Author Archives: Seth Epling

Reflection on Daniel Rodríguez’s lecture about Santeria Altars

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I had the pleasure of viewing the talk Thrones of the Gods and Altars of the Soul given by Daniel Rodríguez. Rodríguez is an altar builder that specializes on the religion of santeria. He played a huge part in constructing the Santeria birthday altar in the Spirited Things exhibit. He is specifically an Obá Oriaté, which is the person who determines tutelary orishas in bajada (santeriachurch.org). He is the person who helps people find their guardian orishas. He was invited to give a more in depth background into the Santeria religion being this Obá Oriaté and being a follower.

Rodríguez starts of by giving the definition of the word santeria. He describes that this religion is a mix of African Diaspora religions and Christianity hence the beginning of the word. He goes on to describe certain religious practices of the followers such as animal sacrifice, garments of clothing, and certain unheard-of healing practices. Not gruesome, disgusting practices, but changing habits and daily activities based on what is wrong with you. He then starts to talk about different types of altars and how younger or people starting off in the religion should not have big or fancy altars. He states that altars are supposed to grow with the person not be constant. This is important to discuss because the birthday altar in the museum is very extravagant and not many people have such an advance form of the altar. He then brings the audience into the exhibit to answer specific questions and talk about specific parts.

The talk is extremely specific to the concept of altars. As stated before, he first talks how altars need to grow with the person. The objects need to be earned and should be based on where you lay in the hierarchy of Santeria. Rodríguez says there are people who get initiated into the religion and then buy religious aspects for his altar of a more powerful member off the internet. “For many priests and priestesses, it takes years to acquire objects for their entire stable of orishas” (Brown, 94) Speaking of hierarchy, Rodríguez spoke about how the altar in the exhibit is structure. There are many levels, the higher the stand means the more powerful the orisha is. Obatala, some say, is said to be the equivalent of Jesus and is the highest standing on most altars. For example, in the book “Santeria Aesthetics”, there is an article Toward an Ethnoaesthetics of Santeria Ritual Arts written by David H. Brown and within the articles there are pictures of different altars, and they all have obatala standing over the rest of the orishas. This concept is important in any hierarchy of the altar but height is not the only factor. How far a deity stands is from the center of the altar is very important. The closer the orishas are to the middle the more influential they are to the person. Most of the altars seen in the Brown altar are very small and only have the most influential deities. Obatala, Ochun, Yemaya, and their birthday altar god. The other deities present were dependent on the orishas that represent that person the best.

This talk was well worth attending. Getting a firsthand look at someone whose life has been devoted to practicing Santeria and learning the meaning of each altar. He was a very energetic speaker and you can tell he was passionate about what he was talking about.

(Seth Epling)

Santeria Background

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Background:

Santeria or Regla de Ocha is an african-american religion that is part of a group of religions that are referred to as the Diasporic religions. The religious practices of many different parts of Sub-saharan Africa were brought over to the Americas by enslaved African people from the 1500s to the 1800s. The pantheon of many gods from many different religions began to take shape as those who were enslaved made an effort to keep their heritage and religious traditions alive despite the lack of any rights. The many gods have roots in Modern day Nigeria, Angola, and Congo. The mixture of religions and loss of some deities is due to loss of ability to practice a religion that is focused on material objects and rituals because of enslavement and social ostracization.

The countries where slavery was practiced in the Americas each became new sites of religious mixture. Each country’s colonizers cultural differences and factors also had a unique impact on each of the religious groups of the diaspora. Every country has unique events that shaped the religious practices of the diasporic practitioners. Haiti having the first successful slave led revolution which started in 1791 ended in 1804 gave many Haitians an identity of self-reliance and being unafraid to change the world around them even in ways that may not always be the most sightly or moral. This outlook is reflected in Voodoo, Haiti’s diasporic religion, where there are some practices that are practiced by special individuals that involve digging up graves and enslaving spirits for mortal purposes. Brazil by far has the most practitioners of diasporic religions which is due to the country having had more slaves sent there than any other nation. The large population of practitioners in Brazil, the size of the country, and the Catholic influences resulted in multiple forms of the diasporic religion. Spiritism is a result of Catholic churches being used by slaves to practice their religions on the sabbath because in Brazil no one had to work on the Sabbath including slaves and the encouragement of the enslaved to go to church. Candomble is another Brazilian Diasporic religion which differs from Spiritism because it has no concept of good or bad however the two religions have many similarities and historically are linked. In Nigeria, Yoruba tradition is heavily practiced and is even done so publicly with festivals, statues, and more all associated with the gods and practices of Yoruba tradition. However, Christian missionaries changed the religion by introducing Christianity to Nigeria which has been mixed into Yoruba practice and tradition by making parallels between saints and orishas, the deities of Yoruba religion, and even jesus himself with Obatala because the two serve similar functions in both belief systems.

