Background Information on Yoruba Culture.
The authority of the Yoruba kings is validated by the myth of the creation
of the earth to found the
original Yoruba
kingdoms. This myth is still a
vital element in local politics. The Yoruba continue to debate whether or
not one or another of the hundred kings who today wear beaded crowns are
the direct descendants.
Ife, or more properly Ile-Ife, is the
capital of a kingdom of moderate size, about 70 miles long and 40 miles
wide, before the wars of the nineteenth century. As its king, the Oni ruled over the capital
through his town chiefs, and over the outlying towns through the Ife town
and palace chiefs, the five provincial chiefs, and the local town chiefs.
The provincial chiefs collected tribute from the town chiefs within their
jurisdiction and divided it with the Oni; they and their town chiefs were
subject to the Oni, but they had jurisdiction over internal affairs as long
as they remained loyal and things went smoothly.
The capital city of Ife itself is divided into five wards, each comprising a number of precincts, headed by ward chiefs and precinct chiefs. Each precinct is made up of a number of compounds headed by the eldest male clan member.
Yoruba kings are distinguished by the right to wear beaded crowns, the symbols of their authority. Some of these are made of imported glass beads with sixteen three-dimensional beaded birds attached to them; others are made of red stone beads. A new state crown is made at the installation of each Oni, but some beads from the crown of his predecessor are used to preserve the link to the creator God. Beaded caps may be worn in place of the state crown so that the king's head may not be uncovered. In addition some kings, including the Oni, have beaded gowns and sandals and large beaded parasols, cushions, ram's beard whisks, and staffs. The right to use solidly beaded materials is a prerogative reserved to royalty and to the Ife diviners, but the diviners are not permitted to wear beaded crowns. State crowns have bead fringes which cover the king's face, which was formerly not to be seen by his associates. In earlier times no one could eat with the king, nor could he be seen eating or drinking.
In many respects Yoruba kings are divine. It is said that in the remote past the Oni were sacrificed to the creator God after ruling only one or two years, but there is no way of knowing the truth of this legend; since 1849 there have been only five Oni.
They could be deposed for strictly political
reasons. When their rule was unpopular, mobs of people demonstrated outside
the palace walls, the chiefs met at the palace gate, sent word to the king
that he was no longer wanted, and then refused to answer his call. When
this happened, informants say, he opened a "calabash of death"
containing a powerful charm made of parrots' eggs which was kept for such
an occasion, and the sight of it killed him. It was no more possible for
him to escape in former times than it was for slaves to run away from their
masters; but if he took refuge with Araba, the head of the diviners, he
was permitted to live in exile. If an Oni refused to commit suicide in this
way, the a select cult joined the crowds at night with bullroarers whirling,
and he was killed by that cult. 
The king's person was sacred and he was isolated in his palace from the people he ruled. Following the crowning of a new Oni of Ife, he moved into the palace, and he could return home to visit his relatives only incognito and under the cover of darkness. He appeared in public only once a year, at the major sacrifice to the God of Iron, and even then he was concealed behind cloths held by his messengers so that only his crown and its white egret feather could be seen. During the festival of Orishala he made three trips from the palace to the shrine, but on these occasions all the towns people of Ife had to remain in their houses with their windows dosed and the women worshipers waiting at the shrine had to lie down with cloths over their heads so that he would not be seen.
The Oni is chosen from the royal patrilineal clan; this is the largest clan in Ife with over twenty compounds and more than five thousand members in 1937. His position is hereditary, but like many other titles of priests and chiefs which are "owned" by particular clans, it does not pass from father to son. Males of four lineages or branches of the royal clan are eligible to become king in rotation, but lineages are skipped if they have no suitable candidates, and the same lineage may even provide two Oni in succession. Each of the eligible compounds may campaign for its own candidate by spending money in entertaining the town and palace chiefs, who select the king, and by deferring to all who may influence them in their final choice. While one of their number rules as Oni, the other members of his compound can count on his protection and can take advantage of the townspeople; but the members of the other royal compounds rank beneath the townspeople because they must be careful of their behavior lest they gain a reputation for arrogance or selfishness which would decrease the chances of their future candidates.
