prescriptions laid down by the ancestors and
they are pleased. Men who are the social media-
tors for the population perform sacrifices in the
tsosa’ketsa, the spirit house, which is always
built on land purified for that purpose. When
the ancestors are not pleased because of a viola-
tion, then the chima must enter the spirit house
and make sacrifices of animals to mend the rift
to create the climate that appeases the ancestors
in the name of the people. Holiness or purity
means that only someone of the mala caste
can perform this ritual. Only in individual-, not
group- or village-, level situations can the degala
perform circumcision and individual healing
rites.
Women who are possessed, ayana, can be
expected to create opportunities for special cere-
monies of harmony for the society. Nevertheless,
among the Gamo, in a rare display of social,
political, and economic separation of farmers
and artisans into distinct groups, the society’s
burial places, location of houses, material arti-
facts, and cultural forms, such as music and
dance, are also separate.
Molefi Kete AsanteSee alsoShilluk
Further Readings
Abeles, M. (1979). Religion, Traditional Beliefs:
Interaction and Changes in Southern Ethiopia Society:
Ochollo (Gamu-Gofa). In D. Donham & W. James
(Eds.),Society and History in Ethiopia:The Southern
Periphery From the 1880s to 1974(pp. 184–195).
Cambridge, UK: African Studies Centre, University of
Cambridge.
Arthur, J. W. (2001).Castes in Africa? A Study of the
Gamo Peoples in Southwestern Ethiopia.Paper
Presented at the 100th annual meeting of the
American Anthropological Society, Washington, DC.
Arthur, J. W. (2003). Brewing Beer: Status, Wealth, and
Ceramic Use-Alteration Among the Gamo of
Southwestern Ethiopia.World Archaeology, 34,
516–528.
Bureau, J. (1981).Les Gamo d’Éthiopie:Etude du
Syteme Politique. Paris: Societe d’Ethnographie.
Tamari, T. (1991). The Development of Caste Systems
in West Africa.Journal of African History, 32 ,
221–250.
GÈLÈDÈ
One of the largest annual festivals among the
Yoruba people of Nigeria is the Gèlèdè festival. It
involves several aspects of the Yoruba culture
and suggests the importance of the ancestors in
the religion. Indeed, Gèlèdè establishes annually
the significances of the women elders of the com-
munity, female ancestors, and the feminine spirit.
They are collectively called “Our Mothers.”
Probably beginning in the 16th century, this
festival highlights the importance of the matri-
archy in African life. The fact that the Gèlèdè
honors and celebrates women is a remarkable
attribute of culture that demonstrates the relation-
ship the society has to women elders.
The Yoruba prepare for the Gèlèdè festival
by creating elaborate masks that are in actual-
ity headdresses that are composed of two parts,
a lower construction and a second upper con-
struction. One part of the headdress represents
the face of a woman, and the second part, the
upper part, is a superstructure of a strong
design. Thus, the people see the cool reserved
qualities that are favored in women in the lower
part of the mask and the contrasting vitality
and dynamism of the upper part of the head-
dress. The mask, of course, is worn on top of
the head. When the dancers perform the Gèlèdè
dance, they are really displaying the powers and
energies of the great elder mothers who are the
beginning of the nation, the makers of the
community, and the protectors of the spirits of
the children.
The headdresses may have symbols of snakes
and birds on them to represent the nocturnal
powers of women who might send signs of evil
or danger, as well as the cool powers of disci-
pline and control. The first representation is
seen in the presence of the bird on the head-
dress. The second representation (i.e., the cool-
ness and control) is depicted by the presence of
a snake. In fact, when the artists carve the wood
so that the snake coils around the front of the
headdress, it means that the snake sees every-
thing, although you may think it is asleep. This
is the story of the great elder mothers who
watch over the community; they see all and they
know all, and the commemoration of theirGèlèdè 281