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188 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
CHAPTER XXII. THE PHILOSOPHY AT THE BACK
OF THE BLACK MAN'S MIND IN TABLE FORM
ON page 169 of Great Benin you will find a photograph taken by Mr. C. Punch in March
1892, of a Bini house in course of construction.
In this picture we find that a certain figure is built into the fluted wall, it is coloured
white and shows up well against the dark red clay of which the wall is constructed (Pl.
XXI).
This figure is of the greatest interest and may be said to be the "formula" at the back of
the black man's mind both north and south of the equator on the West coast of Africa,
six of which apparently form the complete religious system of both the Yoruba and the
Bavili or Luango people. It is used as a divining board or a tally of the seasons
indiscriminately.
Resting on the top of the figure you will find a bird, meant to represent the IFE, a kind of
wagtail, to whom the people of Luango attribute the origin of the drum. IFE is the
spiritual capital of the Yoruba, and IFA is their great oracular deity. Now IFA means that
which is stripped off, and the verb to strip off means also to create. 86 IFA as a God or
part of God would and does represent what we should call the Son of God.
Immediately beneath this bird is the formula formed first of 16 marks or holes in four
parallel lines, and secondly of eight ditto in two parallel lines, that is 24 marks or holes
in all. You will notice that there is a distinct gap between the first four and the second
two lines.
Let us suppose this figure on the wall to represent the divining board, then the first 16
marks represent the 16 sacred palm kernels which the BABALAWOS use in consulting
IFA on their Sunday. But Ifa is always attended by his offspring OPÉLE, the other great
oracular God of the Yoruba whom the diviners consult every day. Now the literal
translation of the word OPÉLE is the one who endures and replenishes.
Thus you will see that the Yoruba may be said to divide the "formula" into two great
parts, first, 16 divine principles under four great headings, IBARA, EDI, OVEKUN, and
OGBE, and second, eight natural parts under two great headings the names of which I
have not been able to ascertain.
Separated from the above but underneath is a strong line drawn from side to side,
representing man the diviner.
That is a formula Of 24 parts between first cause and final effect-a formula preserved to
the Bavili in the making up of their shrouds, in their families of Bakici baci, and in their
86
Exactly the same idea exists among the Bavili where the word XIVANGA creator is derived from VANGA to
create, which literally means to keep on stripping off
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