Thursday, May 1, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Beaded Work In Ile-Ife (Geography & Economy)

~Picture taked by Clarissa
~Beaded work created by Roobvia , Lydia and Clarissa.
The Arts In Ile-Ife


"Dance is one way that helps open communication between passed and present." That’s what the Yoruba people believed. Thus, dance was a big part of religion and arts in lle-lfe. They danced to honor people in the spirit world. In one of the dances they honored the ancestors. This was called an Egugun dance. Watch a video clip of a modern Egungun dance in Nigeria. As you can see costumes for the dance were elaborate often consisting of multi-layered cloth and monkey skulls.
Another dance they did was when they worshiped Osun, the goddess of the rivers. When they worshipped her they wore all white. The Ile-Ife way of worshipping gods and goddesses through dance spread to the Americans and is done today in Brazil as Candomble, in Cuba as Lukumi and in Puerto Rico as Santeria. Here's a video we made explaining this information more from our own perspective.
Another art they had was the sculptures which were later found by a German ethnographer in 1911. The sculptures found reflected images of people and animals and, according to the German ethnographer, they had a way of creating the sculptures that involved many steps and time. The people would first make a clay model that would have the shape of what they had in mind whether it was an animal or a person. After the clay dried, they would pour a thin layer of beeswax and then carve all the details into the sculpture.

Another very important art was beadwork. Beadwork was used a lot in Ile-Ife. Making beadwork took a lot of time a skill. Beadwork usually had a lot of color, designs, and shapes. Beadwork was usually put on clothes, crowns, and jewelry. That’s why it was as expansive as it was. Not everyone could afford beads. Only kings, queens, rulers, judges, priests, and other powerful people could afford them.
Besides beadwork, in Ile-Ife music was a very important art form. So the musicians had specific jobs while playing each one of their instruments. For example, when a dancer performs there is a drummer present to help guide the dancer while he/she performs. When I say guide, I mean the rhythms the drummer play tell the dancer how to move. The key purpose is for the drummer to help guide the conversation between the dancer and the other world. In addition, there would be other musicians present playing other types of drums, basically backing up the lead drummer. Moreover, there are some connections on how music is viewed between today’s society and Ile-ife. For instance they believed the drummers helped guide the dancers as they perform, and in today’s society people believe that musicians in general help tell a story when someone is performing a piece. Another connection between Ile-Ife music and today's society, is that some of our most popular music got some of its rhythm from that society. Salsa is one for example. If you love salsa, click on this video clip of local salsa dancers.

In conclusion, ile-ife had many different art forms that are used in America today. The art forms included music, dance, sculpture, storytelling, and beadwork. In addition, Ife accomplished a lot with their artists. The artists created masterpieces with different materials; all of this was natural to them and was on the high lines of art. The Yoruba art form dancing inspired a new style of dance called salsa to come alive in other countries like Cuba, and other Latin countries. Then when it comes to music, Ife created their own unique sound that has just vocals and different types of percussion. Finally, their handcrafting has paved the way for technology to change and for there to be machines that can do what an artist can.
Sources (Lord Of The Dance Movie, Djenaba Kouyate, Roslyn Adele Walker)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Geography and Economy of Ile-Ife

Did you know back then in the Ife economy their jewelry and such was made out
of beads and string? Beading, along with weaving, hunting and the geography itself helped make a good economy for Ile-Ife.
Back in Ile-Ife, which is now Nigeria, it was a sweaty, hot place, covered with many types of natural resources such as water, trees, vegetables, animals, and so much more. The water that came to the area always happened in huge rainstorms, though not happening very often, which caused droughts. But the landscape didn’t just include climate, there were also a vast numbers of animals that roamed the grounds.
In hunting, they would create various weapons from the branches found on the ground for crossbows, longbows, clubs and such. They would use the weapons for taking control of their animal prey, animals such as bush babies and bushbucks to lions and leopards.
With all these animals they must of used them for something, so of course they would hunt them for their meat and leather. Leather was made into things like bags and clothes, and the food was cooked and prepared for eating. As a side note, the indigo plant that came from the land was used in the cloth dyeing that was made.
Another thing that was important in the Ile-Ife was female roles in the economy.
Woman in Ife-Ife would weave cloth then dye it to trade and sell in the market. They also made accessories such as bracelets, necklaces and earrings which they called beading. The woman went once a week to the market in order to sell or trade the products that they produced. These are some of the ways the woman helped the economy in Ife-Ife.
Finally one important thing that the males did was
hunting. They hunted herbivores. Herbivores are plant eaters like cane-rats, giant rats, squirrels, variety of duikers (small antelope) and monkeys, bush cows, porcupine, and other herbivores. They also hunted wild animals like buffaloes, lions, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs and elephants. To kill the animal they used hunting tools like a wooden club. The wooden club was the first weapon they had. They also used cutlasses, which are small swords. These tools were made from branches off trees. But of course the men didn’t just go out at any time. They had certain times to go. They knew an animal was around if there a narrow tunnel-like passage.
In conclusion, man and woman in Ile-Ife both contributed to the success of their economy. Men hunted while women beaded and weaved. The geography was an important feature to help the economy as well. So the next time you hear about economy remember it was not only one group that helped; every member in the society distinguished this complex economy.
Click Here to take survey
Sources: Rural Economies: Hunting and Fishing. Rural Economies: Craft Industries, Adire Eleko Cloth of Nigeria, Johnson,Revernened. The History of the Yourba. London: Lowe and Brydone Limited, 1973