Cuba’s diasporic religion is known as Regla de Ocha, Santeria, or Lucumi. The religion incorporates religious practices from Africa, Christianity, and those of the indigenous people of Cuba. Most of the Religion’s practitioners are also baptized members of the Roman Catholic church which is due to the Spanish influence over the enslaved people who were brought over and the subsequent forced conversion to Christianity by the Spanish empire.

Catholic Saints each have a corresponding orisha that represents them in Santeria. Yemaya the goddess of the sea and the Virgin Mary are worshipped as one due to the two religious icons similarities for what they represent.Due to the almost immediate integration of the saints into the religion the practitioners of the religion were then able to practice the religion. This was because the way the rituals and worship were done it appeared as though the Catholic saints were being worshipped. Although practices were still confusing and suspect to those who didn’t practice it due to the saints being revered more than jesus. This resulted in the name Santeria meaning worship of saints. However, just because it seemed abnormal it wasn’t halted or questioned very much which allowed the religion to exist in a place where it otherwise would be considered witchcraft or blasphemous.

The Cuban Revolution of 1959 caused the religion to spread as the new government outlawed all religion and many practitioners escaped the country and came to the United States. Then in 1974 the Church of Lucumi Babalau Aye was created in Hialeah Florida as the first official Santeria worship site in the United States. Most of the practitioners who escaped Cuba during the revolution escaped to Florida due to its close proximity to the island nation and as a result formed a Cuban community in Florida.

One of the most important parts of Regla de Ocha is animal sacrifice. The animal being sacrificed is then used in some way and is always eaten at some point either during or after the ritual. Drinking the blood of the animal that is sacrificed is often also practiced during the ritual to cleanse the spirit of the person consuming it. In Hialeah florida in 1987 the city outlawed animal sacrifice which caused the priest of the church of the Lucumi Babalau Aye to take the city to court. The trial eventually made it all the way up the the Supreme Court which ruled against the city in 1993 and declared the law unconstitutional because it went against the First Amendment’s free practice of religion clause.

 

Deities

Agallu

Agallu is the deity that is  represented by nature and the volcanoes. He is the heat that is said to be present in all beings. He represents the lava and the magna in the center of the earth and all of the effects which come from that, such as earthquakes. He is the ferryman of the mortal soul, helping people cross the river.  His color is burgundy and dark reds and his number is 9.

 

Babalu Aye

Babalu is the orisha of the suna and disease. He is very powerful and often feared because he has been know to spread diseases. He is found in places similar to hospitals and also the desert. He is said to be happy because he has the ability to cure diseases and often condems people to death because they are very sick or in a great deal of pain. His colors are brown and earthy tones and his number is 17.

 

Chango

Chango go is the orisha of thunder and the thunder bolt or any loud hard sound that is coming from the sky. Chango rides his horse around to serve justice with his extreme physical form. He has red and white as his colors and is usually kept in a wooden vessel and his number is 6. He is one to always dance and keep the festivals going. He is one of the more known orishas in santeria religion.

 

Inle

Inle is the god of healing and health. Inle is a man with feminine features. He is said to be a humble man going to where he is needed helping the poor and weak. His colors are a blue, green, and yellow. He represents the people who are quite beings and love to help and nurture other people.

 

Obatala

Obatala is the deity that is the ruler of all other deities. Obatala is both female and male and is one of the purest and wisest orishas. Obatala’s color is white and everything that is given to him and he is summoned to bring order and peace among the world. He is associated with the number 8 and created humankind. Obatala has lots of paths that other deities follow.

 

Ochosi

Ochosi is the orisha that lives in the woods and represents the hunt. He always has a bow and arrow and has great knowledge of the herbs and plants in the forest. He is also an orisha of justice and enforcement. All people who are in the law have Ochosi to protect them. He has the colors of blue, yellow, and green and his number are 3, 4, and 7.

 

Ochun

Ochun is the deity of love and all things sweet. According to patakis or sacred stories, she is also the youngest because after the world was created there was a lack in love. Ochun put the two things in life that are worth living for. She rules over the rivers and offerings are often to a river. She inspires the conception of children but rarely is the one to look after them. She is said to be happy and have little cares. Her colors are yellow and gold and her number is 5 and multiples of 5.  

