“If a Woman Knows Cult Secret, She Must Never Tell”: Ritual Consecration, Secrecy, and Female Power in Egungun Pageantry Among the Yoruba

Abstract

King Sunny Ade, the Juju musician who popularized the Yorúbà folk song quoted here, created the lyrics to serve as a caustic warning to his rivals, critics, and detractors that any attempt to undermine his creative abilities will be met with strong opposition likened to an outright annihilation—the stock in trade of the Oro institution.2 When I began my research into the intriguing tradition of Egungun, I quickly learnt a counterhegemonic negation of the song lyrics: “If a woman knows cult secret, she must never tell.”3 That statement is deliberately adopted here, as it recognizes the limitations placed on women in a cultural tradition that was partly invented by them, in spite of their knowledge and leadership position within the cult of Egungun. While reinforcing this societal norm on the restriction and access to esoteric knowledge, Barber (1981: 739) noted that “The important thing is not women’s actual ignorance, but the maintenance of a respectful silence about their knowledge. It is a matter of keeping up appearances for the sake of ancestral dignity.” In spite of the overwhelming presence and visibility of women in every aspect of the public procession and organization of Egungun, little scholarly attention has been devoted to the role and position that women occupy in the annual celebrations of Egungun. In a bid to address this anomaly, this essay focuses on the unique position of women in the installation and consecration rituals of Egungun, specifically addressing their roles as guides, singers, and dancers in the public performances of Egungun. I will also examine the position of women as custodians of the ethical codes and histories of Egungun and highlight the multifaceted roles women perform in the staging and reenactment of this ancient tradition. Our goal here is to demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between male and female counterparts in their roles to establish the cultural phenomenon that is now known as Egungun. It follows, therefore, that the position of women cannot be ignored or marginalized. On the contrary, we seek to remind the readers of the preeminent position of women as active members within most of the major religious organizations and especially the Yoruba Egungun. Indeed, Ifa cautions that, to ignore the position of women is to invite disaster, disorderliness and strife in every aspect of human endeavors. Mediated more by the principle of inclusiveness and collaboration, the Yorúbà religious sphere is neither hierarchically structured nor entirely fragmented along gender divides; rather, it is organized on the basis of equality, parity, and mutual respect. That ethos of inclusiveness, best articulated in the aphorism omode gbon, agba gbon la fi da’le Ife (“the wisdom and perception of both the youth and the elders were the organizing principle in the establishment of Ife”), fosters the spirit of mutual respect and recognition in Yorúbà philosophical thought and value system. Using oral literature as the basis of its critical vocabulary, this essay examines a selection of ritual objects in the repertoire of Egungun with apparent feminine associations and symbolism. A number of scholars’ works represent significant touchstones either on Egungun in general or more specifically on women within Yorúbà religious spaces,4 including myself (Campbell 2015, 2016, 2020). The unusual sensitivity and close attention to the peculiar idiosyncratic representation and position of women within Yorúbà social landscape became important signpost as I research note