Back in Ile-Ife, which is now Nigeria, it was a sweaty, hot place, covered with many types of natural resources such as water, trees, vegetables, animals, and so much more. The water that came to the area always happened in huge rainstorms, though not happening very often, which caused droughts. But the landscape didn’t just include climate, there were also a vast numbers of animals that roamed the grounds.
In hunting, they would create various weapons from the branches found on the ground for crossbows, longbows, clubs and such. They would use the weapons for taking control of their animal prey, animals such as bush babies and bushbucks to lions and leopards.
With all these animals they must of used them for something, so of course they would hunt them for their meat and leather. Leather was made into things like bags and clothes, and the food was cooked and prepared for eating. As a side note, the indigo plant that came from the land was used in the cloth dyeing that was made.
Another thing that was important in the Ile-Ife was female roles in the economy.

Finally one important thing that the males did was

In conclusion, man and woman in Ile-Ife both contributed to the success of their economy. Men hunted while women beaded and weaved. The geography was an important feature to help the economy as well. So the next time you hear about economy remember it was not only one group that helped; every member in the society distinguished this complex economy.
Click Here to take survey
Sources: Rural Economies: Hunting and Fishing. Rural Economies: Craft Industries, Adire Eleko Cloth of Nigeria, Johnson,Revernened. The History of the Yourba. London: Lowe and Brydone Limited, 1973
Monday, March 24, 2008
We Are Family!

Everyone in the family has different roles and responsibilities they do everyday based on their gender, age and skills. The males have certain privileges that they get from seniority. However, all males had privileges over females. The responsibility they had was farming and hunting. The responsibility of females was to gather food from the tropical rain forest, to prepare the food that the males brought from hunting, to dye cloth and to make bead work. They also had to watch and teach their kids how things work and what they had to do in the future. The role of the children had been they had to respect their elders and listen to what their parents say. and they had to follow all customs and traditions.

CHILDREN
Children were considered gifts in Ile-Ife. When a child is born they are no named until eight days later. The name of a child has a specific reason behind it and a special meaning behind the name as well. Certain names are given for many differen reasons, from when the child was born, how the child was born and what order you were born in (first child, second, third- etc).
Something both Ile-ife and the U.S have in common is that names are gender neutral.
Here are some examples of Ile-Ife names:
Ona- Art,
Onafeko- Art needs learning
Ode- Warrior
Osun- The goddess of the river
Ile- Ife had the highest rate of twin births. It was said that children were a gift and joy. Twins are double the joy, double the happiness, double amounts of sleepless nights. Twins are "special beings" that bring love and magic into the already crowded home. The first born twin is actually considered the younger twin. An old folk tale says that the "older" twin kicked the first twin out to see if the coast was clear. Each child has a special name due to when they arrived. The first born twin is called Taiwo. The twin that arrived shortly after is called a Kehinde.
Once a child in Ile-ife is born, it is sprinkled with water. Then it is shaken three times and hung upside down. To the United States that may seem cruel and unusual. However, in Ile- Ife it was a greatly respected tradition to make the baby strong and brave. Once the baby is born the mother and child MUST remain inside of their home for six to eight weeks (six weeks for a baby girl, eight weeks for a baby boy). When a baby is born ONLY women are allowed to attend the birth;if a male were to attend the baby's birth would be delayed. Also it was said that if a male were to attend it was disrespectful and heinous. However, a male doctor can be present ONLY if there were any problems concerning the baby's birth.
A tradition that children had was to hear folktales that their elders would tell them. Some major characters are the hare, turtle and the elephant. Watch an example of a story. I created it based on the kind of Yoruba folktales I studied.
MALES

WOMEN

ARCHITECTURE


Resources:
Johnson, Reverend. The History of Yoruba. London; Lowe and Brydone Limited, 1973.
Anda, Michael. Yoruba. Rosen Publishing Inc. New York.
To See Music Video: "WE ARE FAMILY" by Sister Sledge click "FAMILY" up above.
Family in Ile-Ife was extremely unified. It might remind you of that famous Sister Sledge tune "We are Family."
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