The Royal African Society

Spirit Children among the Yoruba

Author(s): H. U. Beier
Source: African Affairs, Vol. 53, No. 213 (Oct., 1954), pp. 328-331
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/718349 .
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 AFRIGAN AFFAIRS

The Governmentof Eritrea certainly attaches great importanceto

English as a subjectof instruction,and indeedit will be in the majority
of cases the language of instructionin professionaltraining whether
students go to Ethiopia, Great Britain or Americafor advancedstudy.
In conclusion,I hope that I have been able to demonstratethat in the
sphere of educationand in the other spheres of Governmentactivity a
satisfactory start has been made, and that we may look forward with
some degree of confidenceto steady progress in the future.

Evater Evening
By ABIOSEH DAVIDSON NICOL
I ha%e sot me doqan by the qvoterside

Watching the; grey riter pulling atrany.

I hove listened me with Zling ears

To your vesper bells across the fields.

Come close to me!, God, do not ke!ep azzvoy,

I tvalk toqwrds you bxt you are too far.
Please try and meet me here halfway,

Beca7sse you are mx all, my all.

Whot are you, Negro, Lefbanese or Jequl,

Ftemish, Italian, Indion, Greek?

I know within my heart exactly whot yow are-

What qse quould likel to be, bxt tueZuer are.

The vaarm blood sticks to your whipped shoulders

(Drink this in remembrance of me).

Only qohen thei whirlzmg thiongs have ratsecZ the red weals
On o?sr complacent bodies, then we remember yo?s.

Chonge our salty tears of broqern remorse

Into your lqoqvaing blood, it tostes the same.

(Oh, Ri%er Niger, from

toraway.)
yo?s too hozre come
Fill m.3 uplifted
silvler cisbash

With your sacrificial

new teine.
And I, you.r least novitiate, vill sip,

With my lips,yoxrancient
thick memory.

SpiritChildrenAmongthe Yoruba
By H. U. BEIER
The qeriter tS Regionsl Txtor for Ibad:n University College, and co-editor
of a ngenv jornal of Yoruba St?sdUies zoith Dr. S. O. Biob,aku^, and E. A.
Babalola, the poet. His note provides an zn,teresttng gloss on the novel
My Life in the Bush of C>Jhosts, revieqeredS later.
T T is customaryfor Europeanwritersto dwell at length on the " fears"
1 of the African,from xvhichonly Europeancivilisationcan deliverhim.
Yet tnere is at least one kind of fear from which the Yorubasufferrather
less than Europeans: I mean fear of death. Many a Yoruba will, for
example, be told the exact t ear of his death by a soothsaJrer. And

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 SPIRIT CHILDREN AMONG THE YORUBA 329

although the date given may be verarnear, and the man is convincedof
the truth of the prediction, he will receive the news with complete
equanimity. The reason for this comparativeindiSerenceto the terrors
of death is that, instead of the European'svague hopes for a life after
death, the Africanhas a very firm belief in reincarnation.
To the Yoruba, the dead are simply removedtemporarilytcxanother
sphere, from where they will continueto influencethe daily lives of the
living. It is largely the watching eye of the ancestors-who on certain
occasions may actually appear to the people, personifiedby the masks
of the Egungun societsZ that will be the chief inducementfor a man to
live a righteouslife.
The demarcationlines betweenthe spheres of the living and the dead
are indeed fluctuating. Frequentlya dead person may be born again,
by a womanof the same family, as the numerousYorubanames with the
ending tunde-(returned)will testify.
Immediatelyafter the birth of a. child, certain physical characteristics
or gestures may indicate to the parentsthat such and such an ancestor
of the family is reborn. It is customary to present children to the
babala%oo, or priest of the Ifa Oracle, for " identification." Apart from
predictingthe future, it is the most importantfunction of the Oracle
today to decidewhat ancestorhas found reincarnationin a certain child.
The most commontype of reincarnationis that of the grandfatheror
grandmother. I know of at least one case where the grandfatherwas
rebornwhile he was still alive which throws an interestinglight on the
time and space conceptionof the Yoruba.
If, however, a new-bornbaby is for some reason or other believedto
be the reincarnationof its own father, this is taken as a bad omen and
indicates that the father will die soon. Among one neighbouringtribe
such a child will be " dashedto Nigeria"-that is, exposedto die. I have
neverheardof this custombeing observedby Yorubas;nor have I actually
seen a child said to be the reincarnationof the father, although a few
elderlypeople said they had known of such cases.
It is against this backgroundof general reincarnationbeliefs that we
may understandthe Yoruba conceptionof spirit children. As in most
parts of Africa, infant mortalityhere is extremelyhigh. The numerous
disappointmentsand sufferings of the Yoruba mother are explained as
being the machinations-ofa spirit people, who are all childrenand whose
great ambitionis to be born by a humanmother. Once a memberof a
humanfamily, the spirit may then persuadehis parentsto bring sacrifices
to his egbe or society; and this, some people say, is one of the chief
motives of the spirits for delegating some in their midst to be born as
human beings.
The spirit is said to enter the womb of a pregnantwoman, where he
" drives out " the real child. The phrase " drives out," however, does
not actuallymean what it seems to indicateat first. By furtherquestion-
ing it was revealedthat people did not conceive of the original child to
die, nor did they actua11yimagineit to go from the womb to some other
place. The spirit child is, in fact, consideredthe legal child of its father,
if only it can be persuadedto remain in this world. Once it has been
preventedby charms from returningto the spirit world, the Yoruba do
not feel that it (istlzrbsthe linenge system in any way

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330 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

