CHAPTER V

THE SUPREME OFFICIALS
The Council — The Head — The Idea behind him — His Election — His Duties — His Disguise.
The supreme officials of the societies are the Councillors, the Deputy Head, and the Head. The last word has been adopted instead of " President " or " Grand Master " as it, in the writer's opinion, fits more nearly the titles borne by these functionaries.
THE COUNCIL
The Council of the society is composed of a number of men or women chosen from the principal grade, sometimes being the entire grade. The num- ber varies. Three or Five or Seven, or multiples of these, are frequently found. Ampora has three, Yassi five, MuNGi nine, Egbo twenty-one, Butwa twenty-four, and Poro twenty-five. Ogboni has forty-nine, divided into seven groups. It may be built up to represent the grades of the society, each grade sending one councillor, or it may be composed of the chief officers of the branches or lodges, as in PoRo. Of their number a proportion may act as an executive. Of the twenty-five of Poro fifteen act as an inner council or court of appeal, and five as an executive.
Women councillors sit on the councils of some of the male-membership societies, but generally in an ex-officio capacity. The Head of Bundu, the Mama Koome, is a silent member of the council of Poro, being supposed to be invisible to all save the
71
72 WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES
Grand Tasso. On the Am for a council there is a woman member, the Dehboi^ and that of Elung and one or two others includes the principal wife of the Head.
The government of the societies is founded on the idea of democracy, matters judicial and legislative, also religious, being supposed to be settled by the members, but in practice the council acts in most matters with sovereign disdain for anything other than its own verdict.
Council meetings are never formally ended. They are " suspended." As Poro says, " Society business never ends." The usual formula, after a certain time spent in discussion, is for a councillor to look upwards and say, " It rains ! " Thereupon all leave.
The members of the council, with the officials, represent their societies at local coronations and at the death-bed and the funerals of chiefs, in much the same way that members of the Privy Council are ofhcially present on state occasions in England. They are also " ceremonially " present (which may mean that their mask is present) at the celebra- tions, the festivals, the processions, and the dances held by their society. Some proportion of them go into retreat with the officials, where they act as tutors and guardians. They are much sought after to preside at special gatherings like the inauguration of a new industrial venture, at religious observances for the staying of plague, pest or protracted drought, or at social festivities such as the naming of a royal son or that of the first-born of a notable member.
The office is one of great honour and dignity, and the authority of the office is very real. Most council- lors have served long probation in other ranks, and are aged men when promoted. In some societies the rule is that they must have been members of the next highest grade for twenty years before being ehgible for election.
THE SUPREME OFFICIALS 73
The councillors of the Law-God societies rank as priests, as do some in other associations, such as BuTWA, whose councillors appointed to ecclesiastical duties are called " Mothers of the Crystal Fetish."
The Bab END E member who has reached council rank is addressed as follows : " Now that you are to take this pangwe (Elder's Staff) you must your- self avoid crimes, and you must prevent others from becoming criminals. Give good advice to the young ; watch over the observance of the laws ; and see to it that the chief governs for the country's weal. You are entitled now to intervene if there is a quarrel between persons or families or villages or tribes ; keep sacred that trust. All people are des- cended from one couple and are brethren ; they must not shed the blood of their brothers. Two people have given birth to us all, and now we are a big nation ; would you like to see us by fights and slaughters reduced again to two ? Take this staff ; advise the young ; punish the wicked ; guide the weak ; remember your vow ; remember your duty ; and ever and always remind yourself that you are an honoured member of a band of brothers."
THE HEAD
The Head may be one person or two. When dual, the office is shared by a male and female, as in BiLi, NiMM, and Oyeni. There is nearly always a Deputy Head, and in many instances this official is the public counterpart of the Supreme One. A woman may preside over a male society, as in Eluku and JoosAi, or a mixed membership society, as Masubori and Dyoro. A woman may be Deputy to a male Head, as in Bori.
The title given to the Head may be that of the guardian deity of the society, as in Ayaka ; or that of a king, as the Bai Sherbro of Kufong ; or that of
74 WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES
the opposite sex, as the Mother of Ekong of Ekongola ; or of the society, as The Ogboni and the Grand Egbo.
