The Yoruba people come from the South Western part of Nigeria, that is divided into four states; Ogun, Oshun, Oyo, and Ondo. Among many, the Ketu is one of the subgroups of the Yoruba. They are found within the state of Ogun (Babtunde, 25). There are many rites and initiations that take place among tribes. Some of these initiations are very dramatic and obscure. Only the people within the tribe can understand and know the true meaning behind the reasons for the different rites that take place.
Claud Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist who bases his theories on the philosophy of binary opposition. He believed that human beings think like computers, and structure was the main determination of human behavior (Wikipedia Dictionary). Strauss sees things as a black and white situation. Things have to be one or the other; there is no “in between”, for example, ying and yang, dark and light, or male and female. The process from child to adulthood starts as the child being in comfort, then going through an initiation which causes pain, and returning back to comfort at the adult stage.
Although Claud Levi-Strauss has a good argument, I believe a man by the name of Jacques Derrida has a better understandment of the initiations that are performed by the Ketu people. Jacques Derrida is a French philosopher that believes that the world is not just black and white; there are different shades of gray in between. He thinks that childhood is the same as adulthood.
The women in the Ketu society go through many initiations throughout their lives. The main initiation is marriage, and the fertility rite which prepares them for marriage. Besides the fertility rite, these women start their initiations as children. The females in this society live their lives fulfilling social expectations. Women of the Ketu start off with a disadvantage even before they are born. They come into this world having difficulties with society. “The Ketu want children and preferably male children” (Babatunde, 84). As soon as a woman finds out she is pregnant, the sex of the child is questioned. During gatherings and rituals, prayers are said in hope for a baby boy. If the results of the sex come out to be a boy, then there will be a great celebration; but if it is a girl, there will be a less enthusiastic ceremony which will end with the wish, “Next time it is a boy that God will provide” (Babtunde, 85).
All the initiation rites that a girl goes through are a preparation for womanhood and marriage. Young girls between the ages of five and ten start their initiations. They are trained to be useful around the house; for example, they are taught to fetch water, firewood, and to sweep the house. “First trip to the river” is a ceremony in which the little girl goes out with a gourd that her father has given her. She is to go out to the river and test her carefulness and endurance, and return to the house with the gourd in perfect condition (Babatunde, 89). According to Derrida, the process from childhood to adulthood is not the same as Levi-Strauss’. Within the Ketu people, their children start the initiation process at a very young age.
At the age of ten and fifteen years old, the young girl continues around the house, but now has an extra responsibility of preparing dinner. They are under the pressure of behaving like women. They are not allowed to play with the boys or do any boy activity such as hunting. Once they reach the age between fifteen and twenty, they prepare for transition; circumcision, marriage, and birth of the first child (Babatunde, 91).
During this age, they are becoming women available for marriage. It is there responsibility to stay well mannered and a virgin. If not, they can put at risk their marital stability. If she looses her virginity before marriage, not only will she not be a proper woman, she will also harm the reputation of her lineage. The females in her lineage will now be known as having “loose morals” (Babatunde, 85).
Claud Levi-Strauss would now think that at this point, the person should be in pain with their initiation; but these females have already been going through their pain for about twenty years. According to Jacques Derrida theory of deconstruction, the Ketu women are still going through other initiations. The biggest and most common initiation, like earlier stated, is getting married. It all starts when a boy finds a girl that he believes is suitable to marry. After telling his father, an Alarena is appointed to find out information about the girl and her family, and to send information between both families (Babatunde, 105).
When all inquiries of the girl and her family are confirmed, the marriage arrangements are continued with a consultation with an oracle. The oracle will determine the couple’s future together, and see if they will be ok. After the consultation, the couple will officially be engaged. Next, there will be the ceremony in which the payment of the bride is made, known as Idana (Babatunde, 110).
Near the completion of the marriage plans, “Ikola-Abe” is conducted. This is the fertility rite, or the circumcision. Two ceremonies are held before the rite is performed. The first one is when the spouses of the women and their lineage, dance, play the talking drum, and chant around town. The second is when the initiands go to the grave of the ancestors wearing all black and pray to them. They return to the hut where they are secluded and take off all their clothes and burn them. On the Eve of the circumcision, the girls cook and evening meal; they believe that “the woman who cooks the better stew owns the husband” (Babatunde, 120). For this meal, everything that is used must be new; from the pots, to all the ingredients. After dinner, they play drums and songs in order to communicate with their future husbands across town. The songs of the women simply say that it is hard to be a woman; they have to marry and give birth. The men reply by singing that they would never want to be a woman and do what they do. The songs follow:
Wouldn’t the father of Ajoke come out to dance for Ajoke?
He is coming to dance.
Wouldn’t the husband of Ajoke: come out to dance for Ajoke?
He is coming to dance,
They look burlesque with their oversized buttocks
And legs stretched out in grotesque fashion,
It is hard to hive birth and to marry,
It is very painful, really painful.
The men’s reply is as follows:
If I come back to life I won’t be a woman
So that society won’t put me in the bush and cut me up,
So that I do not have to carry heavy muscular men
So that I do not have to experience the pain of birthing
If I come again I will not be a woman.
These songs are sung back and forth throughout the night (Babatunde, 120).
On the day of excision, the girls do a ritual washing, which is washing their heads, arms, and genital organ with prophylactic water. Once they are done, a man dressed as a woman enters the hut. He is the “mark giver”. Each initiand is put to sit close to the mark giver, her sponsor stretches her legs, the senior nurse holds her hands behind her, and two other nurses stand by the initiand’s legs. The mistress of ceremonies watches over the initiand and gives her words of comfort. “The marker cuts off the prepuce” (Babatunde, 123). With a ritual razor, he then cuts three strokes on the initiand’s left arm. With the same razor he cuts three strokes on the upper left shoulder of the girls’ sponsor. This is called the “sharing the pain of the razor”. After all the girls are done, the Iya-Agba (mistress of ceremony) leads them to a river where they will perform a ritual bath. This bathing symbolizes that they’ve let go of their childhood and are ready for adulthood (Babatunde, 124).
After all this is done the girls are ready to get married. Contrary to what Levi-Strauss would think, the women are not done being initiated after marriage. As said by Jacques Derrida, there are still other initiations that adults go through. “Ketu rites form a series, beginning with marriage and continuing with the subsequent rites, of birth and the naming of the first child. Each component of the series of rites is, in itself, a micro-rite of passage, having a period of separation, a period of non classification, and finally a period of inclusion” (Babatunde, 1998).
Bibliography
Women’s Rights versus Women’s Rites, By: Emmanuel Babatunde, Trenton, NJ: Africa World P, Inc., 1998.>
