Lecture # 2

The Dolls Live On: Eshu and Ibeji in Salvador Orisha Worship

I attended this lecture that was part of the symposium Yoruba Art: Continuity and Change.  The lecturer was John Mason, who is the director of Yoruba Theological Archministry.  In his lecture Mason explains growing up with these dolls while also explaining their background.  Mason grew up in Cuba with his mother and father who were both blind.  His mother made Eshu and Ibeji dolls, and because she could not see he occasionally had to help her with the finishing touches.  After explaining his background with these dolls, he discussed the process from which the dolls evolved.  To understand this process though he first had to explain how many women in Yoruba culture tend to have twins, but instead of viewing this as a miracle the women are shunned from society and their babies are discarded in the forest to die.  Often times the babies are put on the base of ‘sacred’ trees.  It is here that the process begins: the sacred tree, according to Mason, is the first doll.  From there the dolls can embody many different spirits.  Some of the dolls are seen wearing bands around their ankles. This is not just on dolls though, children and priests and priestess’s wear them too, to “keep them from flying away.”  Wearing these bands makes noise each time when the person walks, thus scaring away death. I found this lecture very interesting.  I have seen some of these dolls before but I didn’t know what they were supposed to represent, nor did I know anything about their background.