 

Orisha Oco

Orisha Oco or Oko is the god and father of the land. He is the one who helps farm and keeps crops fertile and harvested. He is also the judge of the orishas and makes sure to protect the females when there is an argument. He is also an orisha of fertility be it to crops and to people. He represent the hard working people and they worship him daily by offering things to the earth. His colors are pink and light blue and his number is 7.

 

Oggun

Oggun or ogun is the deity of the woods and iron. He is the one who forges the tools for people and he is incharge of all things construction. He is always one step ahead of you ready to be the first one to protect you. His colors are green, red and purple and his main tool is the machete. He is one of the main gods in which animal worship is done for. His numbers are 3 and 7 and has many different paths or personalities: Alagwede (oldest) or Arere (secret of the metal).

 

Oya

Oya is the goddess of winds and storms and brings wanted or unwanted change to humankind. She is one of the fiercest orishas and is the most fierce among the female orishas. She is the gaurd between life and death standing at the cemeteries. She is one of the few warrior orishas. Her movements are fast and violent and tornadoes are said to be the result of her dancing. Her colors are everything but black and is represented by 9.

 

Olocun

Olocun is orisha of both the living and the death. She lives at the bottom of the sea where humans can’t see unless they are dead. She is worshipped to benefit health, life pursuit and prosperity. She resides in a blue and white tureen in houses and has a compulsive temper. Her colors are blue and white and her numbers are 7 and 9. The offerings made to her are usually cast into the sea.

 

Yemeya

Yemaya is one of the most powerful orishas and is the great mother who rules over the sea. She is as essential to life as water is because she represents water. She is fair minded and nurturing but when she is outraged she is fierce but forgiving. She is represented by anything that comes from the sea, shells, fishes and boats. She dances with grace at first but she gains speed and the rhythm of the wave show this movement. Her number is 7 and her colors are blue with white.

Seth Epling and Michael Sofio

Scepter for Hevioso

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Seth Epling

The object was stuck in a falling state, suspended in mid air.  A weapon among an altars, a scepter surrounded by crowns. I wanted to know why there was such a violent looking object in a place where everything else is full of color and life. The scepter does not stand out. It has little color and small designs that are worn away. The handle is a simple, wooden staff. The kind of wood that if you held it, it would give you splinters. There are three brass segments on staff. Above the one at the top, there is a catlike creature. It is a very interesting creature with a big cat body and long ears or horns. The shadow this creature cast upon the wall intrigued me and prompted me to chose this object. Right before the axe head, two horns protrude out of the wood. There is the blade that is made of metal with a tidal wave design throughout the edge. There are two metal pieces that hold down the blade, an S shaped piece and a spring piece. The last thing on the scepter is a flower with 6 petals right below the horns. On every other petal there are bumps that seem to make a simple pattern. Why is this deadly object in a place of surrounded by objects of worship? This question even relates to the scepter itself. The flower on the staff begs the same question. I wanted to learn everything about this scepter and the god it represented, Hevioso. Contrary to its looks, it is not a weapon, it a tool used for religious and political festivals. Why use a violent looking object to demonstrate religious and political power. The answer lies in the god Hevioso. As a hot god, Hevioso does things quickly and people who have him as a deity are usually in power. This leads me to argue that this scepter was used to show power over the king’

 

s followers. In the rest of the paper, I will first explain how ase (às̩e̩ or ashe) plays an important part in understanding this object. Then I will explain the cat creature on top of the staff and the significance it has towards the scepter. I will then give background on the implications of ase, Hevioso and how King Glele praises Hevioso and basic information on vodou and Yoruba tradition. Next, I will talk about a king who was represented by the same god, Hevioso, King Glele and will then show how the scepter would be used in a festival based on first hand basis of people who research the religion.  

For any object in the religion of vodou to have any significance, it needs to have ase. Ase is a word that most closely means it has power and meaning. According to Professor Abiodun, a Black Studies professor at Amherst college, for any object to have ase, it needs be be activated and be in context. An object has to be active in order for the real meaning to be found. Activation means that there is a deity that is apart of the object. This deity gives the object power and context. I use context because art and parts of festivals can not be taken out. There are no art exhibits in the yoruba and haitian land because those people are living in parallel with their art. What we would put on display they use in their everyday life and it has way more meaning with them using it. This is one reason why looking at this scepter as it is hard to understand. It is being taken out of the ritual which it was crucial in.

