Ifa Divination isn’t an altar, it’s not part of an altar. It doesn’t belong on an altar. So instead when it’s in a museum where altars are present it gets represented on the wall and in a case. The museum exhibition, Spirited Things, houses these objects, some are displayed on an altar while others are in cases or hanging on the wall in a room. The objects representing Ifa Divination, hang on the left wall in the room with the Haitian vodou altar, and in the corner where gender specific objects are found. What makes me curious, is that divination is a Yoruba religion practice, so I get pulled in further. Then I notice it’s tucked behind a long display case. This brown wooden tray sits back behind the case. It wouldn’t be the first object you notice walking into the room, being concealed behind this big glass case. Then as I walk closer, the detail of the 4-inch board starts to become more vivid. There are faces and there’s animals, looks like armadillos and horses, and designs that are unknown but have a snake structure to them. The details on the face are flat and smooth. The grooves along the face are deep. But what’s different is that each design is pointed towards the middle. Like something should be demonstrated there, like a stage for a show, but the center is blank. Nothing but smooth, hard, brown wood. The whole board is about a foot and a half by a foot and a half and about 1-2 centimeters thick. There are two big faces, the biggest face rests at the top of the board. It has a flat nose and big protruding eyes. When looking at the board it’s the first carving that really pops out. I notice there is some symmetry on the board. The faces are across from each other, then there are the snake like designs on the left and right side of the board and then there are people and animals that looked scattered at first but then when you take a closer look you notice that they have some sort of pattern. There are two people, one of each sex, embracing on either side of the big face and they each have some sort of animal around them. Then there are other people around the board that look like the animals or the objects next to them have some sort of purpose to be placed next to them. Then as I read the description there are more parts that are described with this tray. There were two more items listed; pair of divination chains and the divination tapper. It then goes on to describe this person, a babalawo or what they also called it the “father of mysteries” so of course this “father of mysteries” is just, that a mystery to me. So naturally with my curiosity getting the better of me I wanted to know more about what these mysteries were and about the secrets of the babalawo. As I continue to read the description there is mention of Ifa, the first of the diviners. This again makes me wonder what the story is behind these diviners, what do they do? The description mentions that they have to memorize 256 odus. Which were poems, tales and prescriptions from the god Ifa himself. This was something that baffled me. Who could possibly remember that many poems, let alone some of them being stories. To me that was just insane. Naturally my curiosity grows. Then I take a look at these object, the chains and the tapper that is being described in the article. The chains are in a glass display case to the left of the tray. One of the chains didn’t really look like a chain. The other one however, was a made out of actual chain links. This one made sense to me, small, grey chain links that made up the whole chain. At one end of the chain links there is one washer, one small white shell and one small brown shell. The other end has one bell, a small white shell and one small brown shell. I noticed these bigger black shells that were present in each of the two chains. There was 8 in both of them. Then between the fourth and fifth shell there was a bigger gap that split the chain into two halves with four shells on each half. This again made me curious. How could these chains fit with this board? Do they hang them? Do they form some sort of pattern that corresponds to the board? Each shell on the first chain is separated by a yellow blue pattern of beads. At one end, there is a washer and one small white shell. On the other end, there is one small bell present. The questions continued to fill my head. Now I look at the tapper, also found in the same display case as the chains. Now my head really has some questions. This tapper is different, nothing like I’ve ever seen before. First, thing I notice is the huge head that this man has. It’s a giant head. Looks like it holds so much information. The man sits upon this upside-down cone. I go back to his head, he’s bald, he has this one protruding thing about his left ear. Almost looks like a tuft of hair. His head making him look very top heavy, if it were to be picked up. His neck is also incredibly long and skinny and he has a necklace around it. He holds something in each hand, looks like something flat and square in one hand and in the other he holds something to write with. All of this is made out of carved, solid, polished wood. If its name has anything to do with what it does, then I couldn’t imagine how. I don’t foresee this object being tapped on something. It’s too detailed too oddly shaped to be tapped on something. Just from looking at these objects I don’t know what to think. There are so different from anything I’ve ever seen and different from each other. I wanted to know more about how objects that look so different could possibly fit together and how they are used. In this essay, I will first give some background information on Ifa Divination then I will explain how these objects are used in the processes of and then I will go on to compare the objects with the concept of altars in the Yoruba religion based on the uses of these objects.
