Originality of Yoruba Culture - Research Paper Example

The Human Figure in Yoruba Medicine Introduction Native medicine of the Yoruba people often uses human-shaped objects. These human shapes are usually used by healers to perform magic and influence social forces. The value of the human form to cultural beliefs makes it a potent object that ‘mediates all reflection and action upon the world’ (Wolff 205). This is observed in native healing practices across the globe where the invisible forces of nature are absorbed into the human-shaped objects used as elements in miraculous healing rituals. Generally seen in terms of compassionate magic, the human shapes work to channel or amass these forces for various uses. In imitating the human body, magical forces are trapped and manipulated to be carried into the cultural domain where they can be further controlled for various medicinal purposes (Gbadegesin 82). In this traditional practice, the Yoruba create and fashion human-shaped objects as part of their knowledge of native medicine in a practice where in both magical and ordinary aspects are identified. Medicine objects in the contour of the human form are one kind of the numerous important components, synthetic and authentic, made use by Yoruba healers to make a diagnosis, remedy, save from, and, in certain instances, bring about disease and bad luck. In the bigger selection of Yoruba sculpture where in the human form is the core element, the human-shaped objects used by native healers fall within an unclear category. In a broad array of sculptural forms, Yoruba artists engage in human issues of power, riches, wellbeing, youth, and productivity in individual and collective sculptures that depict daily and vital customs (Taye 73). This obsession with the human form is suggestive of a fascination that seeps into Yoruba faith and thoughts. Buckley (1985 as cited in Wolff 205), who has studied thoroughly the philosophical foundations of Yoruba medicines, argued (Wolff 205): The human body may be regarded as an expression of some of the most fundamental categories of Yoruba thought. It is at once both the most familiar of all the objects known to man and yet it is the most mysterious, containing a complexity of which we can only be dimly aware. Although numerous studies focus on the prosperity of the Yoruba sculptural domain, medicine forms have been overlooked in writings about Yoruba medicine and sculpture. There are a number of explanations for this disregard. The wealth of Yoruba arts weakens their cultural appreciation (Baronqy 28). When these forms are shown in Western art exhibits, they are usually not associated with what they are. The aesthetic prejudice of Western artists and other art enthusiasts is another reason for the trivial value given to medicine figures. Such human-shaped objects used in medicine are often roughly created by lay people, and hence do not draw the attention of art enthusiasts. Lastly, these medicine figures are rarely shown. They are quite uncommon as elements in Yoruba medicine and have a tendency to be used in the most mysterious practices with ingredients and procedures that are strongly protected secrets of healers (Baronqy 32). As an outcome of this cryptic wisdom that gives power and authority, medicine figures cannot be classified as public art in any way. They are often concealed, thrown away, or destroyed in the rite (Taye 74). As potent items, medicine figures are distinguished from carvings used in exhibits by the names used. Figures exhibited in religious rituals are called ‘ere’. For instance, ere Osun or ere Sango are sculptures that beautify the temples of the goddess of the River Osun and the god of thunder and lightning (Wolff 205). According to Adepegba (1983 as cited in Wolff 205), ere carvings possess all the attributes of display items; ere are produced with artistic purpose of serving as “a form of adornment, oriented toward the enhancement of the prestige of the votaries, the deities with their surroundings and the activities put up in their honor” (Wolff 205). When placed in a temple, ere carvings usually portrays followers of the god or goddess holding symbols of that deity. The carving serves as a supplement to the value of the temple by showing actual symbols of the commitment of worshippers. Ere are not religious items as such, nor are they even needed for the veneration of the Yoruba gods and goddesses. Instead, they are voluntary tools that work to enliven the adoration and recognition of a group of worshippers (Falola & Heaton 103). Their value in display settings is of great importance, and they are usually subject to native artistic assessment and scrutiny. In certain instances, sculptures are seen as a center to which prayers, spells, and ritual activities are aimed at. Furthermore, several classifications of ere are formed with ritual practices to make them work as forceful, powerful entities so that they can serve as an immediate medium to a mystical element. Medicine figures do not work equally and are not classified under the group of ere. They are certainly not public items, and are not publicly shown on temples (Idowu 63). Instead, as a component of the knowledge of the Yoruba medicine, they are rigidly potent items utilized in oogun—a range of objects and procedures that summon mystical powers for healing. As stated by Dopamu (1987 as cited in Wolff 206), “At the heart of the efficacy of oogun is a profound and pervasive belief in magic… The Yorubas use magic in every facet of human life from the womb to the grave. There are no activities, even in this day of technological advancement, with which magic is not associated” (Wolff 206). Oogun assumes both concrete and ethereal. Oogun is all about the wisdom required to reach, capture, and manipulate forces coming from nature’s creations, the oral prayers and procedures needed to trigger and manipulate the forces, and the ultimate outcomes that appear (Trager 116). The experienced practitioner has a broad range of procedures for creating medicines. Still, Oogun is filled with the power or force existing in the natural components of the land (e.g. people, plants, animals, and the gods and goddesses. By adding this essential power in all his creation, Olorun, the highest god of Yoruba, produced a power to be exercised at will, “the power-to-make-things-happen, morally neutral power, power to give, and to take away, to kill and to give life” (Wolff 206-207). Hence, in Yoruba medicine the importance of capturing and manipulating the source of power is evident. In handling different powers that exist in all places the practitioner is summoned to concentrate this power for certain social purposes usually aimed at a specific individual. Creating medicines both combines and concentrates the forces so that they can be used by people and communities. Medicines stock up power and serve as instruments to channel the power; utilizing a medicine figure strongly concentrates the diverse powers that are absorbed by the medicine through personification of the power in human form, hence placing it in the existing human realm. In supernatural rites, power over the forces personified or concentrated in the human form is further reinforced through labeling the medicine image through the power of prayers that direct the forces toward the wanted outcomes (Falola & Heaton 42). In Yoruba religion, putting sculpture or carved human forms on a temple attracts greater attention to the spiritual soul of human beings shared with the god or goddess. Just as the temple is the facade of the god that concentrates power to and from the god, the human form utilized in oogun concentrates and channels power. Conclusions Through the figure or form a connection is built between reality and the supernatural, hence socially strengthening the person who makes use of it. In the practice of imitating a human form in Yoruba medicine, the mystical power of the medicinal components, the named medicine image, and the person are drawn together; at this moment there is an understanding that links the social, natural, and mystical domains. Works Cited Baronqy, David. The African Transformation of Western Medicine and the Dynamics of Global Cultural Exchange. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008. Print. Falola, Toyin & Matthew Heaton. Traditional and Modern Health Systems in Nigeria. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2006. Print. Gbadegesin, Segun. African Philosophy: Traditional Yoruba Philosophy and Contemporary African Realities. New York: Peter Lang, 1991. Print. Idowu, E. Belaji. Olaodaumarae: God in Yoruba Belief. New York: Praeger, 1963. Print. Taye, Oyelakin Richard. ‘Yoruba Traditional Medicine and the Challenge of Integration’, The Journal of Pan African Studies 3.3 (2009): 73-75. Print. Trager, Lilian. Yoruba Hometowns: Community, Identity, and Development in Nigeria. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2001. Print. Wolff, Norma. ‘The Use of Human Images in Yoruba Medicines’, Ethnology 39.3 (2000): 205-208. Print. Read More