Ase would be present in the scepter as a whole but many of the small parts also would have contained ase. One of the smaller parts that would have had lots of ase was the creature. The cat creature on the scepter is a symbol for both the king and Hevioso. In the picture of the Nesuhwe shrine house in Abomey from the book Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun there are two animals. There is a lion with a name above that say “Glele” and on the right side, there is an animal for “Ghezo”. Ghezo is the predecessor to Glele and his father. King Glele will be discussed later in much more depth. This animal is thought to be a buffalo because one part of his symbol is a buffalo, according to the new world encyclopedia. These two animals have something in common. They both have incredible brute strength, are insanely fast, and are fear in the animal kingdom and by humans. This is important later when I discuss Hevioso.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by E. Bay

In what is now the country of Benin, there was a kingdom named the Dahomey kingdom which ruled for around 300 years from 1600s-1900s. This kingdom was ruled by many kings who passed along their status to their children. The main religion was Vodou, a religion based of the following of spirits. Some of these spirits are ancestral, but every person has a deity that guides their journey. This is very similar to the religion of Yoruba, many of the gods between these two religions have the same duties but have different names. Yoruba is a major religion in West Africa, including Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Yoruba was the precursor to many other religions, including vodou, that now span the world. This fits in the category of diaspora religions, or religions that were spread because the atlantic slave trade.

Every king had their own scepter to show power and royalty. Each scepter also was a symbol for the god that the king represented. One god that many kings represented was Hevioso, the god of thunder for Vodou, whom is similar to Shogun, the god of thunder for Yoruba religion. “Hevioso is associated with the lightning-like gunfire and cannon during battle… Hevioso played an important role in war.” (Blier, 51)..Hevioso is a god that likes to accomplish things quickly and effectively which is why many kings felt empowered by him. Hevioso is considered to be a hot god or petwo which  is misconceived as an angry god. This is a misconception because Hevioso was helpful to the king and did what the king requested but his style of actions was perceived as angry.  Often, Hevioso is represented as a lion or an animal that is both mentally and physically strong because of his pride and his intensity. Hevioso by The 69 Eyes. This is a song where Hevioso is praised. In the song, the beat is made to sound like thunder, there is a lot of bass which emulates the feeling of when thunder rumbles throughout the land. Looking back at the two animals that represented two kings, the lion and buffalo, it is easy to see how they relate to Hevioso. They are both fierce and strong. They both do things that the believe are right for themselves and who they take care of. The kings who felt empowered by the animals and Hevioso wanted and needed to have these traits in order to be a leader for Dahomey.  

King Glele was the king of Dahomey for many years, had Hevioso guiding him. He was a military genius and spent many of years of reigning on the people he conquered. He earned the nickname of “Lion King” and “Lion of Lions” because of his ruling style. Below is a court song about his reign.

“King Glele,

the one who cannot be taken

Lion of lions

The Animal grew teeth

and all the forest trembled

The animal that eats

the other animal with bones

The lion is afraid of no animal” (Blier, 52)

This court song is saying that King Glele is one to be reckoned with. The people did not literally see him as an animal, but they believed the lion was apart of him.  Fon people, the people who follow vodou in Benin, admired him as their superior. He was a fearsome ruler and stayed in power because of the fear he inflicted on people. He would not go around hurting his own people, but because of the vodou religion and the implication of him having Hevioso as his deity, he was able to keep the people below them in their place.

The scepter was an violent looking object and King Glele had a similar procession. He commissioned the making knives of abnormal sizes. According to Adjaho in Bliers writing, the making of the knives is to show great amount of force and that there would always vengeance. These knives made for King Glele and the scepter that I am examining were used in the same festivals and courts. These knives were used to punish criminals, promote and pay court officials, celebrate military victory, display wealth of the royal family, and as a tribute to the royal dead. according to Blier. These weapons were used as a way to show both physical strength and political clout. Also, kings used these armaments to show how much power and money they had as well as to demonstrate the greatness of their armies.

Looking at this object again, it might look quite simple. It is just an axe with simple designs, but it is way more then it seems. Although we do not know what king this specific scepter represented, it is easy to draw connections from King Glele and the vodou tradition to show how and what this scepter was. The axe-like head was a sign of power and ferocity, this king was a strong and frightening. It was used in many festivals, just like the knives, to honor royalty, military victories, and deaths of important figures. It was also used in courts to punish criminals and force the payment of court officials. It is hard to see the significance of this object because it has no ase while in the museum, but it gives enough background and explains enough to understand the impact this scepter had on people. So there is a reason that such a dull, deadly looking weapon is in this museum. It is a work of art. Although it is not as colorful as the other objects it has just enough significance if not more.

