Rock 01 atop, Abeokuta .................. 20a A Silt-cotton Tree by the River Ogun ...... 22a Shrine of the Goddess Yemaja .............. 67a The Sacred Axe of Shango .................. 72a Shrine of Ogun, God of War ................ 74a Image of-§9pono, God of Small-pox ......... 82a Ibeji, The Twin-gods ...................... 84a Rocks near Abeokuta ....................... 85a A Mangrove Swamp .......................... 90a A Chief's Staff, showing Bira of PS any In .. 94a Victims of Oro ............................ 102a Oro Worship ............................... 106a Eguns in Abeokuta ......................... 108a The Adamu-orisha .......................... 114a A Mud Image of Eshu ....................... 122a Shrine of Eshu ............................ 123a An Image of Eshu .......................... 124a A Portable Image of Eshu .................. 124b A Mid-day Halt on the River Ogun .......... 128a Articles used in Worship .................. 129a A Forest Path ............................. 144a A Wayside Shrine .......................... 161a Entrance to Chief's House, Ogbompshp ...... 168a Amulets worn round the Neck ............... 169a A Woman's Amulet-girdle ................... 170a CHAPTER: i. : INTRODUCTORY. The purpose of this treatise is to give some account of the religious beliefs and practices of the West African Negroes, particularly as exhibited by the tribes of the Y-oruba country in Southern Nigeria, contributing somewhat to the study of the History of Religion, and also, while recognizing the elements of truth already possessed by the said people, justifying the propagation of Christianity among them* Something has already been done . in..this particular field, but the chief works have been written by those who were not conversant with the language, and who, with the exception of the : late .Mr R.E.Dennett, did not live among the people. These writers had to get their inform ation at second or.'third hand, and their work, praise-' worthy as it is for the pains taken in acquiring the same, and valuable for what it has recorded, has suffered con siderably from the serious difficulties which beset re search of this kind. Dr E.B.Tylor pointedly says M Even with much time and care and knowledge of language, it is not always easy to elicit from savages the details of their theology. They try to hide from the prying and contemptuous foreigner their worship of gods who seem to shrink, like their worshippers, before the white man and his superior Deity." 1 Dr Andrew Lang well says "Your testimony. is often derived from observers ignorant of the language of the people whom, they talk about, or who are themselves influenced by one or other theory, or bias.... The savage, informants wish to please or to mystify inquirers, or they answer at random, or deliberately conceal, their most sacred institutions, or have never paid any attention to :the s.ub ject." The two :sources of error ," the .de.sfre to please" and " the .desire to .mystify", are ever 'present in the mind of the .West Afr ican pagan , who ; is being, inter-/ rogated by the white man. Also. the Yoruba language is one of peculiar subtlety. Its most. important feature is musical intonation, and a frequent method of deceit is to utter, the words of one sentence and. to put upon them the tones of another, conveying a totally different meaning, which only a person with an expert knowledge .of the language can detect. Lying is so common that when a falsehood is detected, the culprit excuses himself by saying " Did you not know that I ms talking Yoruba?" •-———————————————————————————————————————__..___.._,______„ • v'o i • * » P . 4 2 2 . Tfce' Mak ing of R rel ig riVn , p. 45 . Dr R.H.Nassau, writing after forty years' experience in the French Congo, gives us his method,- "Wherever I lived I was always leading the conversation, in hut or in camp, back to a study of native, thought. I soon found that I gained nothing, if I put my questions suddenly, or without mask. The natives generally were aware that white men despised them and their beliefs and were slow to admit me to. their . thought, if I made a direct advance." He says also "Offering in the following pages a foundation of African superstitious bel iefs and practices,. I prendse . that I have gathered, them from a very large .number of native witnesses, very few of whom presented, to me all the same ideas. Any one else,.inquiring of other natives' in other places, would not find, as held by every one of them, all that I have recorded* but parts of all these separate ideas will be found.held by separate individuals everywhere." The writer's own experience fully coincides with that of this eminent authority, and his own enquiries were often of necessity circumlocutory and. indirect. Valuable and reliable information was obtained for him by Mr (now the Rev*) J.J.Olumide, Mr E.S.Aiyebiwo, and other native Christian converts, from the devotees of in ~wVsT Afr'ic'a, p.35~ special gods, who were their own relatives, or otherwise well known to them. Another difficulty, necessitating caution and judgement in the acceptance of information, is that, in the absence of any written language, the standard of belief concerning various deities and powers varies considerably, even in a comparatively small area. Those cults in which the stand ard of belief is most carefully guarded are all connected with Secret Societies. These organizations wield enor mous power over the whole of West Africa and are all of a religious or semi-religious nature. The initiated alone are allowed to know the .doctrine ana witness the rites of each, the penalty for revealing which is death. It would not for a moment be tolerated that any white man, or even uninitiated native, 'should witness, still less photograph, such ceremonies as might at all correspond to the "Churinga", " Intichiuma" and " Initiation Ceremonies" of the Central Australian tribes as described in Messrs Spencer and Gil- len's works. Religion is. intimately associated with every detail of the life of the West African Negro, in its personal, social and political aspects. From birth to burial, and 5a O even beyond, his whole personal experience is regulated and controlled by his religion.