WHERE EGGS MEAN TROUBLE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 35, 9 August 1930, Page 25

WHERE EGGS MEAN TROUBLE

AFRICAN TRIBE WITH TAMMANY WAYS

The five-day week,is not an invention of Soviet Russia, but has'been in use for a long time among the semi-civilised natives of the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Africa.. Tho Yorubas have other customs that make them understandable to .Westerners —policewomen who patrol the village streets, , and political machines that seat and unseat rulers. Theoretically, this tribe1 Of .the Slave Coast is governed by local chiefs and a king. Actually the controlling power is wielded by a political mackino made up of secret socioties. When the. council of the Ogboni Society,, most powerful of thorn all, is displeased,! a delegation is sent to the king with p. gift of parrot eggs) An accompanying, statement expresses deep concern at the fatigued condition-of tho king, caused by the cares of government, and'suggests that it is> time for him to rest. Long custom decrees that the "rest" shall be achieved by swallowing poison. At frequent intervals tho god Oro, personifying the oxecutive power of the Ogboni Society, haunts the forest. His roaring, windlika approiieh can be heard in the distance, and his wooden mask, with blood-smeared lips, and his flowing white robe hung with shells, emphasise the importance of his duty —to punish the objectionable. This corner of darkest Africa has its policewomen, who patrol tho village streets to sco that their semi-civilised sisters live up to tho local moral code. Each village policewoman is known as Iyalodo—"head woman" or "mistress, of tho street." When Oro is at large tho Iyalodo wields great power, for it is her duty to keop the girls and women shut up in huts. The Yorubas esteem gods of thunder, of lightning, and of agriculture, n

faith which is reminiscent , of early Egypt. In their primitive fear of death they devise images of tho recent departed ones to insure peace to tho surviving relatives. A' child is said to be his deceased grandfather or undo. Oftoa he is given the name of tho ancestor who is supposed'to have been born again in him. : Sometimes a mother will carry her child on ono shoulder, and on tho other a similar mummylike wooden child fashioned to resemble its deceased twin in shape and sex. The living child is always accompanied by this twin doll to': keep it from pining ,and to keop the spirit of the deceased frvyhr alive. The: Yoruba week begins with Akoojo—First or Sabbath Day, a day of rest for all. To undertake) any business, on this day will incur ill luck. Then comes Ojo-awo, Day of tho Secret; Ojo-Ogun, the Day of the God of Iron and War"; Ojo-Shango, Day of the Thunder God"; and Ojo-Obatala, Obatala's Day. Each day is a rost day for those who follow tho god to which tho day is dedicated. Every fifth day is market day. Yoruba women, perfect blends of velvety sun-tan, bring huge baskets of yams. They carry babies on their backs throughout the day and feed them without interrupting trade. ■'.'.', Tho Yorubas are addicted to proverb's. In place of "out of the frying-pan into tho fire," they say, "Ho runs away from the sword and hides himself in the scabbard." "A hunchback is never asked to stand, straight" is their way of saying, "No one espects the impossible." In the: English-speaking world, "To marry in haste is to repent kt loasure," with tho Yoruba, "Quick loving a woman means quick not loving a woman,'? ' -: i .