Bibliography

Bay, Edna G. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008.

 

Blier, Suzanne P. “King Glele of Danhomè, Part One: Divination Portraits of a Lion King and

Man of Iron.” African Art 23, no. 4 (October 1990): 42-53. JSTOR (3336943).

 

Brown, Karen M. Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan  

Accessed October 30, 2017.

 

“Kingdom of Dahomey.” New World Encyclopedia , Edited by Frank Kaufmann, 11 May 2015,  

www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Kingdom_of_Dahomey.

Scepter for Hevioso

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Seth Epling

 

The object was stuck in a falling state, suspended in mid air.  A weapon among an altar, a scepter with crowns surrounding. I wanted to know where there was such a violent looking object in a place where everything else is full of color and life. The scepter does not stand out. It has little color and small designs that are worn away. The handle is simple, wooden staff. The kind of wood that if you held it, it would give you splinters. There are three brass segments on staff and right above the one at the top there is a cat like creature. It is a very interesting creature with a big cat body and long ears or horns. One of the biggest reasons why I picked this object is this animal and the shadow it casts. The shadow from the display makes it look like the cat is walking along the staff. Right before the axe head, two horns protrude, similar to the cat’s ears . There is the blade that is made of metal with tidal waves throughout the edge. Two metal pieces hold down the blade, an S shape metal piece and a spring piece. The last thing on the scepter is a flower a 6 petal flower below the horns and next to the head. On every other petal there are bumps that seem to make a simple pattern. This lead me to what I wanted to learn from this object. Why is this deadly object in a place of worship. Even within the scepter there are juxtapositions as there is a flower that draws your eye to it. I wanted to learn everything about this scepter and the god it represented, Hevioso or shungo. Contrary to its looks, it is not a weapon, it a tool used for religious and political festivals. I question the meaning behind with the aspects of the king and the deity he represented. As a hot god, Hevioso in vodou or Shungo in yoruba tradition, he does things quickly and people who have him as a deity are usually in power. This leads me to argue that this scepter was used to show power over the king’s followers. In the rest of the paper, I will give background on Hevioso and how a different king follows him and basic information on vodou and Yoruba tradition. Next I will talk about a king who was represented by the same god, Hevioso, King Glele and will then show how the scepter would be used in a festival based on first hand basis of people who research the religion. I will explain the cat creature on top of the staff and the significance it has towards the scepter.  

In what is now the country of Benin, there was a kingdom named the Dahomey kingdom which ruled for around 300 years from 1600s-1900s. The main religion was Vodou, which is a religion based of the following of spirits. Some of these spirits are ancestral, but every person has a deity that guides that person through life. There were many kings that ruled over the Dahomey kingdom and each king had a deity that represented him or her. This is very similar to the religion of Yoruba. Many of the gods between these two religions have the same duties but have different names and have little differences.  One god that many kings represented was Hevioso, the god of thunder for Vodou, is similar to Shogun, the god of thunder for Yoruba religion. “Hevioso is associated with the lightning-like gunfire and cannon during battle… Hevioso played an important role in war.” (Blier, 51). Hevioso is a god that likes to accomplish things quickly and effectively which is why many kings felt empowered by him. Hevioso is considered to be a hot god or petwo which is saying that he is an angry god but this is slightly wrong because they just did things fast and associated with war which is why they are perceived as angry. Often, Hevioso is represented as a lion because of his pride and his intensity. The king that was made for the scepter does not have information on him but there is another king, King Glele, that was much more influential who followed Hevioso in his actions.  

King Glele was the king of Dahomey for many years, and like stated previously, he had Hevioso guiding him. He was a military genius and spent many of years of reigning on conquering other people. He earned the nickname of “Lion King” and “Lion of Lions”. Below is a court song about his reign.

“King Glele,

the one who cannot be taken

Lion of lions

The Animal grew teeth

and all the forest trembled

The animal that eats

the other animal with bones

The lion is afraid of no animal” (Blier, 52)

People were afraid of King Glele and this is what this court song was saying. Fon people, the people who follow vodou in Benin, admired him but because of his actions, that were guided by Hevioso, they were taught not to wrong him. He was a fearsome ruler and stayed in power because of the fear he inflicted on people. He would not go around hurting his own people, but because of the vodou religion and the implication of him having Hevioso as his deity

Shown above is one of the scepter made for King Glele taken by Blier. It has many similar aspects to the scepter in the museum. The creature on top of our scepter has similar facial expressions and shape to this one. King Glele commissioned the making of many objects like this including big knives. According to Adjaho in Bliers writing, the making of the knives is to show great amount of force and that there would always vengeance.