I had some background information of Ifa. He was the first of the diviners meaning he is the oldest babalawo. A babalawo is a messenger of sorts. He performs the divination for the client and then he recites what happens in the terms of verses or stories that he must memorize. Each story, or odu, has a meaning, and that meaning will correspond to what is going on in the client’s life. Then sacrifices can be made to try and get the good fortune back. When the babalawo is initiated into this priesthood, after about 12 years of training, he must memorize the 256 odus that can be recited during divination. Now you may wonder how an odu may be displayed during divination. There is a chain that is tossed on the divination board, where this marking and reading happens. The chain consists of 8 shells with a smooth side and a rough side. The chain is tossed 16 times and the babalawo marks down on the tray what the results of the shells were when they were tossed, whether or not they landed on the rough side or the smooth side. This pattern will then describe what odu Ifa is trying to relay to the client. The babalawo must recite what is being said by Ifa and express that to the client without knowing any information about why the client might be there to begin with. The client must decipher what the odu means to them and do as they see fit. This is strictly the job of a babalawo, he performs Ifa Divination is whole life until his time is up. As I continued my research another god, different from Ifa, kept popping up, Orunmila. The book Ifa Divination; Knowledge, Power and Performance, made Orunmila clearer; “Orunmila refers to exclusively to the deity himself, the name Ifa refers to both the deity and his divination system.” (Abimbola 1989 pg 51). Deity is another term for god, and from this information, Orunmila and Ifa are the same god, Ifa just refers to this process of divination itself. Therefore, when Ifa and Orunmila are mentioned during the divination process, the communication of the odu could come from either of the gods.
I look at the first of the three objects to get a better understanding of how the structure relates to the function of each, an image can be found at the end of this paragraph. On the top of the tray there was the biggest carved face. This face will represent Eshu, he is the messenger god. Because he is the messenger god, he is the god the babalawo will communicate with who will in turn communicate with Ifa or Orunmila. Some representation of Eshu must be present on every divination tray. This is because Eshu can be known as a trickster and having him on the client’s side, so they can get their information from the gods, is essential (Dialogue and Alliance pg 28). During Divination, Eshu is faced towards the babalawo, which forms a diameter that gives Eshu no shame in being present on both halves of the diameter, because he is known to be the only god who directly communicates with humans, therefore, they don’t want Eshu to be looked down upon (Dialogue and Alliance pg 28). There must also be a sacrifice given to Eshu before the divination can start as well. The other designs on the board are never to be constant out of respect for Eshu. Meaning that the other carvings differ from board to board making each one unique (Dialogue and Alliance pg 26). However, this brought up another question; why would these objects be present in the gender corner or the museum? The other carvings that are part of the board, usually represent other Yoruba life tasks. This would explain the animals, it could be the sacrifices or their food source, the loving embrace is reproduction, and so on. The most important carving is Eshu, which is clear that it is important in this Tray. The tray is used for communication between the gods during divination. However, the tray is only one of three very intricate objects.
(picture from the Spirited Things website)
The chains are the next object that came to my attention to analyze and understand, an image can be found at the end of this paragraph. The 8 shells on each chain was constant in both, so I did some research on this as well. These chains are used to be tossed on the board and some sort of pattern will come from this. The shells have a smooth side and a rough side. The babalawo uses the chains to cast patterns that will either show the shells facing the smooth side or the rough side, then the number of shells on either side is recorded. There is a total of 16 sections of odu that the babalawo has to work with. Each pattern will represent a different section that the babalawo has to interpret. There are a total of 16 shells or nuts because it is said that when Ifa left earth his children climbed a tree to get him to come back and in return he gave them each 16 nuts (Thompson 1983, pg 34). Another thing that seems to come up with this tree is white powder. This white powder also comes from this same tree and is used during divination to be sprinkled over the tray so the babalawo has something to record the patterns he sees that form the shells (Thompson 1983, pg 35). There are 8 on each chain and 4 on each half because when the babalawo is recording the patterns this way the possible combinations will equal 16. (witches almanac 2017). This is just a faster way to obtain these patterns instead of using just 16 shells off the chain. Most babalawos prefer to use the chains because it is a faster method. The function of the chains is more clear and easier to memorize with the structure because of the shells present on each chain. They are the information that is being communicated between the gods to the babalawo.