THE IDEA BEHIND HIM
The idea behind the individual called to the office may be that he or she is the " Voice " of the guardian deity, or that of the society itself. When the first, the Head may be either the Oracle or the High Priest of the Oracle. If the Oracle, he or she may be considered just the Voice or much more than the Voice, that is, he or she may be the spoken word or the speaker. If the last then the Head ranks as a deity ; omnipotent, therefore not to be gainsaid. His will is then supreme, even the council being merely the echo of his decisions.
Thus the Head officials of Ayaka and Okonko are merely Voices enunciating the messages of the society's Oracles, but the Head of Oro is supposed to be the living embodiment of the god Olorun, the Head of Afa is the " shadow " of the god If a, the Head of Ikung is the " child " of the god Ikun, and the male and female who rule Oyeni are declared to be " direct descendants " of the god of the same name.
The idea of the Head being the High Priest of the guardian deity is seen in the Grand Tasso of Poro, the Grand Egbo, The Ogboni, the Elder Ebaku of Nkimba, the Balogun of Orisha, the Nyenge of Nkanda, and in other of the Law-God societies ; and in Masubori and other Priestly associations the Head is the Priestess or Priest of the god worshipped.
There is also the idea of royalty (the dual Head- ship of Nimm is shared by a Royal Father and a Royal Mother), and the idea of wisdom (the Head of Ndembo is Nganga, The Wise One).
Whether or not representing the guardian god, they are generally considered " sacred " persons.
THE SUPREME OFFICIALS
75
The idea of their office overshadows their personality in much the same way as did that of the angels mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures. Therefore, they are hedged about by ceremony and superstition, and kept sacrosanct by a tabu circle that even the leading officials and the highest of the councillors dare not pass. For this purpose also strange reports are circulated as to the nature of their birth or as to their physical peculiarities. Claims that they were super- naturally born are frequently made, and many assertions may be heard (like that of the mono- chism of the Alapini of Egungun or the eunuchal disability of the Head of Kongcorong) that sug- gest that among these men (and women) are more hermaphrodites and monstrosities than ever Pliny knew.
Their seclusion is in some cases quite real. A few are said never to be seen at all. Their presence is indicated by a pillar or a mask. The Grand Egbo is non-existent as a personality. He is a pillar, carved with phallic signs and a tortoise. At cere- monials his Deputy wears his official insignia. The Head of Org is a mask, sometimes set upon a pillar, said to bear the image of the god Olorun, and some- times carried on the shoulders of an official. The Head of A yak a allows only an arm to be seen, and that merely when he stretches it round the corner of his hut, at celebrations, to receive the gifts of the faithful. The Grand Tasso goes into a privacy hardly ever broken, living and dying alone. When he realises that the hand of death is upon him he goes into the bush, builds there a palm-frond thatch, and, lying within its shade, awaits calmly his dis-
Egungun Mask.
76 WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES
solution. After a period of time the council meets for the election of his successor, whose first duty must be the finding of that lonely, ant-cleaned skeleton to add its skull to the others that form the official mitre. The Mama Koome of Bundu is a solitary old woman who allows no one to visit her for any longer time than that occupied by a consultation, who denies herself the solace of relative and friend when ill, and who may not be buried by any other than the Grand, Tasso, whose duty and privilege it is.
Even when the Head is merely a promoted member of the council, the secret of his identity may be known only to a very few. He may be a well- known or a little-known person in his district, living normally most of his days, and coming into ordinary daily contact with his officers and members, the majority not knowing, and the others not telling, his society importance. During the few hours of the few days of each year when he assumes the livery of his office, his disguise will be as impenetrable as the closed armour of the knights of old.
HIS ELECTION
The Head may be born to his office or be elected to it. It is, with very few exceptions, a life appoint- ment.