These knives made for King Glele and the scepter that I am examining seem to be used in the same festivals and courts. For one they were used in the court systems, these objects were used as tribute to the royal dead, punish criminals, promote and pay court officials, celebrate military victory and display wealth of the royal family according to Blier. These knifes and the scepter are used as a way to show strength both physical and personal. For the king to show how much power and money he has, to demonstrate the greatness of his armies when they won. It was just to prove to the people that he is most supreme. This is interesting because one of the major viewpoints of the haitian religion is healing the body and soul. There doesn’t seem to be festivals or courts that use either these knives or the scepter that convey a main theme of health. They do have a belief that “People are born to die” (Brown, 4) and these objects are used to celebrate the deaths of a royal family. They seem to be used more in honor of the fallen, as in war or royally, then to be used in healing the body.

The reason for the cat creature towards the head of the staff is a little tough. Since there is no information on the king who kept this scepter, it is hard to know what exactly is the creature. In the picture of the Nesuhwe shrine house in Abomey from the book Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun there are two animals. The lion with a name above it that says Glele

Photo by E. Bay

which is his animal that represents him and next to him on the right side, there what seems to be a cat like animal with horns for Glele’s father, Ghezo. This animal is thought to be a buffalo because one part of his symbol is a buffalo, according to the new world encyclopedia. Using this information, I can infer that this animal, if it is a cat, buffalo, or anything that is aggressive and strong, is unique to the king that had this scepter and also a form of representing and honoring Hevioso.

I went into this research with the goal of figuring out what the scepter was used for and how it related to Hevioso. Unfortunately, not knowing what king had possession of the scepter made the research difficult. I was able to use King Glele who had the same deity and his father to infer multiple points. I was able to argue that the scepter was used to scare people and keep them below him or her. I was able to explain multiple parts of the scepter and how they related to Dahomey kingdom of the Fon culture. This just shows that it is hard to take any object out of context and expect to understand it fully. This goes along with any diasporic religion, the only way of full understanding of an object, it has to be seen in use at a ritual.

 

Bibliography

Bay, Edna G. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008.

 

Blier, Suzanne P. “King Glele of Danhomè, Part One: Divination Portraits of a Lion King and

Man of Iron.” African Art 23, no. 4 (October 1990): 42-53. JSTOR (3336943).

 

Brown, Karen M. Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan Accessed October 30,

2017.

 

“Kingdom of Dahomey.” New World Encyclopedia , Edited by Frank Kaufmann, 11 May 2015,  

www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Kingdom_of_Dahomey.

 

Annotated Bibliography

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Seth Epling

Rush, Dana. Vodun in Coastal Bénin. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2013.

 

I found this book by using Professors Brennan’s recommendation. After she recommended this book, I went to the library and found that this book was a good reference point for the religion of Vodun in the west coast of Africa.  Rush focuses on the fact that Vodou is not a religion of the past. She emphasizes that this book is open ended and not finished. This is because Vodou is always being changed and this book needs to be updated and be discussed. She explains more about the the religion of vodou and not much about the my specific festival, this will be a good reference for the general practices and information about the deities and how they were derived from other religions and cultures.

Dana Rush perspective is one from the outside from research and personal trips. She has an acknowledgement in which she thanks all of the people who have helped her. She feels in debt to these people and for the actual religion of Vodun. This has a bias because she is looking from the outside. She is most likely looking at a glamorised version of the religion, she does have first hand account of the culture because she lived in places like Benin, Togo, and Ghana. I did not see anywhere that said that she is a follower of the religion so the writing and information may have a different view point.

 

Bay, Edna G. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008.

 

This was the other book that Professor Brennan recommended to me and I sought it out at the library and saw that it had lots of information to offer. This book was more about how art and artist in africa were changing. This is crucial for my research of my object because my object is a piece of metal work, a piece of art. There are sections in  the book about how metal work in Vodun religion has changed.  She has a section devoted to a festival of Hevioso which would be helpful in understanding the use of my scepter in certain festival. She also focuses in Asen, or using metal working to honor spirits or deities. In her work, she also studied the Kingdom of Dahomey which should bring parallels between the two works.

Unlike Rush, Bay seems to have separated her emotions out of the book. She focused strictly on the facts and tried not to put her own bias into the novel. This will influence the work because we are only getting her point of view on the festivals and customs. She uses many pictures and uses them to describe the practices. I do not see any first hand account from people who have lived or follow the religion. It is more of a textbook style of writing, very informational, goes through the history of asen and the ancestors and how that has changed. Her main goal is to inform people of this culture and not to tell a story.

