lethin@yale.ARPA (Richard A. Lethin) (05/14/85)
In article <145@nvuxb.UUCP> javier@nvuxb.UUCP (J. Lujan) writes: > Does anyone know about the "Yoruba people"? I'm > interested in knowing more about their culture since their > religion is very much alive in some spanish-speaking > countries (mostly in central america) and also spanish > quarters of our american cities. > I recently (this past semester) took a course entiled "The Black Atlantic Visual Tradition," taught by Professor Robert Thompson, or "Master 'T'" as he is better known here. The course concerned itself with the transportation of several major African cultures (including the Yoruba) to the Western Hemisphere. The Yoruba religion, with such gods as Ogun (god of iron), Shango (The Thunder God), and Eshu-Elegba (The Trickster), was creolized in the new world - it mixed with other African Religions and the Christian religion of the missionaries to form new very rich religions. In particular, these hybrid faiths can be found in Brazil (Rio), Cuba, and Haiti. These religions are still practiced today; in fact, with the immigration of Cubans to the United States, the religions are very much alive here. Perhaps one of the most visible signs of this around today are Botanicas, shops which sell the special items, herbs, etc., needed for the faith. I am told that these shops can be found throughout Miami, along Riverside Drive in NYC, and that there is even one located here in good old New Haven! Thompson has written an excellent book describing this process; it also covers quite a bit about Kongo and Haitian culture. The Book is called "Flash of the Spirit," by Robert Farris Thompson (Vintage Books: 1983). I'll quote from the introduction: Since the Atlantic slave trade, ancient African organizing principles of song and dance have crossed the seas from the Old World to the New. There they took on new momentum, intermingling with each other and with New World or European styles of singing and dance... ...Flash of the Spirit is about visual and philosophic streams of creativity and imagination, running parallel to the massive musical and choreographic modalities that connect black persons of the western hemisphere, as well as the millions of European and Asian people attracted to and performing their styles, to Mother Africa. Aspects of the art and philosophy of the Yoruba of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin; the Bakongo of Bas-Zaire and neighboring Cabinda, Congo-Brazzaville, and Angola; the Fon and Ewe of the Republic of Benin and Togo; the Mande of Mali and neighboring territory; and the Ejagham of the Cross River in southeastern Nigeria and Southeastern Cameroon, have come from sub-Saharan Africa to the western hemisphere... -- FOTS, by RF Thompson, Introduction This is a great book, which I highly recommend to you. It's been published in paperback, and costs ~$10. The NY Times Book Review loved it. Ashe, Rich Lethin Yale, TD'85 ...decvax!yale!lethin