This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ A study of the role of women in the burial rituals of the Ife of southwestern Nigeria. Adegoke, Ebenezer Olalekan The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 08. Oct. 2021 A STUDY OF THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE BURIAL RITUALS OF THE IFE OF SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA. Ebenezer Olalekan ADEGOKE. Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D of the University of London. King's College London, Department of Theology and Religious Studies. March 1995. B EL. LO N. U! V. ABSTRACT. This thesis examines the funeral rituals of the Ife and the role of women in those rites. The Yoruba see death not as an end of man, but as a transition from this earthly world to a new realm of existence. Death is classified according to the different ways or manner in which it came to the affected person. There are many types of burials in Ile-Ife. The digging of the grave, the washing, dressing and wrapping- % up of the body are done by the isogan of each lineage. The celebration of the funeral of the old is a time of feasting and thanksgiving because the deceased is thought to have completed his lifespan on earth. The death of the young is thought to be unnatural because the deceased has been cut off in the prime of life. The body is ' I buried by the isogan in the compound of the parents. The members of the Oramfe Cult are responsible for the burial of those killed by lightning. Efforts are made to remove the causes of such bad deaths. ' I \ Death rites celebrated by women include Ekun owuro, performed to separate the deceased woman from the other I wives of the lineage; ifari opo, "the shaving of the widow's head", a spiritual divorce between the widow and Page - 2 the deceased; and iba pipe, a special funeral feast celebrated by women. I. ' Eso gbigbe is celebrated for deceased men and women of the EsoI' Ikoyi lineages. It helps separate the deceased from other members of the lineage. At the celebration of % \ the death rites of ekun owuro and eso gbigbe, people are possessed by the dead. In Ile-Ife, mourning is the exclusive business of women. Many changes have been observed in the celebration of funeral rites by the Ife people. Page - 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Abstract. 2 Table of Contents 4 Acknowledgement. 11 Map. 13 List of Plates. 14 Chapter 1: Introduction 15 Chapter 2: Yoruba Beliefs about Death. 88 I. Introduction. II. Belief in the Premonition of Death. III. Belief in Reincarnation and the Ancestors. IV. The Belief in the Afterlife. V. The Fate of the Dead. VI. The Idea of Judgement and Punishment. VII. The Yoruba Idea of Life. VIII. The Yoruba Concept of the Person and the Belief in Souls and Ghosts. Page - 4 \ / IX. The Akudaaya. X. Death and Sleep. XI. Other Euphemisms for Death. XII. Summary. XIII. Endnotes. Chap ter 3: Classification of Death 175 I. Introduction. II. The Good and the Bad Death. III. The Issue of Longevity in Yoruba Religious Thought. IV. Causes of Death. V. Preventing Death. VI. Summary. VII. Endnotes. Chapter 4: The General Practice of Burial Rites in Ile-Ife. 214 I. Introduction. II. The Different Types of Burials. III. The Problem of Practice. '' •1 IV. The Isogan Society. V. The Digging of the Grave. VI. The Washing of the Body. VII. Dressing Up the Body. Page - 5 ' , VIII. The Feasting of the Isogan. IX. Wrapping Up the Body. X. Summary. XI. Endnotes. Chapter 5: Burial Rites of the Aged. 247 I. Introduction. II. The Meeting. III. Transporting the Corpse to its Hometown. IV. Preservation of the Corpse. ' I. V. Oku Wiwa: The Process of Looking for the Dead. VI. Visits to the Bereaved Family by Sympathizers. VII. Places of Burial. VIII. The Burial Shroud. IX. The Kin Group and the System of Shroud Donation. X. The Coffin. XI. The Play of the Women at the Funeral. XII. Viewing of the Body. XIII. Preparation of Food and the Provision of Drinks. XIV. The Burial Orchestra. XV. The Burial. XVI. The Celebration of the Second/Final Funeral. XVII. The Wake. XVIII. Gifts and Countergifts at Funerals in Ile-Ife. Page - 6 XIX. The Tomb. XX. Commemoration. XXI. The Eg'u'ngu'n Cult. XXII. Inheritance of Properties and Wives. XXIII. Succession to Headships of Families and Lineages. XXIV. The Problems of the Practice of Succession. XXV. Summary. XXVI. Endnotes. Chapter 6: The Burial of the Youn g . 