Yoruba Adenla Beaded Crowns (Contemporary)

Adenla (Crown)

Among the most recognizable and
varied manifestations of Yoruba
beadwork is the richly ornamented
crown, or Adenla. Traditionally “only
those who can trace direct ancestry to
Oduduwa, the first ruler at Ile-Ife, can
wear a beaded crown with veil…The
crown embodies the very essence of
sacred rulership among Yoruba
peoples… The crown of Yoruba sacred
rulers is essentially an embellished and
prepared container of power (literally
and figuratively), as well as a mask.”
(Drewal and Mason, p. 201)

The significance of the adenla
expresses itself in its form as well as in
the elements with which the crown is
constructed and embellished. The
pyramidal-conical form that
characterizes many examples of the
adenla is the “Yoruba symbol of persons
and their place in the universe” (Drewal
and Mason, p. 199) and can also be seen
in personal objects such as the cowried
ibori, which serves as a personal object
for individual identity and protection
throughout the life of a Yoruba
individual. Constructed in a conical
form on a frame of palm ribs then
covered with cloth (traditionally four
layers of cloth stiffened by the
application of corn starch), the adenla
is surmounted by a summit into which
are placed powerfully, ritually
significant substances that serve “to
direct and protect its wearer” (Drewal
and Mason, p. 201).

Forms and patterns including faces,
birds, animals and interlaces are then
beaded into -- or constructed and super-
imposed onto -- the adenla and imbue
the form with a rich variety of Yoruba
cultural symbols and values. The bird
forms present on many adenla may refer
to the “mystical powers of women (and
gods, ancestors, and spirits)…[and]
signify that the ruler rules only with the
support and cooperation of ‘our
mothers’” (Drewal and Mason, p. 202).
It is notable that one of the primary
masquerade traditions of many Yoruba
groups, the Gelede, also focuses upon
the veneration of and respect for the
women of the community. Other forms
such as the chameleon, which also
often appears on the adenla, evoke the
powers of transformation associated
with that creature and amplify the idea
of the transformative power of symbols
and colors that characterize Yoruba
thought and iconography.

The seemingly human faces and figures
often seen on the adenla have been
variously interpreted in ways that
suggest many possible directions of
study into the history and iconography
of the Yoruba. The faces and figures
may represent Oduduwa, “the first to
wear the beaded crown” or perhaps “the
ever-watchful royal ancestors” or may
represent “the face of Olokun, the sea
divinity, one of the patrons of bead
artists and the source of the materials
used to make the crown” (Drewal and
Mason, p. 202). In addition to
introducing the varied pantheon of
Yoruba deities (orisas), the latter
interpretation also illuminates
important historical possibilities (and
uncertainties) regarding likely
interactions between Ile-Ife and the
outer world centuries ago, referring to
the availability of the beads themselves
as indicative of the role of Ile-Ife as an
important center of trade and point of
contact between peoples of the region
and seafarers from other lands and the
historical influence of Ife culture and
iconograpahy on more recent Yoruba
arts and culture. The introduction of
such prestige materials as beads – now
deeply integrated into Yoruba life and
art in addition to or in place of natural
materials previously used – belie the
complex history and evolution of
thought and expression among the
Yoruba.

Another recurring element, the interlace
-- an abstract geometric symbol which
appears in diverse African artistic
traditions, has been tentatively
suggested as a sign of Islamic origin
and/or influence on the Yoruba, and can
be seen frequently on the adenla form.
Among Yoruba beaded works, this detail
“appears on most sacred
forms…sometimes rendered as
entwined snakes, or one snake doubled
back on itself. In Yoruba thought,
entwined snakes often suggest the
competing powers of the world and
otherworld…it [the interlace] epitomizes
both the tensions and resolutions of
conflicts, the continuity and balance of
existence in the realms of aye/orun...”
(Drewal and Mason, p. 203). A
consideration of this particular detail
reveals again how the investigation of
individual elements of Yoruba
iconography and stylistics can uncover
hidden meanings and encoded historical
data that shape and inform the nature of
Yoruba life art and life.

A further note worthy of mention in a
consideration of the adenla regards the
veil that commonly adorns the crown.
Places of power or sacredness in
Yorubaland are commonly “dressed”
with strings of protective substances.
Originally composed of natural plant
materials, cowrie shells, etc., and now
more frequently of beads of particular
colors and combinations of colors
associated with specific orisas
(deities), such veils serve to indicate
“the danger of high spiritual voltage”
(Drewal and Mason, p. 102) in shrines;
the adenla too is adorned with a
protective veil which serves both to
shield the viewer from the power
embodied in the king as well as to serve
as a protective container for that power
contained within the ruler himself.

The adenla serves as a rich introduction
to Yoruba thought, philosophy, religion,
aesthetics, symbolism, history and
material culture. The analysis of forms
and symbols within such works as the
Yoruba crown, the adenla, can reveal
the rich and complex history of Yoruba
thought and expression and point
toward features of the Yoruba
geographical and symbolic landscape
that occur on numerous levels of
Yoruba life and art. Each element
considered – form, color, material –
suggests myriad directions for further
investigation into the vibrant, evolving
and far-reaching culture-complex of the
Yoruba.

The Yoruba and Yoruba Beadwork

The Yoruba live throughout West Africa
-- in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Togo, Benin,
Niger and predominantly in Nigeria (the
largest Yoruba population center)-- as
well as in the Caribbean and South
America (especially Cuba and Brazil).
Among the three most populous and
influential ethnic groups in Nigeria
(along with the Igbo and the Hausa), the
Yoruba live throughout and beyond the
Nigerian states of Ogun, Ondo, Oyo,
Lagos and Kwara. Among the Nigerian
Yoruba there are numerous linguistic
and cultural sub-groups with distinct
practices as well as unique artistic
traditions and styles.

While there are many theories of the
historical origins of the Yoruba, the
Yoruba themselves place their origin
(and that of the world and its first
human inhabitants) at the city of Ife in
Southwestern Nigeria. In addition to
the discovery of the centuries-old terra
cottas and bronze castings (which bear
detail suggestive of the beaded
accessories worn since that time and
still associated with power and
kingship) in Ife, historical evidence also
indicates that Ife was the site of a
significant glass industry (re-working
imported beads and possibly even
manufacturing glass in situ) as early as
800 CE.

“[Oral] traditions state that Olokun…one
of the wives of Oduduwa [the first
Yoruba man on earth]…was the first to
manufacture akun (beads)… Her
shrines…are the sites of annual
festivals when all bead makers and
sellers come together to celebrate their
‘wealthy heroine’…” (Drewal and Mason,
p. 39). “Visually and metaphorically,
beads transform the objects they
embellish, creating illusions of
ephemerality evocative of orun [the
Otherworld; the invisible, spiritual
realm] and otherworldly entities” (p.
78). Beads – recognized for their
transformational qualities for their
reflection of light and introduction of
color -- are attributed with powers of
healing and empowerment and in their
threaded presentation may serve to
symbolize “unity, togetherness and
solidarity” (p. 17). The contemporary
beadwork industry is an extension of
the historical and cultural tradition that
establishes beads as key symbols and
mode of expression in Yoruba society.

Sources:
Bascom, William. The Yoruba of
Southwestern Nigeria. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston. 1969.

Drewal, Henry John and John Mason.
Beads, Body and Soul: Art and Light in
the Yoruba Universe. Los Angeles:
UCLA Museum of Cultural History. 1998.

Olson, James Stewart. The Peoples of
Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 1996.

Also see Christopher Roy’s “Art and Life
in Africa”
http://www.uiowa.
edu/~africart/toc/people/Yoruba.html