It may perhapsbe said that the child is conceivedof mostly as a human

child poissessed by the spint, and sometimesas a humanchild replaced
by the spirit. This " double-think" results clearly from ambivalent
feelings towardsthe child, and it is typicalthat the Yorubadoes not feel
the necessity to solve the ambivalenceby deciding to adopt the one or
the other attitude.
An eleri or spirit child is usually recognisedsoon after birth. There
are some well-knownsigns, such as fits and cramps. Epileptics are
consideredeleri as a rule. But here, as always, the Ifa Oracle will in
many cases identifythe child as a spirit child.
The eieri dies young. It is that fact which causes the mother grief
when she is told that her child is a spirit. She is willing to accept it and
coax it to " stay."
Usually the child will communicatewith its egbe or society, and
indicateto the parents when its spirit companionswill want a sacrifice.
A shrine may be set aside in the forest, where such offerings as kola
nuts, yam, chicken or even a goat may be left. Usually the shrine
consists merely of an open space in front of a tree, the entrance of
which is markedwith psalmfronds. Some of the food left in the shrine
may be eaten by smalleranimals, and it will then be said that the spirits
have taken it. A live goat, on the other hand, will usllally be found
unharmedon the same spot next day (there being hardly any leopards
left in the Yorubacountry). It was explained,however,that the " actual"
goat had been eaten, that what we saw was only its appearance,and that
its " power" had been consumedby spirits.
Most eZens have frequent visions of their companions. Some will
associate their visions with water or trees; and nearly all will have
them only when alone. Many literate adults who were eleri as children
have told me that they used to play wonderfulgames with their spirit
companions,and that they preferredthem much to their human play-
mates. On the other hand, the spirits will frequentlytempt the child
to throw itself into the water or do other dangerous things that may
result in its death.
When an eZerichild is asked for a sacrificeby its companions,it must
always comply. A woman in Lagos told me that when she was a young
girl she saw her companionsone day, when crossing Carter Bridge in
a bus. They asked her for a glft of ?1, and immediatelyshe dropped
a note Into the water, much to the surpriseof her fellow passengers.
However,the spirits will " never demandmore moneythan a personcan
give." If well served, they are believedto bring luck and wealth to a
family. (Opinionsvary on this point, however.)
When the time comes, usuallybetweenthe ages of four and ten years,
the spirits will request the child to return to them. Even t}lough the
child is very attachedto its mother,it cannot resist the call of the spirits
and will " go."
The mother will often pray for the return of the child, and I know
womenwho claimedto have born the same child seven times. The child
is often identifiedas the previous one by a small scar that was incised
on the face or body of the deceasedchild, and is then frequentlyfound
on exactly the same spot on the newborn. Many adults, both literate
and illiteratethave shown me such scars Qf identificatiQn on their faces,

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 SPIRIT CHILDREN AMONG THE YORUBA 331

In one case at least I knew about, the parents were expecting a certain
mark to appearsome time before the baby was born; and I was actually
able to witness the scar on the exact place svhenthe child was born.
It is a commonthing to hear a man say: " I went away three times
before I stayed," or somethinglike that. Parents of a rebornbaby may
refer to its previous life: " He is terrifiedof cars, because he had an
accident last time." Peculiaritiesof charactermay often be explained
through referencesto the previouslife.
The mother's grief for the loss of her child is much relierredby the
convictionthat he will return. But slle svill " waste her time," as one
informantput it, and if she has to bear one child several times, she can
obviouslynot have as many childrenas she was hoping for.
Among the Ibos, a mother may get impatientwith a " very stubborn
child who refuses to stay," and in such cases the corpse of the baby
that has " gone " may be hacked into pieces and thrown into the wind.
In this vay the unwantedchild may be finallydestroyed,and it is hoped
that the next child will come to stay. I have not found this practice
among the Yorubas. They will, on the other hand, " flog " the stubborn
child when it has died. When the child returns, it vill rememberthe
beating and be afraidto go again.
Powerful charms will be used to prevent the child from returningto
the spirits. Iron rings, preparedwitll special " medicine,"are worn by
most eleris round the ankles. Sometimes " medicine" will be applied
to the scars of identificationon the dead baby, thus making sure that,
when it returns,it cannot as easilr i' go away."
If the " medicine" is potent, then the child may find itself unable to
follow the call of the spirits when it is time to returnto the spirit world.
The spirits may threatenat first; then, realising that magic is at work,
they are said to desist and s ill henceforthleave .he child alone. The
child will then become quite normal and will have no more visions.
Some adults can rememberthe exact occasion szlhenthe companions
left them. In no case do the visions persist into adult life, becauseeither
the child dies (that is, returns to the spirit companions)or it becomes
normal(that is, it xvillbe given up by its companionsfor good).
The eleri is often the problemcllild of the Yoruba family. Many of
the ones I have known combinea terriblelust for life with depressions
and suicidaltendencies. They are highly temperamental,and make high
demandson the parents. If a WiSll iS not being fulfilledat once they will
threatento die, and the terrifiedparentswill put up no resistanceto the
child and will suSer its tyranny in the hope that it may be persuaded
to live.
To avoid all these sufferingsand disappointments,xnanymotherswear
protective " medicine" in the hair or round the waist while they are
pregnant. Little pieces of metal, speciallypreparedby the medicineman,
are intendedto preventthe spirit from entering the womb.
Belief in the existence of spirit childrenappearsto be compatiblewith
both Christianityand Islam, and nvith a certain amount of Western
education. Many eZeris I have met were either Christiansor Muslims.
Some were clerks, teachers, nurses, etc., and among the people who
believedin them were persorlscyfa high degree of Europeaneducation.
8

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