327 I. Introduction. II. The Process of Burial. III. Inquests and Aftermath. IV. Summary. V. Endnotes. Chapter 7: Burial Rites for Other Cate gories of Death. I. Introduction. 34]. ' ' \ II. The Notions of Ero and Etutu. III. Burial of People killed by lightning. IV. The Burial of the Hunchback and the Lame. V. The Uses of the Skulls and the Hunchs. VI. Summary. VII. Endnotes. Page - 7 Chap ter 8: Women's Rituals and Death. 369 ' I. The Rite of Ekun-Owuro/Iba Orogun. II. Connecting Myth. III. Reasons for Performing Ekun-Owuro. / S. ,' IV. The Aims of Ekun-Owuro. V. The Structure of the Participating Lineages. VI. Musical Instruments, Forms of Drumming and the 5.5 .5 Carrying of the Agere. VII. Audience and Occasion. VIII. The Feast. IX. The Sitting Arrangement. X. The Rendering of the Songs. XI. Analysis of the Songs. XII. Prayers and the Distribution of Kitchen Utensils. .5 / #- XIII. The Rite of Ifari Opo. St XIV. The Rite of Iba Pipe. XV. Swiinary. XVI. Endnotes. Page - 8 S. / / Chapter 9: ESO GBIGBE - The Rituals of Men and Women. 426 I. Introduction. II. The Rituals. III. Summary. IV. Endnotes. Chapter 10: Spirit Possession and Death. 446 I. Introduction. S. II. Spirit Possession in the Death Rite of Ekun-Owuro. S. III. The Carrying of the Agere. / 'S / IV. Spirit Possession and the Death Rite of Eso Gbigbe. V. Summary. Chapter 11: Women and Bereavement in lie-If e. 463 I. Introduction. II. The Different Types of Mourning. III. Parent-Child Bereavement. IV. Conjugal Bereavement. V. The Roles of Relatives Before and During Mourning. VI. Death Pollution and the Image of the Widow. VII. Fraternal Bereavement. VIII. Kin Bereavement. IX. Purpose and Characteristics of Mourning. Page - 9 X. The Attitude of Mourners. XI. Summary. XII. Endnotes. Chapter 12: Changes in Funeral Rites of the If e. 503 I. Introduction. II. The Changes. III. Summary. IV. Endnotes. Conclusion. 537 Appendix. 539 Bibliography. 541 Page - 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I am grateful to my sponsors, the King's College London Theological Trust for awarding me a scholarship which has made it possible for me to study at King's. I am also expressing my thanks to the Trust's former Secretary, Mr. P.3. Gilbert for assitance over the years. Thanks are also due to the Central Research Fund of the University of London which awarded me a research grant in aid of my fieldwork in Ile-Ife. My Supervisor, Dr. Peter B. Clarke has been very helpful, friendly and supportive throughout my period ot study at King's. The thesis was planned with his assistance and he has done a very thorough and painstaking work with the supervision. I have also benefitted immensely not only from his logical and constructive thinking but also from his knowledge and perception of Yoruba Religion as practised in Nigeria and the diaspora. Thanks are also due to Professor Peter Morton- Williams who has been very supportive since I met him in 1989. He not only gave offprints of many of his articles to me but had planning meetings with me before and after both periods of fieldwork. He also found time for our regular two-man Seminars at the Royal Conrnonwealth Page - 11 Institute, the London School of Economics and lately, at the Department of Anthropology, University College London. Prof. Morton-Williams read all the drafts of the thesis and gave valuable criticism and advice. Dr. Malory Nyc has also been helpful. He read the earlier draft of Chapter 2 and offered advice. Dr. Murray Last also gave me some advice on the contents of Chapters 2 to 5 when it was presented at the West African Seminar at University College. I also wish to thank Dr. Karen Stears, a former research student of the Dept. of Classical Archaeology at King's for giving me a list of relevant bibliography at the earlier phase of the study.