- A woman in Yoruba beliefs, is not seen as an object of impurity, either with or without the menses. The female is accorded the greatest sense of respect in Yoruba traditions and that explains why many of the gods and divinities are demonstrated as female entities.
- Even Oduduwa and Olodumare (Creator God) are seen as females by some Yorubas. Unlike what obtains in some other Middle Eastern religions where a menstruating woman is forbidden from certain acts of worship or even sexual intercourse or in Hinduism where menstruating women are banned from the temples, menstruating does not stop a woman in Yorubaland from carrying out any of her religious duties. As a matter of fact, men become babalawos and almost never an Iyalawo and that is because women are believed to be the source of the secrets that the Babalawos (men) are searching for. That explains why Babalawos often turn to the Iyas and Awon Iyami Oshoronga for help and assistance from time to time. In short, menses does not diminish a woman in any way in traditional Yoruba religions. A woman is seen as the embodiment of divinity and the living manifestations of Olodumare or the Odu.
- Menstruating
women are not barred from Ifa because they are seen as the sources and
activators of the Ifa oracle itself. Like the males, they can take all
their time to learn the Odu Ifa with its countless Ese Ifa, medicines
and prescriptions of power.
Menstruation is no obstacle for a girl or woman in Yorubaland.
- Osun is the root word of irosun, which represents menstrual blood. In Yoruba mythologies, blood is not only necessary and relevant to one’s lineage, it is also an integral part of the destinies of humans. Irosun is also the red powder from the camwood tree that is used to consecrate the pot (Odu) of Ogun, the god of war and iron. Blood in Yoruba mythology is generally seen as a type of fertilizer, which explains why shedding blood to the earth in forms of sacrifices is quite common.
- The
reason Yoruba men and even other men in some other cultures are afraid
of being slapped with a menstrual cloth of a woman is that the woman’s
(usually his wife or mother) body is her Apere, representative
of the Odu so the fear stems out of respect and reverence and not out of
repulsion or hatred. This is based on the deep-rooted belief that a
woman’s breasts, menses and her vagina are her actual sources of power
as seen in the Igbadu and for a woman to go naked deliberately out of
fury or slap the man with her menstrual cloth is seen as the height of
anger or disapproval from the woman, something the men do not want.
Female sexuality plays a great role in Yoruba cosmogony and that men can
see glimpses of heaven through the female sexual organs during coitus
means they are objects of intense worship. But it is known among the
Yorubas that the same path that can lead to bliss can lead to eternal
damnation so when a woman deliberately exposes her nakedness or hits the
man with her menstrual cloth, it can derail his destiny forever. To be
slapped with the menstrual cloth of the mother is to be rejected by the
ancestors and the unborn generations forever. Because men came from
women (that is the belief in Yoruba traditional religions and not the
other way round as seen in other Middle Eastern religions where the
woman is believed to have come from the man), he cannot destroy that
which created him (the woman or female body) no matter how much he
tries.
Menstrual blood is sacred among the Yorubas.
- Yorubas seen the crescent moon as a symbol of renewal, freshness and regeneration. This is why they call the menses nkan oshu meaning ‘sign of the moon’ as oshu (oshupa) means the moon. This is because the women use the waxing and waning of the moon phases as a calendar for their cycles. When the moon is at its highest level of waxing, maidens and new brides pray to it to grant them ‘newness’ (fertility) and the strength to carry a child on their backs. Thus, menstrual blood in Yorubaland does not come with fear, disgust or seen as impure. It is rather seen as a sign of renewal, bounty and fertility. That explains why some priests use menstrual blood of a virgin (or any lady) to do some of the most powerful magic charms eyonu or ogun owo , the charm for fame and wealth. This is because menstrual blood is considered to be sacred and powerful. This belief is also seen among the Cherokee Indians of North America and in various tribes of Africa.
- Menstrual blood can also be used in some rituals in Yorubaland. For example, one of the most powerful women in the traditional Yoruba society known as the Iya Lekuleja can prepare one of the most potent medicines by removing her cloth, standing naked before everyone, moving round a circle countless times while reciting incantations quickly then kneeling over a calabash and washing her breasts and vagina (with its menstrual fluid) inside it. This concoction is then given to the subject, usually a son or any male, to drink. By kneeling and assuming the posture of Ikunle Abiyamo, Iya Lekuleja is believed to open access to her sacred Igbadu and her Aje for the subject to tap from the powers within. When the son drinks the potion, he is believed to be a born again as he tasted his mother, via the cleansing waters of her vagina and the omi ero of her breasts.
- Some Yorubas hold the belief that a menstruating woman can render the magic or the charms of a native doctor useless.
- The Yoruba belief is that menstrual blood has healing powers. Well, this is true and it is confirmed by modern science. The stem cells in menstrual blood have the same powers of regeneration as the stem cells harvested from the umbilical cord blood and the bone marrow. How the Yorubas of the old knew that menstrual blood had regenerative capacities should be a source of curiosity to us all. Scientists are already thinking of how to use menstrual blood stem cells to treat heart diseases, stroke, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and a host of other diseases.
- Red, the colour of menstrual blood is also one of the three main colours of the Egbe Iyami Oshoronga (red, black and white) with the red standing for not just the menstrual blood but also the activation and authorization of the ashe (divine order). For the curious, black represents vitality, pure melanin and perfection in Yorubaland while the white stands for the ancestors.
- Because of the mystic power attached
to menstrual blood, all women are seen as potential members of the Iyami
Oshoronga cult as they are all linked through their menstrual blood. So
far from being an impurity that will taint the sacred and pure,
menstrual blood is seen in Yorubaland as a source of purity and
sacredness in itself. This explains why women are not prevented from
reaching the highest levels of hierarchy in the traditional Yoruba
religions simply because they bleed.
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