Wealth is important in these campaigns but it is not an essential qualification for a king or a chief; nor is a candidate selected simply on the basis of how much he and his family spend, although this is a measure of his generosity and of how well he is liked by those who know him best. The main objective is to select the best candidate; and the qualities which are most important are good character, unselfishness, and willingness to listen to advice. Sex is also an important qualification for political office, but according to Ife traditions, women ruled as Oni at least twice in the remote past. Seniority is not a factor, although it may have been in earlier times. The candidate must be at least about thirty years of age, he should be married, and his father must be dead; no chief should have a father to whom he must bow.
A new Oni is responsible for the wives
of his predecessors as well as his own, and they continue to live in their
quarters in the palace. In 1938, the total number of king's wives was estimated
to be about one hundred. They are known as chiefs or "Heads" and
are under the "Mother of the Heads", the one who has been the
wife of a king for the longest time. If any of her co-wives were disrespectful
to the "Mother," she could be stripped naked and whipped. Until
about 1930, when the custom was changed, the Oni took the widows of his
predecessors as his own wives. Formerly their hair was shaved so as to leave
a short oval tuft of hair in the center of the head, but now they wear their
hair like other women.
There are five ward chiefs in Ife. Beneath each of the five ward chiefs are five other chiefs known by the same title (Bale) as the chiefs of the outlying towns; they are appointed by the ward chiefs and are responsible for the young adults in their wards. The ward chiefs are each chosen from a particular clan, and their titles are clan property. Two other chiefs may be chosen from any Ife ward and are subordinate to the other chief. There are other lesser chiefs, but they are responsible to the Oni for the administration of the capital, and they represent the interests of the towns people at the palace.
The head of the elder women of Ife held
the title "Mother Ojumu" whose relationship to them resembled
that of Orunto to the men of Ife. She was assisted by the "Mother at
the market" who was in
charge of the market women and settled disputes between them. The title
of "Mother at the outside" which is used for the head of the towns
women was introduced only recently into Ife, and is not important.
In addition there are eight important palace chiefs (Woye) followed by minor palace chiefs and the king's messengers or pages. They are assigned to three ritual chambers in the palace. The king's messengers were responsible for religious rituals performed within the palace and for representing the Oni at the many religious festivals held at the shrines in town. Although perhaps less important than the adjudication of disputes, this was a major task because there were only twenty-five days during the year when no festivals were being performed.
The palace chiefs have the responsibility of representing the interests of the Oni in dealing with the Ife town chiefs and with outlying towns within the kingdom. The Ife town chiefs also served as intermediaries for outlying towns.
The palace chiefs are chosen from individuals
with a particular status, which is distinct from that of the royal clan,
the Ife clans, and the strangers from other towns. The reason for this distinction
is not clear, but it is usually explained that in return for assistance
to an Oni in the remote past, he permitted the ancestors of the three clans
to live inside the palace gate where their compounds were located, until
the palace walls were shortened, leaving them outside. They did not belong
to any of the five quarters, but were directly under the Oni, and they were
called servants or "boys of the king" thus giving them special
status.
This status is not strictly hereditary. An Ife man may become a Modewa as they are called, and his children after him, if he is wealthy enough to afford two expensive initiations so as to become a man of leisure and spend his days in the palace. This is a step toward taking a title, and it frees a man from serving on labor levies, being sent on errands, and having property expropriated; they pay taxes today, but formerly they were exempt from paying tribute.
Although the palace chiefs are spoken of as servants of the king, and although they rank somewhat below the Ife town chiefs, there are advantages to being a Modewa, because they have access to the palace and to the king, whereas, unless they are summoned, the town chiefs came to the palace only every fourth day when they sat outside the gate to hear disputes. Because of his isolation, the Oni had no way of checking on what actually had been said, and it was possible for the palace chiefs to alter the messages somewhat to their own advantage. The Modewa also were generally in a position to learn what was going on in the palace and in town in a way that the town chiefs and the other people of Ife did not. Even today they know the Oni's plans before the ward or other chiefs do.
When a palace chief dies, his eldest son is taken to join the Ogungbe or police, the second to become an Emese or page of the king, and the youngest to join the Ogboni which functioned as a senior law court. When a town chief dies, his sons are taken for the Ogungbe and the Ogboni, but not for the Emese. If there are no sons, younger brothers or brother's sons may be substituted. If the chief himself has not joined the Ogboni, his son does not do so.
