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The Sculpture and Myths of Eshu-Elegba, the Yoruba Trickster: Definition and Interpretation in Yoruba Iconography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Joan Wescott
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Extract

During my field study of Yoruba art (1955–7) little of the symbolic meaning of the forms and component elements of the ritual sculpture was revealed to me through straightforward answers to straightforward questions. Indeed, it soon became evident that if meaning with any degree of resonance was to be arrived at, such a technique had to be abandoned in favour of an interpretative analysis in relation to myths and praise songs on the one hand, and the observation of the use of sculpture in ritual on the other.

Résumé

LES SCULPTURES ET LES MYTHES D'ESHU-ELEGBA, LE FOURBE YORUBA: DÉFINITION ET INTERPRÉTATION DANS L'ICONOGRAPHIE YORUBA

Les formes sculptées d'Eshu-Elegba, le fourbe Yoruba ou dieu de l'espièglerie, sont présentées, ainsi que ses rites et certains des mythes et des chansons de louanges renfermant une description de ses caractéristiques et de ses activités. Dans la société Yoruba, le fourbe est employé pour fournir une explication d'une conduite déviatrice; il constitue l'extériorisation des difficultés du conformisme. Il est également l'ennemi de la stagnation. Il a une fonction explicative dans la cosmologie Yoruba, car il témoigne que, bien que les gens soient bien informés par l'oracle Ifa, ses activités trouveront sûrement un chemin et exigeront une mise au point continuelle. Cependant, Eshu-Elegba ne constitue pas l'espièglerie au hasard, ni simplement ‘la colère des dieux’; il est également, sous son aspect positif, associé avec la productivité, le changement et la croissance. Ses symboles sont examinés et leur signification est interprétée au moyen des mythes, des chansons et des rites et aux termes des valeurs et du fonctionnement de la culture. Dans la présentation de sa nature ambiguë, des contradictions inhérentes sont examinées, et dans l'analyse de ses symboles certaines agrégations se dégagent. Il est constaté que la cohérence de ces agrégations s'appuie largement sur le principe de la redondance et que la signification d'un élément constitutif quelconque est rendue claire par rapport aux autres. Une comparaison avec les personnages fourbes dans d'autres cultures est complétée par la présentation du complexe de l'espièglerie comme il est connu aux psychologues analytiques, afin d'indiquer comment ce genre d'analyse interprétative pourrait profiter des méthodes faisant appel à plusieurs disciplines.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , October 1962 , pp. 336 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1962

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References

page 336 note 1 Elégbara is the full form of the second of this deity's two names, but Elegba is the one more usually heard. In Dahomey he is called Legba, although it is clear from Herskovits's accounts of Legba in Dahomey and Dahomean Narrative, and from early missionary reports, that Legba and Eshu-Elegba are not absolutely identical (see p. 349, n. 1). In the course of this paper I sometimes use one of Eshu-Elegba's two names, sometimes the other, and occasionally both. While this may be confusing, I am, for the most part, being faithful to my informants. Although the laterite or mud pillar was invariably called Eshu, their choice of one or the other name in other con-texts did not seem entirely capricious, nor, on the other hand, could it be explained.

page 338 note 1 I wish to thank Peter Morton-Williams for his generous and valuable help in translating the songs and praise names of Elegba used in this paper.

page 338 note 2 Frobenius, L., The Voice of Africa, vol. i, London, 1913, p. 232.Google Scholar

page 338 note 3 Perhaps in its amorphousness they find it to be the most inclusive and evocative of the symbols for this god.

page 339 note 1 All the photographs in the plates are by the author except for Plate III which is by P. Morton-Williams. The author wishes to thank Mr. J. T. Hooper of the Totems Museum, Arundel, Sussex, for his permission to photograph sculpture in his collection and to publish Plate I b. 2 Frobenius, op. cit., p. 228.

page 340 note 1 Frobenius, op. cit., p. 236.

page 341 note 1 As will be seen in the final section of this paper, the analytical psychologists Layard and Metman have both dealt with the theme of old man and child as an essential part of the trickster complex.

page 342 note 1 This theme has been dealt with at greater length in Wescott, J. and Morton-Williams, P., ‘The Symbolism and Ritual Context of the Yoruba Laba Shango ’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xcii, pt. 1, 1962, pp. 23–35.Google Scholar

page 343 note 1 While palm-nut oil is the prescribed offering for Eshu, the oil of the palm kernel is especially taboo. There are two interpretations I might offer here: one is that kernel oil is used to rub on new-born babies, and, as will be seen later in the text, Eshu is not concerned with procreation as are other orisha; moreover, Ifa priests use palm kernels for divination purposes, and it is fitting, in view of the co-operative relationship between Ifa and Eshu, that the crushed palm kernels should not be Eshu's food.