 

Blier, Suzanne P. “King Glele of Danhomè, Part One: Divination Portraits of a Lion King and

Man of Iron.” African Art 23, no. 4 (October 1990): 42-53. JSTOR (3336943).

 

I found this article using JSTOR and CATQuest and I used the keywords: Benin, Vodun, and Hevioso. As I was skimming through it, I saw that she uses King Glele, a king from the Kingdom of Dahomey, to describe many rituals and use of certain tools. I found that King Glele used a scepter similar to the scepter I am studying. Both scepters were used to represent the deity Hevioso and similar aspects of the staff were discussed that I can draw conclusions to about my scepter. There are many times where in the article that say King Glele was empowered and fierce like a lion which I could bring connections due to some of the designs in my scepter.

Blier has a mixture of the two other writers. She has points in the article that she is very informative but at other points she is trying to tell a story. She is also an outsider looking in on the religious practices so there are little first hand accounts. She is tellings story brought down the generations by stories not by written accounts. Her goal is to bring those stories to have a meaning in history and relate them to the history King Glele reign. There will be bias in this piece because of the emotion that she puts into the piece. Since she is taking the accounts from other people there may be misunderstanding and that is something to be wary of. She will be converting other people’s words into her own.

Research Statement: Fon Scepter for Hevioso

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Seth Epling

I am studying Fon scepter for the God Hevioso. This object is a wooden staff with an axe like head and is used in political and festival practices in what is now modern day Benin. I want to study this object because I want to learn more about the use of these scepters in court and religious practices. I also want to know more about this specific scepter and the king or Oba who carried this scepter and the effect it had on the Fon people.  I want to know more about how the designs on the scepter represent the king who held it and Hevioso the God of Thunder. This research will help the reader understand that objects that are taken out of festivals have little to no meaning unless it is shown in a practical sense. It helps the reader understand that each object has a much deeper meaning and each king has a god representing them.

One of the things we discussed in class was the power of ase in everyday life. People who have ase have personal power and ase can come for lots of different places. In the reading “Ase: Verbalizing and Visualizing Creative Power Through Art” by Rowland Abiodun, he discusses the implications of Ase and all the places that it can come from. Abiodun states, “Like a sceptre, ase must be received from a source of outside of, and higher that oneself,”(Abiodun, 311)  Although, this is directly describing Yoruba religion there are man parallels between the two religions because Yoruba had lots of influence of Vodou and many other religions that are similar. This connects to my object being a scepter but also it shows that not everyone can be a king with any object. Objects have to meaning but they can not be taken out of context. Professor Abiodun also stated in our class, that these objects can not be displayed in a museum or art show and have ase within them. For this reason, my object needs to be looked in a ritual or practice. The whole ritual has to be understood and the background of the king and the god of the practice have to be learned in order to really feel the ase of this object

To further understand the use and meaning of the scepter in Vodou religion, I will be trying to find a video of the ritual. This will increase the understanding of the ritual because I will be able to see it. Another primary source I want to find is a first hand experience in an article by someone who went to the festival. Hopefully by someone who practices vodou so I can get their point of view. The last source I will need is an article about the king and the god who is represented by the scepter, this will be a secondary source and is needed to understand the background of the ritual.

A Journey through an African Diaspora Religion

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African Diaspora is a term used to describe the mass movement of African culture and religion during the slave trade. During this time, the colonists who were taking away the freedom, names, and lives of the slaves, could not take away their religion and beliefs. Diaspora is the incredible instance in when even though the religion is spread out around the world, people are able to still follow it with their own culture as a part of it. These religion are able to adapt and connect with different cultures, religions, and beliefs. The religion of Yoruba was able to spread to many different areas along the Atlantic Coast during this time and with this came populations who brought their own, new culture to the religion. In the documentary, Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler: “Oṣun-Oṣogbo”, two American girls are followed as they travel to Nigeria in order to become priestesses. This religion is an African Diaspora and this is proven by these two young college students and their travels to Nigeria and a center of Yoruba religion.