The Emese, numbering over one hundred,
are palace retainers who rank below the palace chiefs and run errands and
carry messages for them and for the Oni. They stay in the palace awaiting
their assignments. They are appointed to the three chambers in the palace
under the palace chiefs, a boy joining the group to which his father belonged.
The Emese assist the palace chiefs in performing the religious rituals for
which they are responsible. In earlier times the palace chiefs were chosen
from among the Emese, because they were familiar with the palace routine
from many years of experience; in recent times it has become increasingly
common for other Modewa to compete for these titles and the rituals have
suffered accordingly. Sons of the king's diviners, of the Emese, and of
men of leisure (Lodoko) are also eligible to become Emese. The Emese are
headed by someone who assigns their duties . They are readily recognizable
as representatives of the king because the right and left halves of their
heads are shaved alternately every four days. When the Oni makes his public
appearance at the sacrifice for Ogun, they wear lumps of mud on their head,
symbolizing the God of Medicine.
The Emese were responsible for bringing couples charged with incest to trial. If found guilty they had to provide a male goat which was killed for the Hunter God, and each was given a foreleg of the animal with which to beat each other. As they did so the woman asked "Why did you make love to me?" and the man responded "When I made love to you, why did you not refuse?"
The Ogungbe were the Oni's bodyguard and the town police. They were divided into two sections, one composed of Modewa, and the other composed of townspeople under someone considered the public executioner. Each had its own underground dungeon where criminals were kept while awaiting trial; prisoners were kept there no more than six months until they were executed or released. For minor offenses the Emese were sent to summon people to court. If an insane person, burglar, murderer, or traitor was at large, the Ogungbe were sent to apprehend them and hold them in the dungeon until they were executed at a place called Mesi Alukunrin. If the death penalty were commuted, the Ogungbe received a share of the money that the family paid for this privilege. The Ogungbe were also responsible for securing the victims when human sacrifices were required. These were not common in Ife, but the Oni was formerly expected to provide a man at the annual festival at Odua, the God of Creation and a woman at the annual festival of Orishala, and a man at his crowning when he built his throne. For many years now goats of the appropriate sex have been substituted on these occasions, but formerly a condemned criminal was sacrificed. If there was no one in the dungeon, the Ogungbe went out at night and seized any solitary person they came upon in the streets; a person seized could secure his release if a slave was provided to be sacrificed in his place.
The Ogboni meet every sixteen days in their special house in a particular ward where they eat, dance, and perform rituals in the worship of the Earth. One purchased the right to become an Ogboni. Anyone who becomes a town or palace chief is expected to join the Ogboni a month after his installation but this can be postponed because of the lack of money. In 1937 there were about one hundred Ogboni members, all male. The ritual symbols of the Ogboni are pairs of short staves cast in brass in human form and joined by brass chains. If anyone in town has difficulty in collecting a debt, he may come to the Ogboni chief for assistance. He will then send his symbols to the house of the debtor and they are laid on the doorway. No one may enter the doorway until the symbols are removed, and the debt must be repaid that day because the symbols must not remain there overnight. If the debtor is not home, other members of the family must pay what is owed. Both the debtor and the creditor pay a fee to the Ogboni chief for his assistance.
If human blood is shed on the ground in a fight, it is reported to the Ogboni chief who sends his messengers to lay his Ogboni symbols beside the spot. Because of the power of the Earth God, who has been profaned by the blood, the parties to the fight must return and surrender themselves to the messengers who take them to the Ogboni house where they are tried. When their accounts cannot be reconciled and it is apparent that one party is lying, both are required to take an oath on the Earth known as "drinking ground", in the belief that if they swear falsely they will die.
The Ogboni constituted the second highest tribunal in Ife. If the chiefs could not settle a dispute it was referred to the Ogboni house where it was heard by the members who were concealed behind palm fronds. Because the plaintiff and defendant could not see them and did not know which members were for or against them, the Ogboni court was the most respected and feared as well as the most impartial.