Examples of the hereditary right are becoming more infrequent. Bori and Lubuku still acknow- ledge it. Both have local kings as nominal lords, the authority being delegated to a council-elected Deputy. Egbo and Belli-Paaro have of recent years thrown off this survival of the years for that of election, as did Poro about the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the Naimbanna dynasty of Sierra Leone came to an end. Gelede, Kwaga, and Okonko have families within their memberships
THE SUPREME OFFICIALS 77
who own the hereditary right to nominate the Head, but the greater number of the councils retain the right to elect one of their number to the gffice.
The election itself is not a hasty matter. It has been known to last nine months, according to Lieutenant George Maclean (afterwards Governor of Cape Coast Castle and husband of L.E.L.), who witnessed the election of a Grand Tasso about the year 1827. It may be carried through with all the dignity given by rite and ceremony as ancient as anything known in the land, and under laws as little to be broken as those famous ones of the Medes and Persians, or it may rival in oratory and wire- pulling, in division and excitement, the election of a President in the United States.
The ritual of the ceremony is often religious in character, with uttered prayers and chanted hymns, and for scriptures long eulogies of the late Head and long vindications of the worth of the one nominated to take his place. Before the final ballot is taken in the election of a Grand Tasso, the senior councillor utters this prayer : " Ye chiefs and wise men, spirits of those who have led us in times past, we speak to you ; we pray you show us our lord, who shall be our leader in all things : let him be the man of your appointing, not of our desire, O wise ones : let him be one to whom all may look, who shall be our secret and sacred shrine, our prayer, the guardian of our holy things, our good, our shield, his name our safety : we speak to you, O chiefs and elders : we ask you to remember past years : some of you have filled this office, and to those we now say, go to the powers who slay and keep alive, the powers who have all authority and all knowledge, and say to them, the living need guidance, guidance can only come from wisdom, give those who speak to us a wise leader : hear us, O elders, we speak to you : give us our master."
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During the election the councillors may be locked up in the society house until a decision is agreed upon, food being passed to them by their friends. The voting may be by show of hands or by the dropping into a box white and black stones, shells or beads. The result is first proclaimed to an assembly of senior graduates. After an Ekene election the chosen Head assumes the mask of his predecessor, mounts the throne, and there sits whilst all the assembled members pass before him, each one drop- ping a blossom before him. Before the ceremony is finished he is literally hidden behind a mound of flowers.
HIS DUTIES
The first duty of the new Head may be the re- lighting of the Sacred Fire. In the council or society house and in the houses set apart as habitations for young members, a fire is kept alight continuously. It is this fire which is put out at the death of a Head and is relighted by the successor. Although there is no trace amidst the Negroid peoples of sun- or fire-worship, there are amongst them tribal traditions as to the origin of fire, generally explaining it as the gift of the gods to men. This may explain the ^ place the lighting of the
fire has in the society cere- monies, and why, as do the priests of the Hindu Agni, the Head produces the new flame by friction. Some of the Liberian society officials say that flame is a spirit, the spirit on earth or the earthly life of a deity, a heavenly spirit that reached the earth down a sunbeam.
Poro Mural Decoration.
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When the chief members hear that the fire on the council hearth is cold they put out their home fires, and when the new fire is known to be kindled they send a request to the Head to share the new flame. This he does with a brand from the fire he has lit, or a special torch (like that made from millet stalks used by Oyeni) relighting the house fires in the order of the grades held by the petitioners. An exception may be made to this order when honour is done to the hearth of some well-liked member who has lately taken to himself a wife, or another wife.
Then follow what have been called " The Benedictions."
That of Ikung is the " Blessing of the Waters," the element from which Ikun, the guardian deity, is said to have been born. Erect in the bows of the leading canoe, as the procession of boats floats down some portion of the Congo River, his extended wand now and again sweeping the surface of the stream, the Ikungele recites prayers to his society's god and gives gracious benediction to the water and all within it, and to all employed upon it.
A ceremony peculiar to Nkanda is the Anointing of the Circumcision Calabash. This is a large gourd containing many small ones, each a symbol of a society circumcision, and containing as many seeds as boys who together underwent the rite. The Nyenge is the guardian of this possession, and anoints it annually on the anniversary of his election. More- over, when he hears of the death of a member he takes from the vessel of that member's year one of the seeds, and throws it away.