The main story follows two students, Alatin Stewart and Oni Yebiye Hinton, and their journey to Osogbo, Nigeria. It starts off with the back streets of the biggest city in Nigeria, which is Lagos. This beginning of the documentary is compelling because the images show a part of town that is run down, dirty and overrun by stray animals. Then, a gate opens for Stewart and Hinton, revealing a beautiful altar and the connective power that this religion holds. Later in the documentary, Stewart and Hinton go to a sacred festival called Oshun-Oshogbo. Oshun is a deity that is associated with water, fertility, love and purity and this festival is to honor her. The main part of the festival is when a young, virgin maid, carries sacrifices to a river front. After this, she is now regarded as a goddess as she leads everyone back. This is an incredible and passionate festival welcome to all. It starts on the streets, where everyone is trying food from different types of people and cultures. One of the most interesting parts about this festival is the sheer number of people who attend that are not African Diaspora followers. The importance of this festival is emphasized by the history of African culture. Africans were pushed out of their land and forced to change religion. As the priest said towards the end of the documentary, “We left Africa, but Africa never left us.” This demonstrates how they spread out over the globe hundreds of years ago, and each year are able to make it back to where their ancestors once lived and celebrate unity.

“Diasporas are social products that must be rehearsed, represented and refreshed; they do not spring up or endure automatically; rather they demand continuous long-enduring effort.” (Johnson, 515) This quote, from an excerpt of “Religions of the African Diaspora” by Paul Christopher Johnson, explains that the African Diaspora religion needs to be constantly practiced to ensure that the long history of the religion is not forgotten. This is shown in the documentary about the Oshun-Oshogbo festival. This festival is done every year and most things about it do not change. These people continue to practice this religion and barely change anything about it. This is in agreement with Johnson because these people keep their religion in mind and make sure that the little aspects and traditions are kept generation after generation. This also demonstrates Johnson’s idea that this religion did not spontaneously arise; it has been worked on since the slave trade to the present day and will continue to grow. This religion will be long lasting due to the accepting nature of its followers. They are not secluded, many followers are also Christian and Muslim and are able to integrate aspects from both religions into their own beliefs. For the reason of world connections and the ability to integrate and change, Yoruba is an African Diaspora Religion.

-Seth Epling

Sacred Journey- “Osun-Osogbo” Reflection

Sacred Journeys Reflection

Seth Epling

 

African Diaspora is a term that is used to describe the mass movement of african culture and religion during the slave trade. During this time, the colonists who were taking away the slaves freedom, names, and life, did not take away their religion and belief.  The religion of Yoruba was able to spread to so many different areas on the atlantic coast during this time and with this came populations who brought their own, new culture to the religion. In this documentary, Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler: “Oṣun-Oṣogbo”, it follows two American girls journey to Nigeria in order to become priestess. The documentary is able to tell a story of thousands of people by following these two young adults.

The main story follows two students, Alatin Stewart and Oni Yebiye Hinton, and their journey to Oshogbo, Nigeria. It starts off with the back streets of the biggest city of Nigeria, Lagos. This is an compelling start because the images in the video show a part of town that is run down, dirty and has stray animals running everywhere. Then, a gate open for these two americans to show a beautiful altar. It shows the connective power that this religion holds. Later in the documentary, these Americans go to a sacred festival called Oshun-Oshogbo. This is an incredible, passionate festival in where anyone is welcome. It starts in the streets, where everyone is trying different foods provided by different types of people and culture. One of the most interesting parts about this festival is the shear number of people that the are not only African Diaspora followers. This is incredible because of the history. These people were forced out of their land and pushed to change religion. As the priest said towards the end of the film, “We left Africa, but Africa never left us.” This is an important detail in this religion that makes it a African Diaspora religion. They were able to spread out all over the globe hundreds of years ago, and each year are able to make it back to where their ancestors once lived and celebrate unity.

“Diasporas are social products that must be rehearsed, represented and refreshed; they do not spring up or endure automatically; rather they demand continuous long-enduring effort.” (Johnson, 515) This quote comes from an excerpt from “Religions of the African Diaspora” written by Paul Christopher Johnson. This quote explains that the African Diaspora religion needs to be constantly practiced to ensure that the long history of the religion won’t be

forgotten. This is shown in the film by this festival. This festival is done often and most things about it do not change. These people are continuing to practice this religion over and over again and barely changing anything about it. This is in agreement with Johnson because these people are constantly keeping their religion in mind and making sure that the little aspects and traditions are being kept generation after generation. This is also an example of what Johnson said because this religion did not spontaneously arise. It has been worked on from the slave trade to present day  and will continue growing. This religion will be around for awhile because the people who follow and believe are accepting. They are not secluded, lots of the followers are also Christian and Muslim and they are able to integrate aspects of both religions into their own beliefs. This festival is a perfect example of why this is a African Diaspora religion.