page 344 note 1 J. Wescott, and P. Morton-Williams, op. cit. Here we discuss at length the supporting role of Eshu in relation to the vengeful thunder god.

page 344 note 2 Eshu's libidinous nature, which will be demonstrated later in the text, suggests that the action of the pestle in the mortar in this line is a reference to his involvement in sexual affairs. For this insight, and also for her help and encouragement in reading the early draft of this paper, I am grateful to the psychologist Dr. Rosemary Gordon.

page 346 note 1 In a helpful private communication, Dr. E. R. Leach has written that mediators (tricksters) are ‘essentially ambiguous ’ and that therefore the black/white dichotomy is entirely fitting.

page 347 note 1 This refers, according to my informants, to the similarity of facial movements in whistling and kissing.

page 347 note 2 For an illustration of a bronze female figure in this ritual attitude, as well as a full account of the Ogboni cult, see Morton-Williams's article ‘The Yoruba Ogboni Cult in Oyo ’ in Africa, xxx, no. 4, Oct. 1960 (Plate II a).

page 348 note 1 The image of Elegba as club-bearer conjures up a picture of a youthful rebel-warrior. My presentation of Elegba as an entity containing the opposites of old man and child may seem to conflict with this. Perhaps the contradictory descriptions of old man and child, which have been shown to share many vital characteristics, can together be opposed to the youthful image of the club-bearer, thus presenting yet another contradiction contained by this ambiguous deity. I am grateful to Dr. Robert Bradbury for bringing this inherent contradiction to my attention.

page 348 note 2 Leach, E., ‘Magical Hair ’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, lxxxviii, pt. ii, 1958, pp. 147–65.Google Scholar

page 348 note 3 The word ‘libidinous’ is used in this paper in its widest sense.

page 349 note 1 Sculptured figures of Legba, often contrasting sharply with those for Elegba, are frequently carved with a very large penis. Moreover, Legba's myths, especially those reported by Herskovits, also emphasize that he is highly sexed and indifferent to sexual taboos; he is not only promiscuous but is also incestuous, and in one myth a necrophiliac as well.

page 349 note 2 In the account of Eshu given by Frobenius, the colour yellow, as well as black and white, is also given as emblematic of this god. In my own field-work I have encountered the combination of black, white, and yellow only on the gowns of the worshippers (see Plate IV b) and again on the symbol which includes a representation of Eshu-Elegba on the pouch (laba) of the Shango priests. For an interpretation of the colours used on the laba, see Wescott and Morton-Williams, op. cit.

page 350 note 1 Radin, P., The Trickster, London, 1956.Google Scholar

page 351 note 1 Marcadé, J., Roma Amor, London, 1961Google Scholar. See illustration on p. 56.

page 351 note 2 I am indebted to the analyst Dr. Leopold Stein for drawing my attention to this parallel and also for giving me the reference cited in the above note.

page 351 note 3 In one representation of Eshu, on the pouch (laba) used by the Shango priests, there seems to be a resemblance to the spider.

page 351 note 4 Alfred Plaut has also dealt with the trickster complex in relation to ego defences in the journal cited below in which Metman and Layard have published their articles.

page 352 note 1 Radin, op. cit.

page 352 note 2 ‘The Trickster in Schizophrenia ’, Journal Analytical Psychology, iii. 1, 1958, pp. 5–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 352 note 3 I must state here that, although careful inquiries were made in Oyo, Elegba is not (unlike, for instance, the Winnebago trickster) regarded as an especially humorous figure.

page 352 note 4 John Layard, essay review of The Trickster by Radin, Paul, Journal of Analytical Psychology, ii. 1, 1957, pp. 106–11Google Scholar.

page 352 note 5 Ibid.

page 352 note 6 ‘Note on the Autonomous Psyche and the Ambivalence of the Trickster Concept’, Journal of Analytical Psychology, iii. 1, 1958, pp. 21–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 352 note 7 From the essay review of The Trickster, op. cit.

page 353 note 1 I wish to express a debt of gratitude to the members of the Department of Anthropology, University College, London, for their helpful comments and encouragement.