The new priest of Oyeni puts into a bowl sprigs of wogbo, a salt-leafed plant, and of nyanyana, a triple-leafed bindweed with small egg-shaped fruit, and other leaves and seaweeds. In the midst of these he places his official shark-fin sandals, covering all with sand and sea-water. Then into this mixture
8o WEST AFRICAN SECRET SOCIETIES
he dips the end of his two-foot long official whisk of piassava, and sprinkles the sacrificial goat, the sacred possessions, and the assembled members. This is also an annual ceremony.
The ceremony of " Blessing the Sacred Posses- sions " is known to many societies, generally taking the form of an " anointing," and is invariably one of the earliest duties of the new Head. The " pos- sessions " are varied and peculiar, ranging from such mystic portable shrines as the Poro borfima, the Ndembo mpungu, the Katahwira suman, the BuTWA chipe chafisoko, or the same society's bwanga bzva kalunga, to such mundane things as stools and shields, staves and spears. They include council houses and men's houses and girls' houses, pillars carved and marked with the images and signs of protecting deities, members' graves, sacred rocks, divination stones, ancient masks and mitres, symbolic figures and images, and dance dresses worn at cere- monials. All these are anointed, Oro Images. ^s are the members themselves,
and such society necessities as herds of goats and cows, and stores of grain. In some cases this ceremony is accompanied by sacrificial offerings to the guardian deities, the sacred objects being fresh blooded as the animals fall under the priestly knife. The possessions of the councillors, of the officials and the higher grade members, houses, farms, boats, tools, weapons, and households, may also be formally blessed by the new Head, either by anointing or by prayer, by touch of hand or official staff or baton.
In the LAw-God societies the duties of the Head are priestly as well as governmental, not only within the membership but without, their High Priestly authority being acknowledged throughout the whole
THE SUPREME OFFICIALS 8i
district influenced by the society. In some cases also this sacerdotal supremacy is acknowledged by other societies, especially by those originally branches of the Law-God associations. Thus the Head of Org is recognised as the religious ruler over half a dozen societies, including Egbo, which has itself a high priestly Head, and the Grand Tasso is the High Priest also of Bundu. The Mama Koome may demand absolute obedience from her official and private members, may promulgate her own society laws and exercise unchecked disciplinary measures, but in spiritual matters she must bend her pride before the Head of Poro, as did the Abbess of old to the reigning Abbot of her district.
HIS DISGUISE
The description of the installation of the Priest and Priestess of Oyeni includes the following. " The Elders put upon him the white cap of office and the long white gown, over which are placed many ropes of black and white beads. Round his neck they put a rough, grass rope to remind him of the ills and frailties of life. On his right wrist they place the official bead bracelet, and on his feet sandals, also ancient and valuable, made of shark fins. Then they hand him the priest's ayentso staff. The head of the Priestess is crowned by a tuft of elephant hairs, of parrot's feathers and beads, bound together with pineapple fibre and white clay. Her hair is built up into five domes, the centre one supporting the tuft. Round her neck is placed a necklace whose value might ransom a prince, being of aggry beads threaded between the official black and white ones. She also is clad in white, and on both wrists are bracelets." It is said that the priest sometimes wears his consort's head-tuft as a pendant to a collar of nyanyana.
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Ayaka Mask.
Red is the official colour of Kemah and Tormai, the Head of the first-named wearing a red cloak that is decorated with feathers and strips of hide, and the last-named society staining this colour all their masks and costumes. A claim is made that the " Cloak of Kemah " has upon it specimens of the plumage or skin of all the birds and beasts known to West Africa.
The Head of Ayaka or his Deputy wears a mask carved from heavy wood, the weight being supported on the shoulders. It is shaped with some artistry, and might be imagined to be a humped or crouching figure with two faces and extended wings. This is said to be the form taken by one of the Ibo deities who is not only the society's guardian but also that of the homes of its members. Con- sequently, small replicas of the mask may be seen on the walls of Ibo houses. The hat above the upper face is strongly reminiscent of the old-time bullion military or naval epaulet.