The Ogungbe, the Emese, and the Oni's wives could take their food from the market women, a little from each trader, without payment, and they could share in the food collected at the toll gates. There were eight gates in the town walls which were locked each night, at each of which a gate keeper was formerly stationed. He took a small portion of each person's burden of yams, corn, or plantain from those returning from farms, and he shared it with the Ogungbe and the people of the palace. Those bringing palm oil from the farm tied a small calabash of oil to the side of their large calabash, and emptied it into a pot at the toll gate; each season eight huge pots were filled and given to the king. Traders coming to town had to pay a toll in cowry shells.
The king also received gifts from his subjects, including slaves who worked his farms; he shared in fines, court fees, and the expenditures made by people when they took tides; and he received half of the fees collected by the five provincial chiefs for the use of their lands. Each provincial chief also brought one dog, ten snails, and ten tortoises annually; hunters, blacksmiths, and woodcarvers brought annual gifts of meat, knives, and wooden bowls. Kings collected various forms of tribute through their chiefs.
Several other groups are associated with government. Sixteen priests dispose of sacrifices made in the palace, make atonements, and are in charge of the installation of the Oni, the principal chiefs, and the priest of Odua, the God of Creation. In earlier times, whenever the Oni sent messengers to other towns, they were accompanied by members of the guild of traders and Pakoyi, its head, settled disputes concerning trading. Another group collected tribute from the townspeople of Ife; the top ranking palace chief served as treasurer. Another group supervised the able bodied men when they were called upon to form working to thatch the palace, repair its walls, weed its grounds, or do other public works.
The war chiefs led the men who volunteered in time of war, each joining the ranks of the chiefs in charge of his ward or the ranks of one of the subsidiary war chiefs holding Ife tides. None of the war chiefs had civil authority in times of peace. The war chiefs became wealthy men because they received half of the slaves captured by their followers; they provided the guns and ammunition, and each soldier was responsible for his own food.
Disputes which could not be settled within the clan and those involving different clans were referred to the ward chief. If members of different wards were involved or if the judgment of the ward chief was not acceptable to one of the parties, the case could be referred to the palace chiefs. If the matter were serious and involved members of Ife clans, the town chiefs were summoned. Their decision was referred to the Oni for his approval and if no decision could be reached, the case was referred to the Ogboni house. Beyond this, the last court of appeal, which rarely met, was held at the palace and included the town and palace chiefs, other Ogboni members, and the Oni himself. In the outlying towns within the kingdom, cases were heard by the court of the town chief, but judgments calling for capital punishments were referred to Ife. The right to execute criminals was formerly a prerogative which distinguished the Yoruba kings from uncrowned town chiefs.
Aside from this series of courts, disputes can be adjudicated informally.
In hearings and lower courts the objective
is to reach a decision which will be accepted as fair by both parties, so
that the dispute will be ended; but if this does not happen, either party
may appeal to one of the higher courts. The hearing of cases within the
compound is similarly informal, but that of the chiefs' courts was less so, with a summons fee of ten shillings,
the calling of all known witnesses, and the imposition of fines and physical
punishment on the guilty.
Oaths and ordeals are employed to determine guilt when the evidence is contradictory. A plaintiff may be made to swear by the God of Iron, touching his tongue to an iron object while asking to die if he is not telling the truth, or drink from the ground at the Ogboni house while swearing on the earth. Ordeals are of various kinds, not all of which are swallowed. The most famous ordeal, the drinking of Erythrophleum guineense or sasswood, was used only for women accused of witchcraft, but witches were rarely brought to trial; usually they were executed secretly by special cults.
Murder, treason, and burglary were formerly punished by execution, or the guilty were used as human sacrifices. Accidental or provoked manslaughter and assault were punished by fines whose amount depended upon the degree of negligence, provocation, and damage; or a person guilty of assault could be flogged. The hands of some thieves were cut off, others were shackled and made to cut weeds or they were imprisoned until their family paid heavy fines; sometimes they "sold" the family by making them pay more and more money each time they came to beg for the prisoner's release until they ran into debt. Rape, seduction, and adultery were punished by fines.
Legislation offered by various chiefs through the Oni was far less important than adjudication, as behavior was largely regulated by customary laws of long standing. However, if a song of ridicule which was likely to lead to a disturbance of the peace was to be prohibited, if hours for opening and closing the town gates were to be changed, or if maximum prices for palm wine or maximum expenses for club meetings were to be set, the town and palace chiefs discussed it at one of the meetings in the Ogboni house.