(picture form the Spirited Things website)
Every Babalawo uses a tapper. An image of the tapper being described can be found at the end of this paragraph. The tapper has a very easy job. It simply summons the gods, Ifa, Orunmila and Eshu. To bring to them their attention that there is a divination going on and they need them to participate (collections 2017). A tapper can have many different looks. It all depends on the artist who made it. Because I don’t have the artist at my disposal, I like to draw some conclusions as to why the tapper may look like this based on my knowledge. I think the size of the head represents that number of odus the babalawo has to memorize. There is so much information that he has to memorize that it makes his head swell with all his knowledge. I believe the flat square object in his hand is a divination board and the other is a tapper as well, but a much smaller version. I think the man himself, represents the babalawo. I did find out why the man sits on a cone like structure. It is actually supposed to represent a tusk, and elephant tusk. In the Yoruba religion, the cone is an ideogram for ashe. Ashe is divine power. Which represents all the power that is present and is needed for a divination ceremony. Therefore, the tapper is thus represented in this way (collections 2017). Now that the reason for the structure and how it relates to the function of these objects is known, there is also a reason why they are represented in a museum exhibition that has four different religious altars.
(picture taken by Alyssa Falco)
An altar is something that is worshiped by the people and made for the gods. The altar has many different objects that are worshiped and are placed in certain areas of the altar based on the liking of the gods. Each object represented on the altars have some connection to the gods. They are activated with the form of ashe, they all have ashe in them. Ashe is divine power. “Ase diminishes with inaction and strengthens with activity.” (Drewl, Pemberton, Abiodun 1990, pg 25). The objects must be worshiped on this altar in order for the gods to interact with the objects and for them to be worshipped and have meaning. “The altar is considered a threshold into another world.” (Thompson 1995, pg 50). The altar is the connection between the gods world and the human world. The divination tray is like an altar itself. As I mentioned when describing the board, it looked like a show was taking place. This is the altar; the divination tray is the altar that connects the world of the gods to the world of the humans. The objects themselves have to be activated as well. This is when the concept of ashe comes in, the objects have ashe in them in order for them to communicate with the gods. The objects have ashe in them that allow somebody who participates in the Yoruba religion to accomplish what they want. While performing divination the ashe in the objects and the tray as the altar, which is the connection between the worlds, allows for the client to get insight into their future. Therefore, the tray is like an altar and it belongs in this exhibition for that reason.
The museum exhibition has four different altars that represent each religion. Then there are objects that also fit into each religion based on what they may represent. The divination items can be found in the gender section of the museum. At first this may be very puzzling. However, when you take a closer look at the objects, you can see gender is displayed in the carving found on the tray. The tray has carvings of both male and female showing their dependency on one another in everyday life, but also their independence is displayed. The embracing is needed of both sexes to then move on and move forward in life. But then some of the carvings there is only one-person present on the tray border. The women can do everyday tasks on their own as well as the men. Symbolizing that each gender can be independent as well as they depend on each other. The tapper itself is also a carving of a man. Then for obvious reasons this would fit into the gender category. The structure of each object has a specific function in order to allow the process of divination to be performed. Without the 16 shells then the odus wouldn’t be able to be recited, without the tapper the gods won’t be summoned and no odu will be present and without the tray there would be no communication between the two worlds. The idea of divination itself is a ceremony that is for the people but it ties the gods into it as well. By asking them for their help or be asking them for a favor. The presence of an altar is again the same concept. It is made by the people and worshiped by the people because they want a sense of faith that they will have a good life as well. They feed their altars which then feed the gods to ensure a good life, Ifa Divination has the same idea. The people of these religions want to have a good life, they put their faith into their gods just as any other religion would. The objects that are used in Ifa Divination put on an excellent performance and allow the people of the Yoruba religion to have faith that they will have a happy life, something that every person wants, good fortune and a happy life.
Bibliography
Abimbola, Wande. “Aspects of Yoruba Images of the divine: Ifa divination artifacts.” Dialogue and Alliance 3, no. 2 (1989): 24-29.
Clarke, J. D. “Ifa Divination.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 69, no. 2 (1939): 235-56. doi:10.2307/2844391Olupona, Jacob K., and
Drewal, Henry J, John Pemberton III, and Rowland Abiodun. “The Yoruba World .” In Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought , 13–43. New York : Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1990. https://bb.uvm.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-2315560-dt-content-rid-10754571_1/xid-10754571_1.
Rowland O. Abiodun. Ifa Divination: knowledge, power and performance. N.p.: Indiana University Press, 2016.
Thompson, Robert F. “Face of the Gods: The Artists and Their Altars.” African Arts 28 (1)1995: 50–61. https://bb.uvm.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-2315560-dt-content-rid-10661100_1/xid-10661100_1.
Thompson, Robert F. Flash of the Spirt . Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc1983.
Website Sources
https://collections.dma.org/artwork/5327077 – will be known as collections 2017 in the paper.
http://thewitchesalmanac.com/yoruba/ – will be known as witches almanac 2017 in the paper.
Alyssa Falco