The Svekoi of Ampora appar- ently has two head-dresses, one a mitre and the other a mask. The first is probably a Tasso mitre dating from the time when this society was but a branch or lodge of PoRo. It is crowned by a single skull (that of his predecessor in office) and tufts of upstanding feathers. The mask is very like that worn by the Head of Boguerra, an East African society, being crowned by ox horns of gigantic size, scraped fine and white like those worn by some of the Durban rickshaw-boys.
District Tasso Mask.
THE SUPREME OFFICIALS
S3
Afa Mask,
The casquet of the Mama Koome of Bundu is of the same material and made after the same manner as that already described and worn by her subordinate the Woodya. It differs, however, in the one particular being alated after the manner of the one of Ayaka.
The Afa mask is of wood, the white face having a black band across the eyes, giving it the ap- pearance seen in English pictures of highwaymen or burglars. Black and white masks are also worn by the Ankumunko, Kaloko, and Ramena supreme officials.
The Head of the Southern Kukuruku branch of Egugu has a massive tortoise-shaped mask, from which protrude curv- ed " feelers" or " tusks", and has an elongated point behind. It rests upon the shoulders of the wearer, is of hard wood, and of excellent workmanship. The body of the wearer is entirely hidden by the thick gown of rapphia fibre connected with the foundation of the mask. The tortoise as a symbol is fre- quently found, often as one of phallic significance, but this seems to be the solitary instance of it being shaped into a mask.
Amongst the masks that may be phallic survivals mention must be made of those of Ekongola and Mawungu. That of the first, worn by the Mother of Ekong, a man, is a highly finished carving in wood, its shape roughly pyramidical, bearing the cut and
Egugu Mask and Gown.
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painted face and bust of a woman. The white face
is drawn grotesquely, and the dress fashioned in a
style that may have been suggested to the mask-maker by some picture in the possession of an early Portuguese explorer. That of the Head of Mawungu, a woman, is shaped to represent the face of a man. The garbs worn with both these masks are those of the oppo- site sex to that of the wearer. Ekongoia xAiask. The most grim of aU
the head-dresses is the
tanga-tanga mitre of the Grand Tasso of Poro. This
is a rattan frame, standing high above the head,
upon which are tied the skulls of his predecessors.
(In the year 1916 the writer counted sixteen upon
it.) The base fits tightly about the
brow, and has a lower, supporting
band that clasps the head over the
nose. From the one fitting round
the brow hangs a veil of fibre.
Green twigs are sometimes laced
into the rattan, about and over
some of the skulls.
The chiefs of the Poro branches,
the District Tassos, wear smaller
editions of this mitre, some bearing
but one skull, topped grandly by Poro Tanga-Tanga.
a bunch of high-standing feathers
of the bulo, the great plantain-eater bird.
Face screens only may be worn, veils of leaves such as are seen in parts of New Guinea, and of
THE SUPREME OFFICIALS
85
fibre or reeds, or strings of tiny beads. Muslin and other material may be found amongst the Muham- medan society officials, the Head of Kongcorong wearing one of silk, in honour, it is said, of the " founder " of that society.
Special washes and paints are used on the bodies and limbs of these supreme officials, often applied in patterns that are distinctive of the society. These are applied after, and as part of, the purification ceremonies. Aromatic and other unguents and ointments are also used in the " anointings " that often follow the purifications.
Fetish horns and charms are worn.
There may be bells hung upon the skirts, that remind one of those of the Hebrew High Priest as he appeared in the Temple at Jerusalem. Those upon the gown of the Grand lasso are alternate metal tubes or plates and flat bells, said to be of ancient European manufacture, the tinkling of which warns
people of his coming. When there are no skirts these musical appendages may be found fastened to armlets and garters.
Necklaces and other ornaments may be worn, some valuable, as already described of Oyeni, because rare, and some are of gold, silver and bronze, cunningly made and inset with stones of some value.
The staves carried, and the batons of elephant or antelope tails, or of metal or wood that usually precede the Head, are described in another chapter